Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

5:19 PM, Thursday March 21st 2024

Draw a box lesson 2 - Album on Imgur

Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/GjR1ndj

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered enterta...

Lesson 2 complete and ready for the critique!

Though I have a question regarding the intersections of forms. (I added two additional images in there in the end of the lesson)

The stuff i figured out is the intersection betweeen boxes with All VPs being the same, and the boxes rotated by one of the axis (so that they have only 1 VP in common) And that is pretty easy and straightforward to figure out (This is the first additional image)

The question however rises how to exactly define the intersection between the forms with no VPs in common at all. What is the rule or ratio to where the intersection line should fall upon the surfaces of both boxes simultaneously, provided the point of intersection and the closest box is chosen, the intersection should be definitive and only one then, so how do I find it?

And also, how do round surfaces intersect, cause that is quite an ordeal, I got it intersecting with planes, but not sure whether I am doing it all right with another round surface.

So if you are able to provide with some additional information on that topic that would be mostly appreciated!

Thanks!

0 users agree
8:57 PM, Saturday March 23rd 2024

I'll be the TA handling your Lesson 2 critique.

You're making progress towards understanding the concepts introduced in this lesson and hopefully this critique will help you in your future attempts.

  • Starting off in the arrows section your lines are looking smoothly and confidently drawn. You're doing a good job maintaining a consistent width as your arrows widen while moving closer to the viewer and with more mileage you'll become more consistent. It's good to see that you're trying to implement line weight, just remember that you want to keep your applications subtle and you'll become consistent with mileage. here are some things to look out for when applying it. I'd like you to experiment more with foreshortening in your future attempts, by utilizing it in both the arrows themselves as well as the negative space between their curves we can create a stronger illusion of an object moving through 3D space as demonstrated here.

  • Moving into the organic forms with contours exercise a couple of your forms are getting a bit too complex. We want to create our forms with both ends being the same size and to avoid any pinching, bloating, or stretching along the form's length as discussed here. You're keeping your line work confident here which is great, if you feel uncomfortable working with contours still don't stress with more mileage it'll become more natural. Speaking of contours you're doing a good job trying to shift the degree of your contours so far, be sure to keep experimenting. The degree of a contour line basically represents the orientation of that cross-section in space, relative to the viewer, and as we slide along the sausage form, the cross section is either going to open up (allowing us to see more of it) or turn away from the viewer (allowing us to see less), as shown here.

  • In the texture exercises you're focusing largely on outlines and negative space rather than cast shadows created by forms along the texture itself. This makes it difficult to create gradients with implied information which we could then use to create focal points in more complex pieces, by doing so we can prevent our viewers from being visually overwhelmed with too much detail. For more on the importance of focusing on cast shadows read here. I'd also like to quickly direct you to this image which shows that when we're working with thin line like textures if we outline and fill the shadow we will create a much more dynamic texture than simply drawing lines.

  • It's quite common for people to feel like they don't fully grasp the form intersections exercise, if you feel like you may fall into this category try not to stress too much. This exercise is just meant to get students to start thinking about how their forms relate to one another in 3D space, and how to define those relationships on the page. We'll be going over them more in the upcoming lessons. Your forms are looking quite solid here and they believably appear to belong in the same cohesive 3D space, good work.

  • While wrapping up your submission with the organic intersections exercise you do a great job demonstrating that your sense of 3D space is developing as your forms begin to wrap around each other believably. You're keeping your forms simple and easy to work with which is a good strategy to help produce good results. When it comes to your shadows you're pushing them enough so that they cast rather than just hugging the form that creates them which is a great start. Your shadows appear to be following a consistent light source, be sure to experiment with different angles and intensities when trying this exercise again in the future. I recommend pushing your light source to the top left or right corner of the page to start with, it's easier than working with a light directly above your form pile. Quick final note, don't forget to draw through all of your ellipses, even the small ones on the end of your organic forms.

I asked Uncomfortable what he had to say about your questions and here's what he had to say:

"The thing to keep in mind is that we do not by any means expect students to understand how to properly draw their intersections at this stage. This exercise relies heavily on spatial reasoning skills, and itself introduces the concept of the relationships between forms in 3D space. That is at the very core of the course as a whole, and between lessons 3-7 we engage with it heavily through constructional drawing exercises.

All we're doing here is planting the seed that will be cultivated over those next many lessons. This won't be an understanding that will come from explanation, but rather one that will gradually develop as you work through those constructional drawing exercises that follow - each one its own little spatial puzzle that will gradually rewire your brain's grasp on 3D space.

Once we reach Lesson 6, we'll have another opportunity to look at this exercise, at which point you'll have had the chance to work through the problem. At that point we may provide further feedback on this topic in your critique, at which point it will be more effective due to the experience you'll have amassed."

Overall this was a solid submission, while you may have some things to work on I have no doubt you will improve with more mileage. I'll be marking your submission as complete and move you on to the next lesson.

Keep practicing previous exercises as warm ups and good luck in lesson 3!

Next Steps:

Keep practicing previous exercise as warm ups.

Move on to lesson 3.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
1:16 PM, Sunday March 24th 2024

Thank you very much, Tofu, for the feedback on my assignments and thank you, Uncomfortable for taking time to answer my question. I will keep working through the course and develop gradually!

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Color and Light by James Gurney

Color and Light by James Gurney

Some of you may remember James Gurney's breathtaking work in the Dinotopia series. This is easily my favourite book on the topic of colour and light, and comes highly recommended by any artist worth their salt. While it speaks from the perspective of a traditional painter, the information in this book is invaluable for work in any medium.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.