Lesson 6: Applying Construction to Everyday Objects

5:14 AM, Saturday January 29th 2022

Lesson 6 - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/i3nEHSo.jpg

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TL;DR Bit better, mistakes I can identify, plenty I probably can't.

Here they be, Objects. So many lines. Unfortunately, not all of them deliberate and thought out like they are supposed to be. Most are though. In most of these I know some of what I did wrong, very often I'd lose my guidelines, or draw to the wrong line, or like make things disproportionate, or not use an orthographic when it would be VERY helpful. And line weight, still a problem, but a little better this time. But, for once, these don't feel terrible. I'm sure there's other issues. Elipses hurt still and for most of these they had to be freehanded. I have a few elipse and curve guides but eh, they don't always fit.

EXTRA: Also, the bonus images, I never knew I could hate to the extent I hated my desk fan. Only after I had finished my third attempt did I realize my simple, simple mistake. I could construct the base and orthographic no problem, plot a box for the fan, no problem. It is only after I finished the third one did I realize I wasn't plotting the back elipse properly. I only shrunk vertically, and was forgetting the horizontal part of it's plane. This always made the back one look too wide (because it was) and was infuriating.

As always, thank you for your time, knowledge, and patience (for my work and long-windedness (It's only ever with typing, I'm very brief verbally)).

Have a nice day and stay safe.

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8:05 PM, Monday January 31st 2022

Alrighty, let's jump right in. To start, your form intersections are by and large demonstrating a solid grasp of how these different forms relate to one another in 3D space, but I have one quick suggestion - don't draw the intersection lines themselves in a different colour, or with a different pen. I understand that since I used red in the demonstration to draw students' attention to the lines that were being added as we moved one step to the next, but the reason I recommend drawing those intersection lines in black rather than red here is that it reminds us that the intersections are a physical element in the scene - not part of some extraneous analysis of the results. The intersection lines themselves exist like "weld lines" we get when we fuse one piece of metal to another using a torch. Understanding that they're a physical part of the scene can help a great deal when students struggle to understand how intersections work.

Of course, you don't appear to be struggling much at all. While your work isn't perfect (I've marked out a few issues here), it is progressing very well by and large.

Continuing onto your object constructions, as a whole you have worked through this lesson pretty well, but I do have a number of suggestions to offer. Before we get into that, I am very pleased with the level of precision you've employed throughout many of your constructions here - specifically those where you took the time to build out orthographic studies, analyze proportions with two dimensional subdivisions, then apply them to your 3D constructions. Precision itself comes down to the steps we take to declare our intentions, and to declare what information they're based upon. Putting marks down randomly is imprecise, even if they fall where we ourselves intended them to. It is by first declaring that intent - just like putting the start and end points down in the ghosting method's planning phase - that we increase the precision of the final result. Here, we take that further, through the use of subdivision to identify exactly where along the length of an object a particular element should sit.

In that regard, you've largely done a pretty good job. By your own admission you neglected some proportional studies when they would have been helpful, and I expect you'll have learned from that - but I can see that you clearly understand the overall principles of working with precision.

So, here are the points I want you to keep in mind as you move forwards:

  • It appears that in your drawings here, you worked with different pens - a ballpoint for laying down the subdivisions, and then a fineliner for actually drawing the object itself. This is unfortunately something I specifically ask students not to do, in the section where I give permission to use ballpoint and other tools. What I don't want students to fall into is thinking of the constructional scaffolding as being separate from the final drawing. That's an easier manner of thinking to fall into here compared to earlier lessons, where the lines were more blurred between final result and the steps we took to get there. Here we actually have the bounding box that gets subdivided - but as a whole, you should still continue to see the whole thing as a sort of sculpture, where you start big and gradually chip away at pieces in three dimensions, whittling it down towards that target result. The additional benefit is that it keeps students from needlessly tracing back over their existing linework, which itself contributes to more hesitant, less confident linework.

  • As explained here, try not to jump right into curves. Instead, start out with more straight edges and boxy forms, then round out those sharp corners with smaller curves that adhere more tightly to the existing structure. Here's the jist of what I mean.

  • Given our restrictive toolset (which limits us to working strictly in solid black and solid white), we simply don't really have the means by which to capture certain information. For example - local/surface colour. So, filling in things that are dark or black in surface colour as you did here actually makes the drawing more visually confusing. Instead, it's best to reserve those filled black shapes for cast shadows only.

Aside from that, you are doing a pretty solid job, and I think you should be good to continue on. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete.

Next Steps:

Move onto the 25 wheel challenge, which is a prerequisite for lesson 7.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
3:48 AM, Tuesday February 1st 2022

I'm glad to know my work is looking better.

Briefly on the form intersections, besides a few minor things I'm glad to know it looks good/ that I show a grasp of how the intersections work. As I continue exercising I'll keep it to one color.

For my objects, I can't describe how much a ruler helps me. Free handing is something that is, and will probably always be, an issue, one that will improve with practice surely, but being able to make straight, precise lines, speaks for itself. This is one of the few lessons we've done where I actually kind of felt like I had a decent grasp of it and I'm relieved to know that feeling wasn't just ego or something.

I will say/explain, on the pens. I only used two pens for this lesson, a bic ballpoint and a Castell brush pen for the large blocks of dark/"shade" lines. I did not use a fineliner, I did not switch pens mid drawing, but I know why it looks like I did. I was as light as I could possibly be with the construction and subdivision, then I'd draw the object and draw heavier and heavier (to a fault like with the guitar and such). I'd use the ruler and guides and make sure the lines were clean(ish) and solid. And if they weren't, I made them thicker.

I learned from the cylinders, you told me to be sure I read the whole instruction, and I did. I followed them, reviewed them every couple of sessions, and will continue to do so.

But still, I won't deny the scaffolding of construction lines felt a bit separated as I drew them, I regarded them almost as seperate drawings and (as I already admitted) do go back over lines when I should leave them be. I'll try to keep it all as one thing in my intent, and continue to try to just commit to lines over try to sort of "correct" them by making them fatter. All it does is damage it further. Still, I don't want it to come off like I'm not listening, I am. (Also because text doesn't carry inflection, I will clarify the general emotion on this part is a kind of nervous/panicky "Hold on, wait wait wai-!" kind of feel. Just in case, I know how this can read.)

On the curves, I found it difficult to actually plot out straight edges for the curves to follow without being either a bit arbitrary with where I put the lines or just straight confusing myself. This usually resulted in just one straight line from end to end of where the curve goes and just guessing the curve from point to point (as is apparent with the teapot and hat). Your example on my utility knife helps though, and curves being curves makes them inherently difficult. I'll try to plan them out with more than one line in the future.

Quickly on the surface information coloring bit, I did this more to "hide" how messy the elipses were and clear up the...tines(?) of the fan, to use the brush pan to sort of "crutch" shade and hide mistakes. I shouldn't, (but I was very fed up with that fan). I learned back in plant construction to not try to color/shade things. I still made the "shading" mistake here on more than one, but I don't want you to misinterpret what I show in my work.

Overall though, I'm relieved this one went well enough.

Thank you once again for your time, patience, and knowledge in this thorough critique, I'll see you with my next novel of a comment after I face the true enemy, elipse wheels. Stay safe out there.

5:30 PM, Wednesday February 2nd 2022

While there are circumstances where it's okay to use a thicker pen/brush pen, it should only be used to fill in shapes that have already been outlined (usually this is gonna be for cast shadow shapes). You should absolutely not be making any attempt to hide mistakes or messiness - remember that these drawings are not performances, and the point is not to impress me. The point is for me to help identify your mistakes and suggest ways in which these can be improved upon or addressed.

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