Hello. For first 13 wheels I haven't implemented cast shadows, because I've focused to more understand how to apply complex texture in round wheel form. For wheels with cast shadows I've located the source of light in front, but I'm not shure that I understand how to implement cast shadows in vertical deep form (for example 18, 19, 21, 23 wheels) in this case.
As a whole, your work here is really well done. There are some areas in which your approach to texture isn't entirely in line with what we're doing in this course, and I'll address that, but overall you're very much moving in the right direction and where it's very common for students to outright forget about the textural principles from lesson 2, here you're obviously thinking about how to best apply them.
Starting with your construction, I have no complaints whatsoever. You're using those ellipse guides really well, and you're taking good care of building out those rims/spokes in a specific manner, rather than trying to rough them in more sloppily.
Jumping onto the tire treads, the critical thing to keep in mind is that everything in Drawabox comes down to thinking about the actual forms that are present. When constructing our larger objects, it's pretty obvious - we have to know where each form is, how they relate to one another in 3D space, etc. When dealing with texture however, the problem is the same, but how we actually capture it on the page changes.
It's very easy to start focusing on the patterns that the textural shadows create on your reference object. For example, take a look at 19 - the textural marks you drew are not made up of individual cast shadow shapes. Rather, you've tried to apply a pattern onto the tire's surface. As a result, you haven't really given a clear impression of specific forms that exist there. It's kind of muddy and unclear, hard to distinguish the different forms that are meant to make up the tread.
Wheel 15 on the other hand, has you very clearly thinking about those giant forms, so they're much more clearly defined. The problem here is that you've worked quite explicitly - you constructed each of those big structures, outlining them in their entirety. As far as this particular case goes, it's not really a mistake. There were only three, so there's no harm in having them all be defined so explicitly. Once you start getting into much more complex textures however, the freedom to define them in this manner goes away pretty quickly, because you end up with a very noisy, distracting texture that draws the viewer's attention whether you want it to or not. That is why we employ implicit techniques, as described back in Lesson 2 - that means not outlining your forms, but rather holding your understanding of each individual form in your head, and then drawing the shadow shape it casts on the surrounding surfaces. You did that part (although the cast shadows were somewhat inconsistent, specifically with that lower tread chunk casting a bit of a shadow, or a very thick outline, upwards). The main mistake here is the internal outlines.
All of these issues become much less pronounced when we look at tires with relatively shallow grooves. 17, for instance, is very well done, and 22 is pretty good too.
The last thing I want to stress is that the goal of the texture isn't to shade the wheel as a whole. So cases like 21 stop being about communicating the tire tread, and instead become about communicating the roundedness of the wheel itself through shading (which we already established with the construction itself). Always circle back to the idea that you're communicating (more specifically, implying) the presence of these textural forms to the viewer.
One last thing I want to leave you with is a quick example I like to share. It's not a tire - it's actually based on the scales of a bush viper - but I find that it demonstrates the way in which we can capture the texture of a surface without getting caught up in shading. So, if we choose to push the shadows much farther, as shown in the bottom left of the example, the way in which that curved surface interacts with the light source (ie: shading) becomes more relevant, but your main focus should be on the bare minimum that is needed to establish the texture itself, as shown in the top right. No need to overdo it.
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
Next Steps:
Move onto lesson 7.
Here we're getting into the subjective - Gerald Brom is one of my favourite artists (and a pretty fantastic novelist!). That said, if I recommended art books just for the beautiful images contained therein, my list of recommendations would be miles long.
The reason this book is close to my heart is because of its introduction, where Brom goes explains in detail just how he went from being an army brat to one of the most highly respected dark fantasy artists in the world today. I believe that one's work is flavoured by their life's experiences, and discovering the roots from which other artists hail can help give one perspective on their own beginnings, and perhaps their eventual destination as well.
This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.
