I should've slowed down a bit I definately rushed some things. Please excuse some of the animals missinga leg as i noticed that while posting the pics on imgur and was too tired to do anything. I will gladly follow revisions, as a matter of fact im 99% sure that I am going to get one : )
Hi, H_R7, here is my critique! Overall I can see improvement, but I can also see this was rushed as you noted yourself. Organizing this is not so helpful for me as it is for you – you forgot to submit the second bird, elephant, 2 random animals of your choice, and the hybrid.
Organic Intersections
I see you are switching the degrees more this time, this is good, a some things you should keep in mind: degrees are higher for forms farther away, you can check this out for a more detailed explanation: https://drawabox.com/lesson/250boxes/1/degree (this applies to everything, not just boxes) Contour axis alignment is mostly good – even when there was no contour axis or it was wrong, you tried to align the ellipses to the correct one, which is great!
shadow wrapping - you have to wrap the shadows around the forms below: don’t let them stick to the forms above! By wrapping them properly you reinforce 3D forms
take your time – fill the shadows properly, there is no rush with Drawabox. You can also use a brush pen or a regular marker for these so you don’t have to fill them with a .5 fineliner for ages.
Birds
the bird construction is actually fairly good and clean. This is how you should approach all your constructions. I suggest you add a bit more to this, like the tail, and enlarge the feet a bit so you can construct them as well. You could have used the branches exercise from lesson 3 for the branch.
there is no 2nd bird
Hooved Quadrupeds
elephant: You started this just like with the bird, I’m happy to see that you used the branches exercise on the trunk – it makes it pop out and feel like a 3D form. You even changed the degrees slightly – well done! Also great job on using tapered cylinders for the “hooves.” You can improve this construction by showing the joints of the leg and drawing through forms. You could also work on confident lines as I see some wobbles on the legs and additional forms on the back.
you posted the same elephant twice
horses: the first horse could also use some extra leg anatomy, as well as ears. The way you approached the construction is great, but I think you should pay a bit more attention to the references. The goal is not to reproduce them perfectly, but it would be good if you tried to stay true to them – try to draw the leg muscles and joints, and don’t forget detail like ears, see this: https://drawabox.com/lesson/5/1/limbs
Also do not go over old lines – ellipses should be drawn through twice, you mostly did this, but I see three passes at times.
If you construct boxes for the muzzle, you can and probably should apply the principles from the 250 boxes challenge. Draw through the boxes, think of perspective. It will make them more solid and correct (mostly applies to hooves).
There are a lot of wobbly lines in your 2nd horse head drawing – this muzzle was very good (the underlying box), I am not sure why these wobbles happened – did you attempt to thicken lines? If so try to do it elsewhere as well (thicker lines bring forms forward, do not use this on contours and auxiliary construction elements). Be careful - think about what it is you want to do, and then do it. Do not go over old lines just to go over old lines.
The 3rd horse has much better leg anatomy but there is still room for improvement. Other than that, the construction looks pretty solid.
Non-Hooved Quadrupeds
cats: your first cat’s underlying construction is good. Even though you made a mistake with the muzzle, it was approached correctly. You are still adding some extra lines the purpose of which is not clear (they make the drawing messy), e.g. the small lines near the main contour of the head above the muzzle, and also in the muzzle. You can also work on using the 250 box challenge for the legs. The 2nd cat was better than the 1st but I still see wobbly lines in the head constructions like with the horses.
bears: these are some of your better constructions. There are fewer repeated lines and almost all of them are confident. The boxes for the paws also look better. I suggest you use ellipsoids here, and add on smaller sausage forms for the fingers. Truly boxy shapes like these are rarely found in nature. I see you broke up some contour lines for the head – don’t! Draw through everything. Also, do add the other legs – it’s extra practice, and try to X-ray these: draw even what you don’t see. It will help you immensely.
Summary
Your constructions improved significantly, it is good to see that you are really trying to see how these forms interact, and use additive construction to your advantage. Actually, very little is holding you back – mostly lines (going over old lines, broken up lines, lack of confidence in some) and missing elements in the drawings – probably because you rushed it.
Take your time, look at the reference. I am certain you can do great.
Also, some parts of the drawings (elephant, cat) look partially erased – are you using pencils? You should use a fineliner only (except for filling shadows). Not even for “preliminary construction.”
Images with examples: https://imgur.com/a/s5R9rGA
Next Steps:
To do these revisions right, you'll have to have patience. Please take your time. You got so much potential. Think of your bird, elephant and bear constructions and apply the same ideas here.
Pay attention to this:
do not repeat lines. You are allowed to thicken them if they are outlines that you can see on the reference (see last image in the examples)
draw through everything when you are constructing your subject
try to stay true to the reference
wrap shadows around the forms
Before doing anything else, I highly recommend you pick a demo for one of the revisions (I will count it as a revision) and try to follow it as closely as possible, all the way to the end (with shadows and texture).
Do the following revisions and forgotten submissions:
1 page of organic intersections – make sure to wrap the shadows around the forms below the form the shadow of which you are drawing. Fill the shadows with a marker / brush pen if you have one
1 more bird and 1 more elephant since they are missing
2 random animals (e.g. lizards, fish, frogs, octopi)
hybrid since it’s missing (feel free to go wild with this one)
2 more non-hooved quadrupeds
I tried to not rush this time and, my drawings actually looks better! Thank you so much for critiquing my work sparrow, really means a lot!
Okay - this is incredible. You really were rushing it.
I see you got the hang of constructions now. This is it.
In some constructions, old problems reappeared - you reverted to subtractive construction* for some detail and the thickened lines are still a bit messy. It would also be good that you tapered the textures a bit more like here https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/6/notransition.
You also seem to have ignored a lot of other instructions for organic intersections (except the shadows, which are much better now): can you try to draw the sausage outline in one or two lines? Because what I see is this "chicken scratching": https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/3/continuous
You already drew these better before in lesson 4. You have to break this habit.
Approach the Organic Intersections exercise just like those forms with contours. Your own image below is a good example of how to draw them.
link from lesson 4 with additive construction and sausage form remarks: https://imgur.com/a/KYLzQNA *
Next Steps:
Because you know how to draw these and still revert to bad habits, do the following:
one more Organic Intersections page (draw the sausages with the same confidence you had in lesson 4 and change the degrees!). Keep using the shadows they are very good now.
redo the fish since you used subtractive constructions there and you mentioned some mistakes as well. Do not cut into the drawing with the comment arrows. Try to apply the points mentioned above (texture, neat line thickness, additive construction).
Lesson 6 and the 250 cylinder challenge will be much more difficult than this, and require incredible patience, especially with construction lines and degree changes, so it is best to get into a habit of doing things right; otherwise, you will find them very tough.
I grinded the sausages cause I wasn't happy with the results nor am I happy with them rn. I don't know why but my line work still looks kinda bad and I didn't do the texture on the fish because I didn't want to but anyways here is the link https://imgur.com/a/XQJRWVO
Stan Prokopenko's had been teaching figure drawing as far back as I can remember, even when I was just a regular student myself. It's safe to say that when it comes to figure drawing, his tutelage is among the best.
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