Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants
11:08 AM, Thursday November 4th 2021
Hi all! Thanks so much for taking a look!
Hi!
I’ve looked at your drawings since I’ve seen you’ve been waiting for a long time.
First off, your arrows look fantastic, and I see that you are doing your best to follow instructions on drawing leaves. You break up your detail strokes as recommended and take care of the flow lines. So great work! The things I would like to point out as mistakes are not following your “plan” (first leaf, top left – it’s not in its “envelope,” see picture) repeating lines.
The envelope is there to help you: envelope image
For some reason there are several arrows and leaves where you went over your first stroke and created “fraying.”
This makes your drawings look messy so try to avoid it in the future. If you need a heavier stroke, try using more pressure (it will cook cleaner).
Note: this does not apply to ellipses, they should be drawn through twice which you are doing, so good job with them!
Your branches also have some fraying but that is to be expected since it’s likely your first time doing it and it is part of the technique. So I wouldn’t say that is a mistake. A lot of them look really nice so keep it up! The only thing you might want to keep an eye on in the future is the degree of the ellipses. You did change it in some branches, but don’t be afraid to make it more extreme.
The repeating lines thing also appears in your plant constructions (with leaves), and a lot of leaves start becoming stiff later on (straight flow lines).
For your first image (with the mushrooms), draw through the leaves (lower right). Good job with your branches!
For the second, use more curvy lines for the leaves, and you seem to have forgotten the ellipses in the branches on the left.
Third one is really good, I see curvy lines, ellipses change their degrees. That’s it!
Fourth looks like a top down view so this might be why the leaves look straightened out. Don’t be afraid to draw through the other leaves. Looks good.
Fifth, you’ve drawn through your leaves and branches, good job! Do this with other drawings too (what we’re drawing here is more of an x-ray, rather than an ordinary photo).
Sixth, much better, less fraying, all x-ray, more curvy lines. Good job!
Seventh, this one contains a lot of what we’re aiming for, single line leaves, good branches with ellipses and bit by bit drawing, very good.
Eighth, this one got a bit messy because of the repeating lines.
Overall, I believe you did an excellent job, it is simply the repeating lines and their fraying that makes your drawings look really messy.
Next Steps:
Pick one or two plants and try to redo them without repeating straight lines (and fraying). Use ghosting and pressure to help you. This will make your drawings look much cleaner! Also, use confident strokes to avoid wobbly lines (it doesn't matter if you leave your intended trajectory a bit). One line, one stroke.
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.
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