Hello Stonefree, I'm ThatOneMushroomGuy and I'll be the TA handling your critique today.

Arrows

Starting with your arrows you're drawing your marks with a great deal of confidence which helps solidify the feeling of fluidity that arrows posses as they move through all the three dimensions of the world they exist in. You're keeping foreshorting in mind while constructing your arrows which allows you to make really good use of perspective and the depth of your page, this gives a great extra layer of tridimensionality to your arrows.

Your usage of hatching helps you establish how your arrows twist and turn in space and further your own understanding of the tridimensional space these objects occupy. As a finishing touch to your arrows, don't forget to make use of added line weight on top of the overlaps in order to reinforce their depth.

Generally you're doing a good job with this exercise, I'd like to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone more often the next time you tackle this exercise in order to keep pushing yourself. Try arrows with different kinds of twists and turns and different rates of foreshortening, keep in mind that arrows are very flexible objects and can move freely across the world in all sorts of manners, so you should push yourself and explore the different possibilities.

Leaves

The linework for your leaves is looking smooth which helps communicate their fluidity and sense of energy, it's good that you're not only trying to capture how these structures sit statically within space, but also how they move across it from moment to moment.

There are a couple of things that can be improved in your leaf constructions, for example in this structure I've noticed that certain parts of your linework were more faint. If this was intentional, be sure to keep the line thickness for each phase of construction roughly consistent, so as not to encourage yourself to redraw more than you strictly need to.

It's good to see that you're also experimenting with some more complex types of leaf structures, and doing so by following the instructions, which allows you to create a much tighter and more solid looking structure that still feels flexible and energetic.

You're not always making use of edge detail in your pages, edge detail would have greatly helped you further communicate the form of your structures and how they move through space, but by not adding it they're left very simple, so make sure to add edge detail whenever possible, and remember that only the last step of leaf construction - texture - is optional.

In the times where you are making use of edge detail it's good to see that you're not trying to capture more than one piece of edge detail at a time which is good, but you're often constructing it subtractively which should be avoided as much as possible, make sure to always construct your edge detail carefully, and additively, on top of your construction, as cutting back into our forms can cause us to focus too much on manipulating the 2d shapes on the page, instead of how our marks represent edges in tridimensional space.

And lastly your addition of texture is another area that can be improved upon, your marks are all very small and timid, and when they're not they cover a large area that can't logically be a cast. This approach prevents you from fully capturing the texture of these leaf structures.

There's much more going on in the surface of these structures than just a few marks implying veins and we can do a lot more to more accurately communicate this type of texture, take a look at this informal demo on how to approach leaf texture and make sure to give these reminders on how texture works in Drawabox a read.

Branches

For your branches you're deviating from the instructions for this exercise which affects the quality of your work and stops you from getting the most out of this page.

While it's good to see that you're drawing your edges in segments, when you start a new segment you do so around the point where your last mark ended, instead of starting it at the previous ellipse point and superimposing your new mark on top of the preexisting one, this effectively removes the healthy overlaps we want to achieve between marks, causing you to lose control over your marks more easily.

So remember how branches should be approached, by having your segment start at the first ellipse point, extending it past the second ellipse and fully up to the halfway point to the third ellipse, afterwards you'll start a new segment, making sure to place your pen at the second ellipse and repeat this pattern until your entire branch is complete.

This also causes a lot more visible tails to appear in your branch structures, but this is a very common mistake and your accuracy will naturally improve the more you practice this exercise. You may find that by limiting the amount of ellipses in your branches and spacing them further apart you'll allow for a bigger length of runway between ellipses and find it easier to ensure a smoother, more seamless transition between marks.

For ellipses it's good to see that you're making an attempt to always draw through them twice, as that allows for a smoother mark overall, however your branches are looking a little bit too loose because at times you draw through them three, four, or even five this. Aim to draw through them two times only, although three is also acceptable.

When it comes to your application of the ellipse degree shift to your branches it can be improved, it's good to see that you're aware of it, but there are times where your degrees change don't follow the rules for the degree shift and at times they are too consistent and hardly change which is a mistake that flattens your structures. Remember that as a form shifts in relation to the viewer, so will the degree of the ellipses within that structure also shift.

Plant Construction Section

And lastly let's take a look at your plant constructions, which are generally coming along well made. For the most part you're sticking to the construction methods and techniques introduced in the lesson which allows you to construct some really solid looking and believably tridimensional structures, you're demonstrating a strong, developing sense of spatial reasoning in these pages.

Of course, there are always things we can improve, so here are the points you should keep in mind whenever you tackle these exercises again, so that you can continue to improve your skills.

I strongly recommend not drawing on both sides of your page if your marks show through the paper as this may encourage you to be sloppier with your marks. If you wish to make the most use of the paper after you have taken pictures of your work and submitted it for review.

The biggest issue that is noticeable right away in your work is the fact that you're pre-planning the amount of constructions you want to fit in your page before you've even started any of them.

There are generally two things we must allow ourselves when tackling these exercises in order to get the most out of them, these are time and space, in this case, you're not always allowing yourself enough space when approaching these exercises because you're pre-planning the amount of structures you wish to fit on any given page. This artificially limits the space your brain has to work through the spatial reasoning challenges that naturally arise as we tackle these exercises, as well as your ability to thoroughly apply the techniques introduced in the lesson.

Always keep in mind what the purpose for a boundary that you're laying down is, in this construction there's an ellipse that denotes a boundary - but no forms abide by it. As such it doesn't help you maintain the proportions of your structure and only makes the construction more messy, always be mindful of the marks you're laying down and what they are for, if a boundary does not serve a clear purpose and your forms don't abide by it it may as well not exist.

Make sure to make use of additional lineweight as a finishing touch to your constructions in order to help clarify the distinctions between the overlaps of the forms.

Final Thoughts

In general your work is moving in the right direction, you're usually following the instructions to the exercises and your work is starting to look tridimensional due to that, there are only a couple of issues which hold you back from your full potential.

Despite these issues I believe you're ready to tackle the spatial reasoning challenges found in the next lesson, as such I'm going to be marking this submission as complete. Good luck in Lesson 4.

Hello leviathanrich, I'm ThatOneMushroomGuy and I'll be the TA reviewing your work today.

Arrows

Starting with your arrows your linework is looking smooth and confident which helps you communicate a good feeling of fluidity in your arrows, but there is an issue present in your arrows. Take a look at the example homework page and notice how every single mark is visible, everything is drawn through, this allows us to maintain the proportions of our structures consistent. This is not always the case with your structures, so do not forget to draw through every single form you draw in this course. You're keeping foreshortening in mind as you construct your arrows which gives them an extra layer of tridimensionality.

Your addition of hatching helps you establish how your arrows twist and turn in space and allows you to further your own understanding of the tridimensional space these structures occupy. But speaking of hatching it's possible to see in your arrows moments where you have placed your hatching incorrectly making it seem as if your arrow is getting bigger the further away it is, and getting smaller the closer it gets to the viewer, which goes against the rules of perspective.

• In very simplistic terms perspective works in the following manner: things that are further away from the viewer will look smaller, and as they get closer they'll look bigger. When an object of consistent size and width moves through space certain segments of this object will look bigger and others smaller, either gradually or dramatically depending on the perspective of the scene. As a rule of thumb the bigger part of the arrow will be the one that's closest to the viewer, and so the segment behind it should be the one receiving the hatching.

It's good that you're making use of added line weight on top of the overlaps in order to reinforce their depth, but don't forget that this must be added subtly, with a single mark superimposed on top of the overlaps only.

Leaves

The linework for your leaves is looking smooth and confident. The fluidity present in your arrows is translating nicely into these new structures, and it's good to see that you're not only trying to capture how these structures sit statically within space, but also how they move across it from moment to moment.

It's good to see that you've experimented with more complex leaf structures but remember not to skip construction steps when approaching these more intricate structures.

This leaf structure is looser than it could be, because you attempted to capture the complex shape right away, instead of gradually constructing each individual arm, respecting the boundaries you've laid down and only then connecting the structure together.

Despite complex structures being well, complex, it's still important to start simple and slowly move towards complexity so that you can ensure that your constructions are always solid and have clear and defined relationships between the different stages of construction.

Your addition of edge detail can use some work, it's very sparse but edge detail would have greatly helped you further communicate the form of your structures and how they move through space, by not adding it they're left very simple, so make sure to add edge detail whenever possible, and remember that only the last step of leaf construction - texture - is optional.

In the cases where you are making use of edge detail there are a couple of changes that can be made in order to communicate it more clearly. You are sometimes zigzagging your edge detail which is a mistake that goes against the third principle of mark-making from Lesson 1 and must be avoided.

Despite it's name edge detail is actually another step of the construction method that helps further communicate the form of your leaf structure and how it moves through space, it's important that the marks you put down are all thought through and executed carefully, they must come up from the outer edge mark, establish your edge detail and then seamlessly integrate back into the outer edge mark.

You must also make sure to always construct your edge detail and additively, on top of your construction, as cutting back into our forms can cause us to focus too much on manipulating the 2d shapes on the page, instead of how our marks represent edges in tridimensional space.

Branches

For your branches you are starting to move in the right direction, but there are a couple of times where you're not taking the time to follow the instructions as closely and this affects the quality of your work.

While it's good to see that you're drawing your edges in segments, there are times where you draw your segments for longer than you should have, or times where you start a new segment around the point where your last mark ended instead of at the previous ellipse point, which partially removes the healthy overlaps we want to achieve between marks, causing you to lose control over your marks more easily.

So remember how branches should be approached, by having your segment start at the first ellipse point, extending it past the second ellipse and fully up to the halfway point to the third ellipse, afterwards you'll start a new segment, making sure to place your pen at the second ellipse and repeat this pattern until your entire branch is complete.

There are a lot of visible tails that appear in your branch structures, but this is a very common mistake and your accuracy will naturally improve the more you practice this exercise. You may find that by limiting the amount of ellipses in your branches and spacing them further apart you'll allow for a bigger length of runway between ellipses and find it easier to ensure a smoother, more seamless transition between marks.

For your ellipses I've noticed you're not always drawing through them two full times, at points you're only drawing the part closest to the viewer, as if it was a contour mark, if this is the case, remember that for branches you must draw the ellipses in it's entirety, and when doing so you must always draw through them at least two times for every one of them you make in this course.

When it comes to your application of the ellipse degree shift to your branches it can be improved, it's good to see that you're aware of it, but there are times where your degrees change don't follow the rules for the degree shift and at times they are too consistent and hardly change which is a mistake that flattens your structures. Remember that as a form shifts in relation to the viewer, so will the degree of the ellipses within that structure also shift.

Plant Construction Section

And lastly let's take a look at your plant constructions, which are generally coming along well made. For the most part you're sticking to the construction methods and techniques introduced in the lesson which allows you to construct some really solid looking and believably tridimensional structures, you're demonstrating a strong, developing sense of spatial reasoning in these pages.

But there are a couple of things that can be improved in your work, so here are the points you should keep in mind whenever you tackle these exercises again, so that you can continue to improve your skills.

The biggest issue that is noticeable right away in your work is the fact that you're pre-planning the amount of constructions you want to fit in your page before you've even started any of them.

There are generally two things we must allow ourselves when tackling these exercises in order to get the most out of them, these are time and space, in this case, you're not always allowing yourself enough space when approaching these exercises because you're pre-planning the amount of structures you wish to fit on any given page. This artificially limits the space your brain has to work through the spatial reasoning challenges that naturally arise as we tackle these exercises, as well as your ability to thoroughly apply the techniques introduced in the lesson.

Even in your pages where you started to draw a single construction per page you're still leaving a lot of unused blank space that you could have used, this would allow you not only more room to work through the spatial reasoning challenges that arise when tackling these exercises, but also give you enough space to fully engage your whole arm, so in general draw bigger.

In addition to this, I recommend that you don't draw earlier phases of construction with a fainter line and later ones with thicker marks as this is going to encourage you to approach construction as though you're redrawing everything at every step. Instead, we're simply building upon the existing structure, modifying what's already there at each stage. There are things that simply won't need alteration, and therefore the marks that defined them from the start should be able to stand for themselves when you're done, without being redrawn or traced over needlessly.

When approaching cylindrical structures such as plant pots and mushrooms make sure to start with a minor axis in order to keep your several ellipses aligned to each other more easily.

It's good to see that you are making use of contour lines in order to communicate the volume of your structures such as in your persian carpet flower construction, but be careful that you're not cutting back into the forms that you've already drawn, like you do here.

Because we're drawing on a flat piece of paper, we have a lot of freedom to make whatever marks we choose - it just so happens that the majority of those marks will contradict the illusion you're trying to create and remind the viewer that they're just looking at a series of lines on a flat piece of paper. In order to avoid this and stick only to the marks that reinforce the illusion we're creating, we can force ourselves to adhere to certain rules as we build up our constructions. Rules that respect the solidity of our construction.

For example - once you've put a form down on the page, do not attempt to alter its silhouette. Its silhouette is just a shape on the page which represents the form we're drawing, but its connection to that form is entirely based on its current shape. If you change that shape, you won't alter the form it represents - you'll just break the connection, leaving yourself with a flat shape. We can see this most easily in this example of what happens when we cut back into the silhouette of a form.

Ease up on your lineweight, it's thick, with several passes going over the same marks and jump from one form's silhouette to another, which smooths everything out too much. Almost as if you pulled a sock over a vase, it softens the distinctions between the forms and flattens the structures out somewhat.

Instead lineweight must be subtle, used only to clarify the overlaps between the forms that are being built up, as explained here.

Final Thoughts

In general your work is moving in the right direction, you're usually following the instructions to the exercises and your work is starting to look tridimensional due to that, there are only a couple of issues which hold you back from your full potential.

Despite these issues I believe you're ready to tackle the spatial reasoning challenges found in the next lesson, as such I'm going to be marking this submission as complete. Good luck in Lesson 4.