Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction
9:34 PM, Friday January 26th 2024
Here's my submission for Lesson 1. I drew some of these awhile ago. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks!
Hi there Razgriz! Great job on finishing this lesson. Here's some feedback:
Arrows:
For your arrows, make sure to not hatch. Make one confident line and don't correct it. Adding lineweight is fine, but don't do it in little bits. Ghost this lineweight line also. I say this because sometime the lines are a little wobbly. With hatching too, make sure to not just move your hand back and forth and do all the lines in one go, but focus on each invidivual line when hatching! Your confidence on the big lines improves a lot in the second page. Keep it up!
Organic Forms:
Your organic forms look pretty good! Do make sure that the axes are kind of in the middle of the ellipse, and they don't drift to the top or bottom. Also, as the ellipses change their orientation, they become narrower and wider. Your ellipses don't really change in width this much, except for one on the left, so this is something you could improve. Also make sure to draw through your ellipses 2-3 times. Don't draw them just once, or go over them 4 times, like I see in some of them.
Your C's hook nicely around the forms on the second page, but I would watch out for this: Demo And also keep in mind the changing of degree of these, even though they aren't ellipses.
Texture analysis:
For your texture analysis, I can really see that you put a lot of time into these, but it's not necessary to draw every individual feather or scale! Instead, this exercise focuses on creating a transition from dense to sparse marks. This wage, the left of the texture is fully black, and the right is fully white. I think you struggle with messyness a little bit on this one, as some of your lines are hatchy instead of fluid and confident. I think that is in part because you draw every individual element, which is too much work. I would really like you to redo this exercise and create a very clear transition from full black to full white.
Dissection:
Your dissections suffer from the same issue of drawing every single detail, and you hatch on many of them. Don't hatch! Remember, you're not supposed to represent actual light, but this is about drawing the 3D differences in the texture. So if something is darker, don't hatch it to represent that. Keep it light, but only indicate the 3D differences. Some of your shapes are empty also. If you fill these in with these improvements, that could help a lot.
Intersections:
You didn't intersect your boxes on the first page, and I think this made you struggle more with the rest of the exercise, because it only gets more complicated from there. You did great on the ball intersecting with the box on the bottom left of the page marked as "4" though! This one very clearly follows the curve of the ball. The right edge of that ball, though, doesn't make the same amount of sense. When intersecting these forms, it can help to not just draw the side you see, but to draw through the forms in a sort of "x-ray vision" so that you can see the whole intersection even in the area that is covered. But when it comes to boxes, you need to make sure that the intersections follow the box's perspective, and don't go into a different direction. I think if you redo this page and this time really pay attention and look at examples, it will go much better. Don't rush it!
Organic Intersections:
This one is really good! Apart from previous issues with somewhat wobbly lines and correcting your lines (don't correct them), you can clearly see where the shapes are, which ones are top. There's just one thing, which is that they don't all feel like they have the right weight to them - or that it's not realistic for them to be in this position. I'd expect them to roll off or fall down. Take a look at this to see what I'm talking about.
Conclusion:
This is a very great start! But I don't think you took the time for all exercises, and some of them are unfinished. I'd like you to:
1) Redo one texture analysis. This time, pay attention to the 3D effect instead of each individual element. Create a very clear transition from dense (full black) to sparse (full white).
2) Finish the dissections on your page that are empty right now. Make a clearer transition from dense to sparse again and don't draw every individual element. Also make sure to not rush it, don't hatch, and think well about each mark you make.
3) Add more boxes to your first page of Form Intersections so that there's more overlap, and then draw the intersections they have. You can also choose to redo this page from the start.
4) Redo one page of intersections that mixes boxes and other shapes.
Make these, send them to me and I will look at them and then mark your stuff as complete!
Next Steps:
1) Redo one texture analysis. This time, pay attention to the 3D effect instead of each individual element. Create a very clear transition from dense (full black) to sparse (full white).
2) Finish the dissections on your page that are empty right now. Make a clearer transition from dense to sparse again and don't draw every individual element. Also make sure to not rush it, don't hatch, and think well about each mark you make.
3) Add more boxes to your first page of Form Intersections so that there's more overlap, and then draw the intersections they have. You can also choose to redo this page from the start.
4) Redo one page of intersections that mixes boxes and other shapes.
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback. I've redone the texture analysis and the dissections. As for the other exercises I think I'm just going to have to redraw the other 2 pages.
I don't think either one is that good and I think I'd be better off just starting again.
I'll add other comments once they're done.
Thanks.
Hi Razgriz,
Great job on the revisions so far! The texture analysis transitions are looking much much better and I can't clearly identify a black or white bar on the sides anymore. Awesome!
I do still see that you outline every form in the middle. This suggests to me that you're still thinking in lines instead of shapes and cast shadows.
Even when you do draw a line, try to approach it like a shapes - because even if a shape is very thin, "actual" lines don't exist in nature! Example
So although your gradient is pretty good, I'm still seeing that outlining happen in the middle. Take a look at this example. See how the scales aren't outlined - but instead the shadows between them are accentuated? That's what you're going for!
I'm seeing that the textures you added on the dissections exercise still suffer from this outlining issue, and there's no transition from dense to sparse. I think for you it might be more valuable to do just one more of these dissections - just a single shape, don't even fill the page. And pay real close attention to how to suggest the texture without outlining. I think this is more important than the intersections exercise - that one is complicated and will come back later anyway.
If you do that, you don't have to do 2 pages of intersections - just do 1. That exercise is complicated and you're not expected to get it yet. It will come back later anyway.
One last note: because you're not drawing light, but you're instead drawing the 3D differences in your forms, you shouldn't draw materials like brass, glass, and chrome that are reflective. Apologies, I missed those on my first look.
Next Steps:
A single dissections shape (one organic form cut in a few sections). With the textures, pay very close attention to the cast shadows, and don't outline shapes/draw lines. Think 3D!
One page of intersections (instead of 2). On one half, draw mostly boxes. The other can contain other shapes also.
Hi Apologies for the long time between responses. I've been very busy with work and struggling to make time for drawing but here's my two redos of those exercises. Sorry, I forgot you said not to do shiny surfaces.
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