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1:04 PM, Thursday February 23rd 2023

Congrats on completing lesson 6! I'll do my best to give you useful feedback so that you can improve

First, for your form intersections, you've generally done what's expected at this stage which is good. When this exercise is first given in lesson 2 it's meant to plant a seed in your mind to get you thinking about how forms relate to each other in space and as you progress further in the lessons that will gradually develop more. When I look at your work it seems to me that you are still thinking about intersections being between forms instead of the surfaces of forms which is fair as the exercise is literally called form intersections. There are 3 types of surface intersections that can occur, flat-on-flat intersections, flat-on-round intersections and round-on-round intersections.

For example, a box is made up exclusively of flat surfaces - six of them in fact - whereas a sphere consists of just one rounded surface. A cylinder and a cone on the other hand are made up of a combination, with the cylinder having two flat surfaces and one rounded surface between them, and a cone having one flat and one rounded. Thinking about the intersections in this manner - as a line that runs along these surfaces, effectively trying to find that one path that allows it to run along both surfaces simultaneously - helps a fair bit, but we can take that a step further by looking at how the intersection line changes as the forms in question are modified.

This diagram helps to illustrate the point that the surfaces is all that matters. Before I move on I want to point out that some of your linework here looks shakey and unconfident so I recommend reviewing the notes on ghosting before continuing. Finally, this form intersection pack by optimus on discord can further increase your understanding, and if you want perfect form intersections I suggest taking a look at paint 3D to create form intersections yourself.

Moving on to your object constructions, this lesson is the first point at which we really focus on the concept of precision in our constructions. Up until this point, going through Lessons 3-5, we're primarily working in a reactive fashion. We'll put down masses, and where the next masses go depends on how large or small we ended up drawing the previous ones. There's no specific right and wrong, just directions in which we're moving which impact just how closely we matched the reference. You can think of it as a manner of constructing that works from inside out. Conversely, what we're doing here works outside in - everything is determined ahead of time, and as we build out the various aspects of our construction, we either do so correctly based on our intentions, or we miss the mark.

Precision is often conflated with accuracy, but they're actually two different things (at least insofar as I use the terms here). Where accuracy speaks to how close you were to executing the mark you intended to, precision actually has nothing to do with putting the mark down on the page. It's about the steps you take beforehand to declare those intentions.

So for example, if we look at the ghosting method, when going through the planning phase of a straight line, we can place a start/end point down. This increases the precision of our drawing, by declaring what we intend to do. From there the mark may miss those points, or it may nail them, it may overshoot, or whatever else - but prior to any of that, we have declared our intent, explaining our thought process, and in so doing, ensuring that we ourselves are acting on that clearly defined intent, rather than just putting marks down and then figuring things out as we go.

In our constructions here, we build up precision primarily through the use of the subdivisions. These allow us to meaningfully study the proportions of our intended object in two dimensions with an orthographic study, then apply those same proportions to the object in three dimensions. You are definitely making use of the subdivisions when it comes to the constructions themselves, but there are a lot of areas where your work does not employ concepts shared in the lesson that definitely would have helped you get much more out of the exercises. For example if we take a look at your printer, wii U and mouse you've used subdivision to some extent however for the other constructions they seem to have been done very loosely and look rushed. Furthermore, while you did use orthographic plans for your own mouse you didn't use them for other objects. On the topic of orthographic plans, if we take a look at your mouse plans they don't actually give use identifiable landmarks to copy on to the 3d construction. I've drawn over uncomfortable's mouse demo as well as your mouse plan to show what I mean.

The purpose of the orthographic plans is so that we make decisions before going into the construction, so that we don't make decisions and try to think in 3d space at the same time which allows us to get more out of the exercise. Note that I said "making decisions" - this is not about finding the "correct" proportion, but rather deciding which one you will be using. So if you had a drawer face with a handle on it, and that handle extended from the 19/50ths subdivision to the 31/50ths subdivision, that's... a lot to ask of a person. There's not a lot lost in rounding it to 2/5ths and 3/5ths, as long as that rounding doesn't accidentally eliminate some other important elements as a result.

So I'll be assigning a revision of 1 more object. For this object take as much time as necessary to build up the construction slowly and precisely using subdivisions and going as far as you see fit. Also make sure to do an orthographic plan beforehand like you did for the mouse except make it precise and transferable to the 3d construction like this. Finally, make sure you draw curves as straight lines before hand as this further increases precision in the construction. If you have any questions or are unsure about anything don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!

Next Steps:

1 more object construction

  • Precise orthographic studies before drawing the construction

  • Taking as long as you need using subdivision to get the most precise construction possible

  • Drawing curves as straight lines before going in to curve them

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
12:47 AM, Monday March 13th 2023
10:18 AM, Tuesday March 14th 2023
edited at 10:23 AM, Mar 14th 2023

Good job on completing the revision!

The construction looks much better and I can see that you patiently built it up which is exactly what I was looking for. Just a minor point about the subdivisions, If you subdivide one side of the object you generally don't need to subdivide the other side as we won't see it anyway + the lines could end up confusing you. Also I circled some parts in red where the construction is vague. You always want to make sure that you draw curves as straight lines as those are precise and give the construction more solidity. Even if the object ends up looking boxy it's still fine as these are just exercises and aren't meant to look good anyway.

Also if you missed it uncomfortable updated the lesson 6 page https://drawabox.com/lesson/6/1/orthographics with new orthographic information. Having another perspective on orthographic plans could help your understanding of them so make sure you give it a read.

Anyway, I'll mark this lesson as complete, so good luck with the wheel challenge!

Next Steps:

25 Wheel challenge.

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
edited at 10:23 AM, Mar 14th 2023
11:02 PM, Wednesday March 15th 2023

Thank you for taking the time to review my assignments!

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