The demos here have been drawn in the course of a student's homework critique, but contain information that can be useful to all working through this material.
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A quick demo construction of a rat.
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I didn't add the notes here that I do to most of my demonstrations, but I felt watching the construction of a moose's head come together as a gif might also be helpful.
Pay attention to how, especially around the muzzle, every mark I put down follows the surface, curvature, and plane distinctions of the form beneath it. This allows additional masses to wrap around the more basic structure in a way that further reinforces, rather than undermines, the illusion that this construction is three dimensional.
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Tapirs have pretty strange heads, but they can still use the same principles we use for any other construction. The key is to remember that they are all made up of 3D forms, and to think of your forms as having planes - a top, a side, a front, a bottom, etc. Don't just stamp them on top as flat shapes.
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This is a pretty detailed demonstration I did for a student who was struggling with the lesson, picking on a donkey in particular. It focuses on all major elements of construction as applied to animals - the basic masses, the use of sausage forms for limbs and torso, the adding of further organic masses that conform to the structure underneath them, etc.
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This one is an analysis of how to construct a puma in a particularly difficult orientation. You'll notice a lot of animal studies look more from the side, yet here not only is the subject in more of a three quarter view, but it's also got its hindquarters in a higher position. Our Discord community came to know this one as the "drama puma", and for those reasons it's a real challenge.
It's also a great example of how all of the drawings we do for this course are exercises. The end result is still pretty messy and confusing, but going through this process can teach you a lot about the nature of the forms that make up this complex animal.
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As we've discussed back in lesson 2 when talking about texture and detail, cast shadows are king. This is just a basic example of how you can convey simple feathers by capturing a few of the shadows that they cast on each other.
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The torso-sausage is the core of any animal, and quite easy to construct. In this demo I actually drew the ribcage way too small, but ignoring that, look at how the sausage is like a water balloon that is being held up by these two solid masses inside of it. The middle sags in the middle, and it remains relatively rounded and simple, conveying solidity and volume.
While a lot of animals will have visible masses and bulk along their spines (on the top), I still construct them in this manner, only adding the additional bulk after the fact similarly to the organic intersections from lesson 2.
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An analysis of how I would gradually build up the construction of this gazelle's head.
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This one's pretty old, but it still shows the principles of construction fairly well. Note that I haven't used the sausage method for the legs, but I'm still applying a lot of the same concepts.
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This one's very old, but I feel like the way it accentuates the volumes and general gestural nature of the legs still makes it valuable in some ways. There is a lot to be learned here, just don't let it cause you to stray from the techniques covered in the main lesson and demos.
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When tackling fur, make sure that you're not going into auto-pilot, trying to cover your silhouette in zigzags. Add specific, intentional, designed tufts of fur along the silhouette. This is what is going to carry the majority of the illusion of fur - you don't even have to put that much.
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Taking the concepts described in the demo above, here I'm applying it to a construction of a raccoon.
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Constructional principles applied to an oryx. Notice how I'm building up the bulk of its back with additional forms, not trying to achieve this all with the torso-sausage.
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A construction of an elephant. Again, I'm not adhering to the sausage technique for the legs here, though they're still reflecting a lot of the gestural qualities that the technique espouses. Remember that these techniques you're learning are intended to teach you the concepts that lay beneath them. Once you get the hang of them - which can take some time and practice - you can then apply them as much or as little as you want.
Just be sure to stick to them when working through these lessons so I can be sure that you're getting a good deal of experience with them.
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.
Having your work reviewed by others is critical, as those who are just starting out aren't in a position to properly judge their own work, and won't be for quite some time. Don't be afraid to show your struggles - it's by analyzing your mistakes that we can help you grow. Perfect homework is not what we're looking for; we just need it to be complete.
There are currently two places you can get your work critiqued by the community - Reddit and our Discord Chat Server.
Both of these are completely free.
If you are interested in receiving extra help, I critique the work of those who support Drawabox on Patreon.
All of these private critiques are done through reddit, in specific threads where students post their work as a comment, including a link to their work (often hosted on Imgur, though most image hosts are okay).
My requirements are more strict than the free community critiques:
The minimum pledge for this lesson is $10.00/month. The orange button above will take you to the reddit thread for this lesson, you can post a link to your work there and I'll be notified. Once I catch the submission, I'll add it to this backlog spreadsheet.
Pledges are collected at the beginning of the following month, but you may start submitting your work immediately. If you're a new patron, I'll be reaching out to your shortly to collect your reddit username.
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