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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.
It is important to keep in mind that these demonstrations have been done over the course of years. Given that the specific aspects of the lesson have changed over time as the material has been rewritten to either clarify or further develop how certain principles are applied, the older the demonstrations get, the more likely they are to have elements that are no longer fully consistent with how the material is covered now.
Be sure to look at the demonstrations critically - if they're listed here, they are done so because they are still of value, in some area or another. That said, if they contradict principles stressed in a more recent demonstration, remember that the more recent demonstration will always supplant the older.
The demonstrations higher in the list are newer, those further down are older.
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The eye sockets are an incredibly important part of head construction, and often students will draw them too small, or without enough care to properly reflect this.
The cranial ball we start with is a rounded, smooth surface. Heads, however - regardless of species, with humans included - are actually a combination of flatter planes. The trick to head construction is figuring out how to build up to the correct arrangement of flat planes. Figuring out where to actually draw the edges between them.
The eye sockets are our first introduction to straight(-ish) edges, taking an otherwise rounded ball and laying the groundwork for separating it into a series of planes. Once in place, we can start connecting the other facial elements to it - a footprint for the muzzle, which can then be extruded out, as well as the brow ridge and the cheekbones.
All these pieces fit snugly to one another, rather than floating loosely without any clear relationships. The head is a three dimensional puzzle, and once completed, you can think of each of these forms as chunks that fit perfectly into one another, all buttressing around the eye socket.
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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.
This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.
I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, so you may want to shop around. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.
No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.
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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