Strongly recommended that this lesson be done traditionally with a 0.5mm felt tip marker. Your results will likely not be as helpful if it's done digitally. Of course, it's up to you.
If you've done the previous lessons, you should be building up your ability to ignore the overwhelming detail in your subject and break it down into its simplest shapes and forms. This is going to be a hell of a lot more of that.
If you can, try doing this at a zoo - or at least, try doing the 'quick warmup sketches' that aim at exploring the animal's proportions there. Seeing the animals live definitely helps understand how they move around, and how they're built. It's always hard to draw living things from life, since they're always moving - but the majority of animals are exhibited in groups, which means that if one sleeping zebra gets up, there's a lot more zebra butts that are still lying down. That's an issue that is also common to drawing people, and the solution is much the same. The world is just a zoo for people!
As always, even if your drawing feels like crap, keep pushing through it. It may look like crap at the end as well, but everyone makes mistakes, and everyone needs to learn how to recover from them and save the drawing. Or how not to do it.
Bonus Content
As always, here's the album of my own sketches. The cassowaries, rhinos and lions were done from photo reference, and all the others were done live at the LA Zoo. I've included the shittier pages (I could never figure out those goddamn warty pigs, and the buggers kept on moving!) to show you that not everything comes out well. In fact, most things tend to come out badly. BUT IT IS FOR THE LEARNING THAT WE KEEP DOING THEM! HUZZAH!
Homework
Minimum of 8 pages of animals. A bunch of quicker warm-up sketches, exploring the general form, construction and proportion of the animals. How the segments of their body relate to one another and such. Then do two or three more detailed drawings. The lesson sheet says one animal per page, but you're welcome to devote more pages to a single animal - but I do want you to do a LOT of exploration of each animal. As much as you can.
As always, all questions and homework submissions go in the comments.
Animals definitely are difficult, especially since you have to start thinking about gesture and motion on top of form, volume, contours, etc.
The ones you've shown me are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are pretty good (some of the panda heads, the rear view of the hippo, the chipmunk heads), but I think all of them are still showing the same weaknesses overall. They're coming out very flat.
This makes me think that there might be an issue in your lay-ins. In some cases, I'm having trouble seeing any lay-in at all - for example, the front view standing kangaroo and at least some of your black footed ferrets. For the ones where there does seem to be a lay-in, it doesn't look like you're treating those basic forms as having 3D qualities - front, side, bottom planes, etc. This is basically the direction I was moving in step #3 of my breakdown.
Secondly, there are many instances of your crosshatching/texturing/detailing going WAY out of hand. You should really be using the focal-point-circle technique that I mention in this lesson, and I know I pointed that out to you in the plants lesson. While my bigger concern is with avoiding over detailing (the big komodo dragon), it will also help keep you from under-detailing, since you'll basically be able to go nuts within that particular radius.
I'm going to ask you to do a bunch more, but before I do that, I want to see how you approach your animal drawing. Take this reference photo of a Markhor and draw it. Take photos of all 5 stages I drew out in the lesson. Stage 4's kind of iffy, so just take a photo somewhere between 3 and the final polished stage. I'll hopefully be able to use those to get a better understanding of your approach.
Good work on the volume of your work though - 25 animals is a lot, and I'm sure the practice was well worth while. We'll just sort out your direction so you can study a little more efficiently.
One thing that I have realized just now is I'm probably going to my 'happy place' and zone out and just draw without putting much thought into what I'm doing MUCH too early into the process, without being mindful about what I'm doing.
I'll pay more attention to that from now on.
How many additional pages would you like me to do?
Okay, you're making a handful of mistakes in your process, mostly in your lay-in. Here's an overdrawing that explains. Basically you are being too dainty and timid with your underdrawing and in doing so, you end up with a weak, flat scaffolding. This ultimately impacts your final drawing.
Your lay-in needs to be more complete. Draw whole, clean forms. A complete ellipse, etc. I'd also like you to draw simple contour lines to help yourself understand the volume behind these forms.
Awesome work! Your forms look way more 3D now, each is conveying a strong sense of volume and space. I especially like the flamingos, elephants and dobermans. BIG improvement!
So, I am having some serious issues with this project. I went ahead and stopped what I was doing to see if you can take a look at what I've done, Because I definitely need your advice on this one. Trying to get away from super scratchy lines is really messing with me I feel like every stroke I lay down is wrong. And I don't know if I am putting in my layins incorrectly or what, But I cant seem to stick to the original lay in. My drawings just seem to get away from them and then I just have these awkward little circles floating in the middle of my drawings. The cheetah one is just... SoBad... I can't even look at it haha.
Anyways, I just wanted to see if you could help me out at all and then I will start over. I had actually "started over" on all of these but each one was worse then the last :/
Honestly, they're not as bad as you make them out to be. I really love your bears (the top one shows a great approach). The squirrels aren't bad either, but I think the lower one just shows that you need to get more used to approximating the sizes of forms. You'll pick that up - and you are picking that up - over time.
With the camel though, I'm noticing that you're thinking of those circles/spheres very much as the shoulders/hips, where the limbs attach? Focus on the ribcage (which should be big) and the pelvis (somewhat smaller) as your major block-in forms.
Your cheetah is hilarious. I can see that you were trying to pull the contour line trick - and it kind of works for the rear leg - but of course it looks weird since the contour lines are artificially added.
Here's a mini assignment I gave /u/tmku when he was having trouble.
Take this reference photo of a Markhor and draw it. Take photos of all 5 stages I drew out in the lesson. Stage 4's kind of iffy, so just take a photo somewhere between 3 and the final polished stage. I'll hopefully be able to use those to get a better understanding of your approach.
Basically, give me a snapshot of your steps, when drawing from that particular reference image. We'll see if there's anything you're distinctly doing wrong, so we can correct it.
Something else I wanted to mention - I like your approach to detail for this lesson. You're not overbearing, you're indicating a lot of the detail from the edges instead of filling up the main areas. It's very easy to look at and digest, so kudos for that.
Hahah I told you! Ima go ahead and burn that drawing now. And will do! Ill get right on it! And thank you about the edge quality! I picked it up in the plant lesson!
It looks like you're pretty much on the right track. Your proportions are off, but honestly mine were too when I tried drawing this goddamn Markhor. Either way, practice will improve that.
So really there's nothing to worry about. If I had one piece of advice to give, it'd be to mind the different planes of the torso - he's got an underside too, so be sure to, at least mentally, separate those different sides.
If you want to do some more animals, feel free, but you're free to move onto the next lesson when you feel ready.
Hello again! Sorry about the delay, was gone for the thanksgiving holidays. Anyways, I went ahead and drew some more animals.. I feel like I am getting the hang of it a little more. Also, I am not sure if this is cheating according to your lesson or not, but I started doing my layins with red ink? Its still a felt tip pen, its just easier for me to keep things clean this way. If you would prefer me to go back to only using black, I totally will.
I'm a bit on the fence, but I think it's best for you to work strictly in black. The reason is that when you work with the different colours, you start to do other little things to keep things clean and tidy. For example, your deer's limbs haven't been developed as 3D forms.
Still, I do think you're doing quite a bit better! Your detailing is great, just keep pushing yourself to think and draw in 3D.
It took me by surprise that I really started enjoying the exercise starting with the cats (I tossed a few of the previous pages)... It helped me relaxed quite a bit and I think it shows in a couple of my later drawings.
I love the way the biggest French bulldog turned out... I could draw them for ages :D
Nice work! I really like your herons. It's great that you experimented with so many different animals in all sorts of poses and situations. For the most part, you're doing very well. More practice is required, of course, but you have the bulk of it down.
For the antelope-type-things, or really anything with long legs like that, I'd definitely recommend finding your ground plane. The more landmarks you can throw down, the better you'll be able to judge proportions.
Also, for the cats - since we see a lot of their faces, always remember that there's a lot of structure and form under the face. Trying to find out how to separate the face into a series of planes so you can construct a 3D mesh in your head will definitely help you out in that area. It's very similar to drawing human faces in that way.
I really like that mouse in the top left corner too. Simple, not much detail, but there's great form there.
Thank you for the exercise. These are bad but I figured I should upload it so I can get a better idea on what to do. I alternated between doing looser sketches and more detailed sketches to try to better understand the subject, but it just caused me to overlook a lot of errors I was making. I also decided to try messing around and try different ways to sketch or capture the whole form, but in the process I repeat a lot of mistakes. sorry.
I'm actually quite impressed. You experimented a lot, and some of those experiments didn't work out, while others worked out better. You clearly applied a lot of the concepts we've been covering over the past few lessons (contour lines, form intersections) and also played with different, more organic approaches.
I really like the cats (and possibly a few dogs?) at the bottom of the first page. They're very gestural, but the proportions and the shape relationships are well done, even if they're loose sketches. Second page is hilariously bad (mostly the faces), but it happens when you experiment. The only way to learn is to make mistakes!
I can start to see a more solid construction coming out with the rats. They're still loose, but they're coming together, and starting to hold more form.
I really love your ducks. Page 5's got some really neat constructions. The boxy one is especially cool - you've captured the essence of a duck, but it's just boxes. Unrefined, but still very well communicated.
The big duck on page 6 is lacking some of the solidity of the previous ones, but I like how you developed a clear focal point around its head, with the fine detailing in contrast with the looseness of the rest of its body. It's a great example of setting up a hierarchy of focal points and density of detail.
The lizards are looking really nice too. Again, they're loose, but they're doing a good job of capturing the 3D form and volume - especially the middle one.
I like these drawings a lot, but I'd like to see you do a couple more pages of tighter drawings. Feel free to do more experimentation and loose sketches to get a good sense of what you're going to draw, but in the end, submit to me two pages that combine the construction and solidity of your lizards and your quick duck sketches, with the careful application of detail and focal areas of the larger duck on page 6.
Also don't feel like you need to rush to complete these. I see that you've been going through the lessons pretty quickly - taking a break might help you digest what you've learned.
Nice! I'm really loving the frogs at the end, the forms are really well put together. Your method for shading is a little too noisy for my taste though - all of the little hatching lines create areas of very intense contrast, which draws the eyes. In some cases, you've managed the focal points quite well (the two top frogs), but in the one beneath, I can't help but look at its back.
The ostriches are really well done as well, especially the two full-body ones. The detailing on the head's pretty neat, but it's looking a little flat. It doesn't look like you did much in the way of lay-in on the head structure, so that's probably the reason. The gait of the one on the top right is really good - it feels like it was caught right in the middle of its stride, and like it's eager to burst forwards. Lots of tension, well done.
Page 2's alright - quadroped animals like this have been difficult for me as well, Something about the legs throws off my sense for proportions, and ends up making the whole thing feel a bit more rigid. Looks like the same thing's happening here. I'm sure it's just a matter of practice, more on the observational side than technique. Good attempts at construction though, I can see you trying to put them together one form at a time.
One thing that may help is to place a mass for the ribcage, and a mass for the pelvis. For example, here's a critique I did for someone else a while back. The first step (on the right) shows me blocking in the head, ribcage and pelvis. Admittedly, I should have been more complete with my forms - drawing full ellipses instead of sketchy little approximate messes. Still, the idea is there.
I really like the second turtle head study, and the textural study below. Working with those dark, black shapes adds a lot of interest without increasing the contrast too much. One tip I have is to use more smaller shapes as you transition to regular, clear space.
Overall, nice work! I think you've done enough to consider the lesson complete. You still definitely need work and practice, but I think you've done a good job of digesting and applying a lot of the concepts in this lesson. When you feel comfortable and ready, go ahead and move onto the next lesson.
I'm quite unhappy with most of these. One problem in all of them is that they are all very messy.
1 (leopards) - I don't really like any of them. number 4 and 3 look okay I guess
2 (Rhino) - I think these are the best I have done. I especially like number 3, but I also think I did a good job on number 2. I don't know why these are so good (compared to the rest).
3. (Panda) - I think, even though there are some issues with proportions, they are all fairly good except for #5 which looks really flat.
4. (warthog) these are ridiculously bad.
5. (flamingo) I guess these are better than the warthogs, but they are still pretty bad.
6. (elephants) I decided to draw elephants because I thought since they sort of look like rhinoceroses they might turn out pretty good. They're not great, but better than the warthog and flamingo sketches. I sort of like #2 and #1
7. (hippo) again I tried an animal that sort of looks like a rhinoceros. They did not turn out very good except for #3 that sort of looks okay.
8. (kangaroo) None of these are that good. I tried to put in some texture, but I thought it was hard and it does not look good. #5 and #6 look somewhat okay.
9. (frog) They are not that good either. I like some things in #3.
In all of the sketches I had trouble with texture and messiness. I don't know why I managed to make somewhat good sketches for the second try/animal (rhino) while everything after became pretty bad.
Overall, great work. I just finished writing the response to your introduction post, so I'm going to carry some of that sentiment over into here. First off, you're totally transparent. You're listing your thoughts and your concerns, and stating your displeasure, as a defense mechanism. Mentally, this separates you from the artist and makes you an external body offering their own critique. By separating yourself from the person who drew these animals, the person giving the critique (me) can't think less of you, right? If you're perfectly aware of your mistakes.
I wouldn't think any less of you if you presented me with a five year old's drawing of a hippo with stick legs. What's important to me is that you put the effort in, and that you attempt to apply the concepts I cover in my lessons, and you have done that well. Plenty of people submit homework that isn't great, and they may or may not be aware of it. But as long as they tried their best to apply those lessons to their work, they are my best students.
I had this English teacher in high school - Dr. Strong. She had a Ph. D and everything! And she gave me advice (in the context of writing essays, which would argue a specific point of view) that I still haven't forgotten after seven or eight years. Never admit weakness. It is up to your audience - the person reading, viewing, watching, critiquing - to do find your weaknesses. Don't make it any easier for them. Present your thoughts and work with quiet confidence - and if you don't have any, then fake it. Eventually it will become real. You may be presenting garbage, but frankly that is garbage that you put time and effort in, so while the rest of the world may not value it, you still should.
Okay, on to the critique. I'll be doing this ignoring your little comments, so forgive me if I repeat something you've said.
Leopards - You've done a good job of capturing poses and gestures with these, and I like that you've varied where your focal points fall. At times - for instance, on number 3 - I feel that you might benefit from actively regarding the legs as being composed of separate components - a rectangle for the upper bone, and one for the lower, so you can achieve a clearer bend at the knee. When dealing with the head, it may help to use a box-type form to bring the jaw down from the main cranium (circle), rather than more circles. Boxes, as more planar shapes, tend to work better towards a solid construction.
Rhinos - These are very well done. You've demonstrated a good eye for proportion (although on 3 and 5 the heads seem a little too small). Your forms seen to carry a nice sense of three dimensionality, and I really like 2, though it seems you got a little careless with the leg construction for that one.
Pandas - A great variety of poses. 2 is looking rather awkward, and the back half of 5 seems to be where you kind of gave up on the poor guy. The rest are nicely done. I really like 6, and it came out well - but I'm a little concerned about how you deal with the construction of his head. The result was fine, but in the future, when you're drawing lines over the circle (to bisect it) try to play with curving those lines around the sphere that is represented there, rather than treating it as a flat circle. In general, always strive to wrap contour lines around forms, rather than cutting them across a flat surface.
Warthogs - yeah.. we'll skip these. For some reason, when I was drawing warty pigs at the LA zoo for this class, I could not for the life of me draw them well. They were all terrible. Clearly we should be blaming these awful, misshapen animals, right?
Flamingos - these are all very well done. 2 and 4 are my favourite. They're both fairly plain, but this allows me to see the construction better. It looks as though they're composed more of 3D forms rather than 2D shapes, which is great.
Elephants - Their heads are very well constructed, but I'm catching a mistake you may have been making elsewhere. Or rather, perhaps not a mistake, but just an omission. If you look at the original lesson page, the horse I have near the top. It has a shape marked in red that goes from the ribcage-circle to the pelvis-circle, and establishes the form of its torso. I think you may be missing this step. In general, your pelvis does not seem to be quite big enough to properly construct those forms in 3D.
Hippos - The proportions here seem to have been a point of difficulty. The leg constructions in general could use some work, but also pay attention to how the torso is shaped. It's not always a smooth curve from front to back - sometimes you'll notice that near the back, by the leg, it comes up a little quicker. The belly feels like a mass that is hanging down. Like on this hippo
Kangaroos - These definitely look interesting. Great constructions, great action pose for #5. One thing that often makes an animal seem more lively is how the curves are handled from the rib cage to the pelvis. Rather than being consistent curves, they sometimes swoop in and out, creating more bean-like or other alternate shapes. You did a good job in capturing these variations with the kangaroos.
Frogs - These area really well done too. 1 flattens out a bit, but 3 and 4 are excellent constructions.
You're right, a lot of them are rather messy, but I expected them to be. You are working in ink, and control of your linework and pen pressure is something you will develop over time. You have more than exceeded my expectations for this lesson, so feel free to move onto the next one when you are ready.
You are definitely right with the defense mechanism thing. It's mostly because of the warthog drawings... When I did them I thought "I can't let him think I find these good". I realise that this was stupid, it won't happen again.
Sloths are super creepy. You did well though. I'd say some of your proportions are a little weird (for example, the tiger) and your elephants look a little stylized, but overall your constructions are fantastic. I really like the pug and the.. herons? storks?
For the camels, and pretty much anything with four legs, pay special attention to the way the underbelly curves. It's on a consistent curve from front to back, it's a little bit biased towards the front, resulting in a slightly sharper curve towards the rear.
Great work! Onto the next one. When you're doing the hard surface vehicles, try and think of them like the form intersections from lesson 2. I'll probably have to rewrite the lesson at some point, because a lot of people seem to be having difficulty with it. For now, look through the critiques I've given to the few others who have tackled it.
Fantastic. Your constructions and proportions are very well done. I'm also very fond of your approach to detailing, which strikes a nice balance between the busy areas and the calm. At times some of the hatching you use feels a little messier than it should be, so maybe taking a little more time there to work it into the textures present in your reference might be beneficial.
Other than that, though - great forms, great volumes, great contour lines, and best of all - great penguins. Though your birds on page 3 are definitely my favourite.
Now, this one was tough; arguable harder than any of the previous lessons. Personally, I think it turned out to be terrible and not something that I'm fond of (first time drawing animals anyway). Also, what is your approach on getting the proportions correct? Anyway, I hope to get critique so I can learn to do better.
Not bad. Your birds look fantastic, your big cats less so. By the time you hit the tigers, I think you were starting to get exhausted. Four legged animals are tough, and it doesn't look like you were taking any breaks. Don't practice when you're tired, it won't do you any good.
It does look like you're struggling with proportion, but you're slowly gaining ground in that battle. Keep observing your reference closely, and try to approximately measure the relationships of different parts of the animal's body (with your fingers, or that thumb-on-pencil trick that stereotypical artists use when drawing from life). Basically you want to measure the smaller object, and then see how many times that measurement fits into the larger one.
One thing I noticed is that you're not really constructing the head at all. You're blocking it in with a rough circle and that's about it. Often times there's much more going on than that. Take a look at this critique I did of someone else's animal drawing that I did a long time ago. Look at how the head starts off as a circle, then I drop in a sort of boxy shape for the length of the head.
Last of all, I think you need to draw bigger. If the head of your animal ends up being the size of the tip of your pinkie finger, there's no way you're getting any construction in there.
I'm still going to mark this lesson as complete, because your birds were quite well constructed, and for the most part I see a decent grasp of the general constructions of the body. I'm ignoring those godawful tigers.
Not bad. Your birds look fantastic, your big cats less so. By the time you hit the tigers, I think you were starting to get exhausted. Four legged animals are tough, and it doesn't look like you were taking any breaks. Don't practice when you're tired, it won't do you any good.
Yeah, work from before hit me pretty hard.
It does look like you're struggling with proportion, but you're slowly gaining ground in that battle. Keep observing your reference closely, and try to approximately measure the relationships of different parts of the animal's body (with your fingers, or that thumb-on-pencil trick that stereotypical artists use when drawing from life). Basically you want to measure the smaller object, and then see how many times that measurement fits into the larger one.
I'm going to do more research on that.
One thing I noticed is that you're not really constructing the head at all. You're blocking it in with a rough circle and that's about it. Often times there's much more going on than that. Take a look at this critique I did of someone else's animal drawing that I did a long time ago. Look at how the head starts off as a circle, then I drop in a sort of boxy shape for the length of the head.
Noted; I will try this approach.
Last of all, I think you need to draw bigger. If the head of your animal ends up being the size of the tip of your pinkie finger, there's no way you're getting any construction in there.
Yeah, I actually noticed this issue; it might actually be because I was too concerned wasting paper and also the fear to draw too big.
I'm still going to mark this lesson as complete, because your birds were quite well constructed, and for the most part I see a decent grasp of the general constructions of the body. I'm ignoring those godawful tigers.
Still, you do need to practice this more.
I'm definitely going to practice animals more, especially quadruped. For now, I'll take a break on those animals, but I try again in a week or so.
After drawing all weekend, I realised, that I somehow forgot to checked your LESSON 5, which I did just now... I only read the Lesson 5 note (coment) below (above?). So I guess I'll go draw some more...
Most of them look pretty solid - but I guess what you're talking about is not approaching (many of) them through clear and solid constructions as outlined by the lesson? If not, I'm kind of confused by what you meant.
Decent constructions, and great drawings. The only critique I can think to give is that your better drawings are the ones where you don't attempt to cover the entire animal with texture. Or even, covering the entire focal area with texture.
For example, the sitting camel at the bottom right of page 7 looks far more convincing than the one at the top of that same page. The one at the top has very regularly repeating hatching - that rhythm all across the whole animal throws the drawing off a bit.
In general though, great work. I'll mark this lesson as complete.
Nice work! The maned wolves and the bears are especially well done. I also like the planar approach to the cougars' head constructions, though your proportions in regards to their body seem to need a little work. That will come with more practice, though, and for the most part your proportions elsewhere are well done.
I drew a little demo for how I approach fur textures. Instead of just trying to cover everything with loose crosshatching (neeeever scribble!), play with the density of the texture. Don't keep it consistent across the entire surface. Ultimately, it's the same concept that you applied to the rhinos (specifically the texture composed of little circles).
Thought I would make myself useful add something to /u/Uncomfortable 's fur comment. http://imgur.com/YHXhd0z Thats some fur notes from Peter Han I have saved. Basically you are putting fur everywhere in your focal point which makes it seem a bit noisy. Peter is restricting the detail the core shadow area and bits of the silhouette. Its a thing painters do, either restricting detail to the shadow side or light side (not both) so you can still see the shadow shapes that create form. Its something James Gurney has blogged about but I cant seem to find it.
With pen it makes sense to do it on the shadow side. Then you have area of detail and areas of rest.
http://imgur.com/a/zA1kt Tada! I included two "Fail Pages" trying and failing to draw sharks. For some reason I found them really hard. Also included a painting at the end because Giraffe are too awesome not to get more attention.
That giraffe painting is awesome! So touching. Also it's spelled 'deer' you silly brit.
One thing that stood out to me very much is that while you usually do your hatching in a controlled manner, with distinct, parallel lines, sometimes you get a little lazy and go scribble-crazy. For example, the fish on the far right of page 4. Try to avoid doing that, it looks pretty messy and unseemly.
The sharks actually reminded me of my last class with Peter. At the beginning of the course, we all had to draw some random thing he assigned to us on the whiteboard in front of the class. I had to do a shark. Then, on the last class, we had to do the same thing - i assumed we'd get the same topics, so while other people were being called I was frantically practicing drawing sharks. ... Sadly I ended up being assigned a tank - but i did a pretty good job anyways.
Afterwards I showed Peter my shark sketches, and he explained how to break down the form - all of it was pretty much centered around a fairly simple cigar shape. Unfortunately I left my sketchbook back in my home town, so I can't scan his sketches - but here's the jist of it.
Anyway- your explorations are very neat, as always. I especially love the birds - specifically the ostrich head. Keep an eye on your proportions though, I think the hummingbird (i think? top left of page 2) is a little off.
When you were taking the class and he had you go up to the chalkboard and draw, I am assuming you weren't using a reference. If that is the case, should I be going out of my way to do little bits of these studies without reference? one of my goals is to draw from my mind and I don't know if it's the kind of think you learn from experience or if it's something you have to go out of your way to practice as well.
That was actually the instructor's way of demonstrating how what we'd been doing during the class (which was strictly constructional studies from life and photo reference) changed the way we drew from imagination on various levels.
When I started the class, my visual library was pretty limited. I thought I knew what a lot of things looked like, but there were few things I'd gone out of my way to study, and even fewer that I had attempted to understand while studying. So, when I drew that shark, it was based on virtually no knowledge of what sharks look like, nor was it based on understanding of how fish in general look, or the similarities between virtually all animals. I was in the dark.
When I finished off the class, and we did the 'drawing test' once again, my visual library had developed a fair bit. I had studied a lot of tanks for the week we were tackling hard surface vehicles (and we'd gone on a field trip to what was basically a parking lot full of all sorts of tanks and military vehicles, where I got to study them live). So, when I went up to the whiteboard to draw a tank, my visual library was full of all these little bits of information that had taken root. What I drew wasn't necessarily identical to any tank I'd studied, but because of the little bits of detail I'd retained, and the general understanding of tank construction, as well as my increased ability to combine 3D forms on paper, I drew something that was believably a tank.
This didn't come from practicing drawing from my imagination - it came purely from studying the reference, and letting that information slowly accumulate in my subconscious visual library. Essentially, you develop the skills required to draw off the top of your head by studying things from life and reference.
You certainly can see how you've come along, though, and one thing that is probably relevant that I generally encourage is doing a couple drawings of a subject you've just studied at angles other than the ones you see in your reference. You can still use that reference, but it's a way to separate the information from the reference from the composition of the shot itself.
By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that I've been rewriting a lesson each week - next weekend I should be posting the animals lesson, so you might want to hold off on starting on it. Maybe give the other lesson set (drawing people) a shot while you wait?
Wow thank you for the detailed response. I had a feeling that was the approach I should be taking but it didn't hurt to ask. This class really is affecting the way I see things. My dad was messing around with a tupple ware container as I was working on cubes and perspective. I swear what I was thinking just left my mind as my brain started analyzing all the angles as he tossed it in the air with a rotating motion. It was strangely awesome! And skip animals? FUCK YES
I think around the bears (page 4) the lesson started to click. I was tempted not to upload my first attempt of dogs (page 2) because they turned out laughably bad. But I decided to upload it anyway because I think it's interesting to see my slow improvement.
One issue I noticed was that none of the animals I drew looked like gravity was effecting them. They are just sort of floating there, will this issue fix itself with practice or is there something specific I should think about?
Uncomfortable
2014-09-14 02:29
If you haven't completed the previous lessons in this set, please do so before moving onto this one.
LESSON 3: Drawing Plants
LESSON 4: Drawing Insects, Arachnids and Other Creepy Crawlies
Notes
Strongly recommended that this lesson be done traditionally with a 0.5mm felt tip marker. Your results will likely not be as helpful if it's done digitally. Of course, it's up to you.
If you've done the previous lessons, you should be building up your ability to ignore the overwhelming detail in your subject and break it down into its simplest shapes and forms. This is going to be a hell of a lot more of that.
If you can, try doing this at a zoo - or at least, try doing the 'quick warmup sketches' that aim at exploring the animal's proportions there. Seeing the animals live definitely helps understand how they move around, and how they're built. It's always hard to draw living things from life, since they're always moving - but the majority of animals are exhibited in groups, which means that if one sleeping zebra gets up, there's a lot more zebra butts that are still lying down. That's an issue that is also common to drawing people, and the solution is much the same. The world is just a zoo for people!
As always, even if your drawing feels like crap, keep pushing through it. It may look like crap at the end as well, but everyone makes mistakes, and everyone needs to learn how to recover from them and save the drawing. Or how not to do it.
Bonus Content
Homework
As always, all questions and homework submissions go in the comments.
tmku
2014-10-19 14:20
Hey!
Man, this stuff is TOUGH!
I've done about 25 animals total. Here are selected 13 in random chronological order except for the last two - those were drawn at the very beginning.
http://imgur.com/a/uQaWi
Additionally, digital animal shenanigans created this week: a 1 hour chipmunk study and some colored sketches for /r/sketchdaily.
http://imgur.com/a/2Z1RS
Cheers.
Uncomfortable
2014-10-19 18:16
Animals definitely are difficult, especially since you have to start thinking about gesture and motion on top of form, volume, contours, etc.
The ones you've shown me are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are pretty good (some of the panda heads, the rear view of the hippo, the chipmunk heads), but I think all of them are still showing the same weaknesses overall. They're coming out very flat.
This makes me think that there might be an issue in your lay-ins. In some cases, I'm having trouble seeing any lay-in at all - for example, the front view standing kangaroo and at least some of your black footed ferrets. For the ones where there does seem to be a lay-in, it doesn't look like you're treating those basic forms as having 3D qualities - front, side, bottom planes, etc. This is basically the direction I was moving in step #3 of my breakdown.
Secondly, there are many instances of your crosshatching/texturing/detailing going WAY out of hand. You should really be using the focal-point-circle technique that I mention in this lesson, and I know I pointed that out to you in the plants lesson. While my bigger concern is with avoiding over detailing (the big komodo dragon), it will also help keep you from under-detailing, since you'll basically be able to go nuts within that particular radius.
I'm going to ask you to do a bunch more, but before I do that, I want to see how you approach your animal drawing. Take this reference photo of a Markhor and draw it. Take photos of all 5 stages I drew out in the lesson. Stage 4's kind of iffy, so just take a photo somewhere between 3 and the final polished stage. I'll hopefully be able to use those to get a better understanding of your approach.
Good work on the volume of your work though - 25 animals is a lot, and I'm sure the practice was well worth while. We'll just sort out your direction so you can study a little more efficiently.
tmku
2014-10-20 14:25
Hey, thanks for the reply.
I've totally forgotten about the circle of interest thing. No real excuses here :)
Here's the Markhor.
One thing that I have realized just now is I'm probably going to my 'happy place' and zone out and just draw without putting much thought into what I'm doing MUCH too early into the process, without being mindful about what I'm doing.
I'll pay more attention to that from now on.
How many additional pages would you like me to do?
Uncomfortable
2014-10-20 18:22
Okay, you're making a handful of mistakes in your process, mostly in your lay-in. Here's an overdrawing that explains. Basically you are being too dainty and timid with your underdrawing and in doing so, you end up with a weak, flat scaffolding. This ultimately impacts your final drawing.
Your lay-in needs to be more complete. Draw whole, clean forms. A complete ellipse, etc. I'd also like you to draw simple contour lines to help yourself understand the volume behind these forms.
Do 4 more pages of animals.
tmku
2014-10-23 16:09
Alright,this time I've put more focus into accentuating the basic forms, tell me whatcha think. If it's still not up to par, I'll gladly do some more.
I've thrown one extra page of dobermans in, where I focus purely on shapes/forms without any value sketching.
http://imgur.com/a/irJ7H
Uncomfortable
2014-10-23 19:48
Awesome work! Your forms look way more 3D now, each is conveying a strong sense of volume and space. I especially like the flamingos, elephants and dobermans. BIG improvement!
NuggleBuggins
2014-11-26 18:32
Hello again!
So, I am having some serious issues with this project. I went ahead and stopped what I was doing to see if you can take a look at what I've done, Because I definitely need your advice on this one. Trying to get away from super scratchy lines is really messing with me I feel like every stroke I lay down is wrong. And I don't know if I am putting in my layins incorrectly or what, But I cant seem to stick to the original lay in. My drawings just seem to get away from them and then I just have these awkward little circles floating in the middle of my drawings. The cheetah one is just... So Bad... I can't even look at it haha.
Anyways, I just wanted to see if you could help me out at all and then I will start over. I had actually "started over" on all of these but each one was worse then the last :/
homework attempt
Uncomfortable
2014-11-26 21:37
Honestly, they're not as bad as you make them out to be. I really love your bears (the top one shows a great approach). The squirrels aren't bad either, but I think the lower one just shows that you need to get more used to approximating the sizes of forms. You'll pick that up - and you are picking that up - over time.
With the camel though, I'm noticing that you're thinking of those circles/spheres very much as the shoulders/hips, where the limbs attach? Focus on the ribcage (which should be big) and the pelvis (somewhat smaller) as your major block-in forms.
Your cheetah is hilarious. I can see that you were trying to pull the contour line trick - and it kind of works for the rear leg - but of course it looks weird since the contour lines are artificially added.
Here's a mini assignment I gave /u/tmku when he was having trouble.
Basically, give me a snapshot of your steps, when drawing from that particular reference image. We'll see if there's anything you're distinctly doing wrong, so we can correct it.
Something else I wanted to mention - I like your approach to detail for this lesson. You're not overbearing, you're indicating a lot of the detail from the edges instead of filling up the main areas. It's very easy to look at and digest, so kudos for that.
NuggleBuggins
2014-11-26 22:02
Hahah I told you! Ima go ahead and burn that drawing now. And will do! Ill get right on it! And thank you about the edge quality! I picked it up in the plant lesson!
NuggleBuggins
2014-11-26 22:58
here ya go! Markhor
Uncomfortable
2014-11-27 16:28
It looks like you're pretty much on the right track. Your proportions are off, but honestly mine were too when I tried drawing this goddamn Markhor. Either way, practice will improve that.
So really there's nothing to worry about. If I had one piece of advice to give, it'd be to mind the different planes of the torso - he's got an underside too, so be sure to, at least mentally, separate those different sides.
If you want to do some more animals, feel free, but you're free to move onto the next lesson when you feel ready.
NuggleBuggins
2014-11-30 23:29
Hello again! Sorry about the delay, was gone for the thanksgiving holidays. Anyways, I went ahead and drew some more animals.. I feel like I am getting the hang of it a little more. Also, I am not sure if this is cheating according to your lesson or not, but I started doing my layins with red ink? Its still a felt tip pen, its just easier for me to keep things clean this way. If you would prefer me to go back to only using black, I totally will.
Homework!
Uncomfortable
2014-12-01 02:13
I'm a bit on the fence, but I think it's best for you to work strictly in black. The reason is that when you work with the different colours, you start to do other little things to keep things clean and tidy. For example, your deer's limbs haven't been developed as 3D forms.
Still, I do think you're doing quite a bit better! Your detailing is great, just keep pushing yourself to think and draw in 3D.
isleyso
2014-11-29 19:57
Finally done with the homework...
It took me by surprise that I really started enjoying the exercise starting with the cats (I tossed a few of the previous pages)... It helped me relaxed quite a bit and I think it shows in a couple of my later drawings.
I love the way the biggest French bulldog turned out... I could draw them for ages :D
Uncomfortable
2014-11-29 22:03
Nice work! I really like your herons. It's great that you experimented with so many different animals in all sorts of poses and situations. For the most part, you're doing very well. More practice is required, of course, but you have the bulk of it down.
For the antelope-type-things, or really anything with long legs like that, I'd definitely recommend finding your ground plane. The more landmarks you can throw down, the better you'll be able to judge proportions.
Also, for the cats - since we see a lot of their faces, always remember that there's a lot of structure and form under the face. Trying to find out how to separate the face into a series of planes so you can construct a 3D mesh in your head will definitely help you out in that area. It's very similar to drawing human faces in that way.
I really like that mouse in the top left corner too. Simple, not much detail, but there's great form there.
isleyso
2014-11-29 22:10
Thanks for the critique.
Those are actually storks not herons (not that it matters :) ). I will definitely practice a lot more... Love drawing animals :D
Uncomfortable
2014-11-29 22:14
Aaaah! I was worried I got that wrong ) :
dth0807
2014-12-16 05:16
http://imgur.com/a/I9Mcc
Thank you for the exercise. These are bad but I figured I should upload it so I can get a better idea on what to do. I alternated between doing looser sketches and more detailed sketches to try to better understand the subject, but it just caused me to overlook a lot of errors I was making. I also decided to try messing around and try different ways to sketch or capture the whole form, but in the process I repeat a lot of mistakes. sorry.
Uncomfortable
2014-12-16 22:46
I'm actually quite impressed. You experimented a lot, and some of those experiments didn't work out, while others worked out better. You clearly applied a lot of the concepts we've been covering over the past few lessons (contour lines, form intersections) and also played with different, more organic approaches.
I really like the cats (and possibly a few dogs?) at the bottom of the first page. They're very gestural, but the proportions and the shape relationships are well done, even if they're loose sketches. Second page is hilariously bad (mostly the faces), but it happens when you experiment. The only way to learn is to make mistakes!
I can start to see a more solid construction coming out with the rats. They're still loose, but they're coming together, and starting to hold more form.
I really love your ducks. Page 5's got some really neat constructions. The boxy one is especially cool - you've captured the essence of a duck, but it's just boxes. Unrefined, but still very well communicated.
The big duck on page 6 is lacking some of the solidity of the previous ones, but I like how you developed a clear focal point around its head, with the fine detailing in contrast with the looseness of the rest of its body. It's a great example of setting up a hierarchy of focal points and density of detail.
The lizards are looking really nice too. Again, they're loose, but they're doing a good job of capturing the 3D form and volume - especially the middle one.
I like these drawings a lot, but I'd like to see you do a couple more pages of tighter drawings. Feel free to do more experimentation and loose sketches to get a good sense of what you're going to draw, but in the end, submit to me two pages that combine the construction and solidity of your lizards and your quick duck sketches, with the careful application of detail and focal areas of the larger duck on page 6.
Also don't feel like you need to rush to complete these. I see that you've been going through the lessons pretty quickly - taking a break might help you digest what you've learned.
dth0807
2014-12-22 07:05
http://imgur.com/a/SeKC5
Thank you for the critique. I hope I was able to at least capture a semblance of what you asked for.
Uncomfortable
2014-12-22 18:25
Nice! I'm really loving the frogs at the end, the forms are really well put together. Your method for shading is a little too noisy for my taste though - all of the little hatching lines create areas of very intense contrast, which draws the eyes. In some cases, you've managed the focal points quite well (the two top frogs), but in the one beneath, I can't help but look at its back.
The ostriches are really well done as well, especially the two full-body ones. The detailing on the head's pretty neat, but it's looking a little flat. It doesn't look like you did much in the way of lay-in on the head structure, so that's probably the reason. The gait of the one on the top right is really good - it feels like it was caught right in the middle of its stride, and like it's eager to burst forwards. Lots of tension, well done.
Page 2's alright - quadroped animals like this have been difficult for me as well, Something about the legs throws off my sense for proportions, and ends up making the whole thing feel a bit more rigid. Looks like the same thing's happening here. I'm sure it's just a matter of practice, more on the observational side than technique. Good attempts at construction though, I can see you trying to put them together one form at a time.
One thing that may help is to place a mass for the ribcage, and a mass for the pelvis. For example, here's a critique I did for someone else a while back. The first step (on the right) shows me blocking in the head, ribcage and pelvis. Admittedly, I should have been more complete with my forms - drawing full ellipses instead of sketchy little approximate messes. Still, the idea is there.
I really like the second turtle head study, and the textural study below. Working with those dark, black shapes adds a lot of interest without increasing the contrast too much. One tip I have is to use more smaller shapes as you transition to regular, clear space.
Overall, nice work! I think you've done enough to consider the lesson complete. You still definitely need work and practice, but I think you've done a good job of digesting and applying a lot of the concepts in this lesson. When you feel comfortable and ready, go ahead and move onto the next lesson.
Golden_Crane
2014-12-28 12:50
http://imgur.com/a/32maO
I'm quite unhappy with most of these. One problem in all of them is that they are all very messy.
1 (leopards) - I don't really like any of them. number 4 and 3 look okay I guess
2 (Rhino) - I think these are the best I have done. I especially like number 3, but I also think I did a good job on number 2. I don't know why these are so good (compared to the rest).
3. (Panda) - I think, even though there are some issues with proportions, they are all fairly good except for #5 which looks really flat.
4. (warthog) these are ridiculously bad.
5. (flamingo) I guess these are better than the warthogs, but they are still pretty bad.
6. (elephants) I decided to draw elephants because I thought since they sort of look like rhinoceroses they might turn out pretty good. They're not great, but better than the warthog and flamingo sketches. I sort of like #2 and #1
7. (hippo) again I tried an animal that sort of looks like a rhinoceros. They did not turn out very good except for #3 that sort of looks okay.
8. (kangaroo) None of these are that good. I tried to put in some texture, but I thought it was hard and it does not look good. #5 and #6 look somewhat okay.
9. (frog) They are not that good either. I like some things in #3.
In all of the sketches I had trouble with texture and messiness. I don't know why I managed to make somewhat good sketches for the second try/animal (rhino) while everything after became pretty bad.
Uncomfortable
2014-12-28 19:22
Overall, great work. I just finished writing the response to your introduction post, so I'm going to carry some of that sentiment over into here. First off, you're totally transparent. You're listing your thoughts and your concerns, and stating your displeasure, as a defense mechanism. Mentally, this separates you from the artist and makes you an external body offering their own critique. By separating yourself from the person who drew these animals, the person giving the critique (me) can't think less of you, right? If you're perfectly aware of your mistakes.
I wouldn't think any less of you if you presented me with a five year old's drawing of a hippo with stick legs. What's important to me is that you put the effort in, and that you attempt to apply the concepts I cover in my lessons, and you have done that well. Plenty of people submit homework that isn't great, and they may or may not be aware of it. But as long as they tried their best to apply those lessons to their work, they are my best students.
I had this English teacher in high school - Dr. Strong. She had a Ph. D and everything! And she gave me advice (in the context of writing essays, which would argue a specific point of view) that I still haven't forgotten after seven or eight years. Never admit weakness. It is up to your audience - the person reading, viewing, watching, critiquing - to do find your weaknesses. Don't make it any easier for them. Present your thoughts and work with quiet confidence - and if you don't have any, then fake it. Eventually it will become real. You may be presenting garbage, but frankly that is garbage that you put time and effort in, so while the rest of the world may not value it, you still should.
Okay, on to the critique. I'll be doing this ignoring your little comments, so forgive me if I repeat something you've said.
Leopards - You've done a good job of capturing poses and gestures with these, and I like that you've varied where your focal points fall. At times - for instance, on number 3 - I feel that you might benefit from actively regarding the legs as being composed of separate components - a rectangle for the upper bone, and one for the lower, so you can achieve a clearer bend at the knee. When dealing with the head, it may help to use a box-type form to bring the jaw down from the main cranium (circle), rather than more circles. Boxes, as more planar shapes, tend to work better towards a solid construction.
Rhinos - These are very well done. You've demonstrated a good eye for proportion (although on 3 and 5 the heads seem a little too small). Your forms seen to carry a nice sense of three dimensionality, and I really like 2, though it seems you got a little careless with the leg construction for that one.
Pandas - A great variety of poses. 2 is looking rather awkward, and the back half of 5 seems to be where you kind of gave up on the poor guy. The rest are nicely done. I really like 6, and it came out well - but I'm a little concerned about how you deal with the construction of his head. The result was fine, but in the future, when you're drawing lines over the circle (to bisect it) try to play with curving those lines around the sphere that is represented there, rather than treating it as a flat circle. In general, always strive to wrap contour lines around forms, rather than cutting them across a flat surface.
Warthogs - yeah.. we'll skip these. For some reason, when I was drawing warty pigs at the LA zoo for this class, I could not for the life of me draw them well. They were all terrible. Clearly we should be blaming these awful, misshapen animals, right?
Flamingos - these are all very well done. 2 and 4 are my favourite. They're both fairly plain, but this allows me to see the construction better. It looks as though they're composed more of 3D forms rather than 2D shapes, which is great.
Elephants - Their heads are very well constructed, but I'm catching a mistake you may have been making elsewhere. Or rather, perhaps not a mistake, but just an omission. If you look at the original lesson page, the horse I have near the top. It has a shape marked in red that goes from the ribcage-circle to the pelvis-circle, and establishes the form of its torso. I think you may be missing this step. In general, your pelvis does not seem to be quite big enough to properly construct those forms in 3D.
Hippos - The proportions here seem to have been a point of difficulty. The leg constructions in general could use some work, but also pay attention to how the torso is shaped. It's not always a smooth curve from front to back - sometimes you'll notice that near the back, by the leg, it comes up a little quicker. The belly feels like a mass that is hanging down. Like on this hippo
Kangaroos - These definitely look interesting. Great constructions, great action pose for #5. One thing that often makes an animal seem more lively is how the curves are handled from the rib cage to the pelvis. Rather than being consistent curves, they sometimes swoop in and out, creating more bean-like or other alternate shapes. You did a good job in capturing these variations with the kangaroos.
Frogs - These area really well done too. 1 flattens out a bit, but 3 and 4 are excellent constructions.
You're right, a lot of them are rather messy, but I expected them to be. You are working in ink, and control of your linework and pen pressure is something you will develop over time. You have more than exceeded my expectations for this lesson, so feel free to move onto the next one when you are ready.
Golden_Crane
2014-12-28 19:43
Thanks for the critique.
You are definitely right with the defense mechanism thing. It's mostly because of the warthog drawings... When I did them I thought "I can't let him think I find these good". I realise that this was stupid, it won't happen again.
Uncomfortable
2014-12-28 19:47
These were my warty pigs. WHY ARE THEY SO DIFFICULT.
Golden_Crane
2014-12-28 20:46
Haha, maybe it is the animal after all...
[deleted]
2015-01-03 02:40
[Here's my homework!] ( http://imgur.com/a/5v8k9)
Just as predicted, my animals came out kind of derpy at times but overall I'm actually pretty proud of myself for what I drew so there's that.
Also: sloths are creepy, man.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-03 03:10
Sloths are super creepy. You did well though. I'd say some of your proportions are a little weird (for example, the tiger) and your elephants look a little stylized, but overall your constructions are fantastic. I really like the pug and the.. herons? storks?
For the camels, and pretty much anything with four legs, pay special attention to the way the underbelly curves. It's on a consistent curve from front to back, it's a little bit biased towards the front, resulting in a slightly sharper curve towards the rear.
Great work! Onto the next one. When you're doing the hard surface vehicles, try and think of them like the form intersections from lesson 2. I'll probably have to rewrite the lesson at some point, because a lot of people seem to be having difficulty with it. For now, look through the critiques I've given to the few others who have tackled it.
CtrlAltZdraw
2015-01-11 21:09
Here http://imgur.com/a/SMKFM
Uncomfortable
2015-01-11 21:51
Fantastic. Your constructions and proportions are very well done. I'm also very fond of your approach to detailing, which strikes a nice balance between the busy areas and the calm. At times some of the hatching you use feels a little messier than it should be, so maybe taking a little more time there to work it into the textures present in your reference might be beneficial.
Other than that, though - great forms, great volumes, great contour lines, and best of all - great penguins. Though your birds on page 3 are definitely my favourite.
aaylmao
2015-01-20 22:15
Here's my HW:
http://imgur.com/a/Pogui
Now, this one was tough; arguable harder than any of the previous lessons. Personally, I think it turned out to be terrible and not something that I'm fond of (first time drawing animals anyway). Also, what is your approach on getting the proportions correct? Anyway, I hope to get critique so I can learn to do better.
By the way, here's some of the reference I used:
http://imgur.com/a/XS6l5
Uncomfortable
2015-01-20 23:55
Not bad. Your birds look fantastic, your big cats less so. By the time you hit the tigers, I think you were starting to get exhausted. Four legged animals are tough, and it doesn't look like you were taking any breaks. Don't practice when you're tired, it won't do you any good.
It does look like you're struggling with proportion, but you're slowly gaining ground in that battle. Keep observing your reference closely, and try to approximately measure the relationships of different parts of the animal's body (with your fingers, or that thumb-on-pencil trick that stereotypical artists use when drawing from life). Basically you want to measure the smaller object, and then see how many times that measurement fits into the larger one.
One thing I noticed is that you're not really constructing the head at all. You're blocking it in with a rough circle and that's about it. Often times there's much more going on than that. Take a look at this critique I did of someone else's animal drawing that I did a long time ago. Look at how the head starts off as a circle, then I drop in a sort of boxy shape for the length of the head.
Last of all, I think you need to draw bigger. If the head of your animal ends up being the size of the tip of your pinkie finger, there's no way you're getting any construction in there.
I'm still going to mark this lesson as complete, because your birds were quite well constructed, and for the most part I see a decent grasp of the general constructions of the body. I'm ignoring those godawful tigers.
Still, you do need to practice this more.
aaylmao
2015-01-21 00:22
Yeah, work from before hit me pretty hard.
I'm going to do more research on that.
Noted; I will try this approach.
Yeah, I actually noticed this issue; it might actually be because I was too concerned wasting paper and also the fear to draw too big.
Still, you do need to practice this more.
I'm definitely going to practice animals more, especially quadruped. For now, I'll take a break on those animals, but I try again in a week or so.
Anyway, like always, thanks for the critique!
Airward
2015-01-25 14:02
After drawing all weekend, I realised, that I somehow forgot to checked your LESSON 5, which I did just now... I only read the Lesson 5 note (coment) below (above?). So I guess I'll go draw some more...
In any case, here is what I did so far.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-25 17:47
Most of them look pretty solid - but I guess what you're talking about is not approaching (many of) them through clear and solid constructions as outlined by the lesson? If not, I'm kind of confused by what you meant.
Airward
2015-01-25 18:25
Yeah, that's pretty mutch what I meant.
Airward
2015-02-15 18:41
Here is some extra work I did.
Uncomfortable
2015-02-15 19:03
Decent constructions, and great drawings. The only critique I can think to give is that your better drawings are the ones where you don't attempt to cover the entire animal with texture. Or even, covering the entire focal area with texture.
For example, the sitting camel at the bottom right of page 7 looks far more convincing than the one at the top of that same page. The one at the top has very regularly repeating hatching - that rhythm all across the whole animal throws the drawing off a bit.
In general though, great work. I'll mark this lesson as complete.
thesadnman
2015-02-04 03:29
Here is my lesson 5. I feel it was hit and miss. Rhinos are easy cause they don't have fur.
Uncomfortable
2015-02-04 23:04
Nice work! The maned wolves and the bears are especially well done. I also like the planar approach to the cougars' head constructions, though your proportions in regards to their body seem to need a little work. That will come with more practice, though, and for the most part your proportions elsewhere are well done.
I drew a little demo for how I approach fur textures. Instead of just trying to cover everything with loose crosshatching (neeeever scribble!), play with the density of the texture. Don't keep it consistent across the entire surface. Ultimately, it's the same concept that you applied to the rhinos (specifically the texture composed of little circles).
Whirly123
2015-02-05 12:44
Thought I would make myself useful add something to /u/Uncomfortable 's fur comment. http://imgur.com/YHXhd0z Thats some fur notes from Peter Han I have saved. Basically you are putting fur everywhere in your focal point which makes it seem a bit noisy. Peter is restricting the detail the core shadow area and bits of the silhouette. Its a thing painters do, either restricting detail to the shadow side or light side (not both) so you can still see the shadow shapes that create form. Its something James Gurney has blogged about but I cant seem to find it.
With pen it makes sense to do it on the shadow side. Then you have area of detail and areas of rest.
Whirly123
2015-02-16 20:54
http://imgur.com/a/zA1kt Tada! I included two "Fail Pages" trying and failing to draw sharks. For some reason I found them really hard. Also included a painting at the end because Giraffe are too awesome not to get more attention.
Uncomfortable
2015-02-16 21:23
That giraffe painting is awesome! So touching. Also it's spelled 'deer' you silly brit.
One thing that stood out to me very much is that while you usually do your hatching in a controlled manner, with distinct, parallel lines, sometimes you get a little lazy and go scribble-crazy. For example, the fish on the far right of page 4. Try to avoid doing that, it looks pretty messy and unseemly.
The sharks actually reminded me of my last class with Peter. At the beginning of the course, we all had to draw some random thing he assigned to us on the whiteboard in front of the class. I had to do a shark. Then, on the last class, we had to do the same thing - i assumed we'd get the same topics, so while other people were being called I was frantically practicing drawing sharks. ... Sadly I ended up being assigned a tank - but i did a pretty good job anyways.
Afterwards I showed Peter my shark sketches, and he explained how to break down the form - all of it was pretty much centered around a fairly simple cigar shape. Unfortunately I left my sketchbook back in my home town, so I can't scan his sketches - but here's the jist of it.
Anyway- your explorations are very neat, as always. I especially love the birds - specifically the ostrich head. Keep an eye on your proportions though, I think the hummingbird (i think? top left of page 2) is a little off.
Whirly123
2015-02-17 02:24
yup you are right I defiantly get lazy with my hatching! I need to be more mindful. Is that a go to continue to the next lesson?
Uncomfortable
2015-02-17 02:24
Ayup.
victoriarosie
2015-03-08 21:54
When you were taking the class and he had you go up to the chalkboard and draw, I am assuming you weren't using a reference. If that is the case, should I be going out of my way to do little bits of these studies without reference? one of my goals is to draw from my mind and I don't know if it's the kind of think you learn from experience or if it's something you have to go out of your way to practice as well.
Uncomfortable
2015-03-08 22:07
That was actually the instructor's way of demonstrating how what we'd been doing during the class (which was strictly constructional studies from life and photo reference) changed the way we drew from imagination on various levels.
When I started the class, my visual library was pretty limited. I thought I knew what a lot of things looked like, but there were few things I'd gone out of my way to study, and even fewer that I had attempted to understand while studying. So, when I drew that shark, it was based on virtually no knowledge of what sharks look like, nor was it based on understanding of how fish in general look, or the similarities between virtually all animals. I was in the dark.
When I finished off the class, and we did the 'drawing test' once again, my visual library had developed a fair bit. I had studied a lot of tanks for the week we were tackling hard surface vehicles (and we'd gone on a field trip to what was basically a parking lot full of all sorts of tanks and military vehicles, where I got to study them live). So, when I went up to the whiteboard to draw a tank, my visual library was full of all these little bits of information that had taken root. What I drew wasn't necessarily identical to any tank I'd studied, but because of the little bits of detail I'd retained, and the general understanding of tank construction, as well as my increased ability to combine 3D forms on paper, I drew something that was believably a tank.
This didn't come from practicing drawing from my imagination - it came purely from studying the reference, and letting that information slowly accumulate in my subconscious visual library. Essentially, you develop the skills required to draw off the top of your head by studying things from life and reference.
You certainly can see how you've come along, though, and one thing that is probably relevant that I generally encourage is doing a couple drawings of a subject you've just studied at angles other than the ones you see in your reference. You can still use that reference, but it's a way to separate the information from the reference from the composition of the shot itself.
By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that I've been rewriting a lesson each week - next weekend I should be posting the animals lesson, so you might want to hold off on starting on it. Maybe give the other lesson set (drawing people) a shot while you wait?
victoriarosie
2015-03-08 22:54
Wow thank you for the detailed response. I had a feeling that was the approach I should be taking but it didn't hurt to ask. This class really is affecting the way I see things. My dad was messing around with a tupple ware container as I was working on cubes and perspective. I swear what I was thinking just left my mind as my brain started analyzing all the angles as he tossed it in the air with a rotating motion. It was strangely awesome! And skip animals? FUCK YES
cartoonishguy
2015-03-05 01:20
Here is my the album - http://imgur.com/a/scf7z
I think around the bears (page 4) the lesson started to click. I was tempted not to upload my first attempt of dogs (page 2) because they turned out laughably bad. But I decided to upload it anyway because I think it's interesting to see my slow improvement.
One issue I noticed was that none of the animals I drew looked like gravity was effecting them. They are just sort of floating there, will this issue fix itself with practice or is there something specific I should think about?
cartoonishguy
2015-03-08 22:37
It looks like my comment fell through the cracks!