Your cylinders are coming along nicely, so good work completing the challenge. You tend to get more conscientious and less sloppy throughout the set, though keep working on aligning those ellipses to their minor axis, as that's the first thing that starts to suffer when you get tired.
Sorry, I'm confused. In the how to draw section it says this:
Finally, draw the ellipse at the opposite end. As I mentioned before, the degree of the end farther from the viewer is greater - this means it's going to be fatter.
But in the common mistakes section it says this:
Ensure that the ellipse farther from the viewer has a smaller degree - meaning, it is narrower.
I think I must be missing something, but I'm not sure what.
Good catch, that's my mistake. The common mistakes section was wrong - the ellipse farther from the viewer should have a larger degree, so it should appear wider.
What I noticed apart from occasionally not hitting the angle just right or misjudging the degree which was also mentioned in the common mistakes section my biggest difficulty with this challenge was, that quite often I did not manage to to place the first ellipse perpendicular to the minor axis. In most cases when this happened I aligned the two sides according to the ellipse rather than the minor axis, which made the cylinder as a whole look alright, but of course then the minor axis was not the actual minor axis anymore as its not in the center of the cylinder anymore.
The problems you're experiencing are natural, and it is wise to do what you can to salvage a drawing without making overt corrections. It may look a little off, but in the context of an entire drawing, it becomes less noticeable. As you continue to practice, you'll start to find that it gets easier to judge the placement of your ellipse, relative to the minor axis.
I definitely like what I'm seeing - confident ellipses, lots of attention paid to your minor axis. One thing to practice as you move forward is trying to construct a cylinder within a box, as covered in the video. It's really not different at all from what you're doing, but it allows you to orient your cylinder specifically relative to other objects in a scene. The only difference in the approach is that you start off with a box, and then you find the midpoint of two of the box's planes and draw a line between them. This line becomes your minor axis, and you pretty much ignore the box from there.
The constructions are looking good. At times, I am noticing that some of your ellipses look just a little oddly shaped - like they're nearing rounded rectangles rather than ellipses, so keep an eye on this. I noticed that by the end you abandoned your minor axes. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this - your results weren't bad, but I wouldn't get into the habit. Your minor axis will be very useful when you start combining cylinders with other objects, where you have to orient them in a specific manner. So don't outright toss the baby out with the bathwater.
Still, your cylinders are coming along nicely. Keep up the good work!
I was thinking for the form intersection exercise later on, it would be better to draw the axis in pencil since it's not actually a part of the cylinder. What I really meant was lighter.
I think it's better to reinforce the idea that anything that is integral to your construction should be drawn as confidently as the main drawing itself, and anything else should be left out. Switching to pencil creates a hierarchy of importance that won't benefit you in the long run.
Form-wise, they're alright, but I have to ask - what's up with your line quality? The cylinders themselves are immensely chicken-scratchy and sketchy. It doesn't seem like you're ghosting your lines carefully or applying much of what was covered in lesson 1. I am glad to see that you're drawing through your ellipses decently, but you really need to work on getting out of that sketchy habit.
Also, while your minor axes aren't scratchy, they are a little wobbly which throws off their purpose. Make sure you apply the ghosting method (I think you need to go back and reread that section in lesson 1) to keep them straight and smooth, and also make you draw the ellipses so the minor axis (which is always drawn first) cuts completely through the ellipse, so you can be sure that it does cut the ellipses into two equal symmetrical halves.
I'll mark this challenge as complete, but be sure to work on the issues mentioned above.
You're getting there. The last few are pretty sloppy (I imagine you're were getting tired and you didn't take as many breaks as you should have), but you hit your stride by around page 9. I do recommend though that you take more care in drawing a straight line for your minor axis (some are a little wobbly or arcing), and also try and draw your ellipses so the minor axis cuts all the way through them. That way you get a better sense of whether or not you aligned it correctly, as the minor axis should cut each ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves.
Anyway, it's coming along nicely, so I'll mark this challenge as complete.
I hit the wall that is 2.2, so I went and did the 250 cylinder challenge. Here it is. The first few pages are a struggle, as I forgot all the details, but once I went back and figured it out, they became a lot better. My main issues are getting the angle of the ellipses right and making sure the ellipses are actually aligned properly.
Also, the last two pages are a little weaker because I wasn't as warmed up as I should have been.
They're moving in the right direction, but I'd say there's a much larger issue than either of the ones you mentioned, though it's related: you're not reading the material included in the challenge. There is both a step-by-step demo on how to construct a cylinder and a video, and both stress the importance of the minor axis. I don't see a single point in your cylinders where you attempt to construct a cylinder around a minor axis, even though I say you should be doing it across the board. The minor axis is what governs the alignment of your ellipses, so that is definitely the cause of your struggles.
I'm still marking the challenge as complete because you did draw 250 cylinders, but come on. Read before you jump into drawing, this will continue to shoot you in the foot in the future.
I'm not sure what to say. I did read the instructions (and watched the video - twice) - but I guess my ability to really absorb and internalize important bits has just vanished on me. Well, okay. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. The third last page has a pretty significant dip in quality (don't know why - maybe not using a dying marker changed things), but I do clean it up a little bit near the end. I tried the major axis as well for one page (I saw you used it in your examples, but it wasn't in the instructions), but didn't really like using it much.
Better. One thing that is definitely worth practicing is being able to align an ellipse to a given minor axis - that's something you're still struggling with, although understandably as it's not an easy thing to master.
The major axis isn't really that useful as far as concepts go, I just added it there because it helped me get a sense of the orientation of an ellipse (major axis being prependicular to the minor axis). It was usually done as an afterthought though to check things.
Good work completing the challenge. Just a couple things to keep in mind:
Draw through all of the ellipses you draw for my lessons. Each and every one.
Remember that the degrees of the ellipses should not be the same - the farther ellipse should have greater degree (it should be wider) and the closer end should have a smaller degree (narrower).
I should actually change the 'how to draw a cylinder' diagrams to reflect this, but it's probably a much better idea to have your minor axis cut through the entire cylinder, not just end at the center point of the ellipse. Reason being, the minor axis is supposed to cut an ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves - if we're not cutting all the way through the ellipse, it's harder to tell if it was aligned correctly.
Nice constructions. I'm glad to see the confidence with which you've drawn these cylinders. The only thing that jumps out at me is that they are all quite small, and are all very similar in size. Should definitely shake things up and add more variation. You did however vary the angles of your constructions quite a bit, so that's good.
Keep up the good work, and consider this challenge complete.
Nice work! Looks like you're applying the concepts outlined in the notes well, and you don't seem to be missing anything significant. I'm all so glad to see a wide variety of lengths and sizes, as well as rotations. Keep up the good work, and consider this challenge complete.
[deleted]
2016-03-29 07:14
Oufta, this started out a little rough. Feel I really picked up a lot by the end though. I think I'm still having confidence issues though, I start overthinking every aspect of it and my arm tightens up as opposed to when I'm just sketching. Have to find out a way to channel that mindset, hah.
Very nice work! I'm glad to see that you played a little with constructing your cylinders in boxes, and that you focused especially hard on aligning your ellipses to their minor axes. I see no glaring issues here, just a lot of great practice. Keep it up, and consider this challenge complete!
Well done. Keep working on tightening up your ellipses, though I'm glad to see that yours are driven with confident strokes, and are generally shaped quite evenly. That is a higher priority than tightening your ellipses, but once those points are hit, you'll want to work on getting those multiple lines to come closer together.
I'm glad to see that you've been applying the concepts of the minor axis across the board - as a result, your ellipses look fairly solid and well constructed. Good work completing the challenge.
Honestly, I think your first 100 were your best. It's possible that you did rush through them in general, but in your later cylinders, you seemed to be spending a little too much time when actually executing your marks. As the ghosting method states, you should be investing most of your time in the preparation stage, and then drawing the actual marks with a quick, confident and persistent pace.
One thing you need to remember is that the box method's purpose is to construct the minor axis - often when constructing a cylinder as part of something larger, it can be difficult to place this line so that it is oriented properly, so using a box can be much more effective. Afterwards, you do not want to be constructing your ellipses to match the box, but rather to align them to the resulting minor axis. I believe that many of your box cylinders have ellipses that are slightly off in their alignment.
Overall, I'm very happy to see that your'e attempting to apply the various techniques. I think the best approach is to invest lots of time into preparation, and internalizing those rules, but when it comes time to draw, allow yourself to relax and rely more on your muscle memory.
Anyway, congratulations on completing the challenge. Keep up the good work.
Your cylinders are coming along well! The only thing I want to mention is that when you draw ellipses with a smaller degree (the narrower ones on the end of the cylinder closest to us) you have a tendency to bring the ends of those ellipses to a bit of a point. Keep striving to maintain an even, smooth roundedness to them.
Anyway, keep up the great work, and consider this challenge complete.
Hey figured I'd go through this challenge as well before moving on with the lessons, wound up doing it twice, felt like I might have been rushing the first time around & drawing them at similar angles to much just to increase the speed. I started over and tried to do them at more angles & just take my time a bit more I've uploaded both in the same album.
You're certainly making progress over the course of the set! Nice work completing the challenge. One suggestion I have is that you may benefit from having the minor axis line cut through the entirety of both ellipses, rather than stopping half-way between each. The important thing is that you align both ellipses to the minor axis, such that the minor axis cuts both into two equal, symmetrical halves. It's easier to accomplish this when drawing the ellipse so all of it sits on top of the line.
Alright I'll keep that in mind, currently just trying to find good reference pictures for the next couple of lessons. I was wondering if there was some specific site that's good to use? I've been using image search on google & just 2mp + sized pictures in the search options but it would be nice if there was some place where you could get reference pictures that are already sorted.
I generally use google image search, though both lessons 3 and 4 have links in their homework section to some fairly high-res reference images on flickr.
Very nice work! I'm loving the variety of orientations, sizes, proportions and configurations. The only recommendation I have to offer is that it might help a little more to draw your minor axis all the way through the cylinder, rather than between the centers of your ellipses. Remember that its purpose is to cut each ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves down its narrower dimension. If the line only penetrates halfway through an ellipse, it's harder to catch mistakes where the alignment is a little bit off.
Quick-ish is right, your work is really sloppy, and I don't really think you're going to get much benefit from rushing through things like this. If you really hope to improve, you need to take the time to focus and be patient.
Honestly, I think you might want to go back to the beginning and go through the homework in ink and submit it for a proper critique, just to ensure that you're getting the most out of the lessons instead of just spinning your wheels.
I guess I could do that, except for the ink part, seeing as my paper tools have disappeared.
Even though I hate the idea, since I'll have to go through the perspective and such again, which I never did submit here for some reason, though my art buddy has been saying I made progress on it.
If you'd like the pictures for the other practise I've done, through the whole thing, I'd give it to you, don't wanna waste ya time though.
Unfortunately I'm pretty adamant about the ink thing for people who submit homework, so I won't be able to accept your lesson 1 submission. Good to hear you've got someone else to comment on your progress though. Definitely helps to have an external judge.
Don't worry about posting in the wrong thread - we all make mistakes sometimes.
Anyway, I'm glad to see that you are making considerable progress with your boxes. I have just one comment to make - I noticed that when you draw the lines that exist on the opposite side of the form (drawing through the boxes), you have a tendency to draw broken lines, or very timid lines that skitter across the page, rather than being straight and solid.
I strongly encourage you not to do this - I totally understand why you're approaching it that way, but the problem is that as soon as a line is broken, it no longer is able to maintain its flow and direction. Often times broken lines will have small shifts in angle with each segment, unlike a single continuous mark that flows in a single direction. Keeping your lines continuous will help considerably in the long run.
Aside from that, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete.
Oh, yes, it does seem to you stopped doing that on your own. Good on you! As for the cylinder challenge, doing it certainly has its own advantages, especially when it comes to the form intersection exercise in lesson 2.
Decided to tackle this as part of my daily drawing exercises. Did 25 cylinders a day for 10 days. I spent a few days practicing before starting. Much like my experience with the box challenge, this is just a starting point. I'm happy with the improvement I made through the challenge.
Nice work completing the challenge. Here's a couple tips that will help you as you continue to more forwards:
The notes on the challenge page, and the video itself, really emphasizes the importance of the minor axis when constructing your cylinders. It's this minor axis that determines the alignment of both ellipses. Be sure to revisit those notes to refresh your memory of how to use this excellent tool.
I strongly advise you not to do a rough pass, followed by a clean-up pass. We can see instances of this in how you've tackled your ellipses, drawing through them initially (which is good) but doing so faintly (which is bad), then attempting to more carefully draw a cleaner ellipse on top to replace the initial one (which is worse). This 'cleaner' ellipse demonstrates a lot of the shortcomings of drawing slowly and carefully - your lines wobble, and your ellipse comes out not quite as well shaped. It may well be more accurate, but you've sacrificed the flow of the mark to achieve this. All of your time should be invested in the preparation phase (ghosting and the like), before executing with a quick, confident stroke and in the case of ellipses, drawing through them. So, instead of doing that first step with a fainter line, do so with confidence. Then, instead of doing a clean-up pass, you may want to instead simply reinforce parts of your stroke with more line weight to help organize the hierarchy of lines. The difference here is that instead of replacing the lines you've drawn, you're emphasizing those that already exist.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to work on squashing the bad habit of cleaning up my lines and instead focus on just creating better lines. I'm glad you pointed it out so I can fix it sooner rather than later. I'll also revisit the minor axis and give it the attention it deserves. Thanks again!
Nice work! I'm glad to see the conscientious attention to detail, fleshing out every single box. One thing I do want to remind you of though is the hierarchy of importance. That is, the role the box plays, and what your ellipses should be aligned to. To be honest, you seem to have done most of these quite well, so this is really just for the sake of me having something to offer after all your work.
Basically, the box helps you align your cylinder, but it really only exists in order to create the correct minor axis, since it generates two points (the centers of the far/near planes), between which you can place that line. Once the box is constructed, you can use it as a general suggestion of how big your ellipses should be, but when it comes to alignment, you follow the minor axis. You'll find that the alignment between fitting the ellipse inside of the plane, and following the minor axis are a little different from each other. This can get a little confusing for people, so I always insist that the minor axis is what carries the most weight.
Pretty good work. Congrats on completing the challenge. I'm glad to see that you paid special attention to constructing your cylinders around a set minor axis. I do want to mention however that you should absolutely be drawing through each of the ellipses you draw for my lessons. Yours are pretty decent, but I still insist upon it. If you're not sure what I mean by drawing through, I explain it here: Draw Through your Ellipses.
Well done! One thing to keep in mind is that it's a good idea to draw your ellipses such that the minor axis cuts all the way through it, rather than positioning the ellipse's center point on the end of the line. This makes it easier to align the ellipse, since it's all about the minor axis cutting the ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves. It's harder to get a sense of that when the line only goes halfway through.
Aside from that, very nice work completing the challenge! I like the attention to the minor axes overall, and I'm glad you tried a couple times to construct the cylinders in boxes. When doing that, it's good to remember that the box only serves to construct the minor axis - after that, you still want to be aligning the ellipses to the minor axis.
Nice work! Your cylinders are coming along great. There's two minor issues that I noticed, but generally you've made clear progress and are heading in the right direction. The two issues are as follows:
I noticed that in the last two pages you skipped the minor axis for a lot of your cylinders. At this stage, I think it's important to really hold to the tools you've got. This is more of a marathon, than a sprint, so don't be to preoccupied with ditching the additional tools just yet. The day will come eventually where you can visualize the minor axis without actually drawing it, but it's not something to worry about right now.
When drawing the minor axis, it's probably going to be a little bit better to have it passing through both of the ellipses entirely. That is, don't draw the ellipses around the end points of the minor axis, but rather such that the minor axis cuts through both completely. This will help you nail the alignment a little more easily, since you'll actually be able to see visually whether the minor axis splits the ellipses into two equal, symmetrical halves.
Pretty nice work completing the challenge. One recommendation I do have is that you should try to draw your ellipses such that the minor axis line penetrates all the way through them, instead of drawing them around the end point. The whole principle of the minor axis cutting your ellipses into two equal, symmetrical halves, is much easier to see when it goes all the way through. This in turn makes it easier to see where you've done it correctly, and where your alignment is slightly off. Also on this point, it's a good idea to draw through all of your forms right now (in regards to the cylinders where you didn't draw the full ellipse for the far end), and remember to draw your ellipses with confidence, focusing on relying on muscle memory instead of letting your brain guide your hand. This comic definitely applies.
So I did the 250 cylinder challenge ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/22wqz3uez0fz16i/250CylinderChallenge.pdf?dl=0) . My take from this is that I need to do more ellipses. Used this approach than the box approach as I kept getting confused by all the extra lines and this method looked cleaner.
Your cylinder constructions are coming along well - I have just two things to recommend. First off, draw a little bigger. I really like how you filled each page to the brim, but when it comes to spatial problems (and constructing geometric forms is very much a spatial problem) it helps considerably to give yourself a little more room. Working smaller results in the thickness of your lines being greater in relationship to the overall size of the drawing, so this can result in things feeling a little clunkier, and less nuanced.
Secondly, right now it seems your scanner's really blasting out any contrast and nuance in your linework - I'm guessing you used a 'drawing' preset. You'll find that the results with photo presets is better, because it gives you a wider range of tones and captures your pages more accurately.
Anyway, consider this challenge complete and keep up the good work.
Thanks. In the future I'll try bigger cylinders. It's probably a bit cheating as found smaller cylinders easier. BTW what do u mean by drawing presets? I didn't follow any guide nor any preset.
I was referring to the settings you use when scanning your pages. Most scanning software comes with presets tailored towards specific kinds of material - a lot of people use the drawing preset because they think, well, I'm scanning a drawing so this must be right. But it uses really high contrast and results in harsh images with stark blacks and whites, eviscerating the middle greys. Photo presets result in a much more accurate range of tones, displaying all of the nuance of your linework.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-08 22:30
Looks like the old submission thread has been locked for passing 6 months of age, so you can submit your 250 cylinders to this one instead.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-08 22:32
/u/ChevalierFaible: looks like you got your submission (https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/3d0quq/optional_challenge_250_cylinders_2/cyq8vxv?context=3) just before the thread got locked. I can't do the critique there, so I'll do it here instead.
Your cylinders are coming along nicely, so good work completing the challenge. You tend to get more conscientious and less sloppy throughout the set, though keep working on aligning those ellipses to their minor axis, as that's the first thing that starts to suffer when you get tired.
looserloser
2016-01-09 00:00
Sorry, I'm confused. In the how to draw section it says this:
Finally, draw the ellipse at the opposite end. As I mentioned before, the degree of the end farther from the viewer is greater - this means it's going to be fatter.
But in the common mistakes section it says this:
Ensure that the ellipse farther from the viewer has a smaller degree - meaning, it is narrower.
I think I must be missing something, but I'm not sure what.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-09 00:08
Good catch, that's my mistake. The common mistakes section was wrong - the ellipse farther from the viewer should have a larger degree, so it should appear wider.
sicPanicmode
2016-01-14 10:40
So I just recently finished my 250 Cylinders which I basically did simultaneously with the 250 Boxes Challenge.
Here they are
What I noticed apart from occasionally not hitting the angle just right or misjudging the degree which was also mentioned in the common mistakes section my biggest difficulty with this challenge was, that quite often I did not manage to to place the first ellipse perpendicular to the minor axis. In most cases when this happened I aligned the two sides according to the ellipse rather than the minor axis, which made the cylinder as a whole look alright, but of course then the minor axis was not the actual minor axis anymore as its not in the center of the cylinder anymore.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-14 20:02
The problems you're experiencing are natural, and it is wise to do what you can to salvage a drawing without making overt corrections. It may look a little off, but in the context of an entire drawing, it becomes less noticeable. As you continue to practice, you'll start to find that it gets easier to judge the placement of your ellipse, relative to the minor axis.
I definitely like what I'm seeing - confident ellipses, lots of attention paid to your minor axis. One thing to practice as you move forward is trying to construct a cylinder within a box, as covered in the video. It's really not different at all from what you're doing, but it allows you to orient your cylinder specifically relative to other objects in a scene. The only difference in the approach is that you start off with a box, and then you find the midpoint of two of the box's planes and draw a line between them. This line becomes your minor axis, and you pretty much ignore the box from there.
Anyway, great work.
a_small_pond
2016-01-16 05:14
So I did the challenge.
What I took from this is that I need to draw more ellipses.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-16 19:25
The constructions are looking good. At times, I am noticing that some of your ellipses look just a little oddly shaped - like they're nearing rounded rectangles rather than ellipses, so keep an eye on this. I noticed that by the end you abandoned your minor axes. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this - your results weren't bad, but I wouldn't get into the habit. Your minor axis will be very useful when you start combining cylinders with other objects, where you have to orient them in a specific manner. So don't outright toss the baby out with the bathwater.
Still, your cylinders are coming along nicely. Keep up the good work!
a_small_pond
2016-01-17 02:56
Okay, I'll draw my ellipses with the minor axis (in pencil?) in the future.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-17 02:58
Why pencil? These are all exercises after all, if a line is important, there's no reason to try and hide it.
a_small_pond
2016-01-17 05:41
I was thinking for the form intersection exercise later on, it would be better to draw the axis in pencil since it's not actually a part of the cylinder. What I really meant was lighter.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-17 06:02
I think it's better to reinforce the idea that anything that is integral to your construction should be drawn as confidently as the main drawing itself, and anything else should be left out. Switching to pencil creates a hierarchy of importance that won't benefit you in the long run.
a_small_pond
2016-01-17 16:11
OK, thanks.
[deleted]
2016-01-18 16:28
Here's my 250 cylinder challenge: http://imgur.com/a/cqLKi
Would love some feedback. :)
Uncomfortable
2016-01-18 23:38
Form-wise, they're alright, but I have to ask - what's up with your line quality? The cylinders themselves are immensely chicken-scratchy and sketchy. It doesn't seem like you're ghosting your lines carefully or applying much of what was covered in lesson 1. I am glad to see that you're drawing through your ellipses decently, but you really need to work on getting out of that sketchy habit.
Also, while your minor axes aren't scratchy, they are a little wobbly which throws off their purpose. Make sure you apply the ghosting method (I think you need to go back and reread that section in lesson 1) to keep them straight and smooth, and also make you draw the ellipses so the minor axis (which is always drawn first) cuts completely through the ellipse, so you can be sure that it does cut the ellipses into two equal symmetrical halves.
I'll mark this challenge as complete, but be sure to work on the issues mentioned above.
XSDM
2016-01-18 19:09
250 cylinders - teaches me just how hard it is to hit that minor axis with an ellipse.
http://imgur.com/a/yTmZc
Uncomfortable
2016-01-18 23:41
You're getting there. The last few are pretty sloppy (I imagine you're were getting tired and you didn't take as many breaks as you should have), but you hit your stride by around page 9. I do recommend though that you take more care in drawing a straight line for your minor axis (some are a little wobbly or arcing), and also try and draw your ellipses so the minor axis cuts all the way through them. That way you get a better sense of whether or not you aligned it correctly, as the minor axis should cut each ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves.
Anyway, it's coming along nicely, so I'll mark this challenge as complete.
ccarrot
2016-01-26 06:53
I hit the wall that is 2.2, so I went and did the 250 cylinder challenge. Here it is. The first few pages are a struggle, as I forgot all the details, but once I went back and figured it out, they became a lot better. My main issues are getting the angle of the ellipses right and making sure the ellipses are actually aligned properly.
Also, the last two pages are a little weaker because I wasn't as warmed up as I should have been.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-26 20:48
They're moving in the right direction, but I'd say there's a much larger issue than either of the ones you mentioned, though it's related: you're not reading the material included in the challenge. There is both a step-by-step demo on how to construct a cylinder and a video, and both stress the importance of the minor axis. I don't see a single point in your cylinders where you attempt to construct a cylinder around a minor axis, even though I say you should be doing it across the board. The minor axis is what governs the alignment of your ellipses, so that is definitely the cause of your struggles.
I'm still marking the challenge as complete because you did draw 250 cylinders, but come on. Read before you jump into drawing, this will continue to shoot you in the foot in the future.
ccarrot
2016-01-28 09:41
I'm not sure what to say. I did read the instructions (and watched the video - twice) - but I guess my ability to really absorb and internalize important bits has just vanished on me. Well, okay. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. The third last page has a pretty significant dip in quality (don't know why - maybe not using a dying marker changed things), but I do clean it up a little bit near the end. I tried the major axis as well for one page (I saw you used it in your examples, but it wasn't in the instructions), but didn't really like using it much.
Uncomfortable
2016-01-28 20:54
Better. One thing that is definitely worth practicing is being able to align an ellipse to a given minor axis - that's something you're still struggling with, although understandably as it's not an easy thing to master.
The major axis isn't really that useful as far as concepts go, I just added it there because it helped me get a sense of the orientation of an ellipse (major axis being prependicular to the minor axis). It was usually done as an afterthought though to check things.
Fintison
2016-02-06 16:49
Hello, here is my take on this challenge
Uncomfortable
2016-02-06 22:42
Good work completing the challenge. Just a couple things to keep in mind:
Draw through all of the ellipses you draw for my lessons. Each and every one.
Remember that the degrees of the ellipses should not be the same - the farther ellipse should have greater degree (it should be wider) and the closer end should have a smaller degree (narrower).
I should actually change the 'how to draw a cylinder' diagrams to reflect this, but it's probably a much better idea to have your minor axis cut through the entire cylinder, not just end at the center point of the ellipse. Reason being, the minor axis is supposed to cut an ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves - if we're not cutting all the way through the ellipse, it's harder to tell if it was aligned correctly.
Consider this challenge complete.
ColorDeprived
2016-02-12 18:23
I noticed problems with Basics 2, so I decided to do this challenge. I think my ellipses are way better now.
http://imgur.com/a/fDUXL
Uncomfortable
2016-02-13 21:11
Nice constructions. I'm glad to see the confidence with which you've drawn these cylinders. The only thing that jumps out at me is that they are all quite small, and are all very similar in size. Should definitely shake things up and add more variation. You did however vary the angles of your constructions quite a bit, so that's good.
Keep up the good work, and consider this challenge complete.
seancorey
2016-02-24 00:40
Hi! Here's my 250 Cylinder Challenge! http://imgur.com/a/D6OV4
It not only taught me to draw cylinders, but also how to spell 'cylinder', hah.
Please let me know how I did, thanks in advance! cheers.
Uncomfortable
2016-02-24 01:26
Nice work! Looks like you're applying the concepts outlined in the notes well, and you don't seem to be missing anything significant. I'm all so glad to see a wide variety of lengths and sizes, as well as rotations. Keep up the good work, and consider this challenge complete.
[deleted]
2016-03-29 07:14
Oufta, this started out a little rough. Feel I really picked up a lot by the end though. I think I'm still having confidence issues though, I start overthinking every aspect of it and my arm tightens up as opposed to when I'm just sketching. Have to find out a way to channel that mindset, hah.
Here we go!
Uncomfortable
2016-03-29 21:51
Very nice work! I'm glad to see that you played a little with constructing your cylinders in boxes, and that you focused especially hard on aligning your ellipses to their minor axes. I see no glaring issues here, just a lot of great practice. Keep it up, and consider this challenge complete!
[deleted]
2016-03-29 23:26
Woo! Onward to lesson 3!
SheepovaArt
2016-04-04 19:09
My submisssion.
Uncomfortable
2016-04-05 17:59
Well done. Keep working on tightening up your ellipses, though I'm glad to see that yours are driven with confident strokes, and are generally shaped quite evenly. That is a higher priority than tightening your ellipses, but once those points are hit, you'll want to work on getting those multiple lines to come closer together.
I'm glad to see that you've been applying the concepts of the minor axis across the board - as a result, your ellipses look fairly solid and well constructed. Good work completing the challenge.
SheepovaArt
2016-04-05 19:29
Thanks a lot for the feedback.
NobodyTouchesTheHat
2016-04-05 05:12
Link
I did some extra pages to make up for how rushed my first hundred or so were.
I feel like all the cylinders I drew without the box method came out rather bad.
Uncomfortable
2016-04-05 18:12
Honestly, I think your first 100 were your best. It's possible that you did rush through them in general, but in your later cylinders, you seemed to be spending a little too much time when actually executing your marks. As the ghosting method states, you should be investing most of your time in the preparation stage, and then drawing the actual marks with a quick, confident and persistent pace.
One thing you need to remember is that the box method's purpose is to construct the minor axis - often when constructing a cylinder as part of something larger, it can be difficult to place this line so that it is oriented properly, so using a box can be much more effective. Afterwards, you do not want to be constructing your ellipses to match the box, but rather to align them to the resulting minor axis. I believe that many of your box cylinders have ellipses that are slightly off in their alignment.
Overall, I'm very happy to see that your'e attempting to apply the various techniques. I think the best approach is to invest lots of time into preparation, and internalizing those rules, but when it comes time to draw, allow yourself to relax and rely more on your muscle memory.
Anyway, congratulations on completing the challenge. Keep up the good work.
[deleted]
2016-04-06 21:22
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2016-04-07 22:20
Your cylinders are coming along well! The only thing I want to mention is that when you draw ellipses with a smaller degree (the narrower ones on the end of the cylinder closest to us) you have a tendency to bring the ends of those ellipses to a bit of a point. Keep striving to maintain an even, smooth roundedness to them.
Anyway, keep up the great work, and consider this challenge complete.
Cleric_
2016-04-16 11:56
Hey figured I'd go through this challenge as well before moving on with the lessons, wound up doing it twice, felt like I might have been rushing the first time around & drawing them at similar angles to much just to increase the speed. I started over and tried to do them at more angles & just take my time a bit more I've uploaded both in the same album.
http://imgur.com/a/0A3Cx
Uncomfortable
2016-04-16 20:55
You're certainly making progress over the course of the set! Nice work completing the challenge. One suggestion I have is that you may benefit from having the minor axis line cut through the entirety of both ellipses, rather than stopping half-way between each. The important thing is that you align both ellipses to the minor axis, such that the minor axis cuts both into two equal, symmetrical halves. It's easier to accomplish this when drawing the ellipse so all of it sits on top of the line.
Cleric_
2016-04-16 21:18
Alright I'll keep that in mind, currently just trying to find good reference pictures for the next couple of lessons. I was wondering if there was some specific site that's good to use? I've been using image search on google & just 2mp + sized pictures in the search options but it would be nice if there was some place where you could get reference pictures that are already sorted.
Uncomfortable
2016-04-16 21:31
I generally use google image search, though both lessons 3 and 4 have links in their homework section to some fairly high-res reference images on flickr.
Peteman22
2016-04-23 18:51
Hello Uncomfortable
I decided to get this done before moving onto lesson 7 in part to practice ellipses which you mentioned where an issue for lesson 6.
http://imgur.com/a/hHXhX
Thank You
Uncomfortable
2016-04-23 23:55
Very nice work! I'm loving the variety of orientations, sizes, proportions and configurations. The only recommendation I have to offer is that it might help a little more to draw your minor axis all the way through the cylinder, rather than between the centers of your ellipses. Remember that its purpose is to cut each ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves down its narrower dimension. If the line only penetrates halfway through an ellipse, it's harder to catch mistakes where the alignment is a little bit off.
Anyway, great work completing the challenge.
doinurmop
2016-04-28 14:57
Yo, sup uncomfortable, I decided to do a quick(ish) practise on this, Since, I'm uncomfortable moving on to the form intersections
http://imgur.com/LhUCJLK
Uncomfortable
2016-04-28 15:10
Quick-ish is right, your work is really sloppy, and I don't really think you're going to get much benefit from rushing through things like this. If you really hope to improve, you need to take the time to focus and be patient.
doinurmop
2016-04-28 15:11
I think I'm going to have to go through the cylinder practise again sometime, It still rather confuses to me a large extent at times
Uncomfortable
2016-04-28 15:16
Honestly, I think you might want to go back to the beginning and go through the homework in ink and submit it for a proper critique, just to ensure that you're getting the most out of the lessons instead of just spinning your wheels.
doinurmop
2016-04-28 15:23
I guess I could do that, except for the ink part, seeing as my paper tools have disappeared.
Even though I hate the idea, since I'll have to go through the perspective and such again, which I never did submit here for some reason, though my art buddy has been saying I made progress on it.
If you'd like the pictures for the other practise I've done, through the whole thing, I'd give it to you, don't wanna waste ya time though.
Uncomfortable
2016-04-28 19:08
Unfortunately I'm pretty adamant about the ink thing for people who submit homework, so I won't be able to accept your lesson 1 submission. Good to hear you've got someone else to comment on your progress though. Definitely helps to have an external judge.
doinurmop
2016-04-28 19:10
Aight', I'll go through the lesson 1 homeworks anyway, just so I can refresh my mind on everything I learnt before this.
thanks for your help/comments
disies
2016-04-29 18:43
https://imgur.com/a/Dt62k
this took me forever.. I redid the the whole thing because I'm so sloppy and impatient..
I still mess up a lot and on page 4 you can see I had a pretty bad day. I quit adding line weights because I used it to cover up mistakes.
in case you want to see my first try: https://imgur.com/a/kOUfR
disies
2016-04-29 19:23
crap. I am so confused after this i posted it in the wrong thread. I'm so sorry. -_-
Uncomfortable
2016-04-30 02:45
Don't worry about posting in the wrong thread - we all make mistakes sometimes.
Anyway, I'm glad to see that you are making considerable progress with your boxes. I have just one comment to make - I noticed that when you draw the lines that exist on the opposite side of the form (drawing through the boxes), you have a tendency to draw broken lines, or very timid lines that skitter across the page, rather than being straight and solid.
I strongly encourage you not to do this - I totally understand why you're approaching it that way, but the problem is that as soon as a line is broken, it no longer is able to maintain its flow and direction. Often times broken lines will have small shifts in angle with each segment, unlike a single continuous mark that flows in a single direction. Keeping your lines continuous will help considerably in the long run.
Aside from that, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete.
disies
2016-04-30 07:16
You mean those broken lines in my first attempt? I figured that it might be bad so I quit doing it in my second try.
Would you advise to do the cylinder challenge first before moving on to organic forms?
Uncomfortable
2016-04-30 15:52
Oh, yes, it does seem to you stopped doing that on your own. Good on you! As for the cylinder challenge, doing it certainly has its own advantages, especially when it comes to the form intersection exercise in lesson 2.
BozzieTudamoss
2016-05-01 19:53
Decided to tackle this as part of my daily drawing exercises. Did 25 cylinders a day for 10 days. I spent a few days practicing before starting. Much like my experience with the box challenge, this is just a starting point. I'm happy with the improvement I made through the challenge.
Work here.
Uncomfortable
2016-05-02 17:28
Nice work completing the challenge. Here's a couple tips that will help you as you continue to more forwards:
The notes on the challenge page, and the video itself, really emphasizes the importance of the minor axis when constructing your cylinders. It's this minor axis that determines the alignment of both ellipses. Be sure to revisit those notes to refresh your memory of how to use this excellent tool.
I strongly advise you not to do a rough pass, followed by a clean-up pass. We can see instances of this in how you've tackled your ellipses, drawing through them initially (which is good) but doing so faintly (which is bad), then attempting to more carefully draw a cleaner ellipse on top to replace the initial one (which is worse). This 'cleaner' ellipse demonstrates a lot of the shortcomings of drawing slowly and carefully - your lines wobble, and your ellipse comes out not quite as well shaped. It may well be more accurate, but you've sacrificed the flow of the mark to achieve this. All of your time should be invested in the preparation phase (ghosting and the like), before executing with a quick, confident stroke and in the case of ellipses, drawing through them. So, instead of doing that first step with a fainter line, do so with confidence. Then, instead of doing a clean-up pass, you may want to instead simply reinforce parts of your stroke with more line weight to help organize the hierarchy of lines. The difference here is that instead of replacing the lines you've drawn, you're emphasizing those that already exist.
BozzieTudamoss
2016-05-02 19:27
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to work on squashing the bad habit of cleaning up my lines and instead focus on just creating better lines. I'm glad you pointed it out so I can fix it sooner rather than later. I'll also revisit the minor axis and give it the attention it deserves. Thanks again!
B0BDigi
2016-05-02 03:56
Hey there, Uncomfortable! I finally finished this challenge. It took way longer than I expected it to take. Take a look: http://imgur.com/a/8jEkU
I'd appreciate it if could give me some feedback. Thanks.
Uncomfortable
2016-05-02 19:27
Nice work! I'm glad to see the conscientious attention to detail, fleshing out every single box. One thing I do want to remind you of though is the hierarchy of importance. That is, the role the box plays, and what your ellipses should be aligned to. To be honest, you seem to have done most of these quite well, so this is really just for the sake of me having something to offer after all your work.
Basically, the box helps you align your cylinder, but it really only exists in order to create the correct minor axis, since it generates two points (the centers of the far/near planes), between which you can place that line. Once the box is constructed, you can use it as a general suggestion of how big your ellipses should be, but when it comes to alignment, you follow the minor axis. You'll find that the alignment between fitting the ellipse inside of the plane, and following the minor axis are a little different from each other. This can get a little confusing for people, so I always insist that the minor axis is what carries the most weight.
Anyway, great work completing the challenge.
[deleted]
2016-05-04 14:45
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2016-05-04 19:41
Pretty good work. Congrats on completing the challenge. I'm glad to see that you paid special attention to constructing your cylinders around a set minor axis. I do want to mention however that you should absolutely be drawing through each of the ellipses you draw for my lessons. Yours are pretty decent, but I still insist upon it. If you're not sure what I mean by drawing through, I explain it here: Draw Through your Ellipses.
Morihalda
2016-05-11 21:00
Hey there! I hope you're having a good week so far. :) 250 Cylinders, as promised! I'm super excited to be moving forward.
Edit: OH MAN. Constructional drawing looks so cool haha! And it makes sense!
Uncomfortable
2016-05-12 19:23
Well done! One thing to keep in mind is that it's a good idea to draw your ellipses such that the minor axis cuts all the way through it, rather than positioning the ellipse's center point on the end of the line. This makes it easier to align the ellipse, since it's all about the minor axis cutting the ellipse into two equal, symmetrical halves. It's harder to get a sense of that when the line only goes halfway through.
Aside from that, very nice work completing the challenge! I like the attention to the minor axes overall, and I'm glad you tried a couple times to construct the cylinders in boxes. When doing that, it's good to remember that the box only serves to construct the minor axis - after that, you still want to be aligning the ellipses to the minor axis.
tsej
2016-05-15 09:53
Hi! I finished 250 cylinders last night, because I was bored.
I'm a little worried it might not be up to par, but screw it!
It was really fun.
I apologize if some of it is a little scratchy/sloppy, and I see that some cylinders are a little wonky.
In hindsight, I should've experimented more with line weight, but was anxious of it getting dirty/scratchy.
I feel a lot more confident in drawing lines now, though.
Anyways, here's my challenge homework.
Thanks a lot!
Uncomfortable
2016-05-15 18:07
Nice work! Your cylinders are coming along great. There's two minor issues that I noticed, but generally you've made clear progress and are heading in the right direction. The two issues are as follows:
I noticed that in the last two pages you skipped the minor axis for a lot of your cylinders. At this stage, I think it's important to really hold to the tools you've got. This is more of a marathon, than a sprint, so don't be to preoccupied with ditching the additional tools just yet. The day will come eventually where you can visualize the minor axis without actually drawing it, but it's not something to worry about right now.
When drawing the minor axis, it's probably going to be a little bit better to have it passing through both of the ellipses entirely. That is, don't draw the ellipses around the end points of the minor axis, but rather such that the minor axis cuts through both completely. This will help you nail the alignment a little more easily, since you'll actually be able to see visually whether the minor axis splits the ellipses into two equal, symmetrical halves.
Anyway, great work completing the challenge!
tsej
2016-05-15 18:22
I will keep those in mind, sorry!.
I have to continue practicing these anyways. I will definitely do that next time.
Thanks! Off to Lesson 2.
edit: I have a query, though. When you said minor axis, did you mean Major? Or should I draw the minor axis through the ellipses?
Uncomfortable
2016-05-15 18:24
I certainly meant minor axis. http://drawabox.com/images/lesson1/example_ellipseanatomy.jpg, http://drawabox.com/images/lesson1/example_ellipseminoraxis.jpg
tsej
2016-05-15 18:25
Got it! I got confused for a bit there. Swapped minor and major in my head.
Thanks again.
iwanttofloat
2016-05-18 20:55
Here's my Cylinder Challenge. Thanks!
http://imgur.com/a/vlhfC
Uncomfortable
2016-05-18 21:09
Pretty nice work completing the challenge. One recommendation I do have is that you should try to draw your ellipses such that the minor axis line penetrates all the way through them, instead of drawing them around the end point. The whole principle of the minor axis cutting your ellipses into two equal, symmetrical halves, is much easier to see when it goes all the way through. This in turn makes it easier to see where you've done it correctly, and where your alignment is slightly off. Also on this point, it's a good idea to draw through all of your forms right now (in regards to the cylinders where you didn't draw the full ellipse for the far end), and remember to draw your ellipses with confidence, focusing on relying on muscle memory instead of letting your brain guide your hand. This comic definitely applies.
halien69
2016-06-25 23:26
So I did the 250 cylinder challenge ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/22wqz3uez0fz16i/250CylinderChallenge.pdf?dl=0) . My take from this is that I need to do more ellipses. Used this approach than the box approach as I kept getting confused by all the extra lines and this method looked cleaner.
Uncomfortable
2016-06-26 18:06
Your cylinder constructions are coming along well - I have just two things to recommend. First off, draw a little bigger. I really like how you filled each page to the brim, but when it comes to spatial problems (and constructing geometric forms is very much a spatial problem) it helps considerably to give yourself a little more room. Working smaller results in the thickness of your lines being greater in relationship to the overall size of the drawing, so this can result in things feeling a little clunkier, and less nuanced.
Secondly, right now it seems your scanner's really blasting out any contrast and nuance in your linework - I'm guessing you used a 'drawing' preset. You'll find that the results with photo presets is better, because it gives you a wider range of tones and captures your pages more accurately.
Anyway, consider this challenge complete and keep up the good work.
halien69
2016-06-27 20:14
Thanks. In the future I'll try bigger cylinders. It's probably a bit cheating as found smaller cylinders easier. BTW what do u mean by drawing presets? I didn't follow any guide nor any preset.
Uncomfortable
2016-06-27 20:17
I was referring to the settings you use when scanning your pages. Most scanning software comes with presets tailored towards specific kinds of material - a lot of people use the drawing preset because they think, well, I'm scanning a drawing so this must be right. But it uses really high contrast and results in harsh images with stark blacks and whites, eviscerating the middle greys. Photo presets result in a much more accurate range of tones, displaying all of the nuance of your linework.