Looking good! Your ellipses are definitely looking smoother than they have in the past. There is still room for improvement of course, but they're definitely moving in the right direction. You're also making good use of those minor axes. Just make sure you keep drawing through those ellipses, and you should continue improving on this front. I'll go ahead and mark the challenge as complete.
/u/Moonchild567 (submission from the locked thread):
Generally moving in the right direction. One thing that I'm catching fairly regularly though - and it's a minor point, but still worth mentioning - is that the side edges of your cylinders tend to be a little inconsistent. They're frequently a little bit short of straight, or don't quite hit their target. This isn't abnormal by any stretch, but it does tell me that you may want to invest a little more time in the preparation/ghosting phase of the mark-making process. Don't forget to drop points for the beginning and end points of your lines either - the ghosting method and all of its steps are very useful for building up both confident, smooth, straight lines as well as accuracy.
Overall your use of minor axes seems to be on point, and your ellipses are executed fairly well. There's certainly room for improvement, but beyond taking a little more time preparing before making your marks, you're moving in the right direction, and things will continue to solidify with practice.
Keep up the good work and consider this challenge complete.
You're actually doing a pretty good job. It will take more practice of course to sort out the alignment of your ellipses, but that's expected. One thing I noticed however is that for the first 200 of your cylinders, you were not quite drawing your minor axes long enough. This got better after that point, so I'm assuming you recognized this yourself, but I'll repeat it here - it's important for your ellipses to rest completely on the minor axis line, for you to have the best chance of aligning it correctly.
I also noticed that your execution of your minor axes is at times just a little bit sloppy - make sure you're applying the ghosting method (including laying down start/end points) so the lines come out as straight as possible. In general, I think you'll benefit from slowing down a little bit and spending more time preparing before executing your marks, which tend to be a little looser by the end of the challenge.
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
Hello Czar. I am back with a 2nd attempt on the cylinder challenge: ALBUM
For reference, HERE is your feedback from the first time.
I stuck more to the instructions. I've used a dual tip sharpie for most of this to try and combat the "faintness" (which was actually just bad pens. These things just don't seem to last any sort of reasonable time.) There is quite a bit of bleed as a result of the sharpie.
The ones in boxes are wildly worse than those started on an axis which is interesting.
Looking good! There's a lot of great stuff here, and your linework and execution of your ellipses is coming out quite confidently. In general you're demonstrating a good eye for form and 3D space, and I'm glad to see how conscientious you are about your minor axis.
There's just a couple things that I noticed here and there that I want to point out:
There are noticeable cases where your farther ellipse ends up with a degree narrower than the near end. For example, 237 jumps out at me, though there are others. Remember that the far end should generally have a slightly wider degree. Based on its infrequency, I can totally understand this as being slip-ups now and then, but I figured I'd point it out anyway.
I also noticed some cases like 215, where the orientation of the ellipses is somewhat reversed (the minor axis is cutting through that near ellipse's wider dimension, rather than its narrower one. In general, for ellipses with degrees that circular, you're also generally going to see much less of the length of the cylinder. That is, the two ellipses will overlap more. The one next to it (217) shows that orientation of a cylinder with ellipse-degrees that match it more closely.
Anyway, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete.
Wanted to do the 250 Cylinder Challenge before moving on to Organic Forms and Contour Lines because I was having a hard time visualizing the ellipses wrapping around the forms.
I feel like I learned a lot more about visualizing the ellipses lining up with the vanishing point, but I need a lot of work controlling my ellipses.
I keep over thinking it after my ellipse begins. I did notice that my ellipses were smoother when I didn't overthink it, but unfortunately overthinking is like my superpower so it's hard to turn off. lol
Nice work. I definitely think your grasp of 3D space and how to go about constructing these cylinders improves over the set, as does your general confidence. Your ellipses are generally coming out fairly smooth, and you're demonstrating a fair bit of care in aligning your ellipses to the minor axes. The only major issue I'm noticing is that you could certainly use a little more patience when actually drawing your initial minor axis - your lines aren't always straight in this regard.
Remember to apply the ghosting method to every single mark you draw - that is, all three steps mentioned in lesson 1, starting with placing points where you want your line to start and end. This method should be applied everywhere, even though it's somewhat time consuming.
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
When the degree of the minor axis of a cylinder is always higher does that also mean the far plane of a box is always more squarish than the near plane?
Yup, that sounds about right. Though keep in mind that this shift is generally going to be quite subtle. Similarly to the near/far plane size relationships, the greater the discrepancy, the larger the implied scale of the object.
Nice work. While your constructions are pretty nice throughout, I think your confidence markedly improves over the set, especially in regards to your ellipses. In general the issue is that at the beginning, they've got a fair bit of stiffness to them. There still is some of that by the end, but considerably less. Just always remember to draw your ellipses from your shoulder, and not to hesitate when doing so - execute them with a confident, persistent pace after ghosting through the motion several times to build up muscle memory.
The other thing I wanted to mention was that near the end, the additional effort placed on applying hatching lines isn't necessarily the best use of your energy. In certain cases, those lines work against the illusion of form you're constructing - specifically when you end up with straighter lines sitting along a rounded surface. In the next lesson, you'll learn about 'contour lines' - effectively lines that sit on a surface, and by their very existence describe how that surface deforms through space. If you take a sphere and draw a straight line across it on the page, that straight line will immediately tell us that it's flat and will undermine that illusion of form.
Generally the more successful use of hatching here are the longer lines that run length-wise along the surface of the cylinder.
All that said, experimentation is definitely important, and these are important lessons to learn. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
Congrats on completing the challenge. There's one thing that really stands out to me overall: you're drawing very, very small. I had noticed this in the beginning of your box challenge, but as you progressed through it you opened up to drawing your forms larger. It seems now that I should have mentioned it then, though I thought you had kind of come to the correct conclusion on your own.
When you draw smaller, especially when it comes to tackling spatial problems involved in drawing three dimensional forms, it has the tendency to stiffen up your linework and your drawings. Beginners often do this out of a lack of confidence, feeling that smaller drawings will hide their mistakes, but the truth is that drawing smaller more often than not will reduce the quality of your work.
In the future, make a point of drawing somewhat larger than this - I'd say at least twice the size of these cylinders, if not larger still. This will give you more freedom to draw from your shoulder and to generally be more confident and bold with how you go about making those marks.
You've completed the challenge, so I'll mark it as such. That said, I think it would be in your best interest to do another 50. Remember to apply the ghosting method to every one of your lines - that is, investing all of your time into planning and preparing, then executing with a confident, persistent pace.
You are also welcome to get started on lesson 2, though I'd recommend doing those 50 extra cylinders before you tackle the form intersections. And the same thing about drawing larger goes for the lesson 2 material - and frankly, everything. If you draw small, your drawings will get cramped and stiff.
Heh. I admittedly drew smaller to save paper. I will do another 50 and then get started with lesson 50. And I'll definitively draw larger things from now on:)
Ok, finally done. Well, kinda there's a few missing but I did most of them. I think I'll eventually get used to it but I much prefer ballpoint to the liner pens.
Very nice work! You've paid careful attention to the alignment of your ellipses to the minor axis line, and in general have demonstrated a well developing grasp of 3D space. In addition, your line quality is quite solid, and you're experimenting with a nice variety of angles and orientations. Keep up the great work. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
It's true that ballpoint pens tend to feel much better than felt tip pens (for one thing, ballpoints tend to have a much lighter touch). It is for this very same reason though that felt tip pens are much more useful as a learning tool, as they don't allow us as much freedom to noodle and think on the page. Instead we need to consider line economy to a greater degree, and be sure only to draw the marks that are necessary for our purposes.
Very nicely done! You're very fastidious when it comes to building around your minor axes, and your linework looks very confident and self-assured. Keep up the great work. The only thing I'd recommend is to try more that are constructed inside of an existing box, as this will come in quite handy in much later lessons (6 and 7). You're absolutely ready to move onto lesson 2 though.
Pretty good overall. The one thing that jumps out at me though is that your cylinders are all fairly similar in how they're angled relative to the viewer's eye. You do have some that turn away more (like 249), but I don't really see any that angle more towards the viewer (so we'd be closer to looking right down the length of the cylinder, like looking through a spyglass/handheld telescope.
Anyway, just keep that in mind for when you practicle cylinders in the future. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete, so feel free to move onto lesson 2.
Wider degrees, and more overlap between the two ellipses. So the minor axis would be pointing towards the viewer, rather than across our field of view.
i gave this a shot just using boxes bc i needed practice drawing ellipses and square planes in 3d. i still need to build more confidence with it -- appreciate any feedback you have!
The constructions are fairly decent, but my concern lies more with your line quality. Compared to your other work, these definitely feel somewhat more hesitant, and even scratchy. I can see a tendency to reinforce your lines (rather than sticking to one-mark-per-line). Some of your ellipses also appear to be somewhat wobbly - for example, 246, which is the most egregious, though others exist to varying degrees.
On another note, a point I do see you struggling with somewhat is getting your ellipses to fit snugly within those planes, especially with the planes on the farther end of the box/cylinder construction. I'm not sure if this is accidental or intentional - but if it is an intentional attempt at fixing something midway, I'd advise you against it. The constructional approach is all about answering certain questions and solving certain problems in one step, and then moving forward with the knowledge that it's been dealt with - that everything else you do from then on can rely on the fact that the problem's been handled. If however you decide to revisit that problem in a subsequent step, it leads to a muddier process, and a loss of trust in the method itself.
That applies as much to these simple cylinders as it would to anything else - the box defines the space the cylinder will occupy, so if you then decide to make the far end narrower, you're effectively revisiting the problem the box already took care of. It's better for your general confidence to keep moving forwards rather than attempting to correct things along the way in such cases.
Anyway, I hope that gives you enough feedback to work with. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
Hi Uncomfortable ! Here is my submission for the cylinder challenge : https://imgur.com/a/6QimQ. I tried to vary the points of view. I also switched between cylinders with and without boxes. Tell me if there is anything wrong ! Thank you.
It doesn't seem I have you down as being eligible for having your homework reviewed by me specifically - if you're a recent patreon supporter, check your patreon inbox, as I'll have sent a message gathering information such as your reddit username. Otherwise you're welcome to submit your work to the subreddit to receive a critique from the community, which is of course completely free.
Nice work. Your constructions definitely improve over the course of the set, as does your general line quality. It starts out somewhat shaky and uncertain, but becomes considerably more solid. One thing that I noticed was missing though was a technique relating to boxes that I mentioned in the 'how to draw a cylinder' video. That is, finding the center point of a plane (which you can use on either end of the box to find two points between which to construct your minor axis). To recap, if you take a plane and draw lines diagonally across it from corner to corner (forming an X across the plane), where the two lines of the X intersect is the middle in perspective of that plane. This gives you a building block you can use, instead of guessing where that minor axis should go.
Aside from that, good stuff. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
Sorry about the delay! Looks like your submission got caught in the spam filter. I think it is particularly sensitive to link shortners like goo.gl and whatnot.
Anyway, overall great work! The cylinders you drew purely around their minor axes came out very nicely. Solid forms, confident ellipses. Those constructed within boxes do need more work though, so I'd recommend pushing some of your focus in that direction. I think there are two primary issues. The boxes themselves aren't necessarily the strongest, but more importantly, I think when you construct inside the boxes, you get confused as to how the minor axis should be bisecting your ellipses. Remember that the minor axis cuts through the narrower side of the ellipse. In many cases this seems to get kind of muddy, and the alignment kind of gets lost.
Anyway, keep up the good work! I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
[deleted]
2017-10-17 05:53
Thank you. Indeed, constructing circles inside of boxes was confusing. I will practice more.
I agree with you - it does seem like as you moved through the set, you started to get sloppier and may have just wanted to get through it all. Watch places where your forms have gaps (lines not touching ellipses), and definitely work on tightening those ellipses up. The confidence and flow you've got is good, but if they get too loose you will lose the sense of solidity that we really need when it comes to these forms.
Overall you're approaching them well, you just need to exhibit a little more care and patience with each one. While quantity is important, the quality of each will really impact just how much you get out of the challenge.
You can certainly consider the challenge complete though - beyond the patience issue, I don't see any overarching issues with your cylinders. In the future though, I'd definitely recommend practicing constructing some of these in boxes, as this becomes a useful tool to align them in specific ways in space.
I know the lines doesnt look the prettiest but for some reason I decided to get a real coarse paper, mixed media and the felt tip pen doesnt like it that much! Also , trying to add different line weight messed with me as well, it often times didnt improve the cylinder but made it look messier , but Im working on it.
Great work! The linework aside (which honestly isn't notably bad, just a little rough around the edges), your cylinder constructions look solid, and you've taken great care with your minor axes.
On the point about line weight, one thing I do want to stress is that generally you won't want to apply extra weight to the entirety of a line - usually it's something you apply to a specific locality, to clarify a particular overlap. If you try and add weight evenly to an entire ellipse, you're either going to end up with the lines separating (if you're doing it confidently, as you should be) or you'll get wobbling/stiffness from going too slowly. But if you tackle it in specific areas instead, you should be able to maintain greater control and confidence, while also avoiding anything looking to overbearing.
Also, one thing that is definitely worth practicing is constructing cylinders inside of boxes. It's particularly useful when using them in other constructions, as starting with a box lets you determine its orientation in space more easily than working on the cylinder from scratch.
Anyway, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete! Finally! You can be free of the chicken!
Pretty nice work! You're following the instructions closely, and I'm pleased to see that you even attempted a handful of them starting with a box, which ends up being quite useful when you need to align them in a specific manner in space. The only thing that jumps out at me is that some of your ellipses have a tendency to be a little uneven, due to being drawn a little too slowly and carefully. It'll help to work on loosening them up, shifting your priorities back to flow and the general confidence of your execution. Hesitation and worrying too much about the result will cause you to stiffen up, ultimately making the ellipses less, well, elliptical.
Keep up the good work and consider this challenge complete.
Thanks for the quick critique. I can see your point on the ellipses themselves. I definitely spent more effort getting the perspective etc. correct than having nice flowing lines, and not paying as much attention on the ellipticalness (I'm sure that's a word) of the ellipses. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again!
[deleted]
2017-11-09 00:38
I feel like I was improving as I was going through the challenge. I did attempt the cylinder within a box exercise, however, was not successful. I will keep practicing. Thanks!
Very nice work! Your constructions definitely get a lot more confident and solid throughout the set. Just a few things to keep in mind as you continue to move forwards:
Don't build your ellipses centered on the end points of your minor axis - you want that minor axis to cut all the way through, as it helps with alignment.
Closer to the end, you seem to draw through your ellipses a lot less - this is still important, and should be done for all of the ellipses you draw for my lessons.
You may not have succeeded with constructing your cylinders inside of boxes, but that's no reason not to include them and continue practicing them as part of the challenge. There's no sense in focusing on your successes - failures are the important part when it comes to learning. Make sure you continue practicing them.
I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
PS: I have seen other people with a Badge for the 250 Box Challenge. I have done the challenge and already got critique from you, but I don't seem to have a badge for some reason. So I thought I'd better mention that I already did that challenge :)
Excellent work! Your constructions look great, and I'm glad to see how much you pushed building each one around its minor axis. The only thing I feel is missing is practicing drawing more of them from a box as a starting point. This will be particularly important when you need to align them to other objects. I noticed that you tried it at the beginning, and definitely could have had some more practice on that end.
So just keep that in mind in the future. Other than that, keep up the great work. And sorry about not giving you the box challenge badge! I'll give you both right now.
Hey, thanks a lot for the feedback! The construction of the cylinders with a box as a starting point indeed was pretty difficult for me.
I tried again and did some more (https://imgur.com/a/gZY4P) but I think it still looks pretty wonky and hoped maybe you have some advice? I can't really tell whether I am doing something wrong or if I just need more practice.
On the bottom of the first page, I started with a cylinder and then built the box around it because I thought that might help me to understand how it is supposed to work -this way around it actually felt a lot easier. When I start with the box it always seems like thing aren't lining up the way they are supposed to and to me, the degree of the ellipses looks kinda off on a lot of them.
Thanks a lot for your feedback! It really means a lot!
Very nice work! For all intents and purposes, you're doing fine. The wonkiness is normal at this stage, you're about where I'd expect you to be. If you want more advice, I'd point you to this video. It's more advanced and is actually included in lesson 7, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend digging too deeply into it right now, but it does explain the mechanics of building a circle/square in 3D space.
Well done! You've got a lot of great boxes here, and you've paid careful attention to building each one around its minor axis. This is definitely the focus of the exercise, along with building consistent ellipses, which you've also done well.
The only thing that I feel you may want to explore a little more is drawing cylinders by starting from a box, as mentioned in the video. This can be very helpful especially when you want to align your cylinders relative to other existing forms. It can be considerably more difficult to do this with just a minor axis, since it's much easier to grasp how a box will sit in space (compared to a simple line).
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the great work.
When you're positioning your ellipses on that minor axis, make sure the minor axis cuts through them entirely - rather than placing them on either end of the line. It'll help with aligning them a little better.
It does look like you missed out on the opportunity to practice with constructing cylinders in boxes, which is definitely a worthwhile exercise. Reason being, boxes are much easier to align and position in space - so once you've got a box down, if you can use it to construct a cylinder, you're going to be set for a lot of challenging situations.
Aside from that, great work. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Or I would.. if it weren't already. :P
I think there's a considerable amount of improvement over the set. What I notice most though, is that there are a lot of signs that you are perhaps allowing yourself to be a little too quick, a little too rushed, and a little too sloppy with each individual cylinder, in the interest of getting more of them done.
Don't forget to ghost in your lines. Try and keep your minor axis as straight as you can - the extra focus on preparation before execution will help in that area. Ghost your ellipses too. I think you adhere to this much more near the end than you did through the first big chunk, so I think you understood this yourself.
Ultimately while there is a lot to conquer here, you need to keep your mind on the cylinder that you're drawing at a given moment - more specifically, on the mark you're about to put down. When faced with a large task with many similar tasks, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking three or four steps ahead.
I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. As I mentioned above, you do show considerably improvement by the end in how you're approaching this. Keep those points about patience and focus in mind as you move through the other lessons.
Uncomfortable
2017-07-11 01:44
Old thread got locked, those eligible to have their work critiqued by me can submit it here.
Uncomfortable
2017-07-11 01:48
/u/Tarrazan (submission from the locked thread):
Looking good! Your ellipses are definitely looking smoother than they have in the past. There is still room for improvement of course, but they're definitely moving in the right direction. You're also making good use of those minor axes. Just make sure you keep drawing through those ellipses, and you should continue improving on this front. I'll go ahead and mark the challenge as complete.
Uncomfortable
2017-07-11 01:53
/u/Moonchild567 (submission from the locked thread):
Generally moving in the right direction. One thing that I'm catching fairly regularly though - and it's a minor point, but still worth mentioning - is that the side edges of your cylinders tend to be a little inconsistent. They're frequently a little bit short of straight, or don't quite hit their target. This isn't abnormal by any stretch, but it does tell me that you may want to invest a little more time in the preparation/ghosting phase of the mark-making process. Don't forget to drop points for the beginning and end points of your lines either - the ghosting method and all of its steps are very useful for building up both confident, smooth, straight lines as well as accuracy.
Overall your use of minor axes seems to be on point, and your ellipses are executed fairly well. There's certainly room for improvement, but beyond taking a little more time preparing before making your marks, you're moving in the right direction, and things will continue to solidify with practice.
Keep up the good work and consider this challenge complete.
Moonchild567
2017-07-11 10:29
Thank you very much! I will take more time in preparation. :)
moNkk-
2017-07-29 09:49
http://imgur.com/a/owBtN
I still mess up with ellipse on the further end - it is almost always with wrong degree. Also not really happy with messiness\untidiness of my lines.
Uncomfortable
2017-07-30 19:27
You're actually doing a pretty good job. It will take more practice of course to sort out the alignment of your ellipses, but that's expected. One thing I noticed however is that for the first 200 of your cylinders, you were not quite drawing your minor axes long enough. This got better after that point, so I'm assuming you recognized this yourself, but I'll repeat it here - it's important for your ellipses to rest completely on the minor axis line, for you to have the best chance of aligning it correctly.
I also noticed that your execution of your minor axes is at times just a little bit sloppy - make sure you're applying the ghosting method (including laying down start/end points) so the lines come out as straight as possible. In general, I think you'll benefit from slowing down a little bit and spending more time preparing before executing your marks, which tend to be a little looser by the end of the challenge.
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
Jackson622
2017-08-04 11:53
Hello Czar. I am back with a 2nd attempt on the cylinder challenge: ALBUM
For reference, HERE is your feedback from the first time.
I stuck more to the instructions. I've used a dual tip sharpie for most of this to try and combat the "faintness" (which was actually just bad pens. These things just don't seem to last any sort of reasonable time.) There is quite a bit of bleed as a result of the sharpie.
The ones in boxes are wildly worse than those started on an axis which is interesting.
Uncomfortable
2017-08-05 18:31
Looking good! There's a lot of great stuff here, and your linework and execution of your ellipses is coming out quite confidently. In general you're demonstrating a good eye for form and 3D space, and I'm glad to see how conscientious you are about your minor axis.
There's just a couple things that I noticed here and there that I want to point out:
There are noticeable cases where your farther ellipse ends up with a degree narrower than the near end. For example, 237 jumps out at me, though there are others. Remember that the far end should generally have a slightly wider degree. Based on its infrequency, I can totally understand this as being slip-ups now and then, but I figured I'd point it out anyway.
I also noticed some cases like 215, where the orientation of the ellipses is somewhat reversed (the minor axis is cutting through that near ellipse's wider dimension, rather than its narrower one. In general, for ellipses with degrees that circular, you're also generally going to see much less of the length of the cylinder. That is, the two ellipses will overlap more. The one next to it (217) shows that orientation of a cylinder with ellipse-degrees that match it more closely.
Anyway, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete.
kookiekrysp
2017-08-05 19:48
Here are my cylinders!
Wanted to do the 250 Cylinder Challenge before moving on to Organic Forms and Contour Lines because I was having a hard time visualizing the ellipses wrapping around the forms.
I feel like I learned a lot more about visualizing the ellipses lining up with the vanishing point, but I need a lot of work controlling my ellipses.
I keep over thinking it after my ellipse begins. I did notice that my ellipses were smoother when I didn't overthink it, but unfortunately overthinking is like my superpower so it's hard to turn off. lol
Uncomfortable
2017-08-05 20:50
Nice work. I definitely think your grasp of 3D space and how to go about constructing these cylinders improves over the set, as does your general confidence. Your ellipses are generally coming out fairly smooth, and you're demonstrating a fair bit of care in aligning your ellipses to the minor axes. The only major issue I'm noticing is that you could certainly use a little more patience when actually drawing your initial minor axis - your lines aren't always straight in this regard.
Remember to apply the ghosting method to every single mark you draw - that is, all three steps mentioned in lesson 1, starting with placing points where you want your line to start and end. This method should be applied everywhere, even though it's somewhat time consuming.
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
kookiekrysp
2017-08-05 21:08
Thanks! I will stop rushing through the planning stages, but only because you called me on it. lol
kangoroopaw
2017-08-06 14:33
When the degree of the minor axis of a cylinder is always higher does that also mean the far plane of a box is always more squarish than the near plane?
Uncomfortable
2017-08-06 18:25
Yup, that sounds about right. Though keep in mind that this shift is generally going to be quite subtle. Similarly to the near/far plane size relationships, the greater the discrepancy, the larger the implied scale of the object.
kangoroopaw
2017-08-09 13:42
hello, tried the challenge. my ellipses are still quite shaky and trying to practice that a lot. maybe you see sth else to pay attention to.
http://imgur.com/a/xjF31
thx
imguralbumbot
2017-08-09 13:43
^(Hi, I'm a bot for linking direct images of albums with only 1 image)
https://i.imgur.com/6DXdoOu.jpg
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Uncomfortable
2017-08-09 23:26
Nice work. While your constructions are pretty nice throughout, I think your confidence markedly improves over the set, especially in regards to your ellipses. In general the issue is that at the beginning, they've got a fair bit of stiffness to them. There still is some of that by the end, but considerably less. Just always remember to draw your ellipses from your shoulder, and not to hesitate when doing so - execute them with a confident, persistent pace after ghosting through the motion several times to build up muscle memory.
The other thing I wanted to mention was that near the end, the additional effort placed on applying hatching lines isn't necessarily the best use of your energy. In certain cases, those lines work against the illusion of form you're constructing - specifically when you end up with straighter lines sitting along a rounded surface. In the next lesson, you'll learn about 'contour lines' - effectively lines that sit on a surface, and by their very existence describe how that surface deforms through space. If you take a sphere and draw a straight line across it on the page, that straight line will immediately tell us that it's flat and will undermine that illusion of form.
Generally the more successful use of hatching here are the longer lines that run length-wise along the surface of the cylinder.
All that said, experimentation is definitely important, and these are important lessons to learn. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.
kangoroopaw
2017-08-10 08:24
Thank you! The feedback is very helpful and I can't wait to get started with the new lesson.
EmpiricSpirit
2017-08-13 09:14
I admittedly had a hard time drawing those cylinders. http://imgur.com/a/gJhMW
Did I do good enough? Can I progress to lesson 2?
Uncomfortable
2017-08-13 17:29
Congrats on completing the challenge. There's one thing that really stands out to me overall: you're drawing very, very small. I had noticed this in the beginning of your box challenge, but as you progressed through it you opened up to drawing your forms larger. It seems now that I should have mentioned it then, though I thought you had kind of come to the correct conclusion on your own.
When you draw smaller, especially when it comes to tackling spatial problems involved in drawing three dimensional forms, it has the tendency to stiffen up your linework and your drawings. Beginners often do this out of a lack of confidence, feeling that smaller drawings will hide their mistakes, but the truth is that drawing smaller more often than not will reduce the quality of your work.
In the future, make a point of drawing somewhat larger than this - I'd say at least twice the size of these cylinders, if not larger still. This will give you more freedom to draw from your shoulder and to generally be more confident and bold with how you go about making those marks.
You've completed the challenge, so I'll mark it as such. That said, I think it would be in your best interest to do another 50. Remember to apply the ghosting method to every one of your lines - that is, investing all of your time into planning and preparing, then executing with a confident, persistent pace.
You are also welcome to get started on lesson 2, though I'd recommend doing those 50 extra cylinders before you tackle the form intersections. And the same thing about drawing larger goes for the lesson 2 material - and frankly, everything. If you draw small, your drawings will get cramped and stiff.
EmpiricSpirit
2017-08-14 13:12
Heh. I admittedly drew smaller to save paper. I will do another 50 and then get started with lesson 50. And I'll definitively draw larger things from now on:)
animeboy12
2017-08-17 23:39
http://imgur.com/a/WVSUi
Ok, finally done. Well, kinda there's a few missing but I did most of them. I think I'll eventually get used to it but I much prefer ballpoint to the liner pens.
Uncomfortable
2017-08-18 19:57
Very nice work! You've paid careful attention to the alignment of your ellipses to the minor axis line, and in general have demonstrated a well developing grasp of 3D space. In addition, your line quality is quite solid, and you're experimenting with a nice variety of angles and orientations. Keep up the great work. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
It's true that ballpoint pens tend to feel much better than felt tip pens (for one thing, ballpoints tend to have a much lighter touch). It is for this very same reason though that felt tip pens are much more useful as a learning tool, as they don't allow us as much freedom to noodle and think on the page. Instead we need to consider line economy to a greater degree, and be sure only to draw the marks that are necessary for our purposes.
Reil_
2017-09-04 07:02
I was almost done with the lesson 2 homeworks but wanted to do the Cylinder Challenge before the last assignment of lesson 2:
https://imgur.com/a/PNYTJ
Uncomfortable
2017-09-04 16:29
Very nicely done! You're very fastidious when it comes to building around your minor axes, and your linework looks very confident and self-assured. Keep up the great work. The only thing I'd recommend is to try more that are constructed inside of an existing box, as this will come in quite handy in much later lessons (6 and 7). You're absolutely ready to move onto lesson 2 though.
LoBoPia
2017-09-11 09:17
Finished. This challenge has made me aware of my weakness(es).
edit: somewhat aware edit2: the blue pen was for marking errors.
http://imgur.com/a/G5qiJ
Uncomfortable
2017-09-11 22:10
Pretty good overall. The one thing that jumps out at me though is that your cylinders are all fairly similar in how they're angled relative to the viewer's eye. You do have some that turn away more (like 249), but I don't really see any that angle more towards the viewer (so we'd be closer to looking right down the length of the cylinder, like looking through a spyglass/handheld telescope.
Anyway, just keep that in mind for when you practicle cylinders in the future. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete, so feel free to move onto lesson 2.
LoBoPia
2017-09-12 09:01
When you say spyglass/telescope, do you mean like, wider degrees on both ends? All else equal.
Thanks.
Uncomfortable
2017-09-12 11:36
Wider degrees, and more overlap between the two ellipses. So the minor axis would be pointing towards the viewer, rather than across our field of view.
em_rowan
2017-09-12 05:56
i gave this a shot just using boxes bc i needed practice drawing ellipses and square planes in 3d. i still need to build more confidence with it -- appreciate any feedback you have!
http://imgur.com/a/qd1yA
Uncomfortable
2017-09-12 20:44
The constructions are fairly decent, but my concern lies more with your line quality. Compared to your other work, these definitely feel somewhat more hesitant, and even scratchy. I can see a tendency to reinforce your lines (rather than sticking to one-mark-per-line). Some of your ellipses also appear to be somewhat wobbly - for example, 246, which is the most egregious, though others exist to varying degrees.
On another note, a point I do see you struggling with somewhat is getting your ellipses to fit snugly within those planes, especially with the planes on the farther end of the box/cylinder construction. I'm not sure if this is accidental or intentional - but if it is an intentional attempt at fixing something midway, I'd advise you against it. The constructional approach is all about answering certain questions and solving certain problems in one step, and then moving forward with the knowledge that it's been dealt with - that everything else you do from then on can rely on the fact that the problem's been handled. If however you decide to revisit that problem in a subsequent step, it leads to a muddier process, and a loss of trust in the method itself.
That applies as much to these simple cylinders as it would to anything else - the box defines the space the cylinder will occupy, so if you then decide to make the far end narrower, you're effectively revisiting the problem the box already took care of. It's better for your general confidence to keep moving forwards rather than attempting to correct things along the way in such cases.
Anyway, I hope that gives you enough feedback to work with. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
-PixelManiac-
2017-09-25 14:13
Hi Uncomfortable ! Here is my submission for the cylinder challenge : https://imgur.com/a/6QimQ. I tried to vary the points of view. I also switched between cylinders with and without boxes. Tell me if there is anything wrong ! Thank you.
Uncomfortable
2017-09-25 14:47
It doesn't seem I have you down as being eligible for having your homework reviewed by me specifically - if you're a recent patreon supporter, check your patreon inbox, as I'll have sent a message gathering information such as your reddit username. Otherwise you're welcome to submit your work to the subreddit to receive a critique from the community, which is of course completely free.
thomas1244
2017-09-25 17:29
I did submit but my patreon username is thomas1244. Sorry for that I forgot to change it :/.
Uncomfortable
2017-09-25 21:00
Nice work. Your constructions definitely improve over the course of the set, as does your general line quality. It starts out somewhat shaky and uncertain, but becomes considerably more solid. One thing that I noticed was missing though was a technique relating to boxes that I mentioned in the 'how to draw a cylinder' video. That is, finding the center point of a plane (which you can use on either end of the box to find two points between which to construct your minor axis). To recap, if you take a plane and draw lines diagonally across it from corner to corner (forming an X across the plane), where the two lines of the X intersect is the middle in perspective of that plane. This gives you a building block you can use, instead of guessing where that minor axis should go.
Aside from that, good stuff. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
-PixelManiac-
2017-09-26 07:19
Thank you for the feedback. Next time I train on cylinders I won't forget to draw the diagonals on each plane !
[deleted]
2017-10-15 12:36
Hi Uncomfortable, here is my submission for the 250 box challenge :
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wXBbSCs13PGbaqB42
Uncomfortable
2017-10-17 01:52
Sorry about the delay! Looks like your submission got caught in the spam filter. I think it is particularly sensitive to link shortners like goo.gl and whatnot.
Anyway, overall great work! The cylinders you drew purely around their minor axes came out very nicely. Solid forms, confident ellipses. Those constructed within boxes do need more work though, so I'd recommend pushing some of your focus in that direction. I think there are two primary issues. The boxes themselves aren't necessarily the strongest, but more importantly, I think when you construct inside the boxes, you get confused as to how the minor axis should be bisecting your ellipses. Remember that the minor axis cuts through the narrower side of the ellipse. In many cases this seems to get kind of muddy, and the alignment kind of gets lost.
Anyway, keep up the good work! I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
[deleted]
2017-10-17 05:53
Thank you. Indeed, constructing circles inside of boxes was confusing. I will practice more.
CrashPosition
2017-10-27 20:48
Done! https://imgur.com/gallery/bv7vB
I feel like they got worse over the set, could be a result of me rushing it too much though.
Thanks!
Uncomfortable
2017-10-28 04:07
I agree with you - it does seem like as you moved through the set, you started to get sloppier and may have just wanted to get through it all. Watch places where your forms have gaps (lines not touching ellipses), and definitely work on tightening those ellipses up. The confidence and flow you've got is good, but if they get too loose you will lose the sense of solidity that we really need when it comes to these forms.
Overall you're approaching them well, you just need to exhibit a little more care and patience with each one. While quantity is important, the quality of each will really impact just how much you get out of the challenge.
You can certainly consider the challenge complete though - beyond the patience issue, I don't see any overarching issues with your cylinders. In the future though, I'd definitely recommend practicing constructing some of these in boxes, as this becomes a useful tool to align them in specific ways in space.
spiralpen
2017-10-31 23:21
Hi uncomfortable ! Its been several days since my last post but out of nowhere I got an unexplainable urge to draw cylinders!
250 cylinders here
I know the lines doesnt look the prettiest but for some reason I decided to get a real coarse paper, mixed media and the felt tip pen doesnt like it that much! Also , trying to add different line weight messed with me as well, it often times didnt improve the cylinder but made it look messier , but Im working on it.
Okay , Im ready for critique now!
Uncomfortable
2017-11-02 00:01
Great work! The linework aside (which honestly isn't notably bad, just a little rough around the edges), your cylinder constructions look solid, and you've taken great care with your minor axes.
On the point about line weight, one thing I do want to stress is that generally you won't want to apply extra weight to the entirety of a line - usually it's something you apply to a specific locality, to clarify a particular overlap. If you try and add weight evenly to an entire ellipse, you're either going to end up with the lines separating (if you're doing it confidently, as you should be) or you'll get wobbling/stiffness from going too slowly. But if you tackle it in specific areas instead, you should be able to maintain greater control and confidence, while also avoiding anything looking to overbearing.
Also, one thing that is definitely worth practicing is constructing cylinders inside of boxes. It's particularly useful when using them in other constructions, as starting with a box lets you determine its orientation in space more easily than working on the cylinder from scratch.
Anyway, keep up the great work and consider this challenge complete! Finally! You can be free of the chicken!
elyndrion
2017-11-05 11:21
Hi. Here's my submission for the 250 cylinder challenge. Curious to hear what you think: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nq2urtmdfhltai0/AACLlb7QVo2P0rmWOa5MDDd5a?dl=0&preview=250cylinderchallenge-1.jpeg
Uncomfortable
2017-11-05 23:33
Pretty nice work! You're following the instructions closely, and I'm pleased to see that you even attempted a handful of them starting with a box, which ends up being quite useful when you need to align them in a specific manner in space. The only thing that jumps out at me is that some of your ellipses have a tendency to be a little uneven, due to being drawn a little too slowly and carefully. It'll help to work on loosening them up, shifting your priorities back to flow and the general confidence of your execution. Hesitation and worrying too much about the result will cause you to stiffen up, ultimately making the ellipses less, well, elliptical.
Keep up the good work and consider this challenge complete.
elyndrion
2017-11-06 14:29
Thanks for the quick critique. I can see your point on the ellipses themselves. I definitely spent more effort getting the perspective etc. correct than having nice flowing lines, and not paying as much attention on the ellipticalness (I'm sure that's a word) of the ellipses. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again!
[deleted]
2017-11-09 00:38
I feel like I was improving as I was going through the challenge. I did attempt the cylinder within a box exercise, however, was not successful. I will keep practicing. Thanks!
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1oEhh-7zoD4xGTc3Dx-MHgi9Wv2Qg7fhA
Uncomfortable
2017-11-11 00:26
Very nice work! Your constructions definitely get a lot more confident and solid throughout the set. Just a few things to keep in mind as you continue to move forwards:
Don't build your ellipses centered on the end points of your minor axis - you want that minor axis to cut all the way through, as it helps with alignment.
Closer to the end, you seem to draw through your ellipses a lot less - this is still important, and should be done for all of the ellipses you draw for my lessons.
You may not have succeeded with constructing your cylinders inside of boxes, but that's no reason not to include them and continue practicing them as part of the challenge. There's no sense in focusing on your successes - failures are the important part when it comes to learning. Make sure you continue practicing them.
I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.
Mrs-Smith123
2017-11-23 19:59
Hey there :)
I started with lesson 2 a while ago, but wanted to get the cylinders done before I moved on to the form intersections.
I'd love to hear what you think!
https://imgur.com/a/lUrb0
I hope you have a nice day!
PS: I have seen other people with a Badge for the 250 Box Challenge. I have done the challenge and already got critique from you, but I don't seem to have a badge for some reason. So I thought I'd better mention that I already did that challenge :)
Uncomfortable
2017-11-24 06:22
Excellent work! Your constructions look great, and I'm glad to see how much you pushed building each one around its minor axis. The only thing I feel is missing is practicing drawing more of them from a box as a starting point. This will be particularly important when you need to align them to other objects. I noticed that you tried it at the beginning, and definitely could have had some more practice on that end.
So just keep that in mind in the future. Other than that, keep up the great work. And sorry about not giving you the box challenge badge! I'll give you both right now.
Mrs-Smith123
2017-11-28 21:46
Hey, thanks a lot for the feedback! The construction of the cylinders with a box as a starting point indeed was pretty difficult for me.
I tried again and did some more (https://imgur.com/a/gZY4P) but I think it still looks pretty wonky and hoped maybe you have some advice? I can't really tell whether I am doing something wrong or if I just need more practice.
On the bottom of the first page, I started with a cylinder and then built the box around it because I thought that might help me to understand how it is supposed to work -this way around it actually felt a lot easier. When I start with the box it always seems like thing aren't lining up the way they are supposed to and to me, the degree of the ellipses looks kinda off on a lot of them.
Thanks a lot for your feedback! It really means a lot!
Uncomfortable
2017-11-29 00:58
Very nice work! For all intents and purposes, you're doing fine. The wonkiness is normal at this stage, you're about where I'd expect you to be. If you want more advice, I'd point you to this video. It's more advanced and is actually included in lesson 7, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend digging too deeply into it right now, but it does explain the mechanics of building a circle/square in 3D space.
triggerpigking
2017-12-20 20:00
Here's my submission, thanks for the critiques! https://imgur.com/a/IRKtm
Uncomfortable
2017-12-20 20:40
Well done! You've got a lot of great boxes here, and you've paid careful attention to building each one around its minor axis. This is definitely the focus of the exercise, along with building consistent ellipses, which you've also done well.
The only thing that I feel you may want to explore a little more is drawing cylinders by starting from a box, as mentioned in the video. This can be very helpful especially when you want to align your cylinders relative to other existing forms. It can be considerably more difficult to do this with just a minor axis, since it's much easier to grasp how a box will sit in space (compared to a simple line).
Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the great work.
triggerpigking
2017-12-20 21:03
Thanks! honestly I actually forgot about the box idea heh. I might try a seperate challenge drawing them like that at some point.
CorenSV
2017-12-26 15:58
Here is my submission, https://imgur.com/a/ixrW2
Ellipses I probably should up the practice on.
Uncomfortable
2017-12-27 01:37
Nice work! Just a couple things to take note of:
When you're positioning your ellipses on that minor axis, make sure the minor axis cuts through them entirely - rather than placing them on either end of the line. It'll help with aligning them a little better.
It does look like you missed out on the opportunity to practice with constructing cylinders in boxes, which is definitely a worthwhile exercise. Reason being, boxes are much easier to align and position in space - so once you've got a box down, if you can use it to construct a cylinder, you're going to be set for a lot of challenging situations.
Aside from that, great work. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Or I would.. if it weren't already. :P
CorenSV
2017-12-27 11:31
I completely forgot about the box thing XD. ah well, drawing some more cylinders and boxes can never hurt.
now just the boxes and texture challenge before I'll jump face first into the treasure box one!
remsummer
2017-12-31 14:51
I'm still doing lesson 2 but did the challenge first. I've uploaded it here: https://imgur.com/gallery/ynzOV
Drawing ellipses consistently is still a challenge. Especially within the boxes.
Edit: happy new year to y'all!
Uncomfortable
2018-01-02 02:26
I think there's a considerable amount of improvement over the set. What I notice most though, is that there are a lot of signs that you are perhaps allowing yourself to be a little too quick, a little too rushed, and a little too sloppy with each individual cylinder, in the interest of getting more of them done.
Don't forget to ghost in your lines. Try and keep your minor axis as straight as you can - the extra focus on preparation before execution will help in that area. Ghost your ellipses too. I think you adhere to this much more near the end than you did through the first big chunk, so I think you understood this yourself.
Ultimately while there is a lot to conquer here, you need to keep your mind on the cylinder that you're drawing at a given moment - more specifically, on the mark you're about to put down. When faced with a large task with many similar tasks, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking three or four steps ahead.
I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. As I mentioned above, you do show considerably improvement by the end in how you're approaching this. Keep those points about patience and focus in mind as you move through the other lessons.
remsummer
2018-01-05 15:28
Thank you for the review. I'll slow down and ghost more.