starfries in the post "LESSON 4: Drawing Insects, Arachnids and Other Creepy Crawlies"
2014-12-13 11:28
Here's mine: http://imgur.com/a/LsYX7
If you have time, I wouldn't mind seeing an example of how you'd draw the hairy spider someone else posted because I wouldn't know where to start with that!
starfries in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"
2014-12-10 07:58
Okay, I think I get it now! Instead of jumping right from lay-in to drawing I tried to build up the complexity a little at a time, adding more and more detail to the lay-in until it turned into a drawing.
The first two pages are dressed-up lay-ins and the last two are my plants.
starfries in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"
2014-12-07 04:43
I think I'm doing something wrong but I decided to go ahead and finish anyways so I can get more feedback. It feels like my lay-ins are too simple and stiff compared to everyone else's. I'm also struggling with jumping from lay-in to drawing. It's like I panic when faced with so much complexity and I don't know which parts to draw and which parts to leave out.
starfries in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"
2014-12-03 04:50
... hey!
pelts Uncomfortable with erasers
but really, it's been super helpful (even if you weren't sure it would work ಠ_ಠ). I'm only halfway through the 250 but I've produced some really sexy cubes on the last page and I'm starting to get a feel for where the vanishing points should go without placing a finger there or drawing them out.
starfries in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"
2014-12-03 03:46
Yay, thanks! I took a break to work on the box exercise after two pages of intersections so I'm glad it paid off.
starfries in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"
2014-12-01 21:11
Tough exercise! I never thought I'd have to do so much thinking for art.
starfries in the post "Announcement: What would you want out of a dedicated ArtFundamentals website?"
2014-11-24 16:30
I have a couple of ideas!
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some sort of bonus/achievement for drawing something every day (or signing in a certain number of days per month) or even just a way to track how many days in a row you've done something. I know everyone likes to work at their own pace, but I find one of the most important things is to just develop a daily habit of doing something. I don't know how people feel about outright gamification but I think you can draw a lot of inspiration from the habit-forming tricks online games use to get people to perform an entirely boring task (grinding) for hours, day after day. Maybe even some random element (perhaps a random daily task you can do if you want, anywhere from drawing boxes to sketching) or some way to leverage that variable reward schedule that hooks people so well and use it to form good habits! I have a few more ideas along this line but it's starting to feel silly and I don't know if you want to go that far.
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I use quickposes and pixelovely for gesture drawing or even just to browse for things to draw but I wouldn't mind a third site with an image library, especially one integrated with achievements and with more customization options. Quickposes does some tracking but it's very basic.
I also want to let you know what I like about your current system, so you can keep some of this stuff in mind as you move forward:
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it's based on Reddit. There are dozens (hundreds?) of art sites with really good content and I have accounts on a few of them, but I hardly ever visit. Reddit is simple, I already have an account, and everyone's work is underneath the main post so I can just scroll down and see what they did and the feedback they got. I'm glad you'll continue posting the lessons on Reddit; you could also look into a bot to keep things coordinated (maybe one that keeps the comment section updated with ones you've critiqued, if users start submitting through your site instead of on reddit)
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it's free! I'm learning as a hobby and I don't feel dedicated or skilled enough yet to be spending money on a membership or lessons. I know you're a person with a life and we can't expect you to put in this much work forever for nothing in return, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts! I like the paid mentorship idea.
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you give quick and detailed feedback. It's really nice to know someone is looking at our work, especially with stuff like basic exercises (where are you going to find someone willing to critique 250 boxes?)
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achievements. I'd only get through 20 or so boxes if I was drawing for practice alone but I'll do 250 or more for a little icon! Or a grade, but grades aren't as fun as badges.
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it's NOT a video. Maybe a personal thing, but I don't learn nearly as well watching a video as I do reading. I can read faster than someone can talk, I can go back and forth and study a diagram at my own pace, I can skim the whole thing quickly if I need a reminder and people don't ramble as much in writing as they do in video. I might go over a written/illustrated explanation several times but I probably won't watch a video more than twice because of how long it takes, so I gain more just by sheer repetition.
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concrete exercises. It's fine to say "go practice this skill" and I might try it a few times before deciding that's good enough but something like "draw 8 pages of this and show me" really forces me to learn it.
starfries in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"
2014-11-20 20:50
Is it okay to vary the line weights by going over the lines again? I'm having trouble changing them with pressure alone - even really light pressure looks about the same as heavy pressure with my pen.
starfries in the post "LESSON 4: Drawing Insects, Arachnids and Other Creepy Crawlies"
2014-12-14 04:17
Thank you! I'm really glad you mentioned the detail thing. I noticed something was going wrong in those complex areas but I wasn't sure what and I don't want to self-critique too much when submitting. Besides this practice, is there an exercise I can do to work on proportion?