Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-11-02 21:01

Pretty solid work. Your textures are well observed and rendered, and your forms flow nicely. I would definitely encourage you however to do two minor things - with the bottoms of stems, even though the plant continues on below the point to which you've drawn it, cap off the end as though it is the bottom of a cylinder. Doing so will help drive home the idea that this is a cylindrical object, and will reinforce the sense of form and volume.

Similarly, keep an eye on joints - for example in the top left corner of study 8, you've got a sort of cross-joint there. In your lay-in, treat it like two intersecting cylinders and be mindful of what the intersection point looks like. In this case, all I would add is a circle along the area where the vertical stem pops out of the horizontal one. This is more to reinforce your own understanding of those forms in the lay-in stage rather than improving the drawing itself.

Anyway, fantastic work. Keep it up and feel free to move onto the next lesson!

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-11-01 21:21

Some of these are certainly better than others, but there's definitely room for improvement. That said, rather than keep you at this lesson, I'm going to mark it as complete regardless. I don't like keeping people at this lesson longer than is necessary, because the next one does a far better job of introducing students to the idea of breaking down objects into rudimentary 3D forms.

I will point out a few things that stood out to me, however:

• Here and there I'm seeing some slightly chicken-scratchy lines. Always pause and think before you put down a mark, and ghost through it. Focus on putting down singular flowing lines rather than several marks where one will do.

• Study the textures present in your reference image more carefully. Hatching lines are almost never present in the way that beginners tend to put them down. There's usually significantly more interesting bits of detail present with its own hierarchy, grouping and organization. Spend more time studying your reference image and less time drawing. If you're not sure what to put down, don't put down anything. It's often better than the alternative, which is just putting down hatching lines or scribbling. Never, ever scribble, and never rely on randomness. This demo on identifying different kinds of texture from a reference image may help a little.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-11-01 21:08

I think you did a pretty good job. Your forms are coming together nicely, and you definitely are beginning to get a hang of identifying the textures. There's room to grow, but you're heading in the right direction. The only thing I want to point out is that filling in the shadow kinda throws off the composition of the individual pieces. Starts to feel a bit weird. I think when the rest of the piece is line, a simple outlined drop shadow works best.

Anyway, feel free to move onto the next lesson!

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-11-01 20:57

You have not yet completed lesson 2 - I asked for one more page of organic forms with contour curves. You really shouldn't be moving ahead before I've marked a lesson as complete. Once you submit that revision for lesson 2 and I mark the lesson as complete, please point me to this homework submission.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles (version 3)"

2015-11-01 20:38

Nice work! That porsche 911 looks pretty awesome. I think you likely noticed from your first hummer that trying to lay down actual vanishing points on the page tends to make for really dramatic perspective. As such, I always recommend that you start off with an overall box (which you did a couple notes, but not for the most part). It has two benefits:

• It establishes a subsection of space and implies the presence of vanishing points off to either side. Using the box, you can infer where those vanishing points are going to be, and align other lines to it

• It helps you establish proportions by subdividing the box. This will be quite helpful in some areas, and less so in others.

Still, you did a pretty solid job. I think your weakest area was probably the wheels, so practicing cylinders with insets is probably a good idea. Regardless, I'll mark this lesson as complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-11-01 20:04

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot by drawing so small on the page. Because of that decision, your lines have a tendency to be very stiff and rigid. Contour lines don't wrap around rounded forms too well because they have so little room to achieve that, and your details look clunky and overly heavy just because the tip of your pen is so large in relation to the overall drawings.

I feel that critiquing these wouldn't make much sense, because it's difficult to separate the problems with technique and understanding from the results of drawing too small.

As such, I'd like you to do another two pages. Don't try to cram a million things onto one page - focus on one subject per page, and try to maximize your use of the space you're given.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6: Drawing Everyday Objects (version 3)"

2015-11-01 19:48

I think you're doing pretty well. There's obviously room to grow, and you have a tendency to go wild with your ellipses (remember to draw through them 2 or 3 times, no more, no less), but there's a lot of improvement over the set. I also think you seem to be benefiting considerably from constructing your objects inside of boxes, especially your cylinders (which you weren't doing at first).

Anyways, keep up the good work. Continue to practice this stuff as you move forward onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-11-01 19:29

It's.. better, I guess. Not a whole lot better, but there are improvements.

The first few pages are more or less as bad as the previous set, so I'm not going to discuss them (because I'd give the same critique I gave last time). Over the set however, I do see things improving.

The mushroom is what I'm going to focus on for my critique. Here's an overdrawing and some notes. The most important thing is that you did not think about primitive 3D forms at all. That's the core of the dynamic sketching approach to drawing - everything is made up of simple 3D forms. All of these forms intersect with one another at specific points. That simple construction is all that matters - detail, little variations and texture are worthless if your basic forms are not there.

People have a great tendency to use hatching lines for shading. I think that habit is one of the biggest causes for peoples' difficulty in drawing other textures. All they can think about is hatching - and hatching works well for basic forms with no actual texture to them (like the boxes in lesson 1) but there's very little in the world that can really be described accurately with hatching lines. This is a demo I did a while back to tackle the issue of identifying textures in a reference image. Pay closer attention to what you're drawing.

Also, try to avoid crosshatching. I think when it's done successfully, it's done with tools that allow for a lot of variation in opacity - which our pens do not. It ends up looking really clunky and awful every time.

Your cactus on page 9 was actually done pretty well. Still a lot of hatching and not much attention paid to texture, but your form is pretty well done. It's a great example of form trumping everything else. If it feels like it occupies 3D space and has volume, then that's half the battle right there. Or more.

Now, I'm going to let you continue onto the next lesson largely because I personally don't like keeping people at this lesson for too long. The next one is far better for understanding the use of form and construction.

One last point - yes, yes you can stop scribbling. Getting your line weights under control is one thing, that takes time and practice. Scribbling is an active choice that you are making. You may not know what to do instead of scribbling, but you certainly have the choice to stop. So stop scribbling.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders (#2)"

2015-11-01 18:49

Nicely done, but you're often forgetting one integral thing! Draw through your ellipses! They're looking good though, just be sure to draw through every ellipse you draw for me.

Also, because of how you're drawing a faint ellipse, then another darker one around it, you're ending up with a sort of beveled, smooth edge to it which looks a little odd at times. Try to avoid drawing these things in two stages (faint, then darker).

Anyway, good work completing the challenge.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-11-01 18:23

http://i.imgur.com/T4PHtJo.jpg

Try again, 4 pages, 2 lay-ins and 2 full drawings. And don't just draw the head of something, draw the whole thing.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-27 21:53

I think overall your understanding of form is improving throughout the set, but you're focusing too much on detail/texture (especially since you're struggling with it).

One thing I want to mention about form before we get into the texture stuff is that when you start tackling something that's really small on the page, try to avoid adding too many things like contour lines. I know that contradicts what I usually say, but at that size it starts to become far less helpful. A good example of this are your rat's feet. Instead of focusing a lot on those tiny forms, I would try to draw them from observation (without drawing through the forms and adding contour lines), and then maybe do exactly what you did - drawing larger studies off to the side. This is also why it's always beneficial to draw larger.

Really it's all an issue of cramped sections of drawings coming out poorly because of the size relationship between the tip of your pen and the lines you're trying to draw. They end up looking clunky and stiff.

Anyway, onto the texture. The biggest issue is that when you start to struggle, your go-to solution is to put more ink down on the page. This is a very normal reaction, but it's the opposite of what you should be doing.

Set aside the need to texture things for a second and consider what you're doing. You're drawing an image, not taking a photograph. The hierarchy of details, where you place your focal points and how you deal with composition are all decisions that are left up to you to make. This is your interpretation of what you are seeing.

So, step back and consider where you want to put those focal points (areas of interest and detail), and where you want to place your rest areas. The most important rule here is that contrast will draw one's eye to an area on the page. So, reserve areas of contrast for your focal points, and for your rest areas, try to stick to swathes of flat value. Since we're working with ink, this means either flat black or blank sections of the page.

We can add small bits of extra detail in these rest areas, but we don't want to compete with our focal points, because that's how you get a very noisy drawing.

Remember: less is always more. It is far better to have fewer lines instead of more.

This leaves us with a few challenges. It's relatively easy to apply detail in a focal area, because we're free to go to town on it. All we have to do is make sure we pay close attention to our reference images and study the patterns and rhythms of the details we see there. Most textures are not composed simply of hatching lines. A texture is going to have different elements that make it look rough, smooth, wet, dry, etc. Here's a demo I did a while ago about identifying different kinds of textures in a reference image.

Now, the bigger challenge is how to convey texture in our rest areas, where lines are expensive and come at a premium. There's definitely some tricks, and I see you using some of them already, just not particularly well.

The first thing a viewer sees when they look at your drawing is the silhouette of the shapes. They don't realize this, but that's the first thing the eye identifies. So, one of the most effective tricks we have to convey a texture without creating too much contrast is adjusting and breaking up the edges of the silhouette. This is especially effective when dealing with fur.

Do not think in terms of individual lines - when drawing that wolf, you do have a broken silhouette, but the wolf's body feels more like a collection of lines rather than a solid shape with a furry edge to it. Furthermore, when drawing the first page with the rat, I see a lot of lines coming off the form, but they create a lot of tangents. These perpendicular intersections of lines (of each fur line with the continuous edge of the body's core form) create a lot of tension and tends to draw the viewer's eye. Instead of that, use subtler, smoother curves. Also, don't break up the edge all over the place. Spread it out unevenly across the form's edge, forming clusters here and there.

Similarly, when you do apply texture to the inside of the form's silhouette, group and organize those details. Don't cover everything equally.

There's one last thing I want to stress about how you draw overall - you're still quite sketchy with your approach, drawing a lot of wasted lines. You need to stop and think before you put a line down on the page. Think about its purpose, and where it goes. Never think on the page - previsualize each mark and when it comes time to put the pen to the page, be sure to apply the ghosting method.

I'd like you to draw four more pages of animals. Two of these pages should contain no texture at all, focus entirely on form. The last two should include texture, with consideration for both focal points and rest areas.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-23 19:15

Not bad! I do have a few points I want to mention, and I do feel that you have plenty of room to grow, but I think these are satisfactory for this stage and will be marking this lesson as complete.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that you're not always applying the concept of starting out with overall shapes and breaking them down, specifically in the cases where you have leaves that have odd shapes - for example, page 4 of your homework, on the right. Remember to start off with the overall shape - in this case, that means enclosing the whole leaf with two curves. Start off with a center line to determine the flow of your leaf, then add the two enclosing curves, like this. Keep it simple and don't try to concern yourself with fine detail just yet. Once you've constructed this scaffolding, you can work within it to add some of the deviations in shape, cutting into what you've drawn so far.

Secondly, I noticed that when you draw in your detail, you seem to look at your reference, absorb as much information as you can, and then draw for a considerable period of time relying on what you remember of what you saw. Don't trust your ability to remember - it will almost always fail you. The moment you look away from your reference image, the vast majority of the information you absorbed will be forgotten, and much of what's left will be simplified by your mind to the point of being useless. What's left will only last a second or two, so you'll have to look back at the reference image almost immediately.

Lastly, when applying contour lines to help visually describe the surfaces you're drawing and how they move through 3D space, first look for natural features that accomplish this already. Anything that runs along the surface of the object will do. Then, if you cannot find any such details, you can add two or three artificial contour lines of your own, but don't spread these out evenly over the object. Doing so often results in something that looks a little too man-made.

Anyway, keep this in mind and keep up the good work. Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders (#2)"

2015-10-22 19:43

Nice work! Your cylinders generally seem to be quite well done, and they improve quite a bit over the set. Your linework is a bit loose at times, though that usually comes as a trade-off of being your drawings being energetic. Ideally you'd find a balance between energy and tidiness/planning/forethought and that will certainly come with time and practice.

One thing I did notice was that here and there the boxes you start off sometimes come out a little lopsided or skewed - and as one would expect, the cylinders constructed inside of them end up being off. This isn't frequent though, and it's understandable that here and there you'd slip up.

Overall, great work. Congratulations on completing the challenge.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-21 19:59

Very nice work! Since you mentioned that the order got a little messed up, I can't really assume that one comes before another. That said, between the first image and the last, there is considerable improvement. The first few pages, though they show strong observational skills, they're kind of loose and very sketchy - a lot of thinking on the page, rather than holding yourself back, thinking, and then applying lines that have been planned and previsualized.

Later through the set, you improve in this area. The drawings themselves do stiffen up a bit, which is understandable since you're clearly more comfortable being sketchy.

One thing to remember is try to construct your curves with single flowing lines, from end to end. Breaking a curving line into two segments, which I see here and there, will disturb that flow. You don't do this too often, but it is something I wanted to mention.

You're doing great though - keep up the good work and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6: Drawing Everyday Objects (version 3)"

2015-10-20 19:14

Not bad. I definitely think that your proportions and constructions come out much better when you start off with a box and build the object inside of it, so your later attempts came off stronger than your earlier ones.

As for the problems you're encountering, proportions will come with continuing to practice your observational skills, but sketchy lines only requires for you to really commit to ghosting your lines and thinking through each one before putting a mark down. That's less about building up skill and more about rejecting your bad habits. In a way that is harder, but it is an area where conscious effort will show more immediate results.

I'll mark this lesson as complete. Be sure to continue constructing within simple boxes as you move onto the next lesson, as it continues to be an extremely helpful approach. That goes for cylinders as well - start off with a box to establish the general space and more importantly to find your cylinder's minor axis, and then use that information to construct your cylinder. Be sure to check out the 'how to draw a cylinder' video in the 250 cylinder challenge post if you haven't already.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-19 19:01

You do seem to be demonstrating an awareness of those intersections and joints between forms, so I'll mark this lesson as complete. I do want to point out though that you should be more mindful of the forms involved with the construction of these animals' heads. You tend to float some of their features arbitrarily on the base sphere. Keep in mind that forms never float in space - they should always be grounded off of something else. Take a look at how I constructed the head of the horse I drew for you last time.

Uncomfortable in the post "As promised, August is over and critiques are open once again"

2015-10-18 17:32

In the homework section of each lesson, there is a link to that lesson's homework thread on this subreddit. You submit your homework as a comment.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-17 16:06

Nice work! Your forms are looking pretty solid, and while your texturing has plenty of room to grow, it's going in a good direction. One thing that I think you grasped on your own but I feel like mentioning anyway is the use of contour lines. Your contour lines are generally decent, but before applying artificial ones (there's a lot on the first page), look for contour lines that exist naturally on your subject. With the segmentation of their bodies, insects tend to have a lot of this. This allows you to avoid adding more contour lines of your own.

If in the worst case scenario you can't find any natural contour lines, add two or three of your own, but don't space them out too regularly. This tends to make things look artificial and man-made, rather than natural.

Anyway, you did well overall, so feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-17 16:02

So, one thing I definitely want to highlight is that you have fantastic observational skills. It's clear that you've been around the block and that when it comes to capturing likeness, you know what you're doing.

This however also causes you to focus a lot more heavily on detail than the underlying construction. I find that a lot of your lay-in detail is very vague and loose, and that in general you have a very sketchy feel to your drawings.

Try to tighten things up, especially with the lay in but in general as well. Consider how the animals are made up of solid forms that connect with each other at very specific points. When you draw these forms, don't just lay them in loosely and timidly. Put them down with confidence. It doesn't matter if it's going to show through in your final drawing, we are not here to draw works of art. This is an exercise in understanding as any other, and the process counts just as much, if not more, as your final result.

This is a pretty common problem that I see from a lot of people. I think that when you're faced with animals which tend to have a lot of expression and emotion to them, it's very easy to get caught up in the details.

I'd like you to try another four pages of animals, focusing on lay-ins (don't worry about detail for now). Here's a draw-over to help clearify my points.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-14 19:54

I'm going to mark this lesson as complete. I think you'd benefit considerably from the next lesson, both as far as form goes, and definitely texture. One thing to remember is that just adding more lines does not constitute a successful application of texture. When you get that urge to just put down more ink, stop yourself and try to observe your reference more carefully. Try to identify the smaller elements that give a given object the illusion of feeling rough, or smooth, or sticky, or wet, or bumpy, or whatever.

As you move into the next lesson, keep this in mind. None of those textures consist of lines. There's a lot more going on in there, but you need to look closely in order to see it.

Also, draw bigger. When you draw small, not only is your arm movement restricted, but every tiny mistake you make will look enormous in comparison to the overall drawing. When you draw bigger, things tend to be forgiven more easily, and will even disappear into the rest of the drawing most of the time.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-14 19:24

Very well done. Your forms are solid and your rendering/texturing has been applied quite well. I especially like your rhino beetle and the first hermit crab, but most of these have been done very well.

Keep up the good work, and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-14 19:15

There is certainly plenty of room to grow, but I'm going to mark this lesson as complete. As you move onto the next lesson, be sure to continue practicing the exercises I've shown you thus far.

Also, one thing I want to add in relation to this homework in particular, I noticed that when it comes to drawing texture, you have a tendency to draw more and observe less. When a texture doesn't seem to be going quite right, you tend to scribble more and try to fix it by putting down more ink.

Texture is not about putting down more lines - it's about identifying specific kinds of lines and details that promote certain illusions. You should be spending more time observing and studying your reference images and far less time drawing. Beware that your memory is faulty and untrustworthy - the second you look away from your reference image, the vast majority of information you collected is lost of simplified to the point of being useless, so it is necessary to look at your reference again within a second or two. Many don't realize this, so they continue to work from their simplified memories, or start making things up on their own.

This breakdown of different ways texture can be applied may be helpful.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles (version 3)"

2015-10-14 15:14

You should submit them - that way I can let you know if you're doing them correctly or not, or how you can make those exercises more effective.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles (version 3)"

2015-10-14 13:43

I definitely think you're improving considerably. Most importantly, you're going to greater lengths to apply the concepts covered in the lessons (for example, constructing your objects within boxes and breaking those boxes down).

I do think you definitely have a great distance to go though - while you're starting to apply those concepts, your underlying sense of 3D space still needs work.

For example, the boxes you start off with aren't entirely solid as far as their forms go. See?.

I'm a bit surprised I haven't asked you to actually do the 250 box/cylinder challenges (or at least I don't think I have, since it doesn't seem you've submitted them). Just watching the videos is not going to help you considerably - you have to apply the concepts a lot. That's why the challenges require so much repetition, to really hammer concepts into your head. While there are approaches that are easier, just watching other people use them is not enough.

I'm going to mark the lesson as complete, but you should feel free to submit more vehicles to me in the future (just not overly frequently). Be sure to work on your boxes and cylinders in isolation first, though.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6: Drawing Everyday Objects (version 3)"

2015-10-14 13:28

Thanks for answering that question for me. I missed it since it was a reply to /u/Tarrazan's own comment, so it didn't end up in my inbox.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-14 13:25

Sorry about the rough quality of the drawing. I've been playing with my new cintiq at home all weekend, so now that I'm at work, my hands aren't terribly comfortable on the tablet. Here's some corn.

I think you're more preoccupied with detail than you should be. Detail is NOT that important. The underlying forms are. When applying detail, however, it's generally a very bad idea to apply a given texture as uniformly as you drew those corn seeds. Furthermore, it's important to consider the form they're wrapping around. Being a rounded form, those seeds don't really reflect that, and instead appear to be applied more flatly than they should.

When applying texture like that, the first thing I focus on is the silhouette - Before the viewer's eyes looks at the actual texture on the surface of the form, they read the silhouette of an object. Even if you only imply the texture with the shape of the silhouette, you can convey a great deal through that alone.

Secondly, establish a focal point. Applying texture to everything will make it very busy and noisy, which will not be pleasant to look at. Instead, establish a specific place where you're going to apply a lot of detail, and then let it dissipate from there, leaving other areas less detailed (or completely empty). This requires you to consider the viewer's eye - it needs a place to rest, and a place of interest. Only rest areas will be boring, while only areas of interest will be stressful.

Lastly, when you have a lot of shadow play, merge those shadow shapes together. What creates noise/business is contrast between light and dark. Therefore, grouping shadow shapes will create a large area of pure black (ideally with interesting edges of its own that helps describe what it's covering - wrapping around neighbouring corn seeds, and so on). Similarly, it helps to merge the light areas as well. Don't think of the borders between corn seeds as strict lines that need to be placed. It's often much more effective to leave gaps in these borders. Instead of considering the lines as borders between forms, think of them as lines that mark the deepest points of an overlap between two forms. These lines can start off thick at the deepest point, and then as you break out of the overlap, they can get thinner and disappear.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-12 17:32

These are pretty well done. The only thing I want to point out is that the ones that come out better are generally the ones where you think through how things like the shoulder/hip joints sit on the body, and explicitly mark them in your drawing. There is room for improvement, but I think you're definitely heading in the right direction.

Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-12 17:09

Great work. I'm glad that you found it challenging, as it shows that you're more than capable of overcoming these challenges with hard work. I still feel that my previous advice still applies (to try to avoid piling on quite so many artificial contour lines, which results in a wireframe-look) but in general your work still looks solid. I especially like how you add details, you seem to have a good eye for the subtle textures that appear on these little creatures.

Very well done. Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-12 17:02

Honestly I don't really see a whole lot of following the steps I outlined here. Don't focus on the little details. Focus on fleshing out the forms and making them look and feel solid. Contour lines should wrap convincingly around the forms, the eyeballs should consist of spheres, and so on. Don't worry about creating clean drawings - lay in your forms with confidence.

I want you to draw pages and pages of these until you feel your forms coming out more rounded and solid. Take breaks, and space them out over a few days so you can come back after a while to reassess whether the ones you did last are satisfactory.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-12 16:58

I agree, the start was a little weak, but you did improve throughout the set. One thing I want to emphasize though is that when it comes to contour lines, first look for ones that already exist naturally within your subject matter. These aren't necessarily going to be oriented the way you'd naturally draw your contour lines, but the purpose they need to serve is that it needs to be some kind of detail that runs along the surface of the object, describing how it turns and warps through space.

If you absolutely can't find anything else that serves that purpose, you can start adding artificial contour lines, but try not to space them out too regularly. That tends to make things look man-made.

On another point, don't fret too much over lighting. Focus on what is necessary to describe the form. Usually I only really use shadows to separate my shapes and push things back when the drawing starts to get too busy. The issue with focusing on lighting is that people have a tendency to think that lighting is the primary way one should depict form. I'd much rather that people think about lighting once that form is already defined using line, shape and silhouette.

Generally you did decently. There is definitely room to improve (with continued practice), but I think you should be okay to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-12 16:54

Definitely a whole lot of hit-and-miss. One thing that jumps out at me the most is that you're spending a lot more time drawing, and a lot less time looking at your reference. A glance every now and then at your reference is simply not enough. The second you look away from your reference image, 90% of the information you gathered will disappear in an instant. The majority of what's left will exist in your mind as a simplification of what you saw - which in turn is also fairly useless. You might only have enough to carry over a very tiny bit of information - maybe a second or two's worth of drawing - before you'll have to look at the reference again.

The problem comes from when people think they've gathered more information than they have, specifically that simplified portion. We naturally simplify the information that we see, because it allows us to retain more of it. When it comes to drawing however, especially when we're delving into detail, we end up drawing what we think we saw, not what we actually saw. Our memories are faulty. Don't trust what you remember.

Instead, look at your reference constantly, and spend twice or thrice as much time looking at it as you do drawing.

Now, I find that in some cases your constructions are well done. Page 13 was really well done, and I'll explain why.

• Your leaves start off simple - just the centre line, then a simple pair of curves around it to define the flow of the leaf. Then you use that as a scaffolding to lay in more complex information, like how the edges of the leaves have a bit of wave to them. Like this.

• Your contour lines are pulled from specific details that appear naturally in the subject. Artificial contour lines are useful for sure, but it is far better to find actual details in the object you're drawing to serve the same purpose. That is, details that describe the curvature and distortion of the surface in 3D space.

• You did not overdo detail. You drew only what you observed, and didn't try to push beyond that. In other drawings, you seem to have gotten frustrated with textures you could not yet comprehend, and ended up just putting down a whole lot of ink in the hopes that something would happen.

When it comes to objects that have much more solid 3D form, like on page 8, focus on capturing that form. Don't get lost in detail, as detail is largely unimportant. Looking at that plant, each bulbous section seems to be a different organic form that intersects with another. Flesh it out. Use the intersections to start adding volume to your shape, and also consider adding a contour line here or there. Like this.

I'd like to see another five pages of plant drawings.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-12 15:58

Definitely better. The only thing that you're forgetting is that the eyeball is a sphere - so in order to achieve the correct roundness, you should draw it as an entire sphere that intersects with the rest of the maggot-form. Most of it will be buried within this form, but it's important to understand how the sphere exists in 3D space.

Anyway, I think you're ready to take another stab at the insect homework. Before you do, be sure to reread the lesson and look over the demos carefully.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-10 03:05

I think you're very quickly getting overwhelmed with the amount of visual information in your reference images, and as such, are getting caught up in the details rather than focusing on the underlying construction of simple forms.

I'd like you to set the plants aside - I'm going to have you try these again in a bit, but for now, let's try another exercise. It's one I've been testing out with a few other people - it's called the maggot exercise.

Basically, you draw a bunch of maggoty, segmented organic forms. Focus on building up the construction, like this. Start off with an organic shape, give it some contour lines, then build up the rounded segmentation around that scaffolding. The point here is to focus on how these things exist as solid volumes in 3D space.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-10 01:52

You really need to reread the lesson. Many of these drawings are completely skipping over the main points that were covered - namely fleshing out the three major masses (head, ribcage, pelvis).

Then beyond that, it's important to keep in mind how each form connects to other forms. Nothing floats arbitrarily in space, everything extends off of something else at very specific points. The shoulder joint, for instance, is extremely important. It's also important to look at where the legs are broken up at the knee/ankle.

I cover those issues in other critiques I've done:

• http://i.imgur.com/1nFmI45.jpg

• http://i.imgur.com/F2pRsA1.jpg

• http://i.imgur.com/k9bHvRB.jpg

Please take another stab at this lesson's homework, once you've had the chance to reread the lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-10 01:32

First and foremost, you're not really applying any of the concepts we've been covering - mainly starting off simple, and slowly building up your forms. Try starting off with a simple organic form first, then add contour curves/ellipses, and then build up on top of that. Like this.

Also, remember that the degree of the contour ellipses will determine how that organic form turns through space. These notes expand on that concept.

Try again.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles (version 3)"

2015-10-10 00:38

Huge improvement! Your forms come together far more cohesively now. There's still definitely some room for improvement, but overall you've definitely surged in the right direction.

Right now the biggest area that needs work would probably be your wheels. It would likely be beneficial to continue practicing your cylinders, and also drawing wheels at different angles. They can be particularly tricky due to the numerous inset ellipses.

I'm definitely marking this lesson as complete, so keep up the good work.

Uncomfortable in the post "John Park starts an affordable online foundational art program, "Foundation Group""

2015-10-08 19:17

That has crossed my mind, but for the time being it sounds like a lot more trouble than it's worth. Maybe in the future, when I feel the lessons themselves are more solidified (I'm learning new things about what people struggle with in relation to each individual lesson).

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-07 19:52

Generally you did pretty well, but there's one thing I want to jump on from the bottom half of page 6. Here you're demonstrating a somewhat detail-oriented approach to starting a drawing. Fundamentally, that's the opposite of the approach we're stressing in this lesson. Instead, we want to focus on the overall forms.

Take a look at how I approach drawing a leaf. Most leaves have little waves or fraying or jagged edges, but to start with I ignore that. I draw the center line, which governs the overall flow of the leaf, and I expand that out into a second dimension with simple curves defining the edges of the leaf - ignoring any waves or other details. Finally, working with those simple curves as a scaffolding, I add the wavey edges, fraying, or whatever else there is. This maintains the unified flow of the leaf itself. If you start from the small details, you tend to loose this general sense of a single object deforming through 3D space, and end up with a lot of little details that seem to loosely be stuck together.

Anyway, you did quite well so feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-06 19:50

Right now, your drawings look rather stiff. One thing that's certain is that you're getting a little too caught up in a lot of the visual information you're being presented with in your reference image. Because of this, you're not thinking through how each basic form you're using to construct the basic framework exists in 3D space. Many of these forms are coming out kind of flat, and your contour lines aren't really wrapping around those forms.

I'd like you to take a break from this lesson for a bit, and try this exercise I devised the other day: The maggot exercise. Draw six pages of maggoty forms. Try to loosen up and focus on capturing the roundedness of each form. Also, don't forget to jam a nice healthy eyeball into one end.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-05 22:52

By drawing through an ellipse, I mean that when you draw a full ellipse, draw around it two or three times before lifting your pen from the page. This allows you to draw it more confidently and maintain a more consistent speed throughout, because you're not worrying quite as much about nailing it in one go.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-05 20:46

You did a pretty good job, but there's something that your lovely texturing/rendering is hiding - your contour curves aren't particularly great. They're not doing a good job of wrapping around the rounded shells/torsos, and instead flatten them out.

I'm still going to mark this lesson as complete, because your drawings still look pretty fantastic, but I think for your own sake, you might want to go back and practice the organic forms with contour curves from lesson 2, just to remind yourself of what it means to wrap a contour line around a form properly.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-05 20:37

From what I can see, you've done a good job of sorting through your hierarchy of information, isolating the important forms and focusing on those. You also seem to have put a fair bit of effort into your observation of the smaller textural details, so good work.

To be honest though, your photos are kind of low-res. Next time, try to upload images at least twice that size.

Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-05 20:31

I'd like you to do four pages of organic forms with contour ellipses and contour curves (the proportions are up to you, but I want you to start off with ellipses - being sure to draw through them).

You didn't draw through the ellipses! You need to draw through every single ellipse you draw for any of my lessons. Period.

Anyway, your forms and curves are still feeling very stiff. So, to loosen you up, I've devised another exercise. It's very similar to what you just did, but it adds a few minor points to it.

The maggot exercise. Instead of just drawing contour lines, you're going to be drawing organic forms with segmented bodies, like maggots. You're also going to jam an eyeball into one end. I don't want any part of these forms to be cut straight (some of the ones you drew in this last set had flat ends). Everything should be rounded.

Loosen up! If you make a mistake, it's no big deal. Just relax, and try to have fun. I'm not going to give you a page count this time - do as many as you want until you start to feel yourself getting a sense of the curvature of these forms. When you submit, I want to see all of them, in chronological order, so I can see whether or not it has helped.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (version 3)"

2015-10-05 20:08

Generally quite good. Your forms and constructions are pretty solid. The only thing I want you note, is that when you apply contour lines to something, first look for those that already naturally exist within your reference. These will be any lines that deform and distort with the surface of the object. If you cannot find any, then you may consider adding artificial ones - but try not to keep these evenly spaced, as that tends to look man-made.

Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-05 19:29

Your texturing has improved somewhat. There's still room for growth of course, and that'll happen over time. For now, I'll mark this lesson as complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders (#2)"

2015-10-03 21:12

Generally pretty well done. I like that you paid special attention to that minor axis, it's definitely the most important component of the cylinder's construction. You may also want to play around a bit with the idea of starting from a box, but even then, it's the minor axis which calls all the shots, and the box that becomes a little more of a guide.

Anyway, I'll mark this challenge as complete. Well done.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-03 21:10

Hmm.. I think it might help to take a change of pace. The issue, or at least the way I see things, is that you're still quite stiff. The fact that you're not drawing through your ellipses at all kind of leads me to that conclusion, among other things.

I'd like you to do four pages of organic forms with contour ellipses and contour curves (the proportions are up to you, but I want you to start off with ellipses - being sure to draw through them). Loosen up. That doesn't mean to be sketchy, but just let your arm guide itself a little more. Focus on wrapping contour lines around the forms. Treat it as though you're drawing a bunch of funky, chubby worms or maggots. Also, try not to wretch at the thought.

Also, don't forget to draw from your shoulder.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (version 3)"

2015-10-03 20:48

Very nice! It's an interesting interpretation of the concepts. Ultimately you hit all the points I covered, focusing on establishing the 3D forms and recognizing how they interact with one another. You had a somewhat different way of going about it, perhaps a little more organic, but the results were good and it's clear that you understand the constructions. Also you drew trash pandas, and I love me some trash pandas.

The only thing I'd like to point out is that you need to keep an eye on your proportions when it comes to the deer and donkeys. The lengths of the bodies seem a little long at times, but that's something that'll come as you continue to practice that particular type of animal.

Keep up the good work, and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (version 3)"

2015-10-02 19:52

It looks like you just deleted the post you made with your 4 new pages, just as I was about to post my critique:

Jesus christ, how the hell did you improve so much in a day? Very nice work. The forms read as having actual volume and occupying real space. Each section really feels like it fits into another piece, and they all feel very smooth and organic. Very well done.

Go ahead and move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders (#2)"

2015-10-02 16:16

They don't always line up perfectly, it can be pretty troublesome. Some people will ignore the minor axis and construct ellipses that fit into the two planes of the box. I prefer to use the box to construct a minor axis, and then use that to construct the rest of the cylinder, while using the box's planes as a sort of loose suggestion for where the ellipses should be contained.