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Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-10 23:08

Very good! Nice volumes and forms, and your drawings look very confident. Spheres are tough for everyone, and are exceptionally difficult to nail - but you'll get it with more practice. Everything else looks solid though.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-10 23:06

Yup, much cleaner. I'll mark this lesson as complete.

You may want to look into the 250 box challenge next, as your organic perspective boxes show me that you're not entirely comfortable with rotating boxes in 3D space.

Be sure to read the notes included in that challenge post.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-10 02:46

Your dissections are still leaving a little to be desired, but the form intersections have moved into a passable range. I still think you should continue to practice them on your own, but I will mark this lesson as complete.

Examples:

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-10 00:02

I think you're concerning yourself far too much with how things end up looking, once you're done, and in doing so, you're missing out on demonstrating core concepts.

With the dissections, you drew them with the intent of a clean, presentable drawing - I want to see the guts of it. I want to see the construction itself. The correct approach is to start doing the organic forms with contour lines, and then simply go one step forward and turn whatever the form was into a dissection.

I'd like to see one more page of dissections.

For the form intersections, once again, you're focusing on the quality of the end result. I can see that you drew in pencil and then went over the lines in pen. I want you to do the entire thing in ink, from start to finish, drawing through all the forms as much as you need to properly understand how those forms exist in 3D space. If you look back at the lesson, the little example image from my sketchbook that's included there. The drawing isn't clean or carefully planned. Instead, you can see exactly how I was thinking when I approached it. That's what I want to see from you, so I can evaluate how you think.

So, I'd also like to see two more pages of form intersections, done in ink from start to finish.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-02-09 23:55

As far as observational drawing goes, your drawings are beautiful. But as analytical studies, they are ineffective. Rather than understanding the forms as they exist in 3D space, and as they relate to one another, you are replicating the information you see without really digesting it.

Don't worry about the little details - they're the least important elements to a drawing. Actually, I think it'd be better if I did a demo using one of your own reference images.

Could you link me the references you used? I'll pick one or two and I'll try to explain the approach.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders"

2015-02-09 23:36

That's a whole lot of cylinders! Good work, I see a lot of progress between the first set and the last.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-09 23:35

Much better. You hit all the points I was hoping for, and your lines are looking much more confident, so good work. Feel free to move forward.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-09 23:33

Not bad. I do feel that you drew things rather small - in future lessons, try to draw things somewhat bigger. When you draw tiny, the tip of the pen (and therefore the average line weight) looks much thicker relative to the drawing itself. This robs you of the ability to add the subtler elements that really carry a drawing.

Also, make sure that you read these notes, in regards to the ellipse exercise. It was included in the lesson notes (which are posted in the comments section of each lesson and should be read prior to completing the homework). I won't ask you to redo the ellipse exercise, since you mostly did what you were supposed to on the second page.

That said, you should continue to do the lines and ellipse exercises as part of a warm-up routine, as they will continue to help you if done regularly over along period of time.

Feel free to move onto the next lesson when you feel comfortable. You may also want to look into the 250 box challenge if you felt the organic perspective boxes exercise was too difficult.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-09 23:29

In general, I'm getting the sense that you're rushing through things way too much. The technical skills you're demonstrating are fine, though you really need to slow down.

For example, for the lines exercise - I usually expect to see fraying on one end of the line (where the pen strays from the intended path). With yours, I'm seeing it on both sides, because you're not taking enough time to line up your pen at the beginning. Similarly, your ellipses are very rushed, and while I'm glad you acknowledged the notes I included, I'd like to see you push yourself to overcome your natural tendencies.

In order to help you pull back and slow down, I'd like you to take another stab at the whole lesson. Take your time, and focus on delivering the best work you can possibly do. Aim for the examples included in the lesson notes.

The more time you take, the better. Also, there is no expectation for you to do it all in one sitting - take as many breaks as you need. All that matters is that in the end, it is the best you yourself are capable of.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-09 23:24

Nice work, everything looks to be in order. In the future, work towards slowing down a little when you draw (in this case, boxes). Plan and think through your lines before you actually draw them, and strive to nail them in a single stroke. Often I myself have the urge to immediately follow up a mark with another to 'reinforce' it. That kind of reflexive behaviour should be something we all strive to avoid. Every action should be done with clear intent and purpose.

The ghosting technique is a little slower, but it helps to draw more thoughtfully. Give it a shot.

Also, the lines and ellipse exercises will continue to help you if they are done regularly - so work them into a warm-up routine.

Feel free to move onto lesson 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-08 20:51

I think the biggest issue here isn't so much related to your ability. It's a matter of patience, and care. You're rushing far too much.

Looking at your lines exercise, what I usually expect to see is fraying on one end, especially with the longer lines. With yours, I see fraying on both ends - this means you don't take the time to line up the tip of your pen to the end of the line before you start. You kind of rush into it, putting your pen wherever. Slow down, and think before you make a mark.

The ellipses are alright, though I want to be certain that you read these extra notes, which were included in the lesson notes (in the comments section). Every lesson has them, and it's very important that you read them before doing the homework.

The rough perspective boxes are quite sketchy and rough. Perspective-wise, they're okay, but I'd definitely like you to look over the ghosting technique for drawing lines. The technique takes a lot more time, but it requires you to think and plan before every line is drawn. Try to fight the reflexive urge to draw a line with multiple marks. Draw a single mark for the entire line, and if you make a mistake, don't correct it - that'll only pile on more ink, which will draw the viewer's eye to your blunder.

The same goes for the organic perspective boxes, though to a lesser extent. Try to focus on drawing the lines straight as well. Ghosting should help in that area as well.

Another thing that stands for both of the box exercises, is that you should draw the frames for the compositions with a straight edge. The boxes themselves are to be drawn freehand, of course, but with a neat, clean frame, you can maintain that sort of mindset of care, attention and patience much more effectively.

Since you're showing such an eagerness to rush, I'd like you to do the entire lesson over again. Take your time, and take as many breaks as you need. Just focus on doing it all as well as you possibly can.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-08 20:44

I think you need to slow down and give each exercise a little more time and attention.

The lines exercise is a little hard to judge when it's done in pencil, since everything blends together, so I don't have much to say about it. For the ellipses, read over these notes, which were included in the 'lesson notes'. Each lesson has lesson notes included in the comments section, and there should be a message in red text above the comment box reminding you to read them.

The rough perspective boxes are, perspective-wise, okay. But they're kind of sloppy. Take extra care to draw the lines as straight as you can. The ghosting technique may help. Those notes were also included in the lesson notes. More than anything, it's a matter of taking the time to think and plan before each mark you make.

Same goes for the organic perspective boxes, though they're generally not badly done.

I'd like you to tackle these again, once you can replace your felt tip pens. Don't do these exercises in pencil, it takes a lot away from the lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-02-08 20:35

Yeah. If ever you're confused, check the badges you have in your flair. They list what you've completed thus far. Right now you've got Basics 1 - that means you're ready to tackle Basics 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-08 01:17

There are definitely several issues here.

First off, for the organic forms with contour lines, you're skipping a major step (step C in the lesson), where you draw the contour lines as full ellipses. Every contour line wraps around the form completely, often creating a smooth ellipse - drawn as we did in lesson 1. It is important to practice drawing them this way, so that when we just draw the visible portion of the contour line, we know how it should be curving/wrapping around the 3D form. Yours don't really wrap around, they just kind of stop at the edge of the shape - which makes it look very flat.

Next - the dissections. These are intended to be extensions of the previous exercise. Bascially, you start off with your organic shape, then you add your contour lines. Then, you pick a section of it (between contour lines) and decide that it is going to be cut out - and you fill in the void. I strongly recommend that you look at photo reference when filling that area in, since right now it's likely that your visual library isn't too well developed.

Finally, for the form intersections, they're pretty bad at the beginning, but you do show a marked improvement. The last one is not that bad. What I would suggest is, try to avoid forms that are stretched too much in one dimension - like long tubes, long boxes, etc. Stick to forms that are more equilateral, or equal in all three dimensions. This tends to simplify things. Also, if you haven't yet seen this from the lesson notes in the comments section: form intersections step-by-step.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-06 18:19

Yup, they're more or less correct. Always focus on the edges, where the contour line meets the outline of the shape. That's generally where most peoples' difficulties lie. The contour line has to wrap around the form. You generally do achieve this, though there are a few occasions where you fall short. Page 4, for instance, is generally better than page 5.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-02-06 15:15

I'm really sick and loopy on meds, so rather than giving you a critique, just do this exercise. Two full pages of it, and then three more pages of plants. Then I'll mark the lesson as complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-06 14:51

The sharpie seems to be just fine - it's a felt tip pen, and the thickness seems to be appropriate. I've got a brown ultrafine sharpie somewhere around here, and in my experience, it's quite comparable.

A few things to point out:

For now, in addition to that perspective exercise I mentioned above, I'd also like to see you do two pages of ellipses, done correctly as described in the lesson notes.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-02-06 14:40

You're getting there. I think drawing them as overlapping boxes definitely made things much more difficult for you, though. It's always better to do the lessons and challenges as I describe them, rather than putting your own spin on them. Doing so sometimes results in making things harder, or even leaving out important concepts.

The only thing I want to draw your attention to right now is a common mistake you seem to be making fairly often. I think you're aware of it, as you seem to mark it out, but I figured I'd point it out anyways.

The issue is that sometimes you draw your rear plane larger than your near plane. On box 200 and 180, you seem to point this out, with marks that seem to be comparing the sizes of the lines. Good work. You're also marking out the mistake on 192, where you've written "OK shape".

Anyways, congrats on completing the challenge. I would however recommend that at some point you try it again, drawing each box individually instead of making them overlap.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-06 14:34

I'm a little bit on the fence, but I think I'll mark this lesson as complete. Most of all, I'm concerned about the sloppiness of the boxes - so since you'll be doing the 250 box challenge, you'll be able to demonstrate that you've improved.

Here's a couple things to keep in mind:

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-06 14:27

Yup, much better.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-04 23:14

Much better! Everything looks in order, except for the lines exercise. I pointed out last time that you had done it incorrectly, though you did it the same way once again.

You did the lines exercise incorrectly, you're meant to draw a line (with a ruler if you like, for the straight ones) then trace over it eight times freehand. Find a good pace that allows you to get as accurate as you can without wobbling. If you wobble, it's because you're going too slow.

Just do two more pages of that, and I'll mark the lesson as complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-02-04 23:10

Looking good. Your confidence definitely seems to improve. I do believe your best page is the second last though. After that, some of the angle relationships in the boxes start going a little bit off the rails (like #245, #240, etc.). I'm guessing that you may have gotten tired at that point. Don't forget to take breaks!

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-04 23:06

Solid work all around, and I approve of the decision to move onto the 250 box challenge. Be sure to read all the notes included in the challenge post. They should help you push your boxes to the next level.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2015-02-04 23:04

Nice work! The maned wolves and the bears are especially well done. I also like the planar approach to the cougars' head constructions, though your proportions in regards to their body seem to need a little work. That will come with more practice, though, and for the most part your proportions elsewhere are well done.

I drew a little demo for how I approach fur textures. Instead of just trying to cover everything with loose crosshatching (neeeever scribble!), play with the density of the texture. Don't keep it consistent across the entire surface. Ultimately, it's the same concept that you applied to the rhinos (specifically the texture composed of little circles).

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-04 02:41

Looking pretty good. Be sure to read the lesson notes though, which are included in the comments section. Since you missed them, you didn't catch the extra notes on the ellipse exercise. Be sure to give it a read.

Both the lines and ellipse exercises should be incorporated into a warm up routine, so you can do them regularly.

Your rough perspective boxes are alright, although you should go back and look at what you've drawn - a lot of your boxes really don't go off to the vanishing point. Try to be conscious of that vanishing point, and if you're having trouble approximating the perspective, do a few pages of this exercise, which involves actually using a ruler and plotting out your perspective manually.

Your organic perspective boxes are fairly good. There are mistakes here and there, but the majority are done decently. The biggest thing there that I'd keep an eye on is your line weights. You seem to be making the lines inside the silhouette of each box quite a bit darker, when those should actually be the lighter ones.

You might want to look into doing the 250 box challenge. That post includes a lot of notes regarding perspective and line weights, so you should definitely give them a good read.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 4: Drawing Insects, Arachnids and Other Creepy Crawlies"

2015-02-04 01:21

For some reason your comment got caught as spam... reddit is weird.

Anywho! Your new ones are really nice. I mean, I hate you for insinuating that someone should be stroking the hairs on one of those flies, but... no, no buts. Die in a fire.

Haha, those mantis shrimp bring me back. Peter loves those things to death.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-04 00:09

In general you didn't do badly, but I'm firm about this felt tip pen requirement. Everything feels awkward when it's new, but I insist that you push through it. I was horrified when I was told I had to do these exercises in ink, but the medium itself helped develop an entirely different range of skills.

So, I'd like you to do the exercises again, but with a felt tip pen. The only significant critique I'd give you on your current approach is to take more care with the crosshatching you're using for your shading. It's kind of sloppy. Consistent, parallel lines stretching from one side of the surface to the other. No scribbling, no randomness. You're not alone on this though, I usually tell this to at least one person a night - today you're the third.

As for your question, there's a billion different ways to reach a goal, but in my experience, everything is connected. The lessons you learn from drawing humans will help in various ways to drawing creatures. Similarly, learning to draw inanimate objects will help you to draw living things.

That said, the lessons here are structured into sets - aside from the basics (which are prerequisite for all other lesson sets), you can choose to go into whichever ones you want - as long as you start each set from the beginning. So, if you want to skip the people-drawing, you can. I still recommend that people go through every lesson, though.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-04 00:03

It's a good attempt, but you would have benefited from reading the lesson notes (included in the comments section). I'm not actually sure if my CSS is broken, but there should be a message in red text above the comment box that says "ALWAYS READ THE LESSON NOTES BEFORE DOING THE HOMEWORK".

Anyway, the main part of it (though there's plenty of other information in those lesson notes) is "Regarding the Ellipse Exercise". Give that a read.

In general, I find that you're putting in a while lot of quantity, which is grand, but not a whole lot of quality. From what I can see, you can do much better than this, but you're not spending enough time on each individual bit. I want to see everything done at your very best, no matter how long that takes. Take as much time and as many breaks as you need.

So, I'd like to see you tackle this lesson again. Keep the following in mind:

Be sure to give the lesson notes a good read too, there's probably a lot that might be relevant that I left out in this critique.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-03 23:56

Not bad. A little sloppy, and it seems that you didn't read over the lesson notes (which are in the comments section). A lot of people forget to read them - is the red message above the comment box showing up okay? Or is my css broken...

Anyway, the notes contained lots of extra information but most relevant right now is these notes regarding the ellipse exercise. Give them a read. I won't have you redo the ellipses since I tell everyone to do those and the lines regularly as part of a warm up routine. So you should have plenty of chances to do them more effectively in the future.

Aside from that, your boxes are sloppy, but generally not incorrect. You should take more time to draw them, being more careful and using the ghosting technique for drawing your lines. Your crosshatching is also sloppy - if you're going to add crosshatching, make sure that it is clean and tidy. Consistent, parallel lines, stretching from one end of a surface to the other. No scribbling, no randomness, no half-hearted efforts.

I would definitely like you to do the 250 box challenge, and I'm glad that you feel the same way. It should give you the opportunity to build up your confidence, and also to ramp up your patience and carefulness.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-03 23:51

Okay, so it looks like you have no exposure to perspective - that's perfectly fine. In that case, I'd like you to look at the following notes:

I don't expect you to digest all of that information right off the bat. Read them once over, and let anything that doesn't stick fall away for now. I mainly want you to know what role the vanishing point plays.

Then, I'd like you to apply what you did absorb from those notes by doing this exercise. You can use a ruler for this. Right now all I'm concerned with is that you start getting used to how perspective is intended to be used, in a general level.

Do two pages of that (as best as you can), and then submit them as a reply to this comment. If you make mistakes, I'll let you know what they are.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-02-03 01:10

Here's your critique.

There's numerous problems with your approach, but the most significant I think is that you're drawing really small. The smaller you draw, the bigger the tip of your pen ends up relative to the length of your lines. It also becomes much more difficult to get any sort of decent rhythm or flow to those lines.

You also need to go back and practice your organic forms and contour lines. You're not wrapping the lines around your forms, and your leaves are very stiff and rigid. Loosen up. Drawing bigger may help, but it's also a matter of your frame of mind. Imagine that you're drawing in 3D space, rather than just on a flat piece of paper. Carve that pen around the forms, in and out of space.

I'd like you to give the whole set of homework another shot keeping these things in mind. It will likely help to go back and do more of the lesson 2 exercises again, perhaps as warmups.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-02-03 00:43

Not bad. It's clear that you did a lot of experimenting and learning through the course of this lesson. Your lay-ins are good, but early on you seemed to be unsure of how to approach detailing. The tree on page 4 seemed to be the first big challenge, and you defaulted to a more stylized approach, rather than keeping to your reference image.

On the next page, you paid better attention to the reference, and did a much better job. I also agree with your decision not to fully render - to do so would have been a mistake. The way you rendered it, it fades off nicely and builds a great focal point. You're guiding the eye around the composition quite successfully.

In general, your forms are good, though at times your use of line weight flattens them out. When you use a thick line all the way around a form, it ends up looking more graphic, which results in a flatter look. For example, the whole left side of page 4. You do get better at this though.

Honestly, the top left of page 5 is fantastic. Very well done, and your subject was especially complex due to all of the detail. You did well to capture that without it becoming noisy and distracting.

Feel free to move onto lesson 4.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-03 00:31

Good work! Your organic forms are very well done, they do a great job of conveying volume. Your form intersections are also pretty good - a few perspective issues here and there (always remember that the farther end of an object should be smaller than the closer end, assuming they're the same size in 3D space), but generally quite good.

Your dissections were alright, though I strongly recommend that next time you're in a position to apply texture to a surface, you should look at photo reference to inform your line work. Right now it's likely that your visual library isn't too well developed, so - for example, with the snake's scales - you'll resort to a very simplified understanding of how those scales work. Looking at reference, understanding it and then expressing that understanding through your use of the texture in your drawing will help in two ways. First, it'll make your drawing better, and secondly, it'll help develop your visual library.

Also, I'd like to point out the jalapeno at the top of page 3. I think you learned this on your own, since you didn't do it anywhere else, but I'll mention it anyways. Don't ever crosshatch against the curvature of the surface. In this case, your crosshatching is flat, going more or less straight down. The surface of the jalapeno is curved, so technically it should wrap around it. That said, I think the better approach is how you did it on your sling shot, having the hatching lines go along the form (I talk about that in these notes).

Anywho- good work, I think you're ready to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-03 00:23

Not bad. Your lines and ellipses look good (and those should be done regularly as a part of a warmup routine). Your boxes are okay as well, though admittedly they're a little sloppy. Take care to draw each box carefully, try your best to make each line straight (the ghosting technique might help) and also draw your frames with a straight edge. Having a loose, sloppy frame works against putting you in the right frame of mind to draw everything with care.

In general you did fairly well, so I'll mark the lesson as complete. I would like you to move onto the 250 box challenge though, so you can practice drawing each one with care and as much precision as you can muster.

Also, ballpoint pen is fine in a pinch, but try and hunt down a 0.5 felt tip pen when you can.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-02 19:55

The fine liner is a felt tip pen. The ones I use are staedtler's pigment liners. I usually go for a 0.5mm, because it can produce a wide variety of weights with proper pressure control. 0.4mm should work too, since it's not too far off.

Ballpoint pens can work in a pinch, but they're considerably different - it's a lot easier to sketch lightly with a ballpoint pen, so it doesn't stress the same principles of pressure control that I want people to practice.

Uncomfortable in the post "Who Are You? Introduce Yourselves!"

2015-02-02 01:58

Good lord, only fourteen and you've already got so much to say about your life! You definitely seem very enthusiastic.

Your work definitely gives me the impression that you have a lot of potential, though some of the structural/construction concepts that we stress here may help you push things further.

As for your question,

what keeps or kept you motivated to draw/paint?

it's kind of a tough one to answer. I've always been interested in creating worlds, and everything I did as a hobby when I was young was centered around that. Drawing was a relatively easy way to create my own little universes, but I pursued other things such as programming and 3D modeling to varying degrees. Everything still comes down to that, though. Perhaps it's a strange approach to escapism.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-02-02 00:37

Your dissections are mostly well done, though I have some critiques regarding your organic forms with contour lines. Hopefully the overdrawings and notes are clear enough.

Your form intersections are a little haywire. Your lines aren't entirely straight (they arc often), and your ellipses are weak. The main problem is that you're not drawing through your forms. You're trying to think ahead and plan out how all your forms will sit, but in doing so you don't pay enough attention to what you're drawing at the time. Right now I want you to focus on making each form look solid and complete on its own. Drawing through the forms will help you understand them better, and demonstrating that understanding will make them more convincing to the viewer.

I strongly suggest that you do the 250 box challenge before attempting the intersections again. Also, read over this step by step for form intersections, which was included in the lesson notes in the comments section. Make sure you don't skip those notes, they often include a lot of helpful information.

Once you've done the box challenge, I'd like to see you redo the organic forms with contour lines and the form intersections.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-01 23:06

I've tried both ways, and they both work, but I've actually experienced the opposite - that leaning on my wrist makes me somewhat more inclined to use it as the pivot point of my drawing motions, whereas holding my arm up completely will allow me to lock it entirely and move only from the shoulder.

Ultimately, as long as you're drawing from your shoulder, whichever one you find easier is fine.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-02-01 22:04

Yup.

Uncomfortable in the post "Who Are You? Introduce Yourselves!"

2015-02-01 17:56

You are definitely taking things way too seriously - and perhaps projecting a very unrealistic image of other artists, which is only causing you to push yourself down.

And I discovered that in a way the artists that have been drawing their entire lives haven't had to work very hard for it at all. Don't get me wrong, time and hard work got them to where they are. But they started as children. They didn't understand how bad they were at drawing. But they kept drawing and by the time they were able to judge themselves they were already quit skilled and had a lot to show for their work.

This simply isn't true. Art for the vast majority (maybe excluding those few prodigies, but perhaps not) is painful. Forget the technical aspect of it, psychologically it drives us to become, as you said of yourself, perfectionists, before we can even come close to meeting our own expectations. It happens to all of us, and it is the biggest road block that comes up time and time again.

I started drawing when I was eleven. Earlier than that, really, but it's the point in time where I can remember continuously lying on the floor in front of the TV, day after day, drawing. Early on, it was all fun and games. A couple of years later (maybe puberty played a role in this), I started to become painfully aware of how shitty my art was. Now that I look back, the artists I envied weren't even that good themselves - it was like I was constantly setting my goal just beyond my conceivable reach. I wasn't aiming for anything particularly lofty, those aspirations merely existed to make me miserable.

I didn't start consciously fighting back against that misguided sense of perfectionism until I was in my early twenties. I hadn't gone to art school, but a friend of mine down in Los Angeles showed me her sketchbooks. They were amazing - not that the drawings themselves were anything amazing, but it was just a collection of all her thoughts and feelings regurgitated onto the page, with no concern for quality or technique. Some were accompanied with lyrics from songs by Muse, some were drawings from life, some were just silly little cartoon doodles. It didn't matter - this was all for her, and her alone.

What shocked me most of all was that the majority of the drawings were in ink. I was TERRIFIED of ink. Ink made all of my failures so obvious and apparent. It was entirely unforgiving, compared to pencil, or digital work, the only things I'd really drawn with up until that point.

That was when I was 21. It still took some time for the lesson to sink in, but two years later I started keeping a sketchbook that was purely for myself, and I would draw in it every day after work - filling in two pages in ink. I wouldn't sleep until it was done. No one would ever see it, the only person who would ever judge it was me. The goal of the exercise was to break my idiotic cycle of self-torment. I'd draw anything and everything. Things in my head, things that I saw on my desk, things I saw on the shows I'd watch while doing it... And it was all garbage. But that mattered less and less as days went by. None of this made me a better artist in a technical sense - but it was the first step to other things that did help me improve.

Anyways, my point is that you do not exist on an island - your problems are not unique to you. These are problems everyone faces. Some give up, and don't draw. Others sit there, frozen with cowardice, unwilling to back down but not able to move forward. Then there are those who learn to be bold.

Be bold.

I talked to a lot of people online about drawing. A LOT. As far as I can say, I mostly got helpful information. But the more I asked around the more the information conflicted. Most people say to use reference. Some say they never used reference. Many went to art school or took art classes and spoke of how much they improved from them, while at the same time defended that classes weren't necessary at all in order to improve.

Some people couldn't comprehend that I could be of this age and be incapable of drawing, so I was called a troll by many. Many seemed to believe that drawing was an inherent ability on some level and refused to believe that I was unable. Again, I was called a troll. There was even that one person that refused to offer me any advice. She believed that the path to becoming skilled at drawing was meant to believe a long, hard, and painful one. To better develop my own personal style, she said. I have also been told to give up on many occasions.

The tricky thing with art is that it is by its very nature, a subjective experience. Personally, I hate the word, it's too lofty a term. What I strive to do, is communicate visually. A character, an environment, a scene from a story unfolding, an emotional interaction. These are all things that I attempt to communicate to a viewer, so that they understand them on a variety of levels. That isn't to say I'm fantastic at it, but it's what I strive for - and in my experience, it is something a person can learn.

Art definitely is not an innate ability, that is utter nonsense. It may be an innate inclination or desire, but as human beings we are naturally wired in so many ways that makes it even harder to draw what we see. A major example of this is the fact that when we look at common objects, we see them as icons of what they are - oversimplifications that help us understand them in a general sense. For example, when we are first told to draw an eye, we'll probably draw something similar to this. Or a tree, or a castle. Our brains evolved to work this way, and the process of learning to draw involves a lot of rewiring of the basic ways our brains function.

I've been told that I must first get all the mistakes and useless garbage out of the way. But drawing mistakes and useless garbage isn't fun. I was told to enjoy it, to enjoy drawing regardless of the outcome. But after a while it only got more difficult. How could I pick up a pencil and draw when I understood that the very thing I was drawing would turn out to look terrible? Before I even start a drawing, I knew it was going to turn out bad because I just wasn't very skilled. It's like that with any skill. When you first start out you suck. I was told not to think like that but no matter how much I tried to put my mind away from that the fact remains that if you are unskilled in something you are going to outright suck at it. There is no avoiding it.

Honestly? Too fucking bad. There's a lot about learning to draw that isn't fun - that's why people like me, who spent the first decade entirely self taught, wasted years learning in the least effective and least efficient ways possible. I only practiced in ways I believed to be fun. Every now and then I'd try doing studies, I'd try drawing realism, but they were all short-lived novelties. It wasn't until I got my head out of my ass - as you seem to need to do - that I made any real progress.

The first two lessons on this subreddit are by nature, not fun. I mean, they can be fun if you let them, but at face value they're just tedious as hell. Drawing garbage isn't fun either - but seeing your own improvement, having concepts suddenly click after hours or days or weeks of practice - that's fun.

I strongly recommend that you take a look at the homework other people have submitted, and look at my critiques. Some people did very well - a lot more, however, did terribly and had to redo the homework in part or in its entirety until they demonstrated an understanding of the concepts I was trying to teach. Look at how their work changes. These are the people who are bold - the ones who are willing to make mistakes publicly, willing to have their work judged not just by me, but by anyone who might take a peek. These are the ones that will go further.

If you want to improve, be the one to fuck up in a thousand different ways, for all the world to see. Be the one to make mistakes so others can show you how you might do better. Be like them. Be bold.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-31 21:58

I see some improvement as well. In general, they seem more confident by the end, and though they're a little wavy, the lines seem straighter than they were initially.

I'm guessing you're using the ghosting technique for drawing your lines - keep that up, and when you feel your lines getting wobbly, experiment with quickening your pace a little. It should steadily help make them straighter.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-31 18:39

Nice work! Your confidence and comfort seems to be increasing throughout.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-01-31 15:12

These are definitely better. I'm going to mark this lesson as complete, but here's a couple things to take note of:

Uncomfortable in the post "Who Are You? Introduce Yourselves!"

2015-01-31 15:09

It's never too late! I hope these lessons will help you along - and you should know, any doodle is worth posting.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-01-31 15:07

You did a good job (though I can see that you only did one page for each exercise - since they're good though, I'll let that slide. In the future, do the full set).

Just a few things to note:

Feel free to move onto lesson 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-29 23:16

It's good that you're trying the form intersections more, because I think the overall issue is that when drawing your plants, you're spending too little time on the construction. In general, you seem to be a bit rushed - looking at your details, they tend to be haphazard and scribbly.

I'd like you to draw three plants for me, and include the reference you used with them. When you draw them, do not move into the detail stage. Start with the lay in to block in your forms and shapes, then build up the plant, but stop before you start adding the minutae.

Focus on communicating those forms and overall shapes. For example, with the tree on the bottom of page 7, you should have blocked in each overall branch as a leaf shape. Then you could break that down into the individual pieces, but they'd follow the curvature of that overall shape. The example I included in the lesson notes went over something very similar.

As far as 'stop before you add details', using that example, I'd say stop before you reach the last step.

Also, put more thought behind every mark you make. Don't just sketch roughly hoping for the right line to be in there. You're free to draw through your ellipses to make sure that you achieve the correct shape, but for drawing simple lines, draw them carefully. You're doing a lot of rough sketching right now, and that's making things much messier than they ought to be.

Uncomfortable in the post "Video: Portrait study timelapse by Mike Meth, a good friend of mine - focus on how he lays in the underlying structure of the face"

2015-01-29 13:59

I often forego the layer structure as well, at least when I'm starting off. Have you ever noticed how when you sketch, your drawing carries much more energy and life than when you try to clean it up to make a nice line drawing? I believe this follows much the same. When you're working in layers, you're interrupting your creative process with too much structure.

At least, that's my reasoning - either way, painting on a single layer brings back more of a traditional feeling. If you make a mistake, you just paint over it and keep going. You're always pushing forwards, instead of trying to figure out which layer you should be making your change on.

I do still use layers, for different reasons. Most often I'll add a new layer when I'm uncertain of a change (ideally I'd flatten it down once I've decided that the change was a good idea, though more often than not I forget to). I also use layers once I have my a good deal of my illustration completed - I'll flatten the whole thing down, duplicate it multiple times and mask out each individual component of the painting, focusing on separating out different levels of depth. This allows me to throw in atmospheric perspective (fog or whatever else) between those layers to help push objects back where necessary.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-01-29 00:47

That's surprising, because your ellipses came out very well. The first page, anyway. I strongly recommend that you do the ellipses in the way you did on page 1 of your homework, rather than page 8. This is why.

Your line exercises came out very well. The lines are smooth and clean, and while they're not 100% accurate, I don't expect them to be.

You should incorporate the lines and ellipse exercises into your warmup routine, as they will have the greatest impact if you keep doing them regularly over time.

Now, I do have concerns about how you drew your boxes. For the rough perspective exercise, you're not supposed to plot out the perspective as you did (drawing the lines all the way back to your vanishing point). You mark out the VP, and estimate based on that.

Secondly, I noticed that your lines in the box exercises are somewhat inconsistent. At times they seem sketchy, at other times they wobble a bit or arc. Take a look at the ghosting technique for drawing lines. Every line should be made with one mark. If you make a mistake, fight the urge to correct it, since laying on more ink will only draw the viewer's attention to your error.

Lastly, I noticed that your crosshatching is very sloppy. Shading in those exercises is completely optional, but if you choose to do it, be sure to put in the effort to make it clean. That means consistent, individual, parallel lines. No scribbling or randomness. That just ends up coming off as sloppy, and can take a good drawing and make it look bad.

I'd like to see you redo the rough perspective and organic perspective exercises. I believe that with the notes I linked above (all of which were listed in the lesson notes, which are in the comments section of every lesson), you should be able to do much better.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes"

2015-01-28 23:37

The problem that you're experiencing with your lines isn't uncommon. The only problem is that in response to the problem, you slowed down, when you should have sped up.

Basically, with this exercise, there's two things that I expect to see. Either your lines are smooth, but flying off from your goal, or they're wobbly and kind of stick to your guide line (the first one you drew, on top of which you're trying to superimpose your new lines). Wobbliness is tough to fix, because what's happening is your brain is trying to direct your arm. It's micromanaging. When your pen goes off course, your brain corrects it, but then it goes off course again. Definitely not the best approach.

Instead, we want to train your muscles to learn how to draw smooth lines. Your brain gives your arm the message, "draw this line, from here to here," and then does nothing else. Your arm knows what's needed, so it gives it a shot. This results in the line being more smooth and consistent, but often times the line will not be all that accurate - because your arm started off in one direction, and kept on going.

But that's fine - that's something we can correct with practice.

Now I'm going to want you to redo this lesson. Every lesson has a set of lesson notes in the comments (usually they're the top comment, but sometimes if there's too many comments, they'll end up falling below the threshold). These notes have extra content and information that is important for completing the lesson.

The notes for this one have a few important pieces of information. Regarding the Ellipse Exercise and Ghosting your Lines. Give those a read - the former pertains to the ellipse exercise (obviously), and how you can approach that more effectively. The latter goes over a technique you can use when drawing your boxes that will hopefully make them cleaner.

With that in mind, I think you'll be able to do a better job on the homework for this lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"

2015-01-28 23:28

I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at. I can see the dissections, and form intersections, though I'm not sure where your organic forms with contour lines are.

Overall, I'd like you to do these again, taking the following into consideration:

It's great to see your creativity and enthusiasm, but there's a time and a place for that. Right now you've got to buckle down and focus on the task in front of you. Don't think ahead, give all of your attention to whatever it is that you're doing.