Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-20 00:19

Congrats on completing the challenge.

Just a few things to note:

• I'm not entirely sure you read over all the notes included in the original post. They covered things such as line weight (yours were very uniform, which makes things a little bit boring) and what generally makes a box look solid and weighty instead of flimsy and unsubstantial (you've got some slightly arcing lines in a bunch of the boxes, which undermines the solidity).

• Your perspective seems to have mostly been correct, and where it wasn't, you caught the mistakes. Good work there.

• The challenge is specifically about boxes. I'm being picky here, but I think that veering off the path and drawing curved forms starts to undermine the principle of the challenge itself in many ways. On one hand, I'm a strong proponent of boxes being a great tool to learn how to capture a form and make it appear solid and convincing. Secondly, having to draw this many boxes is a test of patience and focus. When people get bored and allow themselves to lose focus, they tend to start putting twists on the exercise - as you have done, with the various curving boxes. That means you need to work on your patience!

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

2015-01-20 00:14

Your organic forms and dissections are looking great. Solid volumes, and a good approach in general. I like the little fishy.

Your form intersections are not so great, but frankly they're some of the most difficult things we tackle in the entire dynamic sketching lesson set. Everything else builds on this in some way or another.

Your approach isn't actually too bad. You're drawing through your forms (which is GREAT, keep that up), and you're not afraid to get messy in order to figure out your forms.

I think what's fucking you over the most is the fact that you're working in a lot of really long forms. Long boxes, long tubes, long cones, etc. Those kinds of things bring in a lot of perspective distortion, and that starts messing everything up. I usually recommend that people avoid those kinds of forms - instead, draw 'equilateral' forms. That is, forms that are more or less equal in every dimension. Start off in the center of the page, and then just keep drawing more around them and connect them.

If you check out the lesson notes in the comments section (every lesson has them, usually the first one if sorted by 'top'), you'll find this step-by-step of how I approach the form intersections. It might help you out.

I'd like to see two more pages of form intersections, taking into consideration what I've said above. I think working with those equilateral forms will help out a lot.

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

2015-01-20 00:09

Yeah, I don't think much good comes from a desire to do things "as fast as possible". If anything, it can be harmful. So tuck those thoughts away somewhere and focus primarily on doing things well.

Which you did! At least, for the first part. Your organic forms are looking fantastic. Nice volumes, your contour lines generally wrap nicely around the forms, and the lines are very confident.

Your dissections are okay, but they can be better. In the top left, there's a very simple form there - one that's very well done. At the bottom left, there's another that's simple, but good. I think when you start venturing into the complex, the crazy, the "interesting" you start losing track of the purpose of this exercise. We're looking to take the concepts of the first exercise (organic forms with contour lines) and we're just cutting out a section and seeing what's inside. Fruits, snakes, etc. are nice candidates, but with the human head, the sandwich, etc. you're getting away from it.

I think it's very important to start it off as just another piece from exercise 1. If you're in that mindset, you get your volumes right already - then you're just playing around with all your important stuff already in. I've noticed this in others, and I'm seeing it in you - as soon as you face the challenge of drawing something that looks like something (the heart, the sandwich), you get overwhelmed with the need for detail and cleanliness. It's no longer an exercise, it becomes a drawing.

Forget about all that. Don't worry about the fact that the original outline of the form stretches across the gap of the dissection. Don't worry if you need to draw a full ellipse to correctly gauge the curvature of the contour line. Don't worry about drawing through forms, it's a great thing to do and you should do more of it.

That takes me to the form intersections which are... a bit crazy. I think you start off okay, but then you start to get antsy and start rushing. Frankly, I think you can do better than this.

Here's a few things you can do to approach it differently.

• First off, draw bigger forms. People who have less confidence tend to draw things smaller, and it bites them in the ass. It's harder to get the proper motion and flow from your lines when they're tiny, and a medium-sized pen ends up looking SUPER thick at that scale. The sphere you've got on the right side of page 3 on the imgur album is a decent size - maybe a little bit smaller than that.

• Try tackling these on a loose sheet of printer paper instead of a book like that. It gives you more freedom of motion, as you don't have to worry about the pages turning over on you, or bumping into the spine.

• Don't use forms that are longer in one dimension compared to the others. For example, long tubes, long boxes, etc. Try to stick with more 'equilateral' forms. Things that are more or less equal in all dimensions. With the longer, stretched forms, you're bringing perspective more into the mix than is necessary. We want to focus more on just having forms in 3D space, rotating them around and mashing them together. No need to make it more complicated.

Also, be sure to read the lesson notes for every lesson. In lesson 1 and 2 they're sometimes harder to find, but every single lesson has them in the comments section. If you sort by 'top' they should bubble to the top of the list. This one's got this step by step for form intersections listed in the bonus content. Honestly, I think you are approaching things similarly, but I figured I might as well share it in case you didn't see it yet.

So - I'd like to see two more pages of dissections, and two more pages of form intersections, keeping in mind everything I mentioned above.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-19 23:54

It definitely looks like you were finding your way. Some of the drawings leave a lot to be desired, but there are a bunch that are really well done.

For the lay-ins, I think your second page is WAY better than your first. That's perfectly fine - in fact, it's great, because I love seeing the gradual understanding rather than immediate grasp of the material. It's why putting lessons into practice is so important.

I really love that fat tree in the top right of page 4. It's so simple, but you can immediately feel the form of its trunk, the bulging obesity of it all. The branches push that idea too, with their swollen knots.

The mushrooms on page 9 show some great forms as well, and the flowers on page 10 are all fantastic. There are others that are nice as well, but these stood out to me the most as the strongest examples of what you've learned.

In particular, I like your stylistic approach. You don't bury things in details, and you show a lot of form and curvature with line alone. Because of this, I think the pieces I mentioned came out stronger than the ones where you filled in your shadows with a lot of black. It's not that the particular method isn't one you should continue to practice and pursue, but rather that it's one where you have a lot of room to improve.

Comparatively, I think the shading of the tree on page 8 was quite well done. It's not as overbearing as your deep solid black shadows in other drawings, and it simply feels much nicer to look at. That one also exhibits some nice forms moving through 3D space, with the trunk/branches moving further away and towards the viewer.

Overall, great work.

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

2015-01-19 23:47

Nice work! Your approach on the lay-ins was definitely different from what I intended, but I wouldn't go so far as saying they're wrong. Just different - and I think it's a very interesting method, and if that's how you feel comfortable working, more power to you. It's particularly great because it really focuses on the volume in the construction phase, so all of your drawings tend to have a much greater sense of form.

I have only one major point of critique - in most areas, your hatching/shading is done quite well. In some specific cases, however, your approach isn't the greatest. Look at the ant on page 3 (5 in the imgur album). The ant in the bottom left. Its abdomen is curved and rounded, and your hatching follows that curvature, stopping a little ways in.

I generally find that this is not a great way to shade a cylindrical object. Instead, hatching length-wise tends to come out better. I wrote some notes about it a while back. Your hatching does curve along the form, so it's not really flattening it out, but in my opinion it always feels weird to have those curving lines end suddenly.

That said, I think it works nicely in the bottom right of the following page, on the shell. The hatching adds some nice texture and interesting pseudo-detail.

Anyways, now I have to stop looking at your insects because they're giving me the willies.

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

2015-01-19 23:41

Frankly, you can do better. I think more than anything it's a matter of not reading the lesson/notes carefully enough.

Your organic forms' contour lines don't quite wrap around the forms properly - they're generally very flat, and at the ends of the curves, they don't go around the form, they treat it very much as though they're just curving lines on a 2D surface. While drawing it, imagine that you are actually wrapping these lines around a 3D form. How you perceive your own actions has a great effect on what you draw. Also, practice drawing the contour lines as full ellipses instead of just curving lines (step C on the lesson) - this will help you nail the curvature better.

Also, I noticed that on the bottom of the second page of your organic forms (page 7 of the imgur album) you have a little cigar shape, where the direction of the curves changes halfway through. The curves themselves are not arbitrary. Read these notes for a better understanding of how those ellipses show the orientation of that particular cross-section of the form.

The problems that affect your organic forms naturally also impact your dissections, since they're essentially the same thing with an extra step tagged on.

Your form intersections aren't bad, but they're not great either. One thing I usually recommend is for people not to use forms that are too long in one particular dimension. Long tubes, long boxes, etc. This brings perspective into the mix way more than necessary, and makes things harder. Try using equilateral forms (equal in all 3 dimensions) instead. Draw them big on the page, and fill the page up.

Also, it looks to me like you're using pencil. If you're not, then great - but if you are, you should be using a felt tip pen. Regardless, you need to be drawing through your forms entirely (like as though you had x-ray vision), so you can get a better understanding of how they work. We are not concerned with creating neat and tidy drawings her - we want our shapes to come out properly. Treating your ellipses like the ones you did in lesson 1 - drawing through them completely to achieve the right curvature - is imperative.

I'd like you to do the homework over, taking into consideration all the things I said above.

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

2015-01-19 23:28

Better! The organic forms and the dissections are okay now. Not fantastic, but definitely an improvement. I like the banana, I think that one was your most successful dissection. The form is simple, but the dissection itself has some nice layering (like the thickness of the peel), and the contour lines wrap nicely around the form, pushing the illusion of volume.

Your intersections are kind of hit-and-miss, but I'm getting the impression that your sketchbook is somewhat at fault. It doesn't look like it's giving you much freedom of motion. You should seriously consider doing this on loose leaf, or on a sketchbook that lays flatter and gives you more space (I used a sketchbook for this course, but it was 9.5" x 9.5" and ringed, so I could lay it nice and flat without having the pages bending back over me.

I'd like to see one more page of intersections done on a loose sheet of 8.5x11. Blank printer paper will do just fine. Draw your forms nice and big, and don't forget your perspective rules - the box on page 12 is wrong (it's converging towards the viewer, instead of away from the viewer, and looks like a pyramid that's had its top lopped off).

Uncomfortable in the post "Announcement: What would you want out of a dedicated ArtFundamentals website?"

2015-01-19 14:08

That would be a really handy thing to have. I'm not entirely sure it falls under the scope of what I can do at the moment (copyright issues with displaying others' photos and I definitely wouldn't take them myself), but I'll keep it in mind.

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

2015-01-18 18:06

While it is better, you're still missing the main thing. You're still thinking ahead, and making your initial lines timid because you want them to disappear later. There will be time enough for that later on, but for now you need to push that out of your mind. Be bolder.

You're not treating your ellipses/circles like you did in the exercise from lesson 1, because you picture this as something with a 'final' stage, rather than just a bunch of shapes and forms. In doing so, you're weakening the foundation of your drawing, which in turn makes that final drawing less convincing.

Take a look at this comparison and then give it another shot. Next time submit to me the full two pages each.

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

2015-01-18 05:29

Messy, but your curves are more consistent! Good work. Keep in mind of course ,that the circles-inside-of-circles aren't too useful. I'll mark this lesson as complete, and I suppose the next one as well.

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

2015-01-18 05:28

Your lines are looking good, but by and large, I'm seeing a lot of sloppiness from the boxes. I think that you went in more for quantity rather than quality, and from the looks of it, you could do much better if you put in a little more time and thought into each line you draw.

Also, be sure to read the lesson notes (in the comments - they should bubble to the top if you're sorting by 'top'), they've got important additional notes, explanations, requirements, etc. For example, these notes regarding the ellipse exercise. Give them a read, and then do one more page of ellipses.

For the boxes, as I said before, just take your time. Do one more page of rough perspective and one more page of organic perspective. Draw one mark per line, and think before you draw it. Make sure all your lines connect nicely where they're supposed to. Using the ghosting technique for drawing your lines should help with that. Also, take the time to lay out your frames nicely on the page. It's fine to use a straight edge to draw your compositional frames, and keeping them straight usually helps with your frame of mind while drawing. If the frame is all wobbly and slanted, you tend to care less about its contents.

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

2015-01-18 05:19

Looking good! I'll mark this lesson as complete.

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

2015-01-18 05:18

It's all done with a single pen. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it immediately, it's a tricky skill to learn, and is one of the major reasons I push people to do this stuff with a felt tip pen specifically. As you said, right off the bat it either writes or it doesn't.

Slowly you'll start to find the nuances in it. Think about what the tip of the pen looks like - it's a little rounded, and as such, the veeeery tip of the pen comes to a single point, but very quickly flares out into a wider sphere. Learn to touch only parts of that rounded tip to the page, rather than the whole thing.

Another trick is to draw big, and also, to vary your line weights. Just the act of adding thicker line weights in certain areas will automatically make other line weights seem thinner in comparison.

Anyways, no, you didn't really do too well on this one. There's a common issue between all of the exercises, though. It's about drawing through your forms.

On your organic forms and dissections, your contour lines are not wrapping around the forms entirely. In the lesson itself, you see a step there where I draw through the full ellipses (contour lines are essentially ellipses, wrapping around the form, even though you only see a curve). You should be practicing drawing through the ellipses before attempting to draw the curves on their own.

Also for those two exercises, draw larger forms. When learning, we have a tendency to draw things smaller on the page - perhaps out of a lack of confidence. This in turn tends to make things come out worse, due to the limited control over pen pressure (the lines appear even thicker at such a small scale), and the nuances in the forms themselves become much more difficult to capture.

The form intersections are all about drawing forms in 3D space, and having them interact with each other. If you haven't read the lesson notes, be sure to check out these notes which were linked in there. You're getting very caught up in planning things out, and worrying about compositions. All you need to worry about is the forms themselves. Drawing through them (think x-ray vision) will help you establish a greater understanding of how those forms exist within their space, and will also help you place other objects relative to them. When you're drawing a form, do not think ahead. Focus on that form until it is drawn in its entirety. Then draw another form - don't worry about how it relates to the other form just yet. Draw it entirely, THEN start making your decisions of how they intersect.

Take a break, and give this lesson another shot. Look through other homework submissions as well, and read through the critiques I gave them, for greater insight.

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

2015-01-18 03:12

Not bad. At times you seem to be somewhat rushed, especially in the rough perspective exercise. Everything you do deserves your full attention and care, starting with the frames for your compositions, all the way down to the hatching at the end.

Sometimes I find that working bigger (drawing small boxes like this can be tricky) helps. The ghosting technique for drawing lines is also something you should look into if you haven't already.

Overall, your lines, ellipses and rough perspective exercises do demonstrate a decent understanding of the concepts. Be sure to keep doing the lines and ellipses as a part of a warm-up routine, as they have the most impact if done frequently over an extended period of time.

Your organic perspective boxes are probably your weakest point. I'm still going to mark the lesson as complete, but I suggest that you look into doing the 250 box challenge. The notes included there should be helpful, and in general it helps increase one's comfort levels with drawing boxes that are rotated arbitrarily in 3D space. Those skills are rather important for lesson 2's form intersections.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-18 03:07

Looking good. Good idea to do several series' of boxes that gradually rotate in space. Definitely a great way to practice.

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

2015-01-18 00:42

I think you're fighting the urge to rush through these exercises. The ellipses are good, the organic perspective boxes are okay (but on the verge of being rushed), and the rough perspective and lines exercises are definitely rushed.

With the lines exercise, I usually look at the shortest ones to get a sense of whether or not a person is giving it the focus it requires. The longer lines, waves, etc. tend to be quite challenging, so I try not to judge too harshly on those.

What I look at most of all is the very beginning of the shorter lines. When they're done well, they'll line up nicely at the beginning, and fray near the end. When they're rushed, they'll fray at both ends (as yours do). This is not due to a lack of ability, but rather you're simply not taking the time to position the tip of your pen correctly when you start the line. If you start poorly, then you've nowhere to go but down.

Your rough perspective boxes are looking kind of sloppy as well. A lot of your lines are arcing a little, and your line weights are inconsistent. Try to limit yourself to one mark per line, and fight the urge to either reinforce a line immediately after you've drawn it (a lot of us have that natural reflex) as well as the urge to correct mistakes by piling on more ink. This will only draw more attention to the error.

I'd like you to do one more page of lines, as well as a page each of the rough perspective and the organic perspective exercises. For both of the box exercises, draw bigger. You don't have to do as many individual frames, but I usually find that when a person draws things smaller, they tend to come out messier and sloppier. Also, be sure to draw your frames with a straight edge. When the frame is half-assed, it's hard to get in the right frame of mind to draw your boxes neatly.

Take a look at the ghosting your lines notes, they may help with drawing the boxes.

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

2015-01-17 18:23

The lines, by the time you finished the exercise, are looking pretty damn good. That, and the ellipse exercise aren't intended to come out perfectly on the first try. I tell everyone once they've finished, that they should continue incorporating it into a warm-up routine, so they're doing some lines and some ellipses (not necessarily 2 full pages) very regularly. Same goes for you.

On the note of the ellipses, at first you were doing them incorrectly (not drawing through them as described in these notes but you seem to have corrected yourself halfway through the first page. I'm also not terribly pleased with all of the wasted space on the second page of ellipses, but ultimately you have understood the concepts. Since you'll be doing these as warmups, I see no reason for you to submit any more of them to me.

Your rough perspective is fine, though I would recommend that in the future you draw a little bigger. Drawing things at such small scale tends to get much more difficult for a few reasons (including the fact that your lines look ridiculously thick relative to the size of the tiny box you're drawing).

I agree with you about the organic perspective boxes. They're not bad, and I like your line weights, but I think doing the 250 box challenge would help you increase your comfort levels with rotating forms in 3D space.

Overall, good work. I'll be marking this lesson as complete.

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

2015-01-17 18:17

These do look better, with the exception of the bottom right corner of page 2. Well done!

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

2015-01-17 18:12

Very, very well done. I'll mark the lesson as complete!

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

2015-01-17 07:50

I was speaking more in general terms, in regards to the arcing, rather than in reference to your work.

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

2015-01-17 06:55

Oh wow, you certainly pushed yourself pretty hard. Don't be afraid to take breaks and spread things out. I know you mentioned before about pushing through - it's better not to. When you get tired, you naturally get sloppy. And when you get sloppy and continue to practice, you start making mistakes and making them a part of what you learn. It's best to approach this stuff with as fresh a mind as possible, and as rested an arm.

You've definitely earned the completion of the lesson and the box challenge. Just one more thing that I'd like to mention - you say that you 'switched to wrist-level work' for the 250 boxes. The boxes definitely aren't wrist-level work. Since they're composed of straight lines, the mechanics of drawing from the wrist aren't entirely suitable. Since your hand has such a short drawing radius from the wrist, most of your lines end up short and somewhat arcing. Drawing from the shoulder allows you to draw longer lines that flow, and also gives you much greater control over your shorter lines.

I know it's awkward as hell, but you will eventually get used to it. All the more so considering how enthusiastic you seem to be!

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-16 23:55

Hmm.. I think you can do much better than this. Form-wise, I'm not seeing that much improvement (aside from those gorgeous mushroom caps).

Here's some more overdrawing. The first is in regards to balancing your viewer's focus. Always keep in mind - adding more ink will draw the viewer's eye in most cases. So if you make a mistake, don't try and cover it up with more ink.

The line weight thing that you're worrying about, though, honestly is a non-issue right now. Reason being, you're so caught up worrying about making your drawings look clean that you're letting the form slip by.

So, I'd like you to do four more pages - this time, forego all the details. Just don't bother with them. Treat this as the form intersection exercise from lesson 2. I want you to draw through all your forms. Focus on getting the forms correct, and if that means drawing through your ellipses several times before lifting your pen, to keep your ellipses the correct shape like in these notes - which it should - then absolutely do it.

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

2015-01-16 23:35

Good work! Everything looks really quite good, honestly. I'm glad to see that you applied some nice line weights to the end of the organic perspective boxes.

If there was one critique I had to give, it'd be that your perspective in your organic perspective boxes exercise is inconsistent, so it confuses the viewer's eye a bit. It's the sort of situation where something looks a little bit off, but it's hard to tell what.

It's not an entirely uncommon mistake - i'd written these notes a while ago to explain the issue in greater depth. Take a look.

Anyways, good work! Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2015-01-16 23:30

... You should read those notes again :P

You corrected one of the mistakes you made, but you're not drawing through your ellipses (as the first part of the notes covered). You've got to draw through them a couple times before lifting your pen to make sure the shape your arm is being trained to draw is nice and round.

Your ellipses do look good, but upon closer inspection you'll notice that the curves are inconsistent - sometimes one side will be flatter than the other, sometimes they'll come out a little pointier than they should. Drawing through will help correct that.

One more page!

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-16 23:28

Not bad! Your corrections are generally accurate, and your drawings are nice and clean. I did see a few where you made the farther plane a little larger than your near plane though (231, 214, 148, etc). That contradicts the rules of perspective, so be sure to keep an eye on that.

While I'm glad to see you worked on drawing lines only once, that's a separate issue from the line weights. Once the box is drawn, you go back and consciously, purposefully, thicken some of the lines. The issue where you should only draw one mark per line is more about the natural reflex that many of us have. Conscious decisions are good, involuntary responses are not.

Anyways, good work on drawing all 250 boxes! You've earned your badge.

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

2015-01-16 23:22

I'm glad you had a change of heart! You've done decently, but I think you're making the right decision in keeping up with doing these lessons traditionally before you tackle them digitally.

So looking at your work, your lines are about where I'd expect them to be for someone tackling this lesson for the first time. Your ellipses aren't bad, but you didn't approach them correctly. All the lessons posted here have a 'notes' section in the comments - if you sort them by 'top', it should be the first one. The lesson notes contain all sorts of extra content and explanations - these extra notes in particular explain what you did wrong.

Your boxes are fairly solid - you have a good understanding of form and 3D space, but your lines are kind of messy. Here's a few things to keep in mind:

• Always draw one mark for every line. Sometimes we have a reflexive urge to reinforce the lines we draw immediately, ultimately drawing two or three marks where only one was required. This is due to a lack of confidence. You've got to consciously force yourself to stop. The ghosting technique may help with that.

• If you make a mistake, don't try to correct it by laying on more ink. That'll just draw the viewer's eye to your errors. Usually leaving it alone (which is hard, I know) is the best option.

You may want to look into using a slightly thicker pen, by the way. 0.3mm tends to make things a little more difficult, especially for things like the line exercise. 0.5mm is generally the sweet spot, with 0.8mm getting far too thick.

I'd like to see you submit one more page of ellipses, taking into consideration the notes I linked above.

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

2015-01-16 23:07

Pretty good. Your lines and your organic perspective boxes are solid, though your ellipses were not quite done correctly. Check out these notes to see what you did wrong. Be sure to check out the lesson notes in the comments of every lesson, there's usually notes like this in there.

Your rough perspective boxes are generally fine too, just be aware that what you drew isn't one point perspective. If it were one point, your verticals would be perpendicular to your horizon, and your horizontals would be parallel to it. You've got at least two vanishing points in most of these, which again, is fine - just make sure that you're aware of that convergence when you're drawing, if you're going to do 2 point. Sometimes people will angle the lines that don't go to the one VP in the frame a little arbitrarily.

Anywho - I'd like you to do one more page of ellipses, taking into consideration the notes I linked above.

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

2015-01-16 04:15

Looks like they're more or less correct. This mistake did jump out at me, but overall they're much better than before, so I'll be marking the lesson as completed.

For the boxes, post them when they're complete. It's a little easier for me to give feedback once for the whole set, rather than doing so multiple times. It does mean that you might end up making the same mistake for 250 boxes instead of just those first 100, but these days I have far many critiques to do per day to look at things that are half done.

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

2015-01-16 02:35

There's very little one can be told that will help, but at the very least consider this - it's when you're new to something that no one will think any less of you for being bad at it. It is the point in time where you have the most freedom to fail, and get back up.

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

2015-01-16 00:58

I can't be certain without the reference images, but 18 comes off as very strange to me. 15 and 16 seem a bit odd and I'm not 100% sure about 5's thorax/head area.

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

2015-01-15 23:39

Wow, that abstract piece is really striking. Nice composition and linework. I'm really curious to see how you'll tackle the lessons, especially because of your affinity for the straight and symmetrical.

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

2015-01-15 23:34

Oh I'm sure drawing has place in physics! Gotta draw all sorts of... diagrams... free body.. yeah... Or at least, it makes for a great hobby.

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

2015-01-15 23:33

From the sound of it, it looks like what's holding you back is just a lack of confidence. Once you allow yourself to draw garbage without feeling embarrassed or ashamed, you'll start to grow. Until then, you'll merely be limiting yourself.

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

2015-01-15 23:29

Looking good! I'm loving your volumes and your forms. Your proportions might need work though, so try to pay more attention to that when drawing.

A couple things that might help in the future.

• Ease up on the contour lines, after a certain point they just become noisy and bothersome. A few are great, but covering everything isn't.

• Consider outlining a shadow shape on the floor under your subject. It helps 'ground' them in a scene, rather than having them float around on the page. By shadow shape, I mean just the empty silhouette in line like these. Filling in the shadow would probably get too distracting.

Anyways, you did well! Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2015-01-15 23:25

Your lines are solid (on page 6 - page 3 wasn't done correctly) and your boxes are alright, but your ellipses aren't quite done correctly. Be sure to read the lesson notes (they're in the comments section, they usually bubble up to the top if you're sorting them by 'top'). These notes on the ellipse exercise will explain what you did wrong.

I'd like to see one more page of ellipses (after reading those notes) before I mark this lesson as complete. Since I'll probably forget, I'll tell you now - once you've finished that and I've marked the lesson as complete, you'll want to look at the 250 box challenge. It's got a bunch of helpful notes in the post, and the challenge itself should help you increase your comfort level with drawing forms rotated arbitrarily in 3D space.

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

2015-01-15 23:20

Pretty good, for the most part. I do find that you tend to leave a lot of empty space, though, especially for the first two exercises. Lucky for you, they're intended to be done often - so incorporate them into your warmup routine. Do a bunch of lines and ellipses when you sit down to draw. Also, for the ellipses, make sure you've read these notes. Your second sheet of ellipses has you drawing through them a few times before lifting your pen, which is great, but you don't do that in the first page.

Your boxes are good as far as understanding space and form goes, but try to be less sketchy. One mark for every line. If you make a mistake, don't pile on more ink - it'll only draw more attention to it. Check out the ghosting technique, it might help you with drawing straight lines for your boxes.

Feel free to move onto lesson 2.

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

2015-01-15 23:11

Looks good. I'll mark the lesson as complete. By the way, when uploading things to imgur, you can upload all of your images at once and select 'create album' before you click the 'start upload' button. Or, if you forget, there's a 'create album' button after the upload finishes.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-15 16:10

Honestly, I think the textures are very nicely balanced. They're sparse, but that's not a bad thing. Just enough to convey the information, not so much that it becomes overbearing.

Honestly, I'm finding that I generally don't have much critique to give - honestly, you're a good ways beyond me. Still, looking at your homework is always a joy so I hope you'll continue submitting it, even if I don't have much to offer.

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

2015-01-15 02:19

In the future, don't submit until the lesson's done. There isn't much to say - everything's looking pretty good. Your boxes are a little messy (on your next set, don't plot your perspective lines back to the vanishing point in the rough perspective exercise. Visualize them and approximate, but don't draw them in. Your organic perspective boxes look alright, though once you finish this lesson, I will be recommending that you move onto the 250 box challenge to improve your comfort levels with turning simple forms arbitrarily in 3D space.

Oh, here's one thing that might help - no matter how badly you want to, don't try to fix a mistake by piling on more ink. That'll just draw more attention to the error. A clean mistake will be far less noticeable. Also fight that reflexive urge to draw several marks for a single line. One line, one mark.

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

2015-01-15 01:35

Aside from the bottom right of page 5, where it looks like you're trying to show the bottom side of the bottom box, despite the fact that it's below the horizon and should be hidden (which I'm sure you realized after drawing it), everything looks pretty good. Clean, well thought out, and very few noticeable perspective errors.

The lines and ellipse exercise should be done as warmups, pretty much forever, so keep that up - you'll be able to work in the approach from the ellipse notes there. Aside from that, feel free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2015-01-14 23:39

Not bad. Overall, you've done well enough to consider the lesson complete. There are a few things you could have done better, however:

1. Lines - very well done.

2. Ellipses - common mistake, I'm guessing you didn't catch the lesson notes in the comments section. Read these notes, regarding the ellipse exercise

3. Rough perspective boxes - great form, great perspective, I really like the bottom of page 5. Your hatching though is rather messy. If you choose to add something extra like hatching, do it properly and carefully. Evenly spaced lines that go all the way across the space. Or, just don't do it - that's definitely an option.

4. These show a decent understanding of how forms rotate in 3D space. My only concern is covered in these notes.

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

2015-01-14 23:32

Not bad. Your ellipses look good, and your lines do too - although you seem to generally have drawn one, then superimposed one, then moved on. The lesson said 8 times.

Both of those exercises make great warmups, so you should continue doing them in whatever quantity whenever you sit down to draw. You should see a good deal of improvement as you continue to do them.

Your organic perspective boxes look pretty solid, as far as your understanding of forms rotated in 3D space. They're a little messy though, so keep an eye on that in the future. Each line should be made with a single mark. Sometimes we have the urge to be sketchy, largely due to a lack of confidence. You've got to consciously fight the urge to do that. The ghosting technique should help with that.

It looks like you forgot to do (or post) the rough perspective exercise. I won't be able to mark the lesson as complete until you submit that part.

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

2015-01-14 15:35

I usually leave it up to the individual, but if I had to choose, I'd say letter.

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

2015-01-14 14:40

I'm happy to see that you've decided to undertake these lessons! Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of work required to keep up with all the critiques I have to do every day, I've recently decided that I won't be critiquing work that is done outside of the requirements of each lesson. Doing the work digitally instead of in ink falls under that... well, it is essentially an excuse, because running this subreddit is a lot of work. I've got to draw the line somewhere.

Here's an explanation of why I don't recommend doing the work digitally, if you haven't read it already.

That said, I am willing to make a compromise. If you can complete the two basics lessons (Lesson 1 and Lesson 2) in ink properly without significant corrections (the sort that would require you to repeat a section), I critique your digital work for the Dynamic Sketching section (Lessons 3-6, for which ink is a requirement).

This means demonstrating to me that you already have a solid understanding of the following:

• (From lesson 1) Drawing freehand straight lines that do not wobble or stray (too much) from the intended path

• (From lesson 1) Drawing freehand ellipses that are consistently rounded, as opposed to awkwardly bumpy, while fitting snugly into a given space

• (From lesson 1 and 2) How forms can be rotated in 3D space, and how they interact with each other

• (From lesson 2) How to successfully use contour lines to give flat 2D shapes the illusion of 3D form

• (From lesson 2) How to break down organic forms into components, cutting into them, exploring their insides, etc.

Basically, my approach to teaching the mechanics of drawing is strongly rooted in the challenges presented by having to work traditionally, specifically with ink. If you can show me that you already have a solid grasp of those mechanics (which most do not), that you can work towards transferring to your work in digital media. If you don't have a strong enough understanding of it, you'll end up progressing much slower when working digitally. You don't have to execute these things perfectly, but well enough to show me that you know what you should be aiming for.

Despite what one might think, based on this ink-only dogma of mine, I'm not a traditional artist. I worked digitally for many, many years before approaching things this way. The vast majority of my work is still digital - but I strongly believe that this method allowed me to progress with my digital work much more efficiently, in the long run.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-14 00:19

Today's a good day. Only had two critiques to do, and both were very well done! Yours is the second. Your constructions are very solid, and the sense of form and 3D comes through all the way into your most detailed drawings.

I especially love the top left of page 6, all of page 8 and the top right of page 9.

Your particular style is somewhat sketchier than what I usually look for, but you executed it well. There are some places where you could use a bit more solidity (your flower pots, especially on page 3 - the pots themselves are simple 3D forms, but your edges are sketchy and frayed which compromises the sense of solidity and weightiness), so you should look to improve on that. Still, I feel that in general you've done very well.

One other thing that I'd like to mention - again, it concerns the flower pots. Looking at your last page, on the far right, your pot has no width to it. You should consciously try to include just a little bit of a lip or rim to any hollow tube-like structure like that. Even if it isn't thick enough to register based on your subject, it would help in the communication of the forms to your viewer which is ultimately the top priority.

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

2015-01-14 00:13

Looking great. Your results are very good, though you technically didn't do the first two lessons correctly. I'm still going to mark it as finished, largely since I tell everyone to continue doing those two exercises as warmups - so you'll have the chances to do them correctly later on.

The lines exercise require you to draw a line (freehand if you're decent, or with a ruler) to use as a guide, and then you draw on top of it, superimposing your next 8 lines on this guide.

The ellipses are looking good, though you may want to read these notes to see how the exercise can be done more effectively. About your pacing - if you feel more comfortable going a little slower, that's fine, but just watch out for situations where your lines start going wobbly - that's the most common reason that I encourage people to speed up a bit.

Your boxes look great. The presentation's solid, your compositions are good, and the boxes are generally convincing. You may be right about the 250 box challenge, but at this point I'll leave that up to you. It certainly couldn't help, right? You're definitely showing a lot of strengths, anyway.

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

2015-01-13 17:56

Yep, I implemented that right after you brought up the sticky thing. It doesn't work if the comment his hidden though (which will happen when the thread exceeds 200 comments).

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

2015-01-13 15:29

Haha, not quite. I'm fiddling with some CSS to make specific comments bubble up to the top, but it won't work in all cases since this thread has so many comments that it hides a bunch. Most people probably browse reddit with their filter set to "top" instead of new, so that usually keeps that comment on the top, but I'll have to find something for those who browse with 'new'.

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

2015-01-13 15:02

Didn't you get my reply in your inbox?

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

2015-01-13 14:04

1. It's best to draw the ellipses in a single motion (and better still to continue to draw through it a couple rounds before lifting your pen). Reason being, this maintains a clear and consistent curve to the shape. If you draw it in halves, you'll end up with the ends of each curve not wrapping around the ellipse enough, resulting in slight points on the top and bottom.

2. Pen, not pencil! Felt tip pen. But anyways, it depends on what kind of mark you want to make. You press lightly for a faint line, a little harder for a thicker line. One of the goals here is to help you learn appropriate pressure control. You have to find a decent balance to start off with - press too lightly and there will be no consistency/flow/confidence to your marks and they'll appear broken. Too heavy and your drawings will be a ridiculous mess.

3. Do each lesson once, and after each lesson is complete, submit it in the lesson thread. I'll tell you if you need to do more, or if you're okay to move forwards. If you want to do them more, that's fine, but I won't let you move onto the next lesson if I don't feel you've grasped the concepts of the lesson.