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

2015-01-13 00:19

That's not entirely true - copying other peoples' work is actually a respected form of study, specifically referred to as a "master study". It's more about how you go about it. You'll see people copying the old masters, attempting to reproduce their pieces (both traditionally and digitally). It's all about learning how they approached their paintings, how they used colour and form and lighting.

Of course, when it comes to manga I really can't call it one way or the other. I'd assume the same principles apply, though.

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

2015-01-12 23:56

  1. It's definitely going to feel weird for a while, that is totally normal. It also makes me want to tell you to draw from your elbow all the time, but that might be a little irresponsible of me. There are times when your wrist would be preferable. It relates to the mechanics of your arm. When you pivot from your wrist, you're given a very limited radius of motion - straight lines don't work well, but some smaller curved lines might be okay. Fine detailing is usually done with the wrist, because it's similar to writing. That's actually the reason we're so used to doing it from our wrists - because that's how we write. Still, don't slack off on that - anything that requires flow or steadiness (which is most things) should be done from the shoulder.

  2. That looks like a reasonable amount of space. Also, " means inch - you probably meant 2' by 1'. Made me laugh a bit. TINY PEOPLE DRAWING IN TINY SPACES.

  3. I can't really comment on one method of holding your pen being better than any other - it's probably more of a personal thing. That said, I just tried holding my pen the way you do, and while I couldn't write or draw details for shit, MAN is it ever good for drawing from the shoulder. Lines seemed to come out steadier and smoother. That said, if you have been writing that way this whole time, that may suit you better for detail drawing as well. Just be sure to experiment and find what works best for you.

  4. I... don't really know? I used to cram for tests in college all the time, but I certainly don't remember much of it now. I'm not sure I really knew it at the time, it was just a manner of learning that suited taking tests, but not so much application. I once crammed for a linear algebra exam after not attending 70% of the classes, got an A+, and honestly at no point did I really understand any of the material. Ultimately, if we put things into practice regularly, we tend to gain a much deeper and more lasting understanding of it. We'll always need refreshers, of course, if we haven't done those things in a long time. That's part of the reasons I write out these lessons - to remind myself of what I learned.

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

2015-01-12 23:46

Great work. I was going to ask you to redo one page of ellipses, but your second set is much better than the first. Not to say the first was bad, but your second works in the principles I covered in these notes.

You should continue to do the lines and ellipses exercises frequently - not quite so many, but they make great warmups so you should try to do them whenever you sit down to draw. Just a few here and there will definitely help fine-tune your skills.

Both box exercises are done very well. Your sense of perspective and 3D space is solid. To take them to the next level, you should work on your application of line weight. Check out these notes for an explanation.

Feel free to move onto the next lesson!

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Cylinders"

2015-01-12 23:42

Welcome!

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

2015-01-12 23:41

These are definitely looking much better! Much cleaner, especially. I'll mark this as complete. I do recommend though that you look into doing the 250 box challenge next, to help you gain confidence with rotating those boxes arbitrarily in 3D space. You did that okay in the organic perspective exercise, but I think you definitely have room to grow.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-12 23:39

Your later pages are definitely coming out a lot cleaner, and therefore a lot more confidently. You've still got to work on fighting the urge to attempt to fix your mistakes by piling on more ink (and making them way more noticeable), but you do it less and less as you move forward. That's definitely great to see!

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

2015-01-12 18:08

I'll critique your work once you feel that what you're submitting is the best you can do - and once you've completed tje form intersections. It's easier for me to critique the whole lesson in one sitting.

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

2015-01-12 01:58

Everything looks in order. Good volumes, solid forms, and interesting dissections!

The only thing I have to suggest is that you draw things bigger in the future. When working this small, things tend to come out a little stiffer, and it becomes much harder to get your forms right and apply details properly.

Edit: Heyyyy. I just realized you didn't complete lesson 1! I won't be marking this lesson as complete until you finish the first one. Follow the rules!

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-12 01:19

You're getting there. I'm a little concerned about how you apply details, and your forms flattening out a lot. I did like certain aspects of 7 (the circle-leaves with varying density looks neat and gives the foliage mass form) and 16 (it reaches through 3D space nicely).

First off, draw BIGGER. These drawings are tiny, which makes it really hard to apply detail and explore form. Page 7's doing better, with two big plants per page.

Here's some notes about your approach. They mostly focus on your use of form, and how you can apply details to varying densities to accentuate the curvature of a form should help with those branches you were having difficulty with). Also, consider your viewing angle. If you look at something sidelong, it'll come out flatter. This becomes especially important with how wide you decide to make the bases of your cylinders when drawing stems or tree trunks.

I'd like to see four more pages of plant drawings, demonstrating that you've understood what I mean.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2015-01-11 21:51

Fantastic. Your constructions and proportions are very well done. I'm also very fond of your approach to detailing, which strikes a nice balance between the busy areas and the calm. At times some of the hatching you use feels a little messier than it should be, so maybe taking a little more time there to work it into the textures present in your reference might be beneficial.

Other than that, though - great forms, great volumes, great contour lines, and best of all - great penguins. Though your birds on page 3 are definitely my favourite.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-11 20:41

Nice work! And congratulations on the baby girl. Good work on your corrections, it seems that you understand what the boxes should look like, it's just a matter of getting control over your pen.

One thing you may want to change is how you're applying your line weights. Reading these notes which were added to the challenge post fairly recently, might help explain the concept. Right now I'm seeing a lot of instances where the internal lines are looking thicker than the lines that define your box's silhouette, so you've got that a little reversed.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 6: Hard Surface Objects"

2015-01-11 19:52

Oh I knew you'd come back! The latest announcement I made, where I mentioned the people's names who were up to lesson 5 was a very obvious guilt-trip, and it worked! Maybe. You've done a lot of work, so it seems to me you were at it before I attempted my guilt trip.

These are very well done. I like your less detailed constructions best (pages 3 and pages 5) but they're all very well done. The detail in the proportional study on page 1 is really stunning. I remember when I got into this stuff in class, I wasn't too great at doing things from reference, but understanding how to construct things from my imagination kind of made my mind run totally rampant with ideas and doodles. I love seeing that in others.

The only things I have to say in critique are to always remember that solid forms have the highest priority in your drawing, and should always be apparent through the details. Sometimes details can undermine forms (top right of page 6, those wheels don't feel as solid as they could).

Also, where possible, try to limit the sketchiness of your drawings. At this point you may want to start pulling yourself a little back and think about presentation. This means consciously planning more before making your marks, and looking ahead to where you might run into issues. I usually advise against this, because I want people to focus on their constructions, but I believe you've reached that stage.

GREAT work!

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

2015-01-11 17:21

Yup, they're looking good in principle, so I'll mark this lesson as complete. You may want to draw through them a little... less. Find a balance between nailing the right curve/shape, and cleanliness. Also, I have a question about the pen you're using. What width is it? It looks like it might be a little thick to me. Looks like an 0.8mm?

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-11 03:17

Your last page is very nicely done. You're right about the lay-ins, some of them are looking a little shaky, but your final drawings seem to settle down nicely.

I think being forced to deal with less detail is very good for you in particular. Eventually you'll find a nice middle-ground between detailing the crap out of everything, and leaving it awkwardly bare. It'll come with practice, as long as you continue to actively and consciously struggle with it. Struggle is good!

I'll be marking this as complete, so feel free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2015-01-11 03:09

Pretty good! Your lines exercise is looking great, and your ellipses are well done too. On page 5, on the top of the page you start trying to draw the ellipses in one shot, probably slowing down a bit, trying to carefully get the shape right. It's best to avoid this method. Check out this explanation as to why drawing through your ellipses a couple times is better.

Those two first exercises will show much more improvement if you continue to practice them. Incorporating them into a warm-up routine whenever you sit down to draw is a good idea. It'll allow you to practice them more often (not necessarily two full pages, however much you feel is appropriate), and it'll also get you loosened up.

Your boxes are looking alright. The rough perspective ones are passable, but upon closer inspection you tend to have one or two lines on each box that don't go towards your vanishing point. You may want to go back and look at them yourself, perhaps draw over them with a different coloured pen to see what the lines should actually be. That way you'll be aware of the mistakes you've made, making you less likely to repeat them. The second page of rough perspective boxes has less of this though - they're looking pretty great.

Your lines are also looking a little wobbly. Check out the ghosting technique, it should help you towards sorting that out.

Your organic perspective boxes are okay, but there's one thing that bugs me a little. You can see a fair bit of convergence/perspective distortion on each individual box. This works fine if each box was seen as an isolated item, but when you put them into a space with other objects, each having this kind of excessive convergence, it confuses the viewer's eye.

I just drew/wrote out these notes to explain the concept a little better.

I'll mark this lesson as complete, because it was fairly well done. I do recommend however that you look into doing the 250 box challenge next, to help work on your ability to deal with forms that are rotated in 3D space. Be sure to read the notes included in that post, they should be helpful.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-10 06:54

You certainly put a lot of effort into the challenge. There's nothing wrong with taking a break before moving forward with your next lesson. It's important to give yourself a chance to recuperate, so you're able to focus and work efficiently when you go back to training yourself.

I think your best pages are 9 and 13. The boxes are cleaner, and generally there are fewer mistakes. They're marked improvements over your earlier stuff.

Good job!

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: The Head and Face from the Front"

2015-01-10 04:13

Most of that seems fine to me. Ultimately we'll see if it works out based on your homework.

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

2015-01-10 00:17

Great work. Clean linework, great volumes, nice textures and solid forms. Also neat faces! This is exemplary work.

There's only one thing that could make it better. It's about perspective.

It's not that your perspective is incorrect exactly - at least, not in the traditional sense. The thing is, your forms are all receding into perspective too quickly. The far planes, in box terms, are too much smaller than your near planes. This would be perfectly fine if each form existed in isolation, but when placed in a scene with all these other forms, it presents a problem. The problem is that the eye is uncertain of what scale this whole scene is drawn at. Is it something you could hold in your hand? Is it something enormous?

Usually when objects recede quickly into the distance, it tends to imply a much larger, less relatable scale.

So in summary, try to ease up on that perspective distortion. But still, you did very well! Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-10 00:10

Wet cat is allowed to sleep wherever it wants. You will shame me if you upset the kitty.

I definitely see a major increase in your confidence throughout your boxes. Initially you're timid and uncertain, but you gradually pick up momentum.

What you need to work on most is fighting the natural urge to 'reinforce' your lines as you draw them. A lot of us (myself included) do this reflexively. Draw a line, then draw over it again once or twice. It's a holdover from a lack of confidence. Draw one mark per line. The ghosting technique may help with this. Once you've drawn your line, then you can go back to add line weight. Then it becomes a conscious decision, rather than a subconscious action.

Also, when you make a mistake, don't try to correct it by laying on more ink. This will only put up a sign saying "HEY LOOK AT MY BIG BLACK BLOTCHY MISTAKE ISN'T IT GRAND?" Usually it's best to leave it be, unless you can fix it discretely. Once you apply your line weights it'll disappear on its own anyway.

Anywho, congrats on completing the challenge!

Edit: I just realized that I had already told you about the ghosting technique, in response to your wobbliness. It does look like it helped.

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

2015-01-10 00:06

Very well done. Your lines are good, and your boxes show a lot of patience, thoughtfulness and a strong understanding of how forms work in 3D space.

You're right, your ellipses are weak - but it's not because of any lack of skill, you just approached them incorrectly. A lot of people do, so I just finished writing some notes that explain the issues - so I don't have to explain them again (I swear, I should have done this sooner - I've explained this shit a bazillion times by now).

The first part is what applies to you - you need to draw through your ellipses a couple times before lifting your pen. It'll fix up your curves and make the exercise more effective.

I'd like to see you do one more page of ellipses before I mark the lesson as complete.

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

2015-01-09 03:53

Lets finish dealing with lesson 1 first. Once I've marked that lesson as complete, you can look back on your lesson 2 stuff and decide if there's anything you'd like to change. Then you may resubmit it (so it pops up in my inbox again). It's always best to wait for my critique on lessons before moving forward, otherwise you won't be able to incorporate the things you've learned, and I'll end up repeating things.

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

2015-01-09 03:50

I'm glad you were able to work up enough confidence to post your homework!

You didn't do too badly. You certainly show a lot of potential, and your energy and enthusiasm definitely comes through. You definitely have a sense of perspective, which is great.

One thing I did notice was that you rush a lot. I've seen a lot of people who rush, but you're a little different. Most will rush by dealing with each exercise quickly - spending very little time on each individual component, and also not including that many components over all. You rushed each individual component, but included a hell of a lot. So it's not that you didn't want to spend a lot of time on the lesson, it's more that...

I think it's a combination of an issue with confidence, fighting with a deep willingness and eagerness to learn and improve. So you'll draw until your hands are worn to the bone, but you'll draw a million things instead of focusing on a single drawing for the same amount of time.

Not sure if I'm making sense.

Anyways, to summarize, you're putting quantity over quality. We want to put quality over quantity, and then ramp up the quantity as well. But the quality is still our focus, so each individual part of each exercise - each line, each ellipse, each box takes as much time as is required to be drawn as well as we can.

That really is the main point here - it's about how well we can draw. I know for a fact that you can draw much better than you've shown me here. You didn't do badly to begin with, but since I know you're capable of better already, I'm not satisfied. After all, you won't really be learning until you're pushing the limits of your own capabilities.

So, I want you to do one more page of each exercise. Keep in mind the following.

  1. For the lines, there isn't much I would change. Maybe lay them out a little bit more neatly for my sake? They're where I'd expect them to be for now.

  2. Your approach for the ellipses needs to be tweaked a bit. First off, draw through each ellipse a couple times before lifting your pen. This will help them round out nicely, since the first time around is usually approximate and awkward. Your arm muscles use this moment to get accustomed to the pen, the paper, and the kind of ellipse you'd like to draw. The second time around, your muscles have a better sense of things, so they'll automatically correct some of the previous mistakes, resulting in a better ellipse. This method does end up looking a little messier, since you've got some overlapping lines, but just work on keeping the flow of that drawing motion, while maintaining a relatively tight ellipse. The flow takes priority, though. Secondly, for the most part you did this correctly but I just want to reiterate. This exercise is all about setting out a space or criteria that the ellipse you're about to draw must fit into. Everything should fit snugly together, and you should already have an idea of what kind of ellipse you want to draw before you draw it. This means you either succeed or you fail when drawing the ellipse. Nothing floating around in ambiguity. This means avoid drawing ellipses inside of ellipses, those don't really do much good.

  3. Rough perspective - Look at my notes regarding the ghosting technique for drawing lines. It will help you draw straighter individual lines, and will also help you build some patience in terms of taking time to draw individual elements. THINK before you draw a mark, always. Visualize what you want to draw, prepare to draw it (lining up your pen, finding a comfortable angle, etc), then make the mark. Also, a lot of people have a natural tendency to 'reinforce' our lines by drawing them multiple times. It's due to a lack of confidence. Consciously try and avoid doing that. One mark for each line. Once everything is done, you can go back and consciously add line weights where they are necessary, but that should be a decision on your part, not a drawing reflex.

  4. The stuff from rough perspective factor in here as well. But also, I did notice that your boxes look just a little strange. Like they're too dramatic, as individual boxes. It's because the perspective distortion on each individual box is too sharp. They're converging too quickly, so the far plane of the box ends up being too much smaller than the near plane. It's not the worst mistake to make, as you can often get away with it - it just throws off the viewer's sense of scale. Perspective-wise, a good example of one that was done well is the bottom right corner of page 8. Each box is mostly free of perspective distortion (it has just enough to look real). You see distance as you take in a multitude of boxes, rather than on each individual box. This feels like a much more relatable scale. Quick perspective distortion/convergence sends up a flag to the viewer's brain saying "i'm looking at something of very large scale".

If you want to see a strong example of a homework submission to help you lay out your exercises, and know what to strive for, look at these. It was done by /u/Whirly123, who had already taken the online version of the course where I learned all of this stuff, from the same instructor - so he's definitely had a lot of practice.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-09 03:26

You did pretty well. The vast majority are more or less correct as far as perspective goes, and you seem to be aware of the ones that weren't.

One thing that I did notice is that your lines are rather wobbly. Be sure to read over the notes included in the challenge post - especially the one about the ghosting technique. That should help smooth our your lines, and improve your drawing ability in general.

Anywho, good work. You've earned your badge!

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 6: Hard Surface Objects"

2015-01-09 00:51

Much better. You might be limiting yourself by drawing on such tiny pages, though. What stands out most to me is the fact that the wheels are usually rather flat, except for the bottom left drawing. Don't forget to draw them as cylinders, not just ellipses.

Good work though, I'll mark this lesson - and therefore, this whole set - as complete! Congrats.

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

2015-01-09 00:49

I'm amazed that you drew these with an 08. Usually thicker markers are much more difficult to do actual drawing with, largely because it requires so much more pressure control. It's definitely good practice, but sometimes it makes things prohibitively hard for those with less experience.

These are really well done. A lot of great forms, a great amount of detail (you erred on the side of being a little more bare, which I think was a good decision). All of your insects are communicated very well.

Great work. You've earned your badge, and you may move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-09 00:44

I do not forgive you - I commend you. The extent to which you developed your lay-ins is really great, and the result is clear. Your drawings have a much greater sense of form and weight. As you draw more, you'll find yourself gaining a greater control over your pressure, and your ability to visualize those lay-ins, but for now, it is very well done.

The only critique I have is that you should focus your detail a little more to create focal points. Decide on an area to draw your viewer's eye to, and lead it there by concentrating more detail in that area, and less detail elsewhere.

Well done! Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-09 00:41

Those form intersections are very nicely done. Still need to work on those circles, so be sure to keep up with the ellipse exercises from lesson 1.

Your plants look lovely (I really like 12 and 7) as far as observational drawing goes, but I'm trying to emphasize more analysis and construction. As far as yours go, I'd like to see a little less detail and a little more form.

This starts with the lay-ins. Treat them more like form intersections. Anything that has any weight to it should be rendered as a 3D form (tube, ball, box, etc - of course, I'm using these non-geometric terms because you can squash and stretch them as you please to fit the organic subject). Make sure your forms are closed and solid. Remember that these aren't sketches, they're constructions.

Areas with less weight - things like leaves, petals - can be captured as 2D organic shapes instead. Just make sure that they are also closed. You can apply contour lines to give them a greater sense of form and direction.

Here's a bit more of an explanation.

Once you understand that form construction, you can start applying the more specific elements that pertain to your subject - and once that's done, and it looks like your subject if it were naked and bare, you can start applying detail.

Detail is tricky. It's very, very possible (and quite easy) to add far too much. What you want to do is determine a particular focal point in your composition. My instructor used to circle his focal point - literally put a distinct circle over it. Then he'd detail the shit out of everything inside, and leave everything else relatively plain and simple. Here's some examples of how he handled focal points.

I'd like you to do two more pages. Don't go too heavily into the detail phase. If you like, you can choose not to add any extra detail. Just enough to communicate what your subject is. That is essentially what we're doing. Communicating.

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

2015-01-09 00:20

You're not too far off the mark. The first two exercises were done quite well. Your ellipses are a little wobbly, but I like that you're drawing through them a few times before lifting the pen. It's good to be careful, but loosen up a little and let your muscles do more of the drawing, rather than your mind.

Both those first two exercises should be done regularly - incorporate them into your warmup routine. Don't have to do a full two pages each, but however much you feel like doing. You'll definitely see improvement over time - though for now, you're where I expect you to be.

The other two exercises are a little less great. It's not so much a matter of you understanding the concepts, but rather, they're just a little sloppy. That kind of falls in line with all of the worries you expressed about whether or not you'd be good enough.

The fact of the matter is, if I expected everyone to submit perfect work, I wouldn't really serve much purpose here. I'm more interested in seeing flaws with potential, as I see in you and many others.

I'd like you to tackle the last two exercises again. Take lots of time. If you want to do a little each day, that's perfectly fine with me.

Here's a few things to remember, though:

Rough Perspective

Organic Perspective

Here's a good set of examples you can work from. It's a good idea to follow that sort of general layout for your work. Also, again, here's the ghosting technique for drawing lines. It's very effective once you get used to it, and helps you get accustomed to the idea of visualizing what you're going to draw, and thinking it through instead of rushing headlong.

There's nothing to be afraid of, not here. There are a lot of really shitty artists here, and a lot of them have, over time, improved drastically - all at their own pace, and in their own time. We won't make a master of you, but we'll set you on the right track.

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

2015-01-08 21:33

Sorry about that. I tend to get inundated with homework, usually at least 5 a night, so every now and then things do fall through the cracks. Looks like you were one of the unlucky few! It's perfectly fine if you don't hear back from me for two or three days, to send me a PM.

These are much better than before. The spheres could use a bit of work, but the rest looks great. Nice work drawing through all the forms.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-08 19:22

Yup, that would be perfectly fine. You should try to move away from it after a bunch, to avoid using it as a crutch, but that's up to you.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: The Head and Face from the Front"

2015-01-08 14:30

Sorry that I forgot about your last question - ait slipped through the cracks last night. I'll give you a proper critique tonight when I get home from work, but I wanted to know how your proportion system differs.

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

2015-01-08 00:49

Hm... as far as your lines go, based on your comment I expected to see some really wobbly messes. They're not awful though. They're rough, and you may be trying to approach them too quickly, but I think we can work with this.

The first thing I looked at was your lines exercise, the first ones - the shortest lengths. Usually what I expect to see is lines that line up more or less to a point on one side, and then fray a little on the other end. This is because the person drawing it would line up the tip of their pen with the line on one end, but their accuracy would be a little lacking while drawing.

In yours, I'm seeing fraying on both ends, which tells me that you're rushing a little. Not a whole lot, but you're not quite taking the time required to line your pen up properly at the beginning. When drawing a mark, there are three steps you should always follow.

  1. Prep - line your pen up correctly, think about where you want to draw your line. Preparation and forethought are very important. Most of your time is spent here - like 80%.

  2. Draw - this should be a swift, smooth motion. If you hesitate, if you slow down, your pen will wobble. Drawing is the realm of the muscles, and it is their job to do it. If you draw slowly, chances are that you're letting your brain micromanage the task, and you're not letting your muscles do what they do best. The main thing here is to move smoothly. Usually this means being fast, but it doesn't mean as quick as possible. It means confidently, with your pen gliding across the page.

You are by no means expected to match your guidelines on the first try. You should be doing this sort of exercise every time you sit down to draw. It works really well as a warmup - you don't have to do two full pages, but do a few here and there.

Your first page of ellipses was really well done. I like that you drew through your ellipses a couple times before lifting your pen, which makes the exercise more effective, and also makes your ellipses rounder and smoother. Drawing them just once will usually result in a slightly awkward shape that doesn't close up properly. Drawing through them is messier, but as long as you focus on trying to be clean, the result is far better - and it gives your muscles far better training. So always be sure to do it this way, as opposed to the way you did it on the second page. Like the lines exercise, these should also be incorporated into a warmup routine.

Both box exercises were alright. Messy, and likely rushed, but the understanding of perspective is there. I want you to make a few changes, though:

Your lesson was definitely messier than I'd like, but I'll mark this one as complete. I'd like you to take on the 250 box challenge next, both to help with your patience and pacing, but also to help you with your boxes. Be sure to read all the notes included in that post before starting.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 6: Hard Surface Objects"

2015-01-08 00:38

Aside from your ridiculous proportions, these look fantastic! I especially love the tank. The only other thing that I see is your perspective - it's SUPER dramatic, and that won't do, especially if you need to draw something intended to communicate a design. In that case, you'll want to use some fairly shallow perspective, with your vanishing points pretty far out on either side, well off the page.

So what I'd like you to do is two more pages of these, but don't put your vanishing points on the page. Don't rely on them at all. Instead, define your space with that first general box, and use it to determine all of your other lines (which you'd otherwise send off to your VPs).

And fix your proportions, too.

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

2015-01-07 23:41

These are much better. I'm still a little dubious about how faint the construction lines/draw throughs are, you should be drawing them with more confidence. That said, it came out well, so I'll mark this lesson as complete.

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

2015-01-07 03:44

Well, it looks like you're already making quite a bit of headway through the lessons. Welcome!

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-07 03:38

Overall, you did well. Your boxes look solid, so your main priority was certainly met. About the corrections - it's natural to try and 'correct' a mistake by piling on more ink, but ultimately all that accomplishes is drawing more attention to your mistake. Fight the urge to correct these mistakes, and simply leave them alone. At best, once you solidify your line weights, the mistakes will become far less apparent.

Now that your boxes are solid, and more or less correct, the next thing you need to focus on is applying line weights correctly, like so (these are new notes I added fairly recently).

Anywho- you've drawn your boxes, and earned your badge. Well done.

Uncomfortable in the post "So you've decided to go back to the basics. We're here to help."

2015-01-07 03:16

That's a really good idea. I think I'll incorporate that when I start consolidating/rewriting/clarifying my lessons and structure. My instructor actually started off the course by having us draw something random - I got a shark. And boy what an ugly shark it was.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-07 02:04

Now now, there's no sense in berating yourself. Your boxes do show a steady improvement, and you have a fair number of strong candidates there.

There's one major issue that is of concern to me however, and it's the same one I mentioned in my last critique.

Maintain straight lines, and always keep the basic rules of perspective in mind. Most importantly, if two objects are the same size in 3D space, when drawn in 2D the one that is closest will always be bigger. This applies the same to the different planes of a box - most notably, the near and far planes. At times you draw the further plane as the larger one.

Look at number 32. You did this a lot, but I'm going to pick on that one. Look at the plane closest to the viewer, and the one furthest away. Which one's bigger? the farther one! Which means that it's converging towards the viewer, which is wroooong.

This is a common mistake (I actually did this overdrawing for another person half an hour ago, you might want to take a look), but I did tell you to watch out for it. Think while you're drawing. Don't zone out.

Anywho! You toughed through the 250 boxes, and have earned your badge. If you want to do another set, feel free. I'm still a little discomforted by your looseness, but I will mark that first lesson as complete. If, while doing lesson 2, your form intersections start falling apart on you, DRAW MORE BOXES.

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

2015-01-07 01:49

Great work on the organic forms and the dissections. Your surface texturing is fantastic, and your forms give a great sense of volume.

For your form intersection, you're not doing too badly, but I'd like you to change your approach. Right now you're very focused on creating pretty final drawings. It was clear in your dissections (which admittedly look great), but that is definitely not the point in these lessons.

We're focusing entirely on structure and construction. The first step to move towards this is to put away your pencil. Don't draw in pencil, erase your mistakes, etc. before drawing over it all with pen. That has some impact on your technique, but more importantly it keeps you in that frame of mind where everything needs to be clean and tidy.

Take a look at this step-by-step form intersection guide, which was included in the lesson notes. I draw through all of my forms. I don't erase, I don't clean anything up. Instead, I think a lot about every mark I'm going to make - but if I make a mistake, no big deal.

I really like the little ellipse exercises you included, and quite frankly, it's a great way to warm up to doing the intersections. Most importantly, you draw through your ellipses a couple times before lifting your pen. Do the same when you're doing the intersections themselves - that way you can get a much better shape to your forms.

Putting away the pencil is tough, but I know you have it in you - and I think adapting to that method of drawing and thinking is what will really take your current work and kick it up to the next level.

So - I'd like to see two more pages of form intersections, all in ink, drawn through every form as you saw in my example. If you'd like another example, check out this and this. They're not perfect by any means, there's plenty of mistakes with the lines and such. But in terms of construction, I can tell that the artist could visualize those forms in their head, and that they understood how they worked in 3D space.

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

2015-01-07 01:37

Nice work! Your organic forms with contour lines are looking good, the contour lines are wrapping nicely. Your first set of dissections were good, though a little boring. Once you've got your major forms set up, you might want to think about looking at some reference images to get some nice surface detail in there. Your second set was more interesting, but you could have definitely pushed the textures.

It's perfectly normal to struggle with the form intersections - they're very difficult. You definitely did improve as you went through them, especially when you started drawing through your forms. The only thing that really stands out to me right now is that your spheres are not round - this is because you're forgetting to draw through your circles a couple times before lifting your pen. Your first time around is rarely ever going to be spot on - but if you keep drawing around it once again without lifting the pen, your arm will try to correct it. We need some nice round spheres for this exercise, so be sure to keep drawing through.

When you get the chance (maybe after you've done some more ellipse exercises - drawing through those ellipses - and once you've had the chance to tackle the 250 box challenge), I'd like to see just one more page of form intersections, similar to how you did it in page 8.

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

2015-01-07 01:31

Well done! And I'm happy to see that you corrected your mistake on the rough perspective exercise. The second page is much better - your forms are straighter, your angles look right, etc.

Good work on the ellipses as well - I really like how neatly organized the page is, and how you put the whole page to use. Be sure to draw through your ellipse a couple times before lifting your pen. You usually do, but there's a handful of instances where you don't. I'd like to assure you that it is the better approach, since it makes the exercise more effective and gets you a rounder ellipse - even though it is a little messier. One day you'll be able to draw perfect ellipses on the first go-around, but it is not this day!

Here's one thing to look out for with your organic perspective boxes. It's a common mistake (drawing the near plane smaller than the far plane), but directly contradicts the rules of perspective so it immediately tips off the viewer's eye that something is wrong.

Anyways, you did well, so consider this lesson complete.

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

2015-01-07 01:22

These are definitely better. And you're right, forethought is important when it comes to drawing, and that's why I like forcing people to do this in ink. It makes them think, plan, and change their whole approach.

That said, try to fight the urge to correct your mistakes by laying on more ink. At the end of the day, that's just going to draw more attention to it. Usually you'll just want to leave it alone - that way it'll have the best chances of flying under the radar.

Anyways, good job. Go ahead and move onto the next lesson, or if you feel that you're not quite ready to tackle the form intersections in lesson 2, take a look at the 250 box challenge.

Uncomfortable in the post "Technique: Ghosting your Lines"

2015-01-06 23:24

It is indeed fantastic! It's kind of heavy, but I've still taken it with me on all my travels.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2015-01-06 03:56

Here's my overscribbles. Overall, you did well, and you should feel free to move onto the next lesson. There are a few things to point out here though.

You have fantastic control over your details and your focal point. That was definitely what stood out to me most. Good control of graphic shapes as well. At times, however, your sense of 3D forms was a little lacking. This comes largely from the lay-ins, don't forget to work in the primitive 3D forms where they belong. This includes stems/trunks, flower pots, bulbous masses. 2D is for things with very little weight or solid form, while everything else is more 3D. There are in-betweens, but for those things you seem to have been fine.

Contour lines are the best way to deal with those 3D forms, and in plants there are a lot of natural ones that can work their way into your textures. Keep an eye out for these. In the next lesson you'll find those contour lines friggin' EVERYWHERE. BUGGSS AAHHHHH!

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

2015-01-06 03:45

Hm... I can see that you're struggling a fair bit with these, though not for any lack of effort on your part. I commend the amount of practice you've thrown at this.

For now, I'd like to see another page of the organic forms with contour lines - but don't try to add to your line weights or anything like that, and don't try to make any of your preliminary lines overly faint. Draw each shape, each line as though it is intended to be visible in the final result.

What I mean is, when people sketch they have a tendency to be somewhat timid with their lay-ins, so their ellipses sometimes go a bit out of whack, or their lines become broken or too faint. The energy isn't there, because in their minds it's still just the sketch - they're trying to avoid those first mistakes that usually occur.

Don't fall prey to that. Draw the ellipses like they're the star of the show. Also, please draw through them a couple times before lifting your pen, as you would when doing the ellipses exercise. Right now we want to focus most of all on capturing the correct curve.

Once we are able to figure out your organic forms, your dissections should start falling a little more into place. Usually when I do these dissections, I - as you said - just make shapes and forms and see what happens. Then, once my major forms are there (which is basically the exact same as an organic form with contour lines), I pick a chunk between two contour lines and decide, this is going to be my cut-out.

Then I just start thinking about what it looks like, what could fill that void. And that is when I start looking for reference images, to help inform some of my textural choices. Until that point, I'm just letting myself create freely, and explore.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2015-01-06 03:37

Great work! I see a lot of progress, and you seem to have a good eye for catching your own mistakes. They say hindsight is 20/20, but it's a great skill to have none the less.

Here's something that might help with the line control. It's a technique I've explained to many others til now, but I just drew it up as some proper notes. I'll be adding it to the collection on the challenge post.

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

2015-01-06 03:35

I'm sorry to say, but you're still rushing. Between the time I posted my critique and the time you posted your new set, not even four hours had passed. It's great that you're enthusiastic, but you're barely giving yourself the chance to absorb any of the information and technique these exercises are intended to provide.

Here's some scathing notes on top of some of your work. I'm sure you don't mean to, but I'm honestly getting the impression that you're ignoring a lot of the critique I'm giving.

Here's the example work I gave you last time. FOLLOW THIS. Hell, copy it line for line, it'll give you a much better sense of how much care and patience needs to go into this. When you're illustrating, it's true that you can afford to be a little loose with some of your drawings, but here, in this lesson, you cannot. Everything needs your full attention.

Do it again - and don't submit anything to me until Wednesday. This should take somewhere between four to six hours at least, and if it takes you even more - all the better.

Here's an extra technique that might help with drawing your boxes. It's extra time-consuming (AHAHAHA SERVES YOU RIGHT) but it'll help straighten out your lines. I've actually explained this technique to people in individual posts countless times, but I just drew out a demo for it so I don't have to do that ever again.

Here you go: Ghosting your Lines.

So! Redo it again (and go ahead and straight-up copy the example set I linked above) and don't submit anything to me til at least Wednesday. The longer it takes you, the better.

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

2015-01-05 04:14

You've done well for the most part, though your organic perspective exercise is somewhat sloppy. The lines of your boxes bend, so they don't look solid. I'd like you to do one more page of those, with a far greater degree of care.

The lines and ellipses exercises we of the sort that will show the greatest improvement if you do them often - incorporate them into your warmup routine, as they're especially good for that sort of thing. When doing the ellipses though, draw through them a couple times before lifting your pen as you did in your first set. It's a much more effective way of doing the exercise.

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

2015-01-05 02:01

Fantastic work on everything! That squid tentacle gives be the heebiejeebies. Your organic forms carry a nice sense of volume, your dissections have great detail and your form intersections are solid. Lesson complete!

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

2015-01-05 01:59

Most of it looks up to par. A few things to note, though.

Aside from that, you've done quite well.