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

2014-12-03 03:53

Using your wrist can make precise linework simpler, you just need to be careful as to where you draw the line (pardon my pun, a little drawing humour there). If a line needs to flow continuously - be it a straight line, a wave, an arc, an ellipse, and so on - you'll likely want to use your shoulder. If it's just a quick, precise mark, your wrist should be okay.

I did notice that the first ellipses you were playing with as the contour lines for your organic forms were very scratchy, like you drew a bunch of short lines with your wrist to slowly complete a full ellipse. Here, it'd be much better to draw the full ellipse all the way around in a single stroke.

Aside from the scratchiness of the ellipses, your organic forms with contour lines were done quite well. Good work on the textures as well, very few people tackled that optional section (or even noticed it was there). The dissections were nicely done.

I am concerned about your form intersections though. More than anything, it's how you draw them. I've mentioned this before - your lines are wobbly and uncertain. They're also very uniform - by which I mean, they are all of the same weights.

Often times you end up drawing very small, and I don't think that's working in your favour. You'll have an easier time of it if you keep your forms fairly large on the page, and also try to avoid forms that are stretched in one dimension. For example, avoid long tubes or long boxes. Instead, imagine that you're playing with a children's set of blocks, and that you're piecing them together. They should all be roughly the same size, like a cube, a fat cylinder, etc. These should be much easier to draw.

If you're having trouble, you may want to try copying the example I included in my notes, or you may want to try looking through some of the work other people submitted. Even copying the arrangement of the forms will work for this exercise, as long as you're able to imagine those forms in 3D space.

Before I let you move forward, I'd like to see two more pages of form intersections.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2014-12-03 03:43

Looking good! And pace yourself however you feel is best. We don't always have hours to draw every day, so whatever time you can gather to draw a few boxes here and there is good enough for me.

Keep in mind the whole near-plane-bigger, far-plane-smaller thing, though. I can see a few boxes where that's going a bit awry (like 25, 24, 16, 34, 40, 35, etc). Nice line weights on 37, though! It looks good with the thicker lines along the outside, though play with the idea of keeping them thicker on one side (almost like pseudo-lighting, where the lines are thinner on the side a light might be hitting them).

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

2014-12-03 03:40

Your organic forms and dissections are pretty decent. I really like the dissection with the kiwi texture. Very nice linework there, very convincing. Your first two pages of form intersections aren't very good, but the next two are rather satisfying to look at, especially the last one. It shows a clear improvement and a greater understanding of the concepts in regards to both the intersections and the application of line weights. I'd still recommend that you avoid using forms that have been stretched too much in one dimension (like long tubes) and instead stick to fat forms that are almost cube-like in their dimensions (like a fat short cylinder).

Feel free to move onto lesson 3!

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

2014-12-02 13:40

You should definitely get in the habit of drawing from your shoulder for most things. There is a bit of grey area, but it all comes down to the mechanics of your pivot (wrist, shoulder) being the radius of your drawing mechanism (your arm). With a small radius, longer lines won't flow as well.

Uncomfortable in the post "Why do I recommend doing the exercises in ink vs digitally?"

2014-12-02 13:38

Ink is better. I'm on my phone right now so I can't quite explain why, but I wrote a post in this subreddit about traditional vs digital that also covers this issue.... I think. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll explain it later today.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2014-12-01 02:13

I'm a bit on the fence, but I think it's best for you to work strictly in black. The reason is that when you work with the different colours, you start to do other little things to keep things clean and tidy. For example, your deer's limbs haven't been developed as 3D forms.

Still, I do think you're doing quite a bit better! Your detailing is great, just keep pushing yourself to think and draw in 3D.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2014-11-29 22:16

The variety's good! I like that you tried to tackle them from all sorts of angles.

I have a few concerns throughout, though you seem to be improving your sense of 3D space, which is the main goal of this exercise.

Most noticeably, your lines are a little wobbly. Make sure you practice the line exercise from lesson 1 as a warmup every time you sit down to draw. Also, you may want to try ghosting your lines before you draw them, instead of carefully trying to draw them straight in a slow motion (which usually results in that wobbliness). Ghosting basically involves drawing a point at the beginning and end of the line you want to draw, then going through the motion of drawing the line reasonably quickly without actually touching the pen to the page. Ghost once, twice, thrice, as you steadily get more used to the motion itself. When you feel comfortable, follow through the same motion but this time gently press the pen to the page.

The other thing that I noticed is that your line weights are going on the wrong lines. In the notes that I included in the post, I go over the importance of not putting the weights on the internal lines (that is, if you picture the cube as a 2D shape, the internal lines would be the ones that sit inside that shape). Thicker lines automatically make us think they exist on the outside edge of the form - so if you're putting them on the inside, the viewer's eye doesn't know which part is inside and which part is outside.

Still, good work! I'm sure you learned a lot from this challenge.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2014-11-29 22:14

Aaaah! I was worried I got that wrong ) :

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2014-11-29 22:03

Nice work! I really like your herons. It's great that you experimented with so many different animals in all sorts of poses and situations. For the most part, you're doing very well. More practice is required, of course, but you have the bulk of it down.

For the antelope-type-things, or really anything with long legs like that, I'd definitely recommend finding your ground plane. The more landmarks you can throw down, the better you'll be able to judge proportions.

Also, for the cats - since we see a lot of their faces, always remember that there's a lot of structure and form under the face. Trying to find out how to separate the face into a series of planes so you can construct a 3D mesh in your head will definitely help you out in that area. It's very similar to drawing human faces in that way.

I really like that mouse in the top left corner too. Simple, not much detail, but there's great form there.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-29 21:49

Your shapes and forms are getting better. The leaves on the first page (in the middle of the page) look way better. They have a nice sense of flow to them.

The shapes (outside edges) on the third page also look much better, and they feel as though they're objects that could be turning in 3D space.

I can see that you experimented with using broken lines on the inside - it's good that you're experimenting, but that definitely took the wrong direction. Those broken lines undermine the confidence of the outside edges, and they just appear confusing to the eye.

I think you're getting a better grasp on the space, but are still struggling with how to apply your details. It may be in your best interest to look at some of the other work that people have submitted for this lesson, and to read the critiques I gave to them. Look at what came out well, and what didn't.

Once you've done that, thought over it and maybe taken a bit of a rest if necessary, do another 4 pages. Again, no shading, just lines for now. You're definitely showing improvement, so I think the next set will continue that trend.

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

2014-11-29 21:33

I love badges. But I did incorporate badges/achievements for each lesson completion here on the subreddit (with some difficulty). Is that what you're asking for? Or is there something more to it that I missed?

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

2014-11-28 08:55

There's always room for more. Feel free to submit the work for lesson 1 when you're ready.

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

2014-11-28 08:54

I didn't know that was a thing! I'll definitely look into it, that sounds like a great way to bridge the two worlds.

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

2014-11-27 16:40

Hahaha, maybe.

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

2014-11-27 16:40

That's definitely a good idea. Every februray, there's this thing some website (whose name I forget.. has something to do with soap? maybe? i'm not sure) hosts this daily-draw-february thing, and they keep track of whether or not people submit something every day. For some reason, just having that sort of system watching over your shoulder motivates me and my friends quite a bit.

Working in something like that - keeping track how often a person has posted something, and having it reset/tally at the end of the month, could be quite beneficial. I do think it's important though for it to reset after a certain period of time, so everyone can have a chance regardless of when they join.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2014-11-27 16:28

It looks like you're pretty much on the right track. Your proportions are off, but honestly mine were too when I tried drawing this goddamn Markhor. Either way, practice will improve that.

So really there's nothing to worry about. If I had one piece of advice to give, it'd be to mind the different planes of the torso - he's got an underside too, so be sure to, at least mentally, separate those different sides.

If you want to do some more animals, feel free, but you're free to move onto the next lesson when you feel ready.

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

2014-11-26 21:41

Muahahaha! NOW DO A THOUSAND.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 5: Drawing Animals"

2014-11-26 21:37

Honestly, they're not as bad as you make them out to be. I really love your bears (the top one shows a great approach). The squirrels aren't bad either, but I think the lower one just shows that you need to get more used to approximating the sizes of forms. You'll pick that up - and you are picking that up - over time.

With the camel though, I'm noticing that you're thinking of those circles/spheres very much as the shoulders/hips, where the limbs attach? Focus on the ribcage (which should be big) and the pelvis (somewhat smaller) as your major block-in forms.

Your cheetah is hilarious. I can see that you were trying to pull the contour line trick - and it kind of works for the rear leg - but of course it looks weird since the contour lines are artificially added.

Here's a mini assignment I gave /u/tmku when he was having trouble.

Take this reference photo of a Markhor and draw it. Take photos of all 5 stages I drew out in the lesson. Stage 4's kind of iffy, so just take a photo somewhere between 3 and the final polished stage. I'll hopefully be able to use those to get a better understanding of your approach.

Basically, give me a snapshot of your steps, when drawing from that particular reference image. We'll see if there's anything you're distinctly doing wrong, so we can correct it.

Something else I wanted to mention - I like your approach to detail for this lesson. You're not overbearing, you're indicating a lot of the detail from the edges instead of filling up the main areas. It's very easy to look at and digest, so kudos for that.

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

2014-11-26 21:31

Looking pretty damn good. Your strengths definitely lie with boxier forms, but your ellipses are getting better.

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

2014-11-25 19:02

Well, it's always easier to approach things from a sketchy direction. It's just that the result is less solid and convincing, so it breaks the illusion of the drawing.

As for your heavy handedness - don't worry about it for now. Deal with one challenge at a time. Once you've improved your ability to draw intentional, thoughtful marks, you can start worrying about taking more care with your pressure control.

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

2014-11-25 17:12

The beetle at the bottom of page 1 looks great. So does the... is that a bed bug? At the bottom of page 5? When I was doing this exercise for class, I was also suffering through a bed bug infestation in the room where I was staying... >: On the bright side, it made for some rather up-close subject matter.

The cicada and the roach(?) from page 8 look good as well. The others have varying degrees of flatness, but you're definitely getting there.

You should work towards breaking free of those sketchy lines though - the dark lines we see in your drawings are often visibly made up of a lot of little line segments. Always try to move towards drawing single marks for each line. Think hard before every mark you make, and make sure that each one is driven by a clear intent.

Onward to lesson 5!

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-25 05:19

Hm... So I've been mulling it over, trying to think of the best way to tackle giving you advice.

A good starting point is looking at the top left of page 4. You've got some leaves coming off a stem. Simple enough, and it has both strong points and weak ones.

The top most leaf, the one that comes out towards the right - that one's done rather well. What's good about it is the way you've tackled the line weights. They're on one side of the leaf, not all around it, so it gives us a sense of thickness to the leaf. The one below it, however, has a thick line going all the way around - our eyes try to look at the thick line as representing a thickness in the leaf, but our brain knows that you can't see the thickness all around. So, the illusion breaks, and the leaf looks terribly flat.

Next, back to the top leaf. The center line has a bit of a flowing curve to it. This curve is bending through space, so it gives us the impression of a 3D object. The one below it, however, has a center line that is almost completely straight and rigid. I think one of your biggest weaknesses, across the board, are these rigid, stiff, lifeless lines. There's no flow and life to them. I can't help but get the feeling that when you're drawing them, you don't feel as though you're drawing a 3D object. What you perceive yourself to be drawing always comes through.

I want you to do a full 4 pages of plant drawings (feel free to repeat ones you've already done) but don't do any shading and don't go into any fine detail. Stay away from trees, because you're going to get too caught up in the foliage. Stick to things with big bulbous shapes, curving leaves and stems, etc. Keep thinking organic, curvy, flowing, full of life.

We'll see how you're doing after the 4 pages. And take your time! Don't jump on the work, take a break, mull over it, and get in the right mindset.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-24 22:21

The biggest tip I have for shading is: don't.

It sounds strange, but there's method to my madness. Shading is so often used as a shitty crutch. Same with adding overwhelming detail. It just takes bad shape/form and makes it a bazillion times worse, while attempting to mask the initial problem.

Line should be more than sufficient (using the tools we've learned so far - contour lines, weight, using changes in the edges to demonstrate how a form turns in space) to demonstrate form successfully. Then, shading and detail kind of hangs off of that. It'll emphasize what's already there, but without that underlying form, it'll amount to nothing.

If you're uncertain of your form, do a page or two without any shading and show them to me. I might be able to point you in the right direction. You should know though, I just shipped off all three of my monitors and am about to start dismantling my PC. I'm pretty limited with what I can do with my laptop, but I can still try to give advice and critique.

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

2014-11-24 21:53

4 is great. The rest are a bit more tenuous, but I think it's fair at this point to have you move forwards to the next lesson. Just keep the principles and concepts I've mentioned up to this point in mind when you approach the next subjects.

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

2014-11-24 18:42

I feel the same way about learning from videos. I understand their value, but it's always nice to be able to learn something from diagrams and written explanations, at your own pace. I don't think I'll ever abandon that model - at most, I'll tack on extra videos... maybe.

I am pretty concerned about moving in a direction that takes me away from reddit. The access to a large userbase is so valuable. Still, I can't quite do a lot of the things I'd like to. Even the badges were a huge pain, and I can't easily add a bunch of badges to a user's name, because the method reddit forces you to use involves actually having a sheet of all the different permutations of badges. It's a real pain.

I think I'll hold onto reddit as long as I can - starting by changing where the lessons are hosted (but still posting them to reddit all the same), then slowly migrating the interactive/critique component to the website. We'll see.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-24 18:38

Okay, so things definitely aren't going right. The biggest issue I can see right now is that you are relying heavily on lighting and detail to push the image, rather than the underlying structure.

Lets start a little slower. You skipped the part where you were supposed to do a few pages of lay-ins. That's important so I can see how you're approaching the early stages.

Do two pages of lay-ins and show them to me. Don't go beyond that stage.

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

2014-11-23 17:21

Ehh, "succeeding". I haven't started work yet, and my nerves are pretty wracked with the thought of it. All the self-doubt and worries and whatnot. I definitely don't feel like a professional, so it'd be weird to mark myself as that. Maybe that'll change in a few months.

For now, I think I'm happy with my totalitarian art-czar flair.

Uncomfortable in the post "OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: 250 Boxes"

2014-11-23 17:15

I am seeing overall progress. Your general box-forms are starting to look more like boxes (as opposed to having awkwardly slanting, non-90-degree sides). Usually the angles are the biggest issue. One thing thing you may need to work on though is to focus on making each line as straight as you can. Sometimes thy arc a bit. It's possible that for those you got a little sloppy and went back to drawing from your wrist, instead of your shoulder?

Anyways, as I said, I'm definitely seeing progress.

As for your questions - yes, going over lines to thicken them is generally the approach I use to increase line weight. This, as with all things, takes practice in order to be able to do it evenly. It is indeed easier to show different line weights and values with a pencil - that's exactly why I push people to do it in ink. It's harder, but the practice you get from working with ink is far more valuable. The work you submit from these lessons are all about practice and training, not necessarily about creating something that looks beautiful.

If you feel like doing another 250 boxes when you feel better, feel free to post them here when you're done. Still, you did technically finish the challenge, so you'll have the badge either way. It's definitely not a bad idea though to do another set! More practice is always better.

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

2014-11-23 17:07

Good enough to move forward. One thing that I'd like you to remember though is that you should always consider where your horizon is (which represents the height at which your viewer's eyes rest). This is because the further a plane (which is either parallel to the ground or roughly parallel to the ground) is from the horizon, the more of its surface we will see.

With a bunch of your cylinders, you've drawn the caps of the cylinder as the same width/degree. Take a look at this explanation.

Anyways, just keep that in mind in the future. Go ahead and move onto lesson 3.

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

2014-11-23 03:47

Wow, the colours on that rat are amazing. A lot of your work is pretty great, but you're right - it's lacking solid structure and form. Hopefully we can help with that!

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

2014-11-23 00:35

All very good ideas! I'm surprised I never considered creating exercises for getting used to working with a tablet. I'll definitely give it some thought.

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

2014-11-23 00:26

I love to see the older work, it really gives a sense of where an artist is coming from. I definitely see a lot of creativity and fun ideas!

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

2014-11-22 23:55

I really like that second drawing - you've captured a lot of character in the face. Nice work!

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

2014-11-22 23:53

I was actually testing out some recording software, learning the ins and outs of using it. I might move into doing some smaller video demos to accompany the rest of the content... not for a while yet though.

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

2014-11-22 23:51

They are better, and more importantly, they're on the right track. The lines are a bit sketchy (you drew quite a few lines where only one was needed), so in the next lessons try to avoid that. It's kind of understandable for the ellipses though, but always strive to put thought and planning behind every mark you make.

There are still some issues with general perspective, but they're not that important to me right now. I like the sense of comfort I'm seeing from drawing these larger forms though, so good work.

Go ahead and move onto lesson 3.

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

2014-11-22 23:44

Your organic forms and dissections are good. The organic forms give a good sense of volume, though always be careful about how your contour lines curve when they reach the edge of the form, they've got to wrap around the 3D form, sometimes there's a tendency to flatten them out since you're drawing on a flat surface. Most of the ones you drew are solid though, so good work.

For the form intersections, you're not doing too badly. Always remember to keep your straight lines straight - for example, you've got the cylinder that connects two spheres curving a bit.

As for tips, I usually approach this kind of exercise with forms that are all similar in shape, and I try to avoid forms that are stretched too much in one dimension, like really long narrow tubes or boxes. That stretching tends to bring in more perspective distortion than is necessary, and it just complicates things. Picture it as though you're playing with big children's blocks, and you're just connecting them together.

I like that you're drawing through a lot of your forms - definitely keep that up, it'll make the construction easier to understand.

If you are having a lot of trouble though, the 250 box challenge might help, since it's all about spinning boxes around in space and drawing them at all different orientation.

I'd like to see two more pages of form intersections before I let you move onto the next lesson.

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

2014-11-22 21:39

Looking much better. Feel free to move onto the next lesson!

I did notice one mistake that you made a few times. It's related to your name - you've got a bunch of weird pizza slice shaped cones where you'd actually probably be able to see its base.

Basically, consider how a form is oriented in relation to other objects and the viewer. If a cone is in front of a box, but its tip intersects with the box, the cone is automatically pointing away from the viewer. So, we should be able to see its base. The other option is that we cannot see its base, and therefore it is oriented towards us, so it must in fact be behind the box with which it is intersecting. In which case we wouldn't be able to see that intersection.

Here's a drawn explanation of what I mean.

Aside from that, keep up with the ellipse exercises from lesson 1. Your circles and ellipses are still a little weak, but they'll get better with practice.

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

2014-11-22 19:57

Ultimately I am limited to what I myself know, or have learned. There are some things I can teach in the topic of form language (which is a core part of general design, including characters, props, architecture, etc). My biggest strength is probably in environment/landscapes, so I can definitely go into that as well. As far as machinery goes, my skill is limited, but I have a few points that may be able to help in that area that can at least serve as starting points.

The lessons will definitely come in gradually though, so it'll be quite some time before we have a big library of lessons.

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

2014-11-22 19:00

Oh yeah, I'd definitely keep doing the lessons as single long-assed images, but I would probably redo a good deal of the content. Not only would that allow me to fix a lot of the mistakes that I made in those lessons and allow me to incorporate things I've learned about how these concepts can be taught more effectively, but it'd also give me the means to slowly replace the imgur hosted images with the new site.

I kind of chuckled to myself when I read the list of topics you'd like covered. They're all definitely great suggestions, and things I will definitely try approaching. To be quite honest though, I'd have to research a lot of that myself! Or perhaps by then I'd be able to bring in some other folks who might have a more technical understanding of things.

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

2014-11-22 18:57

Sycra seems to have a decent explanation, although it's really quite long and involved. It doesn't really work into our particular approach to drawing, however, since we forgo the super-exact in favour of eyeballing, which while being less accurate, allows us to draw more intuitively.

In my lesson examples, you'll notice that I don't have any vanishing points. What defines the focal length and the vanishing point's locations is how I choose to draw the initial boxes - not vice versa (which is usually the precise method).

When you draw a box, you can claim (within reason) that this box represents for your drawing, a perfect cube. You can then use that cube to determine all of your other measurements, largely using the diagonal line method I described in the lesson to multiply/divide boxes from the original.

Ultimately, I almost never even think about the perfect unit cube when drawing. Instead, I look at the proportions of my subject. A good example is the tank - it looked to be maybe a little less than half as wide as it is long. So, I drew a box that looked roughly that size. I didn't measure, I sure as hell wasn't spot on, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is how accurate it looks. As you practice, your observational estimations will improve.

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

2014-11-22 18:08

Haha, I'm not going to lie - for everything I do, at least a small part of it is intended to make money at some point. Early on I was thinking that I could use this as a platform for setting up my own paid mentorships (once I actually gained enough confidence in my teaching skills to be able to deliver something of value). Opening up a dedicated website definitely lets me experiment with other possibilities, though.

Still, I love community-building, and nothing quite motivates you like the trust of passionate people.

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

2014-11-22 17:55

That's a very good idea. I try to include extra notes in the 'bonus content' section for each lesson, but the formatting in reddit makes it pretty hard to draw attention to those sections. I'll definitely be able to pull that off more effectively in a dedicated website.

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

2014-11-22 17:46

That's a good idea! I'm also probably going to design it so that the inbox doesn't automatically mark the messages as read/dealt-with once I've read them like reddit does. Often times I'll glance at the messages and critique them later... But since reddit marks them as read, this can lead to some of them falling through the cracks.

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

2014-11-22 17:44

Your organic forms and dissections look pretty good. There are still quite a few cases where your contour lines aren't quite curving enough when they reach the edge of the form. Since some of those don't curve around the 3d form, they start flattening it out. So be mindful of that. Still, you did a pretty good job and I can see a sense of volume and 3D-ness from a lot of them.

You're right though, the form intersections are pretty bad. There's a handful of issues that I can see, so hopefully we can correct those.

1. Your construction lines are too faint, too timid, they're sketchy and incomplete. What this tells me is that you're focused on the final product - creating something that can be read as a clean drawing, with the construction lines not being entirely visible. Don't do this. When you're drawing your construction lay-ins, do so as though they are the final product. Then go back and build on top of it. The reason is that a lot of people have a tendency of looking ahead to the final image while working on a previous step - and this causes them to fumble the step they're working on. They're so focused on the future. Yesterday, I drew an example for someone on Lesson 3 that emphasized the same principles. Of course this is mostly for these exercises, and doesn't work as well for actual illustrations. But once you're at the stage where you're doing proper illustrations, you should understand the concepts well enough to decide how to go about your construction lines on your own.

2. Your ellipses are giving you trouble. Check out the Using ellipses to show circles in perspective notes from the bonus notes section in the sidebar. Also make sure you're doing some of the ellipse exercises from lesson 1 as warmups before doing this exercise. Just like in the ellipse exercise, follow through that elliptical drawing motion a few times before lifting your pen. ESPECIALLY for the spheres, because that's where the issues are most apparent.

3. Something that I've been recommending to people having difficulty with the form intersections lately is not to stretch your forms too much in any given direction. Make all your forms roughly the same overall size, as though you're playing with those big blocks they give to toddlers. When you start stretching them too much in one dimension (for example, your cylinders), you have to start worrying about excessive perspective distortion - where the far plane becomes much smaller than the near plane - and we really don't want to have to worry about that right now. If you look at my form intersection example (sorry for the poor image quality), you can see that my cylinders are pretty fat.

I'd like to see you do two more pages of form intersections, keeping what I've mentioned above in mind.

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

2014-11-22 05:45

Absolutely. I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to include a portfolio section (I'd have to think on that) but traxkimg badges and homework submissions would be a cinch.

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-22 03:19

You are getting it, gradually. These are feeling quite a bit better. I really like how you handle large clusters of leaves. Frankly, I'd go so far as to call this lesson finished.

There's still room for development, but the way all these lessons work, is they're stacked on top of each other - one building on the next. The core values of each are the same, about this breakdown of form and structure. The progress you've made here will reflect on the next stuff, and the progress you make there will affect how you draw plants in the future.

I think you should take it easy, let these things process and digest, and then move onto the next set. Insects, I believe?

Uncomfortable in the post "LESSON 3: Drawing Plants"

2014-11-22 00:26

That applies more to the exercises, of course - by the time people are doing actual illustrations, they'll know enough to do handle the construction steps however they feel most comfortable. For now, it's all about making sure people aren't looking too far ahead and forgetting about the step they're on.

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

2014-11-22 00:06

Ohh, building a library of step-by-steps would be really helpful. That's a great idea. I'll definitely keep that in mind. I actually just did another step-by-step example for /u/nugglebuggins, which I attached to the notes for Lesson 3 as bonus content.

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

2014-11-21 23:59

Your organic forms with contour lines and your dissections are both looking really good. I'm getting a strong sense of the volume of each form, and I like that you experimented with different kinds of cuts for the dissections. If I had to recommend one thing, it's purely aesthetic - for your dissections, try and keep in mind that things tend to have thickness - so when you cut a long tube-like form, and even if it's hollow, you should see a bit of thickness along its outside 'layer'. A good example of you doing this well is in the middle of page 5, with the fruit-like dissection. An example of it being done poorly is at the bottom right corner of that page.

Still, great work on those.

Now, for your form intersections, I think you can do much better than this. You seem to understand the interaction of forms in 3D space, but your execution can be vastly improved.

I have a few recommendations:

• Always do your best to avoid sketchy lines. If you make a slight mistake, often times drawing over it to correct it will only draw more attention to the blunder. Take the error in stride and keep going.

• Read the notes listed in the 250 box challenge post. They cover things to do with line weights and common perspective mistakes.

• For this exercise, try to avoid drawing elongated forms (long tubes, long boxes, things with a lot of stretching in one direction). These throw in a whole new layer of trouble with perspective that we're not really interested in dealing with right now. Just imagine that you have a bunch of forms that are roughly the same size, like blocks that'll fit in your hands, and picture yourself bashing them together.

• Don't shade. One thing I've noticed is that you spend a significant amount of time on lighting, and it's not necessary. More than that, it might be distracting you from the main educational value of the exercise. You are fully capable of conveying the 3D form of these objects - spheres, boxes, cones, pyramids and cylinders - without shading them at all. Lighting merely emphasizes the 3D form that is already there, so it should still work perfectly without it. This concept echoes down through the next few lessons, so it's good to get a solid grasp of it now.

So- your organic forms and your dissections are great. I'd like you to do two more pages of form intersections, keeping what I've mentioned above in mind.

Uncomfortable in the post "EXTRA CURRICULAR: When to use 1, 2, 3 Point Perspective - For those struggling with the box exercises and challenge"

2014-11-21 23:40

Yup. Plenty of people are still posting stuff for Lesson 1.