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Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-09-04 04:02

Oh woops - my bad, you did do lesson 1. Then I guess you should be good to move onto lesson 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-09-04 04:00

Well, since you don't seem to have tackled lesson 1, that's definitely a good place to start. Or in this case, a good next step.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-09-04 00:50

These definitely feel much better. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-09-03 22:48

The other lessons do have value to offer (that is, 14 and 15), but they're kind of... misplaced, for lack of a better word. I'm going to revise how they fit into all the material when I start exploring topics related more to design and form language.

The composition lesson is still worth reading through though, so it's a good idea to do that at some point (not necessarily immediately). As for figure drawing, proko's definitely a good place to start. Alternatively, if you're ever looking for actual classes, 'Analytical Figure Drawing' is something to look for, as opposed to the standard stuff you'll find at most fine art schools.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-09-03 21:51

These are coming along very nicely. I think I like the boxy, un-detailed constructions the most, as they demonstrate most strongly your grasp of 3D space, of the rudimentary forms, and of how the whole constructional approach really works. Each of those are effectively exactly what you should be doing, but simply not taken far enough along the same path.

Although admittedly, while they are my favourite, you have a lot of excellent work here. The only thing that still requires a fair bit of practice and TLC are your ellipses. They're understandably loose and vague, and you do need to devote some time to tightening them up. Lesson 1's obviously great for that, specifically the ellipses in planes exercise (although where that one was just arbitrarily "put some roundies in these squaries", now you'd actually apply the understanding you've gained of how those planes and circles exist in 3D space).

Something about this one really stands out to me. Not entirely sure what it is (a submarine?) but I love the combination of cylinders alongside more planar faces, all mixed together with a great understanding of how they relate to each other. The smaller cylinders coming out the bottom are a bit rough, but the core of the construction is very satisfying.

I also love the tail of this helicopter. Specifically, how the surface bumps out rather than remaining entirely consistent - you captured that very nicely with your contour curves, and that goes a long way to reinforce the illusion you're producing. Those rotors must have been a pain in the ass though. Your approach to capture their motion was very clever!

Overall, you're doing great, and I see a great deal of improvement over the set. With the full drawings, you still appear to be figuring things out at the beginning, but the last several pages seem much more confident and self-assured.

As I mentioned, those ellipses are a killer, so they're definitely a good place to focus your attention. Aside from that, excellent work. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so a big congratulations to you on completing all of the dynamic sketching material.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-09-03 21:11

Based on my records, I don't have this account down as being eligible for private critiques. If you are a patreon supporter, make sure you check your patreon message system inbox, as I always reach out to get information like one's reddit username. If you're not however, you're welcome to submit your work to the subreddit itself to receive a critique from the community.

That said, your boxes are looking pretty good. The double checking for mistakes you did near the beginning is definitely great, I'd recommend trying that on the last few pages as well. Also, I noticed a lot of your boxes tend to have pretty dramatic foreshortening on them (due to the vanishing points being quite close). Be sure to practice shallower foreshortening as well, as this will come up more often.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-09-03 21:08

Looks to me like you've got the right flair badge. DS1 is for plants, DS2 is for insects. This lesson's would be DS3.

So there are some really nice drawings in this set, but there's also a lot of issues that need to be addressed. Before that though, I want to point out that this bird is very well done. It feels tangible and three dimensional, like it actually exists in a 3D world, rather than as a collection of shapes on the page. This frog is also pretty good.

As for my critique, I wrote most of it here, but I'll highlight the main points:

I'd like you to do four more pages of animal drawings, with no texture whatsoever. Focus entirely on construction, on building up your basic forms and understanding how those sit in 3D space and how they relate to one another.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-09-01 16:50

These are definitely a big improvement over your previous attempts. While there are still mistakes (which is expected), you're identifying a lot of them, and appear to be learning from them and improving over the set. I'm glad that you stuck through it until you got a hang of the boxes - I think you should be good to move onto the next lesson. Just be sure to continue applying the principles that you've learned here, and working some boxes into your warmups is always a good idea.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-09-01 01:41

Very nice work! Your constructions feel solid, and your use of line weight really kicks each one up to the next level. I'm also pleased that you went through the process of marking in your corrections. As you improve beyond a certain point, you'll find that your ability to identify those mistakes will need to catch up somewhat - so subtler mistakes will go unnoticed.

In that situation, the method I mention about extending your lines (I'll paste it again below) comes in very handy, as it allows you to get a better sense of what your lines are doing, and highlights issues you may not have otherwise noticed. It is time consuming of course, but it's a good idea to apply it broadly to an entire page or two of your later boxes (as those are the ones more likely to have the kinds of minor mistakes we miss).

Each box consists of three sets of four parallel lines, each set having its own vanishing point. When going over a box in the correction phase, you can extend these lines two to three times their original length towards their implied vanishing point. This will give you a better sense of how these lines behave as they converge. Ideally all four lines of a given set will converge towards a single point at roughly the same rate. By extending these lines, you will start to notice how some lines within a set converge more quickly than others, which implies several points of convergence instead of just one. By being able to spot these mistakes, you should be able to learn from them that much more effectively.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work and feel free to move onto lesson 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-31 02:57

The leaves are definitely better. The only thing I want to point out is that the lines in your second step (enclosing the leaf shape) should end at the furthest extent of the directional/flow line. So right now the little arrow head at the end of that flow line has some space between it and the furthest extent of the shape - don't leave any space. That flow line already determines the length of the resulting leaf, so abide by that.

You don't seem to have followed the points I raised about your branches though, but at this point I'm going to mark this lesson as complete anyway. You can work on what I mentioned there on your own, as I think I've mentioned it quite a few times already.

Thaaat said I did want to point out this issue.

Go ahead and move onto the next lesson. Make sure you focus on thinking about each individual form you add to a construction and how it sits in 3D space, as you tackle the insects.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-08-30 17:58

As always, your drawings demonstrate an impeccable grasp of form, an incredible degree of patience and care, and a deep understanding of the lesson content. There isn't a whole lot to offer in terms of direct critique that you didn't clearly already determine for yourself (like the front wheel of this motorcycle being better off started as a box). The only issue I did notice is that every now and then, the lines you add after the fact, to increase line weight, sometimes were less stable and smooth than the underlying strokes. Always remember to apply the ghosting method to every mark you put down - it's especially easy to lose track of this when adding line weight, because we're actively trying to match an existing line, and don't want to mess things up (especially since the drawing is already so close to completion). You've got a lot of cases where you're doing it just fine though, so I think it's a matter of mental state, and just continuing to remind yourself of the confidence required when executing each stroke, and the insignificance of mistakes.

I'm glad you asked a few additional questions though, as it gives me a little more to offer as a part of my critique.

So in terms of skipping lines, while it's not something I recommend in earlier lessons, it is technically moving towards the ultimate goal that we are aiming for (eventually shedding the need to explicitly draw every constructional line), and in the case of these vehicle constructions, you're right - you end up with SO many lines that you can usually fairly easily infer certain information from the lines that are already present, rather than adding yet another one to the mess.

Personally I haven't drawn things with multiple pages as you described in ages (I did it once for a perspective assignment when I was in class), but that's due to my choice of tools being primarily digital for any professional work. When I'm doing these exercises, my focus is not on a clean and pristine constructionless result, so I'm fine doing it all on one page. Although as you can see on this page that I did for work a little over a year ago, when I'm doing ideation, I only bother to include the instruction lines I absolutely require. I'm not super focused on everything being perfect. That's actually one of the reasons I push for a more organic understanding of perspective without worrying so much about vanishing points - the more of that business that I'm forced to include, the more it hampers my ability to think creatively. The more I worry about perspective, the less I can actually think about the design I'm creating.

But that's me. John Park however (i'm assuming you've heard of him, but in case you haven't, he was one of my instructors at CDA, and he's extremely well respected in terms of vehicle/mech/prop design), does things exactly as you discussed. That is, using several layers of tracing paper. He actually used that method several times when giving us critiques and demonstrations. So it's a totally valid approach, and is in no way overworking. It is actually another way to deal with what I mentioned before, about perspective getting in the way of your creativity. By laying down those basic construction lines separately, you have more freedom to do what you want on your next sheet of vellum or tracing paper.

There's actually a great sketchbook that I have and have made very little use of from Cottonwood Arts. Every alternating page is vellum, so if you're okay with using using two pages (rather than three or four), it makes for a great sketchbook.

When drawing with those pens, I wouldn't recommend ever pushing hard on them, as this will damage your tips. Generally controlling line weight is more about pulling back and trying to make less contact with the page in order to create thinner lines. This also plays into what I've probably mentioned before about line weight being something that should be quite subtle. Here are the ranges I get out of my pen.

I do really enjoy a lot of the bold shadow shapes you've got going on in your drawings though. I'm assuming you're moving onto brush pens for that, as that's what I'd usually use in that case.

As I mentioned before though, I'd sooner go over a line two or three times than trying to push too hard, as this would force you to go slower and perhaps end up with a wobblier line. But again - it's best to be a little more subtle.

In general, I do also recommend that line weight should be applied to sections of lines, rather than the entire length, specifically to clarify overlaps in particular areas. In your case, that becomes somewhat trickier, since you're doing your construction in blue, so you kind of do have to go back over it with your black pen. In this case, I'd probably separate the process of recreating my lines with a smaller, uniform strokes, THEN adding line weight to key areas. Combining separate steps will usually result in things getting a bit muddy and sloppy.

Anyway, congratulations on completing the dynamic sketching curriculum, and thank you for doing so in a way that has definitely inspired other people on this subreddit. I know you came in with a fair bit of previous knowledge, so I'm uncertain of how much my lessons actually helped, but I do hope that they helped fill in some gaps and gave you the opportunity to formalize your understanding of capturing form and constructing complex objects.

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-30 01:01

For /u/Turkopauto's submission.

It's normal to clash up against things at every stage - that's ultimately what learning is. With every hard-fought concept you eventually grasp, you'll solidify your grasp of the material that much more.

That said, there is still much to be grasped in regards to the issues I pointed out in my last critique. You're really not thinking about that initial flow-line drawn for your leaves. They're missing from a couple leaves, but in general they're not drawn with consideration for how that leaf is going to flow through space. They lack the sort of conviction and purpose, and look to be after thoughts.

Additionally, you should be drawing your stems in segments (of course being mindful of keeping those segments flowing together) rather than trying to draw entire lengths all at once. Attempting to do it all in a single line will result in stems that taper and swell irregularly and just feel generally flimsy.

You also did not just stick to construction in the last drawing, and even in the second one somewhat. Focus on solid forms, nothing more. No hatching, no shadows, none of that.

I fully understand that these plants with many leaves and petals can leave one feeling overwhelmed with all that is to be drawn. In this case it becomes that much more difficult to really give each component the focus, attention and time it requires. You need to force yourself not to skip through them or approach them in an "automated" sort of fashion. You can't go on autopilot for this - you need to think about how each leaf you draw flows through space, then enclose that shape and only worry about extraneous information afterwards.

I've outlined the leaf process along with other notes here. Try another four pages of plant drawings.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-30 00:56

Old thread got locked, those eligible for critiques from me can submit their work here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids"

2017-08-29 23:29

I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. There was one issue I wanted to call out that you did in some of your drawings, so I did so in these notes (along with a few additional observations). The main point was to avoid ballooning a bunch of forms together. The "Michelin Man" look is something you'll want to avoid in the future.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-26 21:04

The flow of your leaves is generally okay. There's still plenty of room for improvement on that aspect, and in general, but you're moving in the right direction. There are a few things that I'd like to point out though, in regards to your work.

Before that, give these notes a read. They go over things relating to the flow of flat shapes through space (like what you're struggling with a little in regards to the leaves), as well as other general points that come up for many students around this point.

The first thing I want to mention is related to this page. When drawing this form, you started out with two large spheres, which is more or less how I'd tackle it. Where things went a little wrong however can be seen if you look at how the final line of the fruit seems to fall within the larger sphere on the left side, rather than following along it. In essence, you ignored this aspect of the original construction in order to better suit how you thought the fruit should look. It's a common enough issue.

It's extremely important that when applying the constructional method, you understand that each phase of construction solves certain problems, and answers certain questions. For example, that initial sphere established the width and volume of the base of the fruit. We want to answer these questions one by one, rather than all at once, as this allows us to narrow our focus to the other problems that lay before us. Once handled, that question has been answered. That problem has been solved. We can move onto other ones.

But if we decide at a later point to undermine an answer to a previous question - one that had already been dealt with - we start to clutter ourselves with far too many questions at once, and the construction starts to fall apart. Frequently we end up trying to change parts of that answer, rather than the whole thing, and things stop making quite as much sense.

This generally results in a construction that no longer feels solid. So, even if your previous answer ended up not being entirely correct, work within it all the same. Keep in mind that these drawings are all exercises not to teach us how to reproduce the image we're referring to, but rather to understand how to construct objects such that they feel solid and three dimensional. Our goal is not to be 100% accurate, but rather for our result to be convincing and tangible.

Another point this page raises is the matter of line weight. Line weight is not meant to be applied to the entirety of a line, through its entire length. Nor is it intended to be drawn slowly and carefully, trying desperately to match the complex twists and turns of such a single line. This will always result in such a line looking stiff and wobbly, rather than smooth and confident.

Instead, line weight should be applied to key areas along the length of a line, usually to emphasize or clarify which line overlaps the other. If you think of a T junction, if all lines were of equal width, you could argue that a what is being depicted could be the intersection of two straight lines, or a more awkward L line flowing over another shorter segment. By adding a little line weight to one such continuous line as it flows through this junction, you can clarify how they flow. I discuss line weight further in these notes.

While we're on that topic, I noticed in many cases that you were outlining the silhouette of the whole object in many cases (like this example). As discussed previously, you want line weight to tell us how a single line flows and separate it out from many others. Where the stem of that plant branched out, you had the line weight follow along the new branch, rather than stopping or flowing along its original line. This ends up being quite confusing to the viewer.

This goes along with not applying additional weight to the entirety of a line. Don't uniformly outline the entirety of an object, or even a single form. Line weight is all about organizing the lines that exist in your drawing, and giving subtle little touches that help communicate how those lines navigate tricky intersections.

On that page, there is something I'd like to discuss about your leaves. If you look to the top left leaf of that plant, you'll see that your initial shape has a visible wave in it. This complexity shows that you're blending steps together, or skipping through them. The first step is, of course, to establish the flow of the leaf with a single line. The second however is not to capture the leaf in any direct detail, but rather to enclose the space that leaf will occupy, as simply as possible, again focusing on how that flat shape flows through space. If you factor in waves or ripples in the leaf, you'll end up tackling too many challenges all at once. All you need to worry about is the general flow. You did this pretty well in your actual leafs exercise.

I think that should be enough for now. I'd like you to do another four pages of plant constructions. Avoid any detail or texture, just focus on establishing strong underlying forms, and going through each individual phase of construction.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids"

2017-08-26 20:02

Your underlying construction starts off very solid. Pages like this are at the core of what I'm looking for. As you start to get more concerned with texture and detail however, you lose your hold of that sort of solid, clear construction.

This isn't abnormal - when detail is entered into the equation, students will often find that they start thinking about that detail from the very beginning, instead of separating your drawing out into numerous stages.

It's important to understand that detail is unimportant. Texture doesn't matter. It's just decoration, and if your underlying construction is not solidly built, the drawing will ultimately collapse.

So, when you draw, focus on the step you are moving through right at that moment, and don't think ahead. Focus on how each form you add to your construction exists not as a shape on a flat page, but as a three dimensional chunk of marble in a 3D world.

Keep in mind that any form you've added to this 3D world cannot simply be replaced or ignored, if you feel that it is no longer a part of the drawing you want to produce. It's there in the world - it's solid, you can't just decide that it's not there. In that situation, you have to build on top of it, or cut into it, in a way that requires you to understand how all of these components sit in 3D space. When cutting a piece away, you have to understand how both resulting pieces exist as three dimensional forms. I talk about this a little further in these notes.

So, I want you to try another four pages of drawings, but with NO detail or texture whatsoever. I want you to really cement your grasp of form and construction on its own.

As for texture, I did notice that you do have a tendency to scribble quite a bit, and rely somewhat on randomness/chaos in areas where you feel things are fuzzy or hairy. As a rule, never rely on any kind of randomness. Every single texture has some kind of predictable rhythm or flow to it - though it may be hidden and difficult to find. Capturing a texture is all about observing the reference image and identifying what elements exist there, and how they're organized or spread out over the surface. It's also about understanding which parts are necessary, and how one can communicate the idea of that surface with as little linework as possible. Randomness doesn't involve any of this thought - it cuts it off at a point, and simply fills areas of the drawing in with thoughtless marks. On top of all of that, this results in areas that end up being very distracting, due to the increased contrast of having so many white/black marks, densely packed together.

I recommend that you give the notes over at the texture challenge for that.

Anyway, for now, focus on construction only. The goal is to convey the solidity, weight and tangibility of your object.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-24 19:41

Looking good! I think you really took this exercise to its limit, with your different variations. Usually I'm not too keen on students taking their own liberties (and it's best to avoid that in the future), but I think yours here were definitely in line with the spirit of the exercise. I'm pleased to see that you definitely have demonstrated a considerable improvement with your confidence and construction.

I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Keep up the great work.

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

2017-08-23 23:36

Well, it's not great. There are a few things that your work suggests to me about how you've approached this.

I am going to ask you to try this lesson's homework again, in its entirety, but I will give you some additional tips for the exercises:

That should be enough for now. The biggest, most important thing is that you NEED to read the instructions as many times as is necessary. When attempting an exercise, don't just jump right into it - read its description again, even if you're confident you know what is being asked of you.

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

2017-08-23 22:55

The understanding of the relationships between the forms was definitely much better. I did however notice that you're falling back a little as far as the contour curves themselves go - they're not quite hooking back around enough as they reach the edges of their given form, and in a lot of cases the curves themselves are falling out of alignment with where the central minor axis line would be.

Make sure you continue to practice the organic forms with contour curves (and really, all of the exercises in this lesson) regularly, incorporating them into a warmup routine alongside the exercises from lesson 1. As long as you continue to work at them (picking two or three exercises to do for 10-15 minutes at the start of each sitting), you should get these things under control.

So, I'm going to go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-23 22:31

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it. If there's anything I can help with, let me know. I'm sure you've got the development down, but as far as marketing and whatnot - I'd like to link to it from the drawabox site. Well, to be honest, I'd love to negotiate having some DaB branding on there but that's a conversation for another day :P

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids"

2017-08-23 05:01

Look into form language. I think John Park's 'Foundation' patreon covers this somewhat (I took one of his classes a couple years ago that helped me a lot). I'm hoping to cover that some day in a new set of lessons for drawabox (probably reserved for a higher pledge rate than $3), but we'll see when that happens.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids"

2017-08-23 04:33

Well, your work is looking pretty solid as it is. You're demonstrating a well developing grasp of how these 3D forms exist in space, and how they can be manipulated and built upon to create more complex objects. I don't think there's a whole lot to offer in terms of critique, as you're heading in the right direction, so instead I'll address your questions.

So the thing about thse additional lines (like drawing through your forms) is that while they're not a necessary part of an actual finished drawing, they are an important component when it comes to learning how to draw the lines that do serve as the core of the end result. These additional constructional lines help us to better understand the space we're constructing within, and better understand the forms themselves. Ultimately you will continue to deal with these kinds of lines, but the long term goal is for them to become something you visualize in your mind's eye, rather than placing them explicitly on the page.

In order to achieve that end, you must be drawing them conscientiously right now. Don't worry about whether or not you're reaching that ultimate goal - it's a direction we're heading in, but as all of these drawings are exercises, they are the perfect place to grind that information into our brains by drawing them directly on the page.

This is actually a big part of learning how to avoid flattening things out - by understanding how the forms themselves exist in space, and by really convincing ourselves of the fact that they are 3D and not just flat images, we start making subconscious adjustments to how we draw that actually conveys that same idea to our viewers. If we truly believe our drawings are 3D, then we will make more of the correct decisions (knowingly or not) that make others also believe the same.

Now, line economy is definitely important, but don't make the mistake of thinking this means reducing the number of construction lines, because it certainly doesn't. What it means is, reducing the number of lines that serve no purpose. Construction lines absolutely serve a purpose (aside from the times that we needlessly draw those that are frivolous), and are valuable. Sketchy behaviour, thoughtlessly placing additional lines down just because, and other things like that however should be trimmed away largely by applying the ghosting method, which forces you to think before you draw.

As for foreshortening, it's really something that is built into the material rather than dealt with specifically. Foreshortening is just perspective, and in most cases you'll find that things are only really heavily hit by foreshortening when they're very close to the viewer's eye. That dramatic change between near and far planes of boxes (and therefore of everything else) happens most significantly at the closest point to the eye. The further away from the eye you are, the more distance you need between near and far planes to achieve the same relative shift between their sizes. If you want to practice foreshortening, it really means you should be practicing boxes themselves. Then, once you can construct the object you wish to foreshorten within that box, you can apply the same dramatic shift from the box to that object.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Your insect drawings are, as I said, coming along quite well (I even showed them to my grandmother, as I first saw them on my phone when I was in the car with her), and they certainly received her seal of approval. Not that she knows the first thing about drawing...

Feel free to move onto the next one, and keep up the good work.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-23 04:23

Nice work! You were definitely very conscientious about applying your corrections and extending back those lines, and your work certainly seems extremely confident throughout.

I'm actually very interested in this game you mentioned - it sounds like a brilliant idea, and I'm a little disappointed I didn't come up with it first. What state is it in currently, and what did you build it in?

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the great work!

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-22 18:40

Pretty nice work. Your line quality is especially nice, as most of your lines maintain a consistent, smooth trajectory, and appear to be drawn with a fair degree of confidence. The biggest thing you can do at this point to help your growth is to apply the approach mentioned in the notes about extending your lines further back (during the correction phase) to help identify where the convergence of your lines is inconsistent. You should find this quite frequently, though it's the greater inconsistencies that are the bigger problems, that we definitely want to get used to identifying. I've pasted the method from the notes below:

Each box consists of three sets of four parallel lines, each set having its own vanishing point. When going over a box in the correction phase, you can extend these lines two to three times their original length towards their implied vanishing point. This will give you a better sense of how these lines behave as they converge. Ideally all four lines of a given set will converge towards a single point at roughly the same rate. By extending these lines, you will start to notice how some lines within a set converge more quickly than others, which implies several points of convergence instead of just one. By being able to spot these mistakes, you should be able to learn from them that much more effectively.

You don't have to do it for every page, but applying the approach to a couple is definitely worth your while. Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.

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

2017-08-22 18:36

Your contour curves and ellipses are certainly better, and show an improving understanding of what you should be aiming for. There certainly is plenty of room to grow towards that end, but you're on the right track. When practicing this in the future, try to remind yourself that as you draw them, it's as though your pen tip is going over the surface of a rounded form. Like, if you had a sausage, and you were tracing a line around it.

One thing I did catch though is that when you include a full ellipse towards the ends of some of your forms (which is normal), the degree of that ellipse suggests that that cross-section of the form is oriented in a way that is inconsistent with the rest of the flow of the form. Remember that if an ellipse is more circular (has a higher degree), it's telling the viewer that the ellipse is facing them more directly, whereas if it is slimmer (has a lower degree), it is oriented perpendicular to them, and running across their field of view. I explain this a little further here.

Your boxes are looking pretty solid. Good use of line weight, excellent line quality, and your constructions capture a good sense of the weight and tangibility. Just be sure to go over your completed work to identify and correct any mistakes as mentioned on the challenge page. Reflecting upon one's mistakes is a big part of learning and improving, and skipping over that would be doing yourself a disservice. In the notes, I share a particular approach that is quite useful in identifying mistakes that may not be entirely clear to your naked eye.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark lesson 2 and the box challenge complete. Just be sure to continue practicing the organic forms with contour curves, and be sure to incorporate all of the lesson 1 and 2 exercises into a regular warmup routine (practicing two or three of the exercises for 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each sitting, and keeping those exercises on a regular rotation).

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

2017-08-22 18:28

Sorry about missing your submission previously. I'm actually out of town, on vacation, so I'm trying to make do with the tools I have on hand. The change has resulted in me fumbling some of my usual patterns of behaviour, since change tends to make me a bit scatterbrained.

Anyway, you're generally doing a pretty good job here. Your arrows flow nicely through space. Your organic forms with contour ellipses are pretty solid, though your ellipses could stand to be a little less stiff - try to draw them with a more confident pace when actually executing the mark, after following the preparation phase detailed in the ghosting method in the last lesson.

Your organic forms with contour curves are pretty solid - I can see you overshooting those curves slightly as you hook them around at the edges, which is definitely a good way to get the hang of how those curves should turn. There is room for improvement here to really solidify that sense of how the curves wrap around, so don't let up on practicing these - I think it'll take some more practice and time before you've really cemented it for yourself. That said, you're heading in the right direction. Do remember though that the central minor axis is still important here, as it governs the alignment of your curves, as it did for the ellipses.

Your dissections are coming along well. Your first page was a little weak - I saw some somewhat more scratchy/scribbly marks where you were getting a little overwhelmed with certain textures. I saw much less of this in later pages though, where you took more time to really identify what kind of elements were present on each surface. In general, relying on randomness/chaos is something to be avoided - while it takes time, it's important to plan your strokes out and consider each one against the reference you're drawing from. You definitely improve on this front over the set.

Your form intersections are coming along well. You're careful in your constructions, and the forms feel cohesive amongst each other, which is what I'm looking for here.

The organic intersections are alright, though there is definitely room for improvement. Try and keep in mind the sense of volume for each sausage form, as though they're inflated, and use this understanding when you have them sitting on top of each other. Especially towards the top of the pile, you have those forms flatten out somewhat along the sides where they come in contact with something beneath them, in a way that doesn't feel entirely natural. The best way to think about this is as though they're a bunch of water balloons filled up all the way. They'll sag over one another, and their contents can shift within their skins, but that water has to go somewhere, leading to a balance between the mass of water and the tension in the balloon. Try and think about how that would work when attempting this exercise.

Anyway, while you've got room for improvement, I think you're moving in the right direction. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, but be sure to incorporate these exercises into your warmup routine.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-22 18:17

It always comes down to confidence. If you're preoccupied with the accuracy of your line (especially when adding line weight on top of an existing line), you will draw slower and less confidently, and as a result your stroke will come out more stiffly. When it comes time to execute your mark, you MUST accept that the possibility of making a mistake is unavoidable beyond a point - that the opportunity to mitigate that risk was only present in the preparation phase, and that when it comes time to actually execute the mark, nothing you do at this point will help. All you can do is trust in your arm and muscle memory, draw from your shoulder, and execute with confidence.

Oh, and remember that line weights are for emphasizing overlaps especially - you were kind of outlining the entire silhouette of your object, which would serve primarily to flatten the drawing out. Line weight should be applied to select segments of a single continuous line, never flowing from one edge to an entirely different one.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-22 05:55

Old thread got locked, those eligible for homework critiques by /u/Uncomfortable can submit their work here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-21 04:34

Nicely done! There's definitely improvement over the set, and the cactus at the end is really well executed. It demonstrates a really solid grasp of the forms themselves and how they relate to one another. In general, your leaves flow fairly nicely (and also improve over the set).

The only issue I noticed that didn't seem to resolve itself through the course of the homework was with your branches (mostly because there weren't many opportunities to demonstrate improvement on that front). Basically, the issue is that you've got to ensure that the segments with which you construct the edges of your branch form flow together smoothly. It's very easy to lose track of this and end up with a lot of notably broken flow. The trick to avoiding this is ensuring that when you draw from one ellipse and overshoot the next, that you aim for the third. Then for the next line segment you draw, it must overlap the previous one. If you allow for the flow to break as you have, it will appear chicken scratchy, which is generally the big risk with this approach.

Anyway, overall you're doing great, so I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Just be more mindful of that sense of flow for your lines. Keep up the good work and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-21 02:33

Sorry about the rushed nature of this - I'm out of town right now and had to do it on less than ideal hardware. Here's how I'd tackle it. Basically the initial leaf shape would define the overall bounds, so it wouldn't be a situation where you'd have details that dipped above and below it. I'm also particular about any lines that run along those bounds to flow along the original lines.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-21 02:24

As I outline here, there are plenty of issues. Your linework is very stiff (especially due to how you're using line weight). You're also skipping steps in regards to the leaf construction, but also are not thinking enough about how those leaves flow through 3D space. These notes may also help.

Try the four pages of constructional drawings again.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-20 00:10

Certainly an improvement. There are obviously plenty of places where your lines diverge where they should flow together, but I'm definitely seeing you moving in the right direction. What's important is that you understand what you should be aiming for (which I believe you do), and that you continue practicing towards that end. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, but I definitely recommend incorporating this exercise into your warmup rotation.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids"

2017-08-20 00:09

These are very well done. You're demonstrating an exceptional level of care when it comes to understanding how each form sits in 3D space, and how they relate to one another. Your constructions, as a result, feel solid and tangible - quite possibly the worst thing one can have when drawing these awful creepy crawlies.

I had seen one of the posts you made earlier, working your way up to the ladybug, and I think you really made some major strides forward. Keep up the great work and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-20 00:07

Pretty well done. Overall you're demonstrating a well developing understanding of 3D space, and how your objects exist inside of it. There are a few things that I'd like to mention however.

Firstly, the flow of your leaves has a tendency to be a little stiff. In many of these cases, they tend to extend along the two dimensions of the page, rather than through the third dimension, making me believe that you are still somewhat trapped within the limited space of the page. Keep in mind that the paper you're drawing on is more of a window into a larger three dimensional space. The top left of these notes should help explain that a little further.

Secondly, while your branches are coming along well, you are going to have to work on getting the individual segments along each edge to flow better together. Remember that the subsequent segment needs to run right over the previous one in order for them to feel as though they are all one continuous line.

Thirdly, I noticed that in some of your leaves, you set out your initial simple leaf form, but then when breaking it down into more complex detail, you sometimes ignore the underlying construction altogether. You need to have your later passes build upon your earlier ones, rather than ignoring them. Here's what I mean.

Lastly, overall you need to work towards executing your marks a little more confidently. Right now your linework has the slightest sense of stiffness to it, which suggests that you hesitate while actually drawing your linework. Accept that mistakes will happen, and once you've put the time into the preparation phase, execute with confidence every time.

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Keep these points in mind, and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-19 23:05

I'm glad you feel that way!

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-18 20:14

Generally pretty well done. Your constructions make good consideration of how each object is broken down into simpler elements, and your leaves flow well through space in a way that shows your growing understanding of how they exist in all three dimensions, rather than just the two of the page itself. The one issue I have however is with your general line quality. There's a pervasive sort of "sketchiness" to how you're approaching things here, which suggests to me that you're not taking as much time as you should be to apply the ghosting method. In general, each line should consist of only one well planned and confidently executed mark.

There is an exception from this rule, but it is not without its risks - and that is the approach we use to draw longer branches with successive segments. The risk here is the reason we want to use a single line in all other areas - things can very easily get 'hairy', and this drastically reduces not only the resulting quality of the drawing, but also damages the illusion of solidity of our forms.

So when drawing these branches with individual segments, we always work to ensure that the segments flow together as smoothly as possible. In yours, I see a tendency to draw from one ellipse, and overshoot the second somewhat. This is good, as it is part of the instructions, but when overshooting the second ellipse, you must steer that line towards the third, such that when you start your next line segment, it should fall directly (or as close to directly as you can) on top of the previous line, making them flow together, as though they were all part of a single stroke.

Another thing that causes students to draw rather hairy linework is a bad habit of reinforcing lines they've drawn with additional strokes. This should be avoided at all costs.

Lastly, remember that any cylindrical forms should be drawn following the steps one would use to draw a cylinder. For example, this flower pot should have been constructed around a minor axis, to keep the ellipses lined up correctly. Additionally, try not to let things get cut off the page, and if they do, cap them off. If you have two lines running parallel and suddenly stopping freely in the middle of the page (like this one), that drastically flattens out your form. It's better to cap them off with an ellipse, as though the cylinder itself ended there, to reinforce the illusion that it is a three dimensional form.

I'd like you to do one more page of the branch exercise, taking care to keep your lines flowing smoothly together (and avoiding any additional lines that are not necessary).

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-08-18 20:06

Pretty nice work! Your line quality is looking pretty solid, your constructions are well done and you've got a lot of careful corrections spread out across the set. You're doing great.

The answer to your question is a little indirect - it's not so much about tricks and techniques that will help you figure things out on a particular box. What's important is building up your mental model of 3D space, and figuring out where you tend to do things incorrectly (especially the subtle mistakes that often go unnoticed when analyzed by the naked eye). As you improve more and more, you'll find that it becomes harder to identify the mistakes that are present, because they become much less significant in scope.

In that case, it becomes important to use the extending-lines approach mentioned in the challenge page (I'll reiterate it at the bottom of this comment as well). You have to get used to being able to see how lines that are parallel in 3D space converge with one another when drawn in 2D. The inside of the box consists of one line from each set of such parallel lines, and each has to abide by the same convergence of the other lines within its own set. This is where we tend to make little mistakes, having some lines within the set converge more quickly than others. This kind of incongruity results in the inside lines falling out of whack, because they're usually the last lines we draw.

So in order to improve our ability to notice these mistakes (both after they've happened, and before we actually make them), we need to incorporate this method of extending the lines back to identify where they've gone wrong.

Here's the method from the challenge page:

Each box consists of three sets of four parallel lines, each set having its own vanishing point. When going over a box in the correction phase, you can extend these lines two to three times their original length towards their implied vanishing point. This will give you a better sense of how these lines behave as they converge. Ideally all four lines of a given set will converge towards a single point at roughly the same rate. By extending these lines, you will start to notice how some lines within a set converge more quickly than others, which implies several points of convergence instead of just one. By being able to spot these mistakes, you should be able to learn from them that much more effectively.

I recommend that you take a page of boxes you've already drawn, and try extending the lines back to see where things are roughly correct, and where you've got outliers that stray much further from the rest of the lines within their own set.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Cylinder Challenge"

2017-08-18 19:57

Very nice work! You've paid careful attention to the alignment of your ellipses to the minor axis line, and in general have demonstrated a well developing grasp of 3D space. In addition, your line quality is quite solid, and you're experimenting with a nice variety of angles and orientations. Keep up the great work. I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete.

It's true that ballpoint pens tend to feel much better than felt tip pens (for one thing, ballpoints tend to have a much lighter touch). It is for this very same reason though that felt tip pens are much more useful as a learning tool, as they don't allow us as much freedom to noodle and think on the page. Instead we need to consider line economy to a greater degree, and be sure only to draw the marks that are necessary for our purposes.

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

2017-08-17 21:31

Your arrows and organic forms were done quite well. One thing I did want to point out however in regards to your contour ellipses (and to an extent your contour curves as well) is that you're hesitating somewhat while drawing them, and executing those marks slowly enough that some wobbling comes through. Remember that everything should be done using the ghosting method - so we invest our time into the preparation and planning phase, but execute our marks with confidence and a persistent pace. This probably will reduce your accuracy at first, but it's entirely necessary.

You made some solid attempts with your dissections and did a fair bit of experimentation, which is great to see. I do think that you certainly have room for improvement as far as your observational skills go, but you're pushing them in the right direction. I recommend that you give the notes over on the 25 texture challenge a read though, as it may fill in some gaps in your understanding of how to approach this sort of thing.

There were two other things I wanted to mention on that topic. Firstly, it's important to start this exercise out just as you would the organic forms with contour lines. You want to work on top of a form that is already imbued with the illusion of volume and solidity, rather than an empty organic shape. We really need that sense that it's a three dimensional object, so we have an easier time getting into the groove of "wrapping" these textures around those 3D forms.

Additionally, keep in mind that textures are essentially made up of smaller forms of their own. Usually those forms don't stick out too much from the surface, so we don't have to worry about their being 3D all that much, but there are definite cases where this becomes a major factor. For instance, the suckers of the octopi you used - where those tube-like forms connect to the main form ends up flattening out considerably, because there's nothing there to reinforce it. You'll actually find this often in later exercises, that leaving two lines running parallel and suddenly stopping tends to appear very flat. It's best to cap off such forms with another ellipse (assuming they're cylindrical), or with a matching contour curve. Here's what I mean.

Now obviously things with such significant forms sticking out of them starts to go beyond texture, though the line is somewhat blurry. That said, when looking at an octopus' tentacle, there definitely is much more going on than just the fact that they have suckers. When observing a texture, try and look deeper and ask yourself questions about the surface quality. Ask yourself, what makes a surface look wet, smooth, sticky, bumpy, rough, dry, etc. Think about whether it's shiny where the light hits it, or if the light tends to diffuse over the surface. Asking yourself questions like this is the first step to build up your observational skills.

Moving onto the form intersections, you've generally done a good job here, though mind you I did recommend in the instructions that you avoid forms that are overly stretched in any one dimension. Your cones/pyramids are definitely looking quite stretched. This generally brings more perspective distortion into the mix, which makes an already challenging exercise considerably more difficult. You did a pretty good job with it all the same, but we want to avoid anything that may serve as a distraction from the main focus of a given exercise.

Your organic intersections on the other hand were notably sloppy. Based on what I can see from your organic forms with contour lines, you're definitely capable of much better than this, but didn't really put the time in to establish the illusion of form and volume for each individual mass.

I'd like you to try this last exercise once again. Draw each form individually - think about how they're big and round, like balloons filled with water. Think about how they sag under their own weight, and how their neighbours hold them up. Draw your contour curves carefully, ensuring that they wrap around the forms completely. Lastly, keep the forms simple - basic sausage shapes are all you need. The more complex a form gets, the more difficult it is for it to maintain the illusion that it is three dimensional. This is why, in later lessons, we'll be talking about how to build things up from the simplest elements, rather than jumping into complex shapes and forms right off the bat.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 21:12

It's like running with weights on, at high altitude!

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-08-17 20:57

The flow of your leaves is definitely looking better. Your branches have improved somewhat as well, so I'll be marking this lesson as complete. There is something I want you to continue working on however, and that is getting the line segments of your branches to flow together a little better. As I explain here, you can achieve a smoother transition if you allow more room for those segments to overlap. Additionally, there's noticeable wobbling where you're letting your fear of being inaccurate get the better of you. When you execute a mark, draw confidently even if that means losing accuracy.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 14:13

Only a few more million boxes, and I will have the power to take over the world!

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 14:13

Uuuunfortunately you won't see any such video any time soon! I simply don't have the hardware to record myself like that (although I imagine I'd be kind of rusty - but I've already done my suffering!) Though I'm very glad to hear that the lessons were able to open you up to so much.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 14:11

Thanks!

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 03:07

That warms my heart to hear.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 01:16

Hahaha, I'm glad it's helped.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-17 01:15

It's been my pleasure.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-16 21:38

Unfortunately I don't have any such outline or path, and ultimately it would depend on your own goals. Figure drawing certainly does make sense as the next thing to tackle, but additionally you may want to look at Ctrl+Paint if you're interested in moving into digital media.

As far as the path that I took goes, I took two terms at a school called Concept Design Academy. During the first term, I took a Dynamic Sketching course (where I learned the basis of what I teach in drawabox), and also took an Analytical Figure Drawing course. I felt this gave me a pretty good basis with which to tackle more intermediate topics. The next term I took an environment design/illustration course, which focused on digital illustration, as well as a course on Form Language which covered the principles of design. Form language is actually something I'd like to get into myself on drawabox, though I'm unsure of how I'll handle it, or when I'll start moving in that direction.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-16 20:21

See, now that's perfectly appropriate for polite conversation! All I ask is that you ease up on the stuff that isn't, especially when tagging me in your messages.

On another note, I'm glad the lessons were able to help, and I hope they continue to do so.

Uncomfortable in the post "Happy Birthday, /r/ArtFundamentals!"

2017-08-16 19:30

That was the plan for some time, but it was never really about the standards of presentation. I'm just not great at teaching that subject, so continuing to pursue that end would be a bit silly. It's better for students to look to other resources, like Stan Prokopenko's youtube channel rather than offering something I'm not confident in.