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

2017-05-31 22:19

You are 100% fine in including a crustacean in your homework for this set, as they pose all of the same constructional challenges and really fit the same sort of configuration as arachnids. They're not arachnids, of course, but both crustaceans and arachnids belong to the umbrella group of "arthopods".

Anyway, overall you did a pretty great job with this lesson. You're demonstrating a really solid grasp of form and construction, as well as keeping your priorities in order. While you did pay some attention to texture and detail, you didn't let it distract you from building up your underlying forms and attempting to produce a solid basis for your drawing. The detail seemed to be more of an afterthought, which frankly, is exactly how I like it.

As far as construction goes, there is one thing that I want to stress a little bit. Remember that everything you put down on the page is not like placing a loose abstraction that will become something more solid later on. It's not like a sort of fog that eventually materializes once you're more certain of how things are going. A lot of artists do approach it in this way, and do so with a more loose sort of sketchy manner. That's not what we're after here.

Instead, try to perceive everything added as a form - something solid, with weight and volume to it - being added to this three dimensional pocket universe that is only perceptible through the window that is your piece of paper. Should you wish to change what you placed there, you'll have to deal with the form that was created in some fashion. If it were just smoke, you'd ignore it and go about your changes, and whatever was there previously would just evaporate. But because what's there is hard and unyielding, you must approach it as such. If it were marble or stone, you'd cut into it, and carve away the pieces that you didn't want.

This may sound arbitrarily similar to simply drawing in your changes, but the difference is that when carving and cutting, you must be aware of both resulting pieces. There's the piece that you're after, and the piece that you cut away. Both exist as three dimensional entities within this space, and by approaching it in this way, every cut effectively reinforces the solidity of your construction. Treat it as stone, and it will feel like stone. Treat it like smoke, and.. well, you get my meaning.

So for example, with this beetle, look at its abdomen. We can see the loose ellipse you started with, and the form that existed at the end - but we cannot see any clear carving or cut that took us from the former to the latter. Instead, it was simply decided that you wanted to go in a different route.

There's just one other thing I wanted to mention on the subject of texture. Every mark we put down on the page serves a purpose. Its purpose is to communicate some sort of description of what is being depicted to the person looking at it. The marks we put down when constructing things convey information about how it is put together, how it takes up and sits in space. It tells us about whether it is round, or angular, or pointy. Then there's the smaller details which tell us about whether it's rough, smooth, sticky, wet, bumpy, etc.

It's absolutely possible - and this happens frequently - that a mark you put down to communicate one idea, also speaks volumes about something you never meant to say. Sometimes, one part of our drawing says something strongly, but then another contradicts it entirely, resulting in a message that is muddy and unclear.

This sometimes happens when adding texture. Think back to contour lines - they're simply details that run along the surface of an object in such a clear way that they communicate to the viewer how that surface deforms and twists through space. They're very useful in the constructional stage of a drawing. Texture, however, can very much accomplish the same thing since it sits on the surface of that form - or, if you aren't careful and mindful of what your application of texture says about that surface, it can entirely contradict what you had made clear previously. In this way, applying texture too heavily and without thought for the form underneath, can cause an image to ultimately become unclear, and effectively become very flat.

Very long story short, always remember the form underneath. Try not to go overboard with texture, because the more you add, the more you're likely to contradict that kind of information. Instead, remember that it's all just communication - you only need to add enough texture to communicate a certain idea. If you pile on loads of detail that all says the same thing, it will all start to feel very overbearing and needlessly noisy.

Anyway! I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto the next one. Also, thank you for increasing your pledge! It's much appreciated.

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

2017-05-31 22:00

Your lines section is looking really solid. They're smooth and generally quite confidently executed. Your ellipses are okay, but there is definitely a notable amount of stiffness to them, where you're not quite allowing yourself to trust in your muscle memory. Your linework in this case isn't wobbly, but the shapes are thrown off as a result of you letting your brain drive your hand. Remember that the ghosting method involves investing all of your time into preparation, ultimately leading up to an execution with a confident, persistent pace. The flow and smoothness of the stroke is always going to be more important than your accuracy, so loosen up a little bit and allow yourself the room to make mistakes and achieve smoother lines. Your accuracy will improve again with practice, but that confidence is really the first thing we want to achieve.

Mind you, the stiffness I'm mentioning isn't to any major degree (in case my wording makes it seem like a giant thing), and it's a common issue. It's just definitely something you need to be aware of as you move forwards.

For your rough perspective boxes, I highly recommend going over your completed work as described here. This will help you identify areas where your estimation of perspective is off. This way you'll have a better idea of what to focus on the next time you attempt this exercise.

You made a pretty solid attempt at the rotated boxes exercise - if I had to recommend one thing, it'd be to make those boxes a little deeper. Right now they're quite thin, which in turn can make it a little more difficult to get a sense for how exactly they're sitting in 3D space. A more cube-like (not looking for perfect cubes or anything, just more towards that proportion) form will give you a more solid sense of how it occupies space, and will both make the exercise a little easier to relate to, while also giving your brain more of a spatial challenge.

You also made a solid attempt at the organic perspective boxes, though you'll certainly benefit from some additional practice in this area. I'm going to mark this lesson as complete, but I'd like you to move onto the 250 box challenge next. Be sure to read through all of the notes on that page, especially the tip about drawing through your forms. This in particular should help you better grasp how each box sits in 3D space.

Uncomfortable in the post "Frequently Asked Questions: I compiled a bunch of questions I felt were being asked rather frequently, so read through this list before asking your own."

2017-05-31 16:30

You can absolutely draw whatever you like when not doing the lessons - in fact, it's recommended, so long as you don't mix in doodling whilst actually attempting to do the exercises. Basically, when doing the exercises, make sure you follow the instructions to the letter. As for how many hours of drawing is too much... that's not really something I have an answer for. Ultimately it's a matter of how much you can do without it feeling like a chore. If you start to get tired, or disinterested, it's best to take a break so you don't burn out.

Uncomfortable in the post "A few problems I see frequently from students that get in the way of really selling the illusion that our drawings exist in three dimensional space, rather than being limited to the 2D space of the page"

2017-05-30 13:19

Ultimately the lessons on drawabox are always evolving (albeit slowly, because I rarely have the time to actually go back in and adjust wording/add exercises/etc). By continuing to critique homework, I see patterns that emerge in what people tend to miss, or what they pick on particularly consistently, and tweak the lessons accordingly. So ultimately, I plan on applying these observations back to the lessons.

The bit about the arrows, with one following perspective and the other failing to do so, isn't quite the point that I'm making. There will always be features that simply don't expand much into the depth of a scene, and that exist as a flat plane within a 3D space. The point there is more about choosing what we decide to exaggerate in order to really give a sense of the space being taken up by whatever object we're drawing. To push some of that construction towards a particular end, rather than respecting reality to the absolute. Foreshortening applies more, of course, when we exaggerate into the depth of a scene, but that's more of a side-effect.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-29 17:35

This page is definitely starting to show better flow to those leaves, so I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. On the topic of that particular page though, remember that your vase there is not paper thin, so the opening is going to have a bit of a lip to it (like a smaller ellipse inside of the larger one). Also, that minor axis you've drawn there should be cutting through the entire form in order to be of any significant use.

I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. I think you do have lots of room to grow, but you're starting to grasp what you should be aiming for, and the next lesson should help you push your grasp of 3D space much further.

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

2017-05-29 17:33

Definitely looking better. One thing that I noticed though is that you tend to maintain the same degree on those contour curves, then jump to the alternate orientation but maintaining the same degree. Try to play with having the degree decrease a little over the span of the organic form. These notes may also help you understand what I mean.

Anyway, I think you're demonstrating a better grasp of the content, so I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next one.

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

2017-05-29 17:29

Looking over your homework, there's a few things I've noticed:

I wrote these notes yesterday for another student, and I think in many ways they should help. Also, make sure that you are continuing to practice your earlier exercises as warmups so as to keep your linework confident and smooth, and to further develop your ability to construct solid primitive forms.

I'd like you to try 6 more pages of insect drawings, but I don't want you to go into any detail or texture. Focus entirely on construction.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-29 14:57

You don't seem to have included a link to any work for me to review.

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

2017-05-28 22:52

Those ghosted lines do need work as you mentioned, but they're heading in the right track. Aside from a touch of wobbling here and there, they're definitely looking smoother than before.

As for your pen issues, it's a bit difficult to say. There's a few things to be aware of:

As a side note, I did catch that you were using 0.3 staedtlers though. Those are definitely on the thin side. I generally recommend the 0.5s.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-28 20:43

There are definite improvements, though your leaves and your linework in general still feel rather stiff. Earlier today I posted these notes to the subreddit. Give them a read, then try another two pages. And take your time! I'm concerned about the fact that you posted this just a few hours after receiving the initial critique. Doesn't give you much time to reread the lesson, rewatch the video, and take your time with the pages you did.

Also, are you continuing to keep up with exercises from the previous two lessons as warmups? It's very important that you do so.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-28 17:33

There's definitely some good here, but there's a lot of places where you're not applying construction and instead jump in far too complex, way too early. The reason we want to start simple is because simpler forms are much easier to draw with a sense of solidity. A simple ball, a sausage-shaped organic form, a simple tube, a basic leaf shape made from a directional line and basic enclosing curves, etc. It's pretty straight forward to focus on how these things sit in 3D space, and therefore making them feel tangible is considerably easier. From there, we use this simpler foundation as a scaffolding on top of which to build up more complex information, and over several successive passes, we reach a much higher level of detail whilst maintaining solidity and believability all the way through.

Now I do see a general grasp of construction in many of your drawings, but it's more of a vague thing floating in the back of your mind, rather than your primary focus. For example, the directional lines of many of your leaves are not planned out as well as they could be, nor are they drawn with the sort of confident, persistent pace that conveys a strong directional flow through 3D space. I quite like this drawing, but those directional lines feel weak and wobbly, so they lay down a pretty weak foundation for the rest of the drawing.

Your Queen Anne's Lace obviously starts off with a very loose, poorly constructed hemisphere, but that's about as far as you go with your construction. I actually remembered that I had done a demo for a student for this very same plant, and while it's quite old, it should help how one might approach it constructionally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWwCp5ozRNg.

Another thing I see is loose, scribbly, largely thoughtless attempts at texture. For example, here and the bulb of this flower, although to a lesser extent. Never rely on any kind of randomness - every mark you put down should be planned and considered, and should reflect some clear intent on your part.

I actually quite liked this one, as the texture was clearly thought through (although it doesn't quite wrap around the trunk of the tree that well). Additionally, the leaves look especially solid due to their being left relatively blank as far as texture goes, along with the strong use of line weight.

Lastly, your attempt at barley seemed to largely devolve more into arbitrary sketching than construction. I can certainly understand why - students tend to fall back to old methods when they're overwhelmed or uncertain how to deal with a problem. It's important that you discipline yourself and hold true to the specific, planned approach of construction however.

While I'm on the fence, I am going to mark this lesson as complete. I feel that the next lesson should give you ample opportunity to focus your attention on construction. I do highly recommend however that you try and separate out the process of construction and texture - I see a few signs here that they're getting a little muddled together, and it's quite common for me to see students who get distracted by the fact that they will be adding texture and detail, to the point that they don't end up spending as much time on construction which frankly is the far more important phase. Either doing more drawings with no detail whatsoever, or taking pictures of them before adding detail (and submitting those with your homework) will put added pressure to focus more in that area.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-28 16:58

The reason it feels odd is because it's naked. Where previously you could cover up the basic construction with detail and texture, now the issues in the drawing's foundation are exposed. It's a good thing.

The issue here is that your drawings don't read as being three dimensional. In my earlier critique, I mentioned how we're constructing the illusion that the objects we've drawn exist in a 3D space, rather than just a flat page. We're trying to sell the lie that the page itself is just a window into a deeper world.

The first person who needs to be fooled into believing that lie is you. And right now, you're not convinced.

I just threw these notes together. They go over several issues I see in your work currently that get in the way of really selling that illusion. Ultimately however, the most important thing is working towards having yourself believe that what you're drawing is three dimensional. The analogy I usually use to explain the importance of this is as follows:

If you've drawn a circle on a page, and you believe it to be a circle, then drawing a mark across it is as simple as drawing a straight line from one side to the other. If, however, your brain is convinced that what you've drawn is in fact a sphere, then your brain will actively stop you from drawing a straight line - you will feel compelled to curve that line so that it follows along the surface of the three dimensional form, thinking of that as the path of least resistance.

Anyway, once you give those notes a read (and also, I recommend that you rewatch the intro video for this lesson, as I talk a lot about the three dimensionality of form there as well), try another four pages.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-28 16:08

What stands out the most to me is that you're not really following the leaf construction approach explained in the lesson. You tend to start off at a much more complex state (with wavy edges to your leaves and so on), rather than starting off with a simple curving line for each side of the leaf and then building up that complexity in later passes within the structure you've already laid down.

Here are some notes covering some of the major issues I've seen in your submission. I'd like you to read through them, then read through the lesson again (as well as rewatch the intro video), then try again. Also make sure you've read through the construction article and look at the demos shown there.

Then I'd like you to do four more pages of plant drawings with no detail or texture whatsoever.

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

2017-05-28 15:31

Overall, you're demonstrating a lot of care and patience in your completion of these exercises. The biggest issue that I'm seeing however is one that is pervasive and impacts all of your linework - and while it's an important thing to solve, it's also a very common problem that can be mostly fixed by a change in one's approach rather than 'practice practice practice'.

The issue is that your lines are stiff and wobbly. This is a sign that you're hesitant, worried about making a mistake when drawing, and as such you slow down and trust in your brain to guide your hand as you go, as your brain can course-correct if you happen to go off track. This happens when we prioritize accuracy over the smoothness and flow of our lines. Both are definitely important, but what you really want is for smoothness to take the top spot.

When making any of our marks, we apply the ghosting method. This means all of our preparation, all of our careful planning and patience goes into the first two steps - laying down our planned start and end of our line, then finding a comfortable angle of approach and ghosting through that motion to build up muscle memory. Once that's done, the execution of the mark must be performed with a confident, persistent pace. The brain no longer plays a role, as it has already passed its orders down to your arm - it is your muscles that you must trust in.

This may, and in fact will result in you making mistakes. You'll miss the mark every now and then, more frequently near the beginning and less so later on. This is perfectly fine. Mistakes happen, but what matters most right now is that your lines are smooth and flow well. If your line takes off at a slightly inaccurate trajectory, you must maintain that trajectory rather than change it mid-stroke.

This applies to all of your marks - straight lines, curves, waves, and even ellipses. You will find that my insistence upon drawing through ellipses will make more sense as you draw more confidently, as it tends to help keep them in check, with the second time around being an opportunity for your muscles to apply what they messed up with during the first.

As a side note to that, also make sure that you're drawing from your shoulder. Drawing from your wrist can also be a factor that results in wobblier lines.

Aside from that, you're doing quite well. The rotated boxes and organic perspective boxes seemed to be the only areas where you struggled much, and both of those were intended to be that way. I do however have a tip for the rotated boxes:

Try to keep the gaps between your boxes narrow and consistent - this will allow you to use neighbouring edges as hints when drawing new lines, and will generally maintain the overall structure.

I am going to mark this lesson as complete, but I'd like you to move onto the 250 box challenge next, both to give you more practice with the challenge faced with the organic perspective boxes, but also to allow you to practice executing your lines more confidently. Be sure to read through all of the notes on the challenge page, especially the tip about drawing through your forms. This in particular should help you better grasp how each box sits in 3D space.

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

2017-05-28 15:14

Pretty nice work! You've definitely got a lot of clear confidence to your linework. There's a few areas where we're actually going to reel this back a bit, but in general this is a very good thing. It ensures that your lines are smooth, that your ellipses are evenly shaped, and more importantly, that nothing is ever stiff or wobbly.

So the areas where we need to pull this back are:

Additionally, for your rough perspective boxes, be sure to go over your completed work as described here to help identify where your estimation of perspective is off and could need work, so you know what to focus on in your next attempt.

Overall you're doing pretty well, so I'm going to mark this lesson as complete. I'd like you to move onto the 250 box challenge next, as I believe you'll benefit from some additional attention to those freely rotated boxes. Be sure to read through all of the notes on the challenge page, especially the tip about drawing through your forms. This in particular should help you better grasp how each box sits in 3D space.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-27 23:37

You indeed have one-knee-too-many. Look at the drawing I did in the bottom right corner there. There's two sections, the thigh and the calf.

As for the paper size, you're presenting two conflicting sets of goals. One set are the goals I impose upon you, the others are the ones you bring to the table yourself. Ultimately when following a set of lessons, and especially when being instructed directly by someone else, you should be setting your own goals aside. The reason is that you are not yet in the position to really understand how your goals might fit into those I've laid out for you in a complementary way, and so they become very distracting.

Luckily for you, the goal of being able to draw smaller ellipses more confidently is also a goal I hold for you - and the recommendations I make will also help you achieve them. While it may seem like the best way to practice a specific thing is to do that very same thing until it comes out right - but this isn't always the most efficient approach. Just trust me on this, as someone who has faced the same challenges - once you really get used to drawing at a larger scale, the confidence you gain there will apply to smaller scales too.

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

2017-05-27 00:01

Great work. Your organic forms and contour lines do a pretty good job of conveying those volumes (though I definitely think that you could use a little more focus in your contour curves specifically, which are definitely coming along well but need just a little extra push to really solidify). Your dissections show a lot of great experimentation and fantastic variety, with different approaches being used across the board. Your form intersections are very consistent and cohesive, and show a sense of 3D space that is coming along well. Some of your boxes are a little skewed at times, and your near/far plane size relationship isn't always the best, but in general things feel quite solid, and it all seems to be on track.

Lastly, your organic intersections are decent - I definitely get the sense that you fully grasp how each form interacts with its neighbours. What falls a little short here is that the contour curves themselves aren't the greatest, especially the ones that run along the length of each sausage form. This really comes back to a little extra focus on this front, keeping your mind on the illusion that these lines run along the very surface of the form, and therefore must hook around whenever that surface turns away.

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

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-26 23:57

Really lovely work. You're demonstrating an exceptional grasp of form and 3D space, and you're not allowing the stress of adding detail and texture to distract you from the constructional phase as many people do. You focus entirely on what you're drawing right then and there, and you leave future problems for later. That's exactly how it should be done. You're also confident with your linework, and while you clearly draw some lines a little more faintly (which tends to hinder the confidence and smoothness of those lines), those lines still come out looking bold in all ways except their weight, so that's totally fine.

As far as texture goes, you do have a lot of great experimentation here, and that is exactly what is expected. A sense for texture requires the development of both a visual library (by doing experimentation like this), and more experience with different ways to tackle particular surface qualities. The lessons here are primarily focused on learning how to apply construction, but your use of texture is coming along exactly as it should be. Continue experimenting, and continue allowing yourself to make mistakes, as that is what will help you figure out what works well and what doesn't. The only recommendation I have in this particular case is to try and use less hatching. For example, in places like your bottle palm, it tends to feel more generic and doesn't quite express the more specific texture you're after. Hatching is often used in this way, and I find that if students simply force themselves to stop using it, they find themselves more likely to look deeper and see the patterns and rhythms that exist in their objects.

Anyway, keep up the great work. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-26 23:51

Definitely a big improvement. Next we want to focus on three-dimensionality. You're still dealing with a lot of things as though you're drawing 2D shapes on a flat page. Yes, technically that is what you're doing, but what we're trying to sell to others is the illusion that the page is just a window into a whole three dimensional space, and everything we draw consists of solid three dimensional forms that exist within that space. If you allow yourself to solve your spatial problems as two dimensional ones, your drawing will come out flat. You've got to always ask yourself how things fit together, how they sit in 3D, and what kind of volumes they have.

Now I know I called you out as drawing on paper that was too small before, and you pointed out that you were drawing on A4 which should generally be fine. That said, you're still drawing as though your paper is too small - the way you approach smaller details, like the nose, the eyes, it's all very cramped and stiff. Find bigger paper and draw bigger.

Here are some more notes. Again, again!

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

2017-05-26 23:26

Very nicely done! Your lines are well thought out and executed, your ellipses are confident and evenly shaped, and your boxes demonstrate a well developed sense of 3D space. You've clearly taken your time with all of these, and it's paid off. I also appreciate the careful attention to my instructions.

To be honest, there isn't a whole lot of critique I have to offer. I noticed that your minor axes in your funnels exercise didn't always go all the way through all of the ellipses (which could hinder your ability to align your ellipses to that line, which is a significant part of the exercise), but that's honestly minor at best. So, I'll give you your next steps instead.

I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, but next I want you to read through the notes over at the 250 box challenge. Your current understanding of 3D space is coming along great, so I am by no means requiring you to complete the challenge. There's just some information there that should be quite helpful - most importantly the tip about drawing through your forms, which should help push arbitrarily rotated boxes like the organic perspective exercise up to the next level by giving you a better grasp of how each box sits in 3D space.

You're welcome to move onto lesson 2 whenever you feel ready.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-26 23:22

I think things definitely improve over the set, so the weaker ones are near the beginning and the stronger ones are at the end - I definitely hope they're in chronological order!

Now while there's plenty of room to grow with this, I am going to mark this lesson as complete because of that demonstrated improvement. That said, here are a few tips:

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

2017-05-26 23:17

Not bad! Your arrows flow nicely through 3D space and delve in and out of the depth dimension rather than just going across 2D space. Your contour curves wrap nicely around your organic forms, giving the impression that they actually hook all the way around the rounded surface. Your dissections demonstrate a variety of interesting textures, tackled with different approaches tailored to the particular subject matter rather than using a cookie-cutter approach. Your form intersections feel consistent and well constructed, and the intersections themselves are even well done (though that requires a fairly advanced grasp of 3D space. Lastly, your organic intersections show a well developing sense of how those forms all interact with one another.

The only thing that jumped out at me was that you didn't include the minor axis lines in your organic forms with contour curves, and as such the alignment of some of those contour curves are a little off. Make sure you include these in the future.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete.

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

2017-05-26 20:26

Thanks for your interest in pursuing my lessons! I currently limit my homework critiques to those who support me on patreon - if you happen to do so, check your patreon inbox as I always reach out to new patrons to get their reddit information. It's also important to know that I only critique work in order - that is, students complete lesson 1 first and submit it for critique, wait for a response and the go-ahead to move onto the next lesson and so on. It's time consuming but it allows me to identify key errors that tend to be hidden in later lessons.

It also looks like you only included the last two exercises in your submission - when submitting work for my critique, the submission should include all homework for that lesson.

Laaastly, it looks like you did the work in pencil. I only accept work done with the recommended tools (listed in the homework section for each lesson - in this case, ink, specifically fineliners).

Now none of these restrictions apply if you want to receive a homework submission from the community (by posting directly to the subreddit here). People will generally respond more if you stick to the conditions above that I hold for my own critiques, but it's more of a recommendation in that case.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-26 14:06

http://patreon.com/uncomfortable, but I don't allow students to jump in midway. I require students to submit starting from lesson 1, moving on only once they've received a critique and the go-ahead. It's a lengthy process, but allows me to identify issues that might otherwise be hidden in later lessons.

Posting your homework directly to the subreddit for community critique has no such restrictions, and others will offer whatever advice they can.

If I had to recommend one thing after looking at your homework, it's to try focusing more on construction by simply not adding texture or detail to these drawings. Try to achieve as much as you can through the addition and manipulation of solid, 3D form, then stop before adding additional visual information like fur, feathers, etc. - basically anything that wraps around existing forms without having visible volume of its own.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-26 13:08

More like 1.2, as 2 starts incorporating more textural elements (like the little chips that break the silhouette on the dome of the mushroom).

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-25 13:17

Your lines aren't wobbly because you're drawing from the shoulder - it's a little more complicated than that. They're wobbly because you're hesitating and drawing slowly. You're hesitating because you're not comfortable drawing from the shoulder, and you're afraid you're going to make mistakes, so you want your brain to guide your hand, which in turn results in the wobbles. Like I said before, draw confidently - I recommend taking a couple pages and just drawing arbitrary ellipses and lines on it, don't worry a lick about drawing a specific mark, just focus on drawing confidently so your lines come out smooth and even. Once you're used to doing that, try and apply that confidence to your drawings, after ghosting/preparing appropriately.

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

2017-05-25 02:17

Quite well done! Your linework has a strong sense of confidence to it, which helps to maintain marks that are smooth and ellipses that are evenly shaped. This is something that will definitely help as you continue to move forwards, as hesitation and wobbling is one of the most common issues I see from students at this stage.

Just a couple recommendations for the boxes section:

Lastly, your organic perspective boxes are coming along quite well, though I think you'll benefit from a little extra practice in this area. So, I'll be marking this lesson as complete but I'd like you to move onto the 250 box challenge next. Be sure to read through all of the notes on that challenge page, especially the tip about drawing through your forms. This in particular will help you better grasp how each box sits in 3D space.

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

2017-05-25 02:12

I ended up getting off work an hour or so earlier than I'd expected, so I figured I'd work through the critique backlog before it ended up overwhelming me.

Overall your work is looking pretty solid! You're working through all of the exercises quite patiently, and exhibit a good sense of 3D space through the boxes section. You even do a pretty solid job when dealing with the rotated boxes and organic perspective boxes exercises, which were intentionally included here without any expectation of success from students. They're really meant to give students the opportunity to be exposed to the struggles of rotating boxes freely in 3D space. You seem to have a pretty good grasp of this, however.

There's only one thing that I noticed throughout the lesson that you'll want to work on. It's on the subtler side of things, but it's quite pervasive and impacts just about everything - your lines show signs of the slightest hesitation. When you draw, just before you execute your marks, you slow down. It's a common thing, and it's usually the result of a student being a little worried (consciously or unconsciously) that they're about to make a mistake. As a result, they draw a little slower so their brain can help guide their hand as they go, and course-correct if necessary. This of course results in a line that is a little stiff or wobbly, and it impacts all of the marks one makes. This includes straight lines, curves, even ellipses.

In your case, it's almost unnoticeable, but it is there - so you'll want to continue pushing yourself to apply the ghosting method. That is, investing all of your time in the preparation phase, and then accepting the possibility of making a mistake. This means drawing with a confident, persistent pace, which MAY result in a line that veers off slightly, and accepting that risk. What is always more important is that your lines flow smoothly, and this can only be achieved by drawing with confidence.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Keep up the great work and feel free to move onto lesson 2. Before you do though, I recommend that you give the notes on the 250 box challenge page a read through, especially the tip about drawing through your forms. This in particular will help you better grasp how each box sits in 3D space, which is especially important when you need to figure out how different forms relate to one another.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-05-25 02:04

Very nice work! Your constructions and line weights are looking very solid. I did notice though that you haven't gone through the correction phase of the challenge, which is highly recommended (as it is by identifying our mistakes that we really learn from them). At this point, it's likely quite difficult to identify mistakes in your boxes by eye, as you've reached the stage where they end up being very subtle things.

So in that case, I recommend taking a page or two and applying the following method (which was also mentioned in 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.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Those corrections are really for your own benefit, so you don't need to submit them. Feel free to move onto lesson 2 when you're ready.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-25 02:02

Definitely not bad. There's a lot of strong work here that demonstrates a developing grasp of the constructional method and the principles it espouses. One thing about plants that can generally be quite challenging for beginners is that there's often a lot of complexity in how different forms connect to one another, and in general, there's just a lot going on. Of your two potted plants, I think the first one definitely succumbed to that overwhelming complexity, but the second fared much better.

One very important thing to keep in mind here is the importance of structure over detail. Whether you choose to push a drawing into texture and detail really shouldn't be something you think about or allow to influence your approach until you've fleshed out a solid construction that captures the majority of the object. This is where most beginners tend to struggle - they get caught up in wanting to capture the variety of textures present, and it ends up occupying their minds as they work through the construction. Constructing while distracted results in a weaker underlying foundation for the rest of the drawing, as well as one that ends up being much more disorganized. The mushroom and the lemon are definitely examples of this in your work.

Anyway, in general you're doing reasonably well, so I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next lesson, where you'll continue to be pushed to think about 3D space and how the forms you're drawing all fit together.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-25 01:55

One thing that really jumps out at me across the board is that your mind is more focused on the details and textures of each drawing, rather than the establishment of the basic forms, and the principle of going from the simplest possible expression of how things occupy and flow through space, to more complex levels of visual information. Always remember that detail is not important - it may seem like the part of the drawing that matters most (because that's what beginners always receive the most compliments on from those who aren't familiar with drawing), but it's really the underlying structure that matters. You want to focus on constructing the illusion that your drawing occupies 3D space, rather than simply being lines running across a flat page.

Here are some notes about your approach to leaves.

Looking at your branches, a couple other things jumped out at me:

Your mushroom is a good example of the importance of drawing through your forms. This means drawing not only the parts of the forms that you see, but also what is occluded. Take a look at this mushroom demo from the construction article. Notice how I draw each form in its entirety? This helps me understand how those forms sit in 3D space and how they relate to one another.

I think there are a lot of signs in this lesson that you are gradually grasping a good deal of the material and the principles of construction, but pushing your priorities more towards construction rather than detail is definitely in order. I'd like to see you do four more pages of plant drawings, this time focusing entirely on construction with no detail or texture whatsoever. Make sure you draw each line confidently, and accept that once you've ghosted through the drawing motion and generally prepared all you can, mistakes MAY still happen and that is perfectly okay.

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

2017-05-25 01:35

It's always a good idea to revisit the earlier lessons, and you've generally done a really solid job. Your lines and ellipses are confident and evenly shaped. Your boxes are generally well done too, just a couple things worth pointing out:

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-25 01:32

Here's some notes.

We'll get to your proportions eventually, but I want to hammer out these major points first. Try again - same deal, take pictures of every stage of construction.

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

2017-05-25 01:14

I'll be marking this lesson as complete, but here are a few things you'll definitely want to continue to focus on as you move forwards:

There's definitely room for improvement, but as long as you continue to practice the exercises from lessons 1 and 2 regularly as part of a warmup routine (I describe this in greater detail in the introduction to lesson 1), you should be on track.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-23 00:51

I noticed a few issues in your warmups that are definitely worming their way into your main drawings.

Moving onto your attempt at lesson 5, since you're drawing all of your forms so timidly, your constructions end up feeling quite weak and flimsy, and you're not really able to build any sort of foundation on which to build your animals. Instead you end up floundering, drawing a lot of unnecessary lines in the hopes that adding more will cause something to come together.

You need to step back and focus on each mark you put down - think about every individual form. When you draw, your brain is several steps ahead of your fingers - you're drawing the head, but your brain's already on the torso. You're also still showing signs that you're working quite a bit from memory, instead of observing your reference closely and looking away only for a second or two to put down a couple marks at a time.

First, take a look at this overdrawing of your squirrel. Look at how I approach each individual form - my ellipses are continuous lines, and they're drawn with confidence. I'm not concerned with trying to hide my lines, all I care about is building solid forms. Once I've decided a particular form needs to be drawn in a specific spot, the rest of the drawing disappears - all I focus on is drawing that single form. In your drawings, at this point you're still thinking about the whole thing.

Next, I want you to reread the lesson material, watch the video again, and reread the last critique I gave you. You're still doing a lot of what I mentioned there, and I think part of that is because you left such massive gaps between your attempts. We are only human - we are practically designed to forget things.

Lastly, I want you to do a single drawing, of a specific reference. Draw this raccoon. Take photographs at each stage of construction so I can see how you approach it. I also want this to be construction-only. No detail whatsoever - I noticed that you included bits of fur and such in your other drawings. By construction-only, I mean the second-last step (so step 3 of 4) of the squirrel demo I drew over your work.

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

2017-05-23 00:17

Your organic forms with contour curves are looking good. Your form intersections are generally well done too, although you should definitely be drawing through those boxes in order to better grasp how they sit in 3D space (which is really what this exercise is all about). Also when drawing cylinders, follow the approach detailed in the 250 cylinder challenge page - specifically constructing around a minor axis to keep your ellipses aligned. Lastly, your organic forms with contour ellipses are a little loose at times - try to work on keeping those ellipses snugly between the edges of the organic form.

Your 250 box challenge is reasonably well done, just a couple recommendations. You have a tendency to draw your boxes quite small, which can be restrictive to one's ability to think through spatial problems (which is effectively what boxes are). Drawing larger (maybe about twice the size of most of your boxes) will help. Also, the following approach was mentioned in the challenge page, I recommend using it on a page or two of your boxes to help identify some of the mistakes that may be more difficult to catch by eye:

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'll go ahead and mark this lesson and the challenge as complete, so go ahead and move onto the next lesson. Keep in mind though that you should continue to practice the exercises from lessons 1 and 2 regularly as part of a warmup routine as discussed in the intro to the first lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge"

2017-05-23 00:12

Very nice work! I'm very pleased to see the lengths you went to in order to identify mistakes and ensure that your angles are generally correct. Over the course of this set, you've definitely improved on many fronts - your general sense of 3D space, your confidence, and your ability to convey the illusion of solidity. Or at least, through the first 150-200. After that I think you probably lost your steam a little bit, but that's understandable.

Near planes are technically not always bigger, and when those planes get particularly skewed that rule falls apart. That said, it's still a good rule of thumb for beginners that suggests the rule that is more complex, but also more reliable - all lines parallel in 3D space converge at the same rate towards a single point when drawn in 2D. That's effectively the principle you demonstrated when extending the lines of your boxes back to check their alignment and convergence.

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"

2017-05-23 00:07

On most of these you're not quite getting your curves to wrap around the rounded form. This page was better, but as you can see from the notes I added, you're still not quite there yet. Try another two pages, and take your time. Rushing won't help.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-22 23:58

You are definitely demonstrating a decent grasp of texture, although one significant issue I'm noticing is that your focus on texture is vastly overshadowing your efforts towards laying down the underlying construction. To put it simply, too much attention to detail, not enough attention to what comes before.

This is a pretty common issue, especially with those who aren't confident with texture. They end up rushing through the earlier phase so they can jump into the area they feel is their weakest.

In your situation, your use of construction isn't bad (although your heads do seem to be your weakest area), but what definitely suffers is the actual observation and study required of your reference image to decide which forms go where, and what the proportional relationships between them should be.

So, I want you to try another 6 pages of animal drawings, but this time I want you to include no texture or detail whatsoever. Focus on studying your reference images carefully, and pay more attention to how they're put together. Remember that the ribcage and pelvis masses are meant to actually reflect the actual rib cage and pelvis - so try and identify their orientation and size in your reference image first, then lay it down to match in your drawing. In your drawings, they seem to be quite arbitrary, with your pelvises being both far too large, and also at odd angles.

Of course this isn't to say you haven't had successes in this set - this goose (on the top) and this bear (on the bottom) are quite well done.

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

2017-05-22 23:00

Pretty nice work! Just a couple things I'd like to mention:

The rest was done quite well - your contour curves wrap around the forms nicely, your form intersections demonstrate a solid grasp of 3D space, and your organic intersections show that you understand how these forms interact with one another. Keep up the good work and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-22 22:51

These are generally showing a better grasp of construction and form. Just a couple of recommendations:

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

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals"

2017-05-21 18:04

I agree that you've definitely made progress, and while there is plenty of room to grow, you're definitely back on track. That horse at the end especially makes me confident in your improvement (although the mane/hair is quite scribbly - definitely try and stop that habit of scribbling any lines at all, as there's no particularly good use of that approach, so it isn't serving you at all).

The jaguar's head is definitely still cartoony, but I'm confident that you'll be able to sort that out with additional practice along these lines. Lastly, for the chameleon, my only recommendation is that the ridge along its back could have used a contour line or two to help clarify how that surface flows through space as well as the volume of that particular form.

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

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

2017-05-21 17:57

Quite well done! Your arrows are flowing nicely through 3D space, your dissections demonstrate a good start in terms of careful observation and thinking through how to tackle a variation of textures in different ways, your form intersections demonstrate a good grasp of how they sit in 3D space whilst maintaining a sense of cohesiveness together, and your organic intersections show me that you seem to grasp how these forms interact with one another, supporting each others' weight and sagging where appropriate.

The only issue I noticed was that your organic forms with contour ellipses and contour curves are a touch on the sloppy side. I can see that you're hooking them around in order to achieve the illusion that they're actually wrapping around the rounded form, but it doesn't look to me like you're really paying enough attention to each individual curve. Additionally, you're not doing a particularly good job of aligning each curve to its minor axis. Your ellipses are somewhat better in this regard - it's important to keep in mind that each curve is merely the visible portion of the entire ellipse that goes all the way around, and therefore behaves in the same way in terms of its alignment.

I'd like you to do one more page of organic forms with contour ellipses and two more pages of organic forms with contour curves.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-05-21 17:52

There's a lot of signs that your ability to think in terms of 3D space is improving. That said, you're still not putting enough effort into blocking your constructions out with primitive forms. Here's some redlining.

When I first glanced at your work yesterday when I added it to my backlog, I was seriously considering marking this lesson as complete. Upon the closer examination required to add all of the additional notes, I've decided against that. This does mean that you're close, but in general you're skipping too many steps and still not following my instructions to the letter. It's better for you to try again and to push yourself harder to follow the instructions.

As an additional restriction to hopefully force you to take some more time, I don't want you to resubmit until Saturday.

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

2017-05-19 22:48

Definitely looking better on both fronts. For the dissections, make it a point to avoid any kind of hatching whatsoever - it's commonly used as a sort of catch-all texture by beginners who end up making it a habit in order to (unintentionally) avoid really looking closer to see what textures are actually present on a given surface. You definitely have a ways to go on this front of course, but the use of stippling and the more careful approach to the pine cone texture are definitely signs that you're moving in the right direction.

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

2017-05-19 22:44

These are definitely looking better. Your proportions are a little off in some places (like the ant), but this is pretty normal, and will improve as you continue to develop your observational skills. What's important is that your forms feel solid and cohesive. There's certainly room for improvement, but you're moving in the right direction. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2017-05-19 22:43

I do think you're moving in the right direction. You will improve with practice, so be sure to continue practicing this stuff as well as the other exercises from the first two lessons as warmups, but I'll mark this lesson as complete. Here's a couple additional tips:

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-05-19 03:24

This new drawing is considerably better. In this case, those wheels are grounded due to being constructed around that center line of the larger plane. In the previous tank drawings, there was no clear relationship between any clearly defined proportional measurement to the positioning of those wheels.

As for your other question, these drawings are split up into construction and detail, with detail being the very last step of pasting additional markings onto the surfaces of your constructed forms as though they were stickers, and construction being quite literally everything else. So in the case of the car demo, I'm talking about this. Notice how everything is based on form, every element that's been added has clear consideration for how it sits in 3D space? The step after that (which is the last step for that drawing) is where I don't worry about space and form quite as much and tack on additional incidentals.

So for the other demos, we're talking about this stage and this stage (although in the latter, I never really went that far into detail so the last step of the cab-over truck could also be considered part of construction).

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2017-05-18 21:41

There's some good here and some not so good, so you're still kind of riding the edge of demonstrating that you understand, and not quite grasping the material.

I definitely think this page is going in the right direction in terms of your general grasp of boxy forms. This is effectively how all of your constructions should start - relying heavily on boxes to block everything out.

When it comes to curvy cars, what's most important to realize is that those curves are just a manner of interpreting straight edges. That is to say, a curve can be summarized as two or three straight lines - so if you are able to construct those straight lines and get them to sit right, you can then use them as the scaffolding for a curved line later on.

On the topic of the proportions of your wheels, I agree - you definitely need work on your observation skills there. Proportions are something that people generally do struggle with, but I can definitely see that the wheels even in your proportion studies are off. Take a closer look at your reference, as that three-wheel height you've got there definitely makes your wheels too small in relationship to the car.

Another issue I noticed is that in this page, the long plane you've used to situate your wheels does not line up to the lines of the box. If you looked at the top/bottom lines of the side plane of that box, those two lines should be going to the same implied vanishing point as the top and bottom of the wheel-plane. If you were to extend those four lines however, you'd find that the top of the wheel plane is going to a very different place. As far as your execution of straight lines go, they are very straight so I'm not actually sure if you're using a ruler or not - if you're not, you are allowed to. A ruler will help you gauge your lines a little more easily and keep things lined up better, since you'll be able to position your ruler and decide whether or not you want to commit to a line before drawing it.

Then there's the fact that in this tank, the wheels are just floating arbitrarily - their overall position is not based on anything that I can see. I had pointed this out in my last critique, that you're incorporating guesswork where there should be none.

Lastly, most if not all of these drawings are unfinished. That's not really what I'd consider to be a full extra 8 pages. The more I think about it, and the more I look over your work, I'm not seeing all that much of what I asked for - which was specifically more attention being paid to the content of the lesson itself. Read it over. Rewatch the videos. Then sit down and complete eight full pages - take each drawing to the completion of its construction, regardless of how you feel about how it's going. Don't just stop because it feels wrong, the point of the homework is not to produce pretty drawings, it's to learn. We learn by making mistakes and understanding those mistakes. If you just stop and move to the next page, you're not giving yourself the chance to understand what went wrong.

Lastly, I recommend you also take a look at this.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants"

2017-05-18 21:24

Very nice work! You've got a lot of great examples of solid construction here, and I can clearly see with most of them that you're taking your time, going from simple blocking in and gradually increasing complexity with subsequent passes.

The only thing I want to mention though is that when approaching these drawings, remember that they are just exercises - our focus is not in producing a pretty drawing at the end, but rather in what we understand in regards to how our forms sit in 3D space and how they interact with one another. To this end, you should avoid drawing your earlier passes more faintly, or trying to hide construction in this way. If you don't draw these forms more confidently, the underlying construction will be somewhat weaker and feel less solid. In turn, this will impact later passes, as the foundation on which they rest won't be as sturdy.

Always remember that the smaller the detail, and the later in the drawing process a mark is made, the less important it is in the grand scheme of things. Therefore worrying too much about texture or detail, or putting a mark down for aesthetic reasons rather than actually fleshing out how it fits in with all of the other forms, is not the best possible use of your time.

When saying this, I am referring specifically to things like your venus fly traps, which are definitely weaker in regards to construction. Here you merely loosely sketched the underdrawing and then went to town drawing exactly what you saw without taking the time to understand how it all sit in 3D space. This trains you to reproduce an image effectively, but not to construct something new later on.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next lesson.