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Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-27 14:21

Thanks for the pledge! I just sent off some messages via patreon's messaging system to all new pledges, just to do some housekeeping (mainly finding everyone's reddit usernames so I can keep track of that).

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-27 14:18

Yup, that's what I took. They have a term in the fall (starts early October), a term in winter (starts early February) and a term in spring (starts early June). CDA's not a standard, accredited school - they don't have set programs (though they do have suggested curriculum structures you could choose to follow). In my experience (I don't know if they've changed their policies but I highly doubt it) there are very few courses with actual prerequisites, if any - so I'm not sure what you're referring to about foundational courses requiring other foundational courses.

Since they're not accredited, they're not able to give out student visas - that said, as Canadians we can be in the United States for up to 6 months out of every 12 under the visa waiver program (which is basically a tourist visa). This is applicable to taking short-term instructional courses, so there's no issue there (as long as you don't plan to work while you're down there). The only problem is that between terms there's a month long break - I went back home during that time, and then came back for the following term. Following this approach, you can take two consecutive terms.

At least for me, 2 courses per term was ideal, though it depends a lot on which courses you're taking as some are more work-heavy than others. During my first term, I overloaded a bit and registered for four - Vis Com: Dynamic Sketching (with Peter Han), Analytical Figure Drawing (with Kevin Chen), Sketching for Environment (with Ed Li) and Intro to Perspective (don't remember who taught this one). I ended up dropping intro to perspective after the first class (got a 50% refund), because I had definitely bitten off way more than I could chew (technical perspective is VERY work-intensive). Learning how to use technical perspective is definitely hugely important, but I had a limited amount of time and I felt that Vis Com gave me what I needed in that area. I still don't regret that decision, although there are times where I could do with a stronger understanding of technical perspective. Over the course of the term, I also ended up moving focus away from Sketching for Environment as I didn't feel like I was benefitting as much from my time investment there as I was from Vis Com.

All in all, this first term was spent focusing on relearning my fundamentals and sorting through the disorganized mess my current skill set had become. If I had to do it again, I'd probably just stick to Vis Com and Analytical Figure Drawing, both invaluable and fantastic courses taught by exceptional instructors.

The second term was spent on more intermediate topics - I took only two courses, Environment Design (with James Paick) and Intro to Form Language (with John Park). Neither of these instructors teach there anymore -they went and founded their own school, the Brainstorm School which is another option. There's no reason you can't take classes at multiple schools simultaneously (I knew a guy who was taking classes at CDA and Red Engine (i think this one's closed now) simultaneously), the only difficulty being commuting as Los Angeles is massive and full of traffic. The classes are still around though, just taught by other instructors. I know Peter Han took over the Intro to Form Language class, I'm not sure who's teaching Environment Design. I think they also added an Intro to Environment Design class as well.

Anyway, feel free to ask any more questions you might have. I know I had a ton when I was planning this big excursion, and it was especially tough to get answers specific to being Canadian. It's a huge undertaking (I planned it out for a year before setting out, spent most of that time saving up money because living in LA is not cheap, and neither are short-term rentals, so even though the courses themselves are relatively cheap when compared against the quality of the instructors, living expenses pile up quick).

Oh yeah, one more thing to mention - international students have to pay a $100 deposit upon applying, but they also get to pick their courses before locals which puts us at a bit of an advantage when it comes to the first-come-first-served system. I never had any trouble getting into the classes I wanted.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-27 13:46

Thanks for increasing your pledge! I actually answered your question where you asked it on patreon, but I figured I might as well paste it here as well:

As for your question, that really depends on what you'd be asking. I'm happy to give advice in terms of career path and goals. If it's a matter of critiquing artwork you've done however that's not related to the drawabox lessons, that wouldn't work out so well. I can give critiques for the drawabox stuff more easily because it all falls within a certain scope - critiquing individual pieces would each require a massive time investment from me, and it's also something lots of people would want to take advantage of. Pretty much just have to say no to that sort of thing right off the bat.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-27 03:27

Honestly the critiques themselves are more important in the earlier stages, as opposed to the advanced lessons. Reason being, when you're learning your fundamentals there's a lot less to do with interpretation and more about hard-fast rules and specific goals. The advanced ones can be done poorly, sure, but there's a lot of wiggle room.

Either way, if you do find yourself interested in doing that one-off thing, I do have you covered. If you check out the giveback page of the drawabox website, you'll find information for doing a one-time donation which will get you critiques for that month.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 23:59

You honestly might be right about that sister-sub thing, for more reasons than just what you've mentioned. Scrapping free critiques also means that the subreddit may become somewhat less kosher as far as reddit's policies go.

I've had submissions restricted to myself for the most part in order to reduce clutter - initially this was completely necessary due to the fact that there was no external website, just imgur-hosted hand-written lessons posted here. By the time the website came along, it just seemed cleaner to keep it the way it was, instead of having lessons buried by user posts. But now... Hm, I'm definitely going to have to give it some serious thought. On top of everything, I'd hate to let a 27,000 subscriber subreddit become somewhat moot.

Then there's other complications - what would I even name the sister subreddit? Do I just call it /r/Drawabox? But that sounds like it'd be the main subreddit, which is actually /r/Artfundamentals. That makes no sense. Do I name it something else? Then things still get weird... All in all it's probably a hell of a lot simpler to just open up user posts in this subreddit and call it a day. People will probably not even think to try and post at first, but eventually they'll get used to the change.

I will think on it though. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 23:11

Deeeefinitely. I mean, first of all, who the fuck am I. I'm just some imbecile who took his course for ten weeks. Initially drawabox started off as me parroting what I understood of Peter's methodology, along with all of the things I misunderstood. At this point, it's branched out a fair bit. A lot of the initial basics are the same, but once you get to lesson 3 and onwards, I focus a lot more on solid construction and form. Peter's course has a lot of that to be sure, but in my experience, his approach to construction feels more fluid, and he has a lot more to offer in terms of texture and detail. I think my lessons are a good starting point, and I might even recommend someone do drawabox before committing your money, but I'd definitely strongly encourage everyone who has the time and the funds to take Peter's course afterwards, especially if you're looking to build a career out of this. Ultimately if for whatever reason you had to pick one course, Peter's would win every time with its hands tied behind its back.

He's a proper instructor, respected by countless professionals in the industry today. I am still a student.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:31

From the looks of it, you can still take Vis Com 1: Dynamic Sketching with Peter at Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, CA. It's a 10 week course, costs $770 USD. Deeeefinitely worth every cent, and actually you don't need a portfolio in order to get into the class. It's just first come first served. The other instructor, Patrick Ballesteros, is also fantastic.

I actually only took one term with him, but I spent a total of 6 months at CDA. The course itself takes you from the very basics, so you're not expected to have any significant experience with drawing beforehand. You just need to be willing to listen carefully to everything he teaches, work your ass off when it comes to the weekly homework assignments, and try and take advantage of every second you have one-on-one with him when he looks over your work.

I definitely recommend it for anyone who's interested in getting their fundamentals in order, and hoping to one day become a professional artist in some capacity, but especially for those interested in the entertainment industry.

Also yeah, a few people have made it to the figure drawing material, but honestly it's really not that great. The lessons evolve over time, and I guess since there's been far less activity on that end, I've had less of a chance to put it through its paces. That said, I do plan to completely scrap that section and rewrite it with what I've learned thus far from critiquing those who have made it there.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:25

Haha, yes, that was quite fortuitous. Strangely enough, I've been getting a lot of $3 pledges lately, it's like everyone knew what was coming... somehow.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:23

Goodness - you're one of drawabox's biggest supporters, it's surprising that you haven't submitted anything yet. You definitely should! You've certainly paid for that right, at the very least.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:23

Haha, push itttt. I'm sure you can do more than 15 a night. Ramp it up to 25 a night and you should be able to make it!

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:22

Really! I didn't actually know that this subreddit was shared a lot at /r/drawing. I guess I should be paying more attention there - I tend to focus more on /r/learnart and /r/learntodraw. That said, I'm worried that posting there about a different subreddit (and especially considering that bit about the sister subreddit I'll be creating) might step on peoples' toes. I'll probably just make this shift clear on /r/ArtFundamentals and on the drawabox website instead so people are made fully aware before investing their time.

Also, your idea about the various tiers being attached to a different number of submissions definitely makes a lot of sense. I'm expecting the workload to continue to expand as drawabox continues to spread - so this idea will definitely come in handy in the future when I want to try and decrease the number of submissions without raising that minimum.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:18

Thanks! I really appreciate that.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 22:18

): It hurts. But it's feeling better than it has been for the past week, I think it's finally healing up. I can't wait until I can eat proper food!

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:34

Yeah, I think encouraging the whole community aspect of things is definitely the way to go.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:34

Haha, thanks. I appreciate that!

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:33

That's actually a very interesting idea! I'll definitely take it into consideration.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:24

Haha, thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words. It's really nice to see how supportive the community is in all this. I'm also very glad to hear that my work has been able to help you.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:21

I certainly hope so! My goal is still to make the lessons clear and structured enough that people can follow them on their own without much additional help. Might be a bit of a lofty target, but we'll see how close I get.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 19:20

Hahah, yeah, between the 1st and the 7th, I'm definitely going to get flooded, but at least that has an end point in sight. That'll keep me going.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 16:43

Haha, thank you! I can't wait to get these stupid stitches out and for this gash in the roof of my mouth to close so I can go back to eating all kinds of wonderful solid foods. Popcorn... Hamburgers... Drools quietly

Uncomfortable in the post "The Future of Free Critiques on /r/ArtFundamentals"

2016-09-26 16:29

The patreon campaign up until this point has pretty much just been a way for people to give recurring donations to help keep the website going - it hasn't, until now, given anything different based on how much you pledge. First the demo recordings were included as a gesture of thanks (the ones I included back then were a little less helpful, I find, than the ones I've created more recently), then when I started taking those month-long 'breaks', patrons were still able to receive critiques.

Beyond that, if anyone ever had any questions, they've just asked me (via reddit, facebook, youtube, etc.) and I've answered to the best of my ability - whether they're patrons or not. 1-on-1 time isn't something that has been requested, and honestly I think that it might not be the best route for me to take, just based on my approach to teaching thus far.

Long story short, at least as it stands right now, aside from giving more support to the project and resources themselves, a $20 pledge is no better for you than a $3 one. Even though this results in lower revenue for me, I want to keep it that way for at least the time being, as the vast majority of people can still afford $3/month if they're really interested in taking the lessons to that next level of seriousness.

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

2016-09-26 02:27

You'll find two helpful exercises at the beginning of that lesson before you actually get into the plant-drawing section.

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

2016-09-26 02:09

Very nice work! Just a couple of things to keep in mind:

Anyway, generally you've done really well. Feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 19:18

It's not a matter of whether or not you're satisfied - that implies that while you're drawing, you're actually thinking about the stroke you've drawn, meaning your brain is involved. It shouldn't be. You apply the ghosting method to develop muscle memory, and then you execute with a confident enough pace that your brain is not able to course-correct or intercede as you go. You draw through each and every ellipse, going around two full rounds before lifting your pen. If your brain is able to intervene, it will cause a stiffer mark that simply doesn't flow as well as it could.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 18:39

Juuuust about everywhere. Your question makes me think perhaps you don't understand what I mean by the term (which is fair), so you can check out this blurb which explains that.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 18:24

Generally pretty well done. Your constructions are fairly solid, and on that front I have only one concern, but it's a significant one - you've completely stopped drawing through your ellipses, and as a result they feel very stiff. This stiffness spreads through other linework in your drawings, where rather than drawing with confidence (after a good bit of preparation and ghosting) you seem to draw too slowly and carefully, relying on your brain to course-correct as you go. Yes, if you draw faster, you will make mistakes, but that confidence is something you cannot do without - you need to work more towards achieving smoother ellipses, and smoother lines.

The only other thing I figured that was worth mentioning is that when you want to create areas of solid black (or brown I suppose in this case), you should be more diligent in regards to filling it in completely. The little slivers of white will stand out in the sea of ink, and this will create noise that will draw the viewer's eye distractingly. Sometimes it can be a little tough to do this with a felt tip pen (though usually I find the 0.5 tip to do an okay job of this), but in this scenario it'd be perfectly okay to grab a brush pen to fill in the larger shapes.

Aside from that, you've definitely made a marked improvement. I'll go ahead and mark this lesson as complete, so keep it up and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 17:50

Not bad. I like some of the awareness of how different 3D forms intersect with one another, like the connection point of your fly's thorax and abdomen. That said, there's one major issue that I'm seeing in general - you're not really drawing through your ellipses, and in the case of that fly, the thorax's initial form should have penetrated into the abdomen, and then the point of connection would have been added as a contour curve between the two. Right now your thorax ends abruptly, rather than achieving a smooth, rounded form, that end looks stiff. That stiffness is something we see from most of your ellipses, largely because you're drawing them slowly and carefully, rather than confident and then continuing around the elliptical shape before lifting your pen.

Your huntsman spider generally looks pretty nice - these rounded forms are a little more relaxed, and each form reads independently as being three dimensional.

In general your drawings are decent, but I think drawing through your ellipses and ensuring that each one feels like a solid 3D mass before moving onto the next step would really help bump up many of your drawings to the next level. Aside from that, your work is looking pretty good.

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

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 17:22

Your constructions are looking good. Proportions are one thing, but if an object is constructed well (especially in the case of plants) your proportions can be off somewhat and it'll still look believable.

I have only one concern with your drawings - or rather, your approach. It looks to me like you're drawing with different pens of varying weights - your underlying lay-ins/constructions appear to be quite thin, and upon completion you seem to go over your drawing with a much thicker, bolder line.

I'd much prefer it if you didn't do that - these lessons are intended to be completed with a single pen weight (0.5), and any variation in thickness should be achieved by varying the amount of pressure you apply. Furthermore, going back over your work after the fact to replace lines with final ones has a tendency to produce stiffer line work, since most of the confidence and energy comes from those initial strokes, rather than the final ones, and in attempting to match them we often draw slower rather than with confidence.

Instead, when adding line weight you should upon completion try and pick certain lines you want to emphasize and bring forwards. This seems similar, but has a few key differences. Firstly you're not replacing the lines, you're emphasizing that which already exists (a minor and subtle, but surprisingly important factor), and secondly since much of the original linework is present as visible part of the final drawing, you still have to ensure that you put the correct amount of planning and preparation into each mark you put down.

Anyway, your work is looking pretty solid as far as construction goes, so keep it up. I'll mark this lesson as complete, feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 17:14

There's definitely some stuff to work on. The first thing that jumps out at me is that your initial lay-in lines appear to be very faint and timidly drawn. Additionally, in many of your drawings you treat these initial masses as being more loose sketches and suggestions, rather than actual forms being constructed. For the most part, each phase of a drawing's construction should be respected in subsequent passes. Furthermore, you need to be much more aware of how different forms connect to one another.

For instance, look at your praying mantis - you jumped in way too complex for your torso, instead of constructing simpler, more solid underlying forms, and as a result that torso appears quite flat. Furthermore, we have no sense of how the tube of the neck connects with the torso, further emphasizing this flatness.

The spider on the first page also shows a lot of early forms that have a lot of complex information in them that is not supported by any underlying scaffolding/construction. You can't simply jump in so early - you need to build up to more complex forms, starting from those that are simple enough to stand up convincingly on their own.

I want you to go back and try this lesson again - watch the intro video and read through my demos again, and watch the video recordings as well. As far as construction goes, your last lesson was much more methodical, but for some reason that's missing here.

More than anything, you need to take this to heart: you are not drawing flat, 2D shapes on a page. You are constructing objects, form by form, building them up as if they were sculptures in a world you can only see through the window that is your paper. At no point can you think of these forms as being flat and unsolid, as if you believe that, so will those who look at your drawing. You're conveying an illusion, and you must buy into that illusion whole heartedly. Drawing through forms, using contour lines in certain well-planned locations (like the connection points between separate, solid forms), and ensuring that no form or detail is ever placed arbitrarily on your object without being grounded in some underlying part of the existing construction are ways you can help further emphasize this illusion.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (new 50min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 02:44

Was this done just to have an approx how the front body goes, without fully committing to the line, or was it a mistake that you drew it that far from the body and fixed it afterwards?

This is correct - it was a mistake, and I decided that I hadn't quite committed enough to it to follow through, so I just acted like it wasn't there. Later on in the process, when I started reinforcing my line weights, I put more emphasis on the correct line, so that this erroneous one would feel less significant.

Also thanks for catching that typo! I've gone ahead and corrected it.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (new 50min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 02:39

The first two pages are pretty messy, but you seem to start getting a hang of it in the last two. There's plenty of room to improve, and your approach to fur isn't great (your raggedy lines aren't designed at all, you should go back and watch the intro video where I talk about fur and how the tufts should be carefully designed), but you're making headway.

I'll mark this lesson as complete - keep at it, but you're free to move onto the next lesson.

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

2016-09-25 02:37

I'd say your list of redos is pretty good, although you don't necessarily have to redo the dissection textures. They're definitely more on the cartoony end, but I think beginning work on the 25 texture challenge once we've finished off with this lesson would be a good idea. That challenge in particular is meant to be done in parallel with the other lessons, as it'll take quite a while and should be spread out over a long period of time.

Your organic forms with contour lines are looking good, but don't forget to include the central minor axis line when doing the contour curves. It's important for lining up your ellipses, and even though the contour curves exercise does not use ellipses, the curves themselves are the visible portion of larger ellipses and so the minor axis still applies.

For your form intersections, I noticed that you missed certain instructions in the lesson - specifically that you should avoid forms that are stretched in any one dimension, specifically long cylinders. These bring far too much complication from perspective into the mix, and considering how difficult the exercise already is, you're just going to distract yourself from the core of the exercise. Also, make sure you're drawing through all of your ellipses, and that you avoid any sort of a clean-up pass after the fact to tidy up your lines. Focus entirely on applying the ghosting method to every stroke - that is, identify the mark you want to make, plan and prepare as necessary, and then execute it with confidence. Then move onto the next mark. Your lines tend to be rather stiff and uncertain, so that confidence isn't coming through.

Additionally, with exercises such as this one, drawing smaller makes things much more difficult, as it robs you of the room you need to think through the spatial problems. Lastly, remember that this exercise is not at all about the intersections themselves. It's about drawing forms together in a way that they appear to be cohesive. Look at my examples again, and look at how large each form is, how I avoid stretched forms, and how I construct each one independently of each other.

Lastly, fundamentally your organic intersections aren't horrible, but I'm still getting that sense that your lines aren't confident - they're stiff, and they're wavering. Remember the ghosting method, execute each mark with confidence. Also, as far as the exercise itself goes, similarly to the form intersections, think through each new form independently.

Drop a form into your scene, draw it in its entirety, focus on capturing the illusion of volume with contour curves that wrap around the form convincingly. Focus entirely on that step and nothing else. Then drop another form on top. Think about where this new form's weight is supported, and where it isn't (and would therefore sag). Again, focus on the illusion of volume for this form. Then add another, and so on. Don't think ahead - focus entirely on the step you're on.

So yeah, as you said, try the form intersections and organic intersections again.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6: Drawing Everyday Objects (new 30min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-25 02:13

Old thread got locked, post your homework here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Peter Han's Dynamic Bible - The legendary dynamic sketching instructor's finally launched the kickstarter for his personal notes and lectures!"

2016-09-24 14:39

Aha, I have an astigmatism in one eye as well! I got the PDF too (since I'm not in the united states and couldn't get the book itself through the kickstarter). I was planning on getting the hardcopy when that becomes available internationally, which it's supposed to.. soon? But now I'm not so sure - I'm pretty fond of the pdf, especially when reading it on a tablet.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (new 50min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-23 22:34

Lovely work! I especially like the personality and energy that comes from your use of line weight - it helps to both organize your linework and to really give each drawing its own character. I did notice that you do have a tendency to be somewhat more... I don't want to say sloppy, because that's not the word. Perhaps fluid? You think more on the page, but not so much that I'd consider it to be a bad thing. If you pushed it too far in that direction, you would get sloppy, but as it stands here, it merely focuses more heavily on gesture. As it stands, I'm perfectly fine with you continuing with that approach, as it works for you right now and produces good results. Don't let yourself go further down that path though, as it can start to have negative impacts on your ability to convey solid form beyond a certain point.

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

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (new 50min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-23 22:31

You're definitely not wrong - you have gotten quite rusty. At the very least, it is extremely important that you keep up with the exercises from lesson 1 and 2, picking two or three each day (or every few days) to do as a 10-15 minute warmup. If you leave those exercises behind you, it's inevitable that your technical skills will suffer.

Another thing I noticed is that you pretty much never draw through your ellipses, which is something I stressed a lot early on, and something I insist you do for each and every ellipse you draw for my lessons.

So your first few pages aren't great. You're not putting a whole lot of thought into the constructional aspects of some of these things, thinking about how these forms actually sit in 3D space and how they interact with one another. The bear on the top of that third page isn't bad, but (aside from the lack of drawing through most ellipses) the additional forms you've added along the back aren't terribly convincing. After you completed lesson 2, I did add an additional exercise to it, the organic intersections. I strongly recommend that you go back and try that one out, as it should help with this sort of thing.

In the polar bear on the next page, you jumped in way too complex, too early. Your ribcage mass doesn't actually reflect the ribcage, and you didn't build an initial sausage connecting the ribcage and pelvis. The result is that it feels much flatter and less solid, and relies WAY more heavily than it should on your observational skills (which admittedly are pretty good, considering that I could identify it as a polar bear - ... i do hope it is a polar bear).

By the time you start on those birds, things start getting better. Somewhat. You're still not thinking enough about 3D forms - you should be thinking about how the neck connects to the torso (as I discussed in the intro video), and this is something you skip all the way down until you hit your horses. These are again, a step in the right direction. Getting more three dimensional, thinking more about forms and construction, and while your proportions are off here and there, that is perfectly normal at this point.

In general, you do seem to loosely grasp the concepts by the end of the lesson, but I do want to see more of this from you. Four more pages - make sure you watch the video again, go through the demos, and think in 3D. Build your sausage-torso-form, think about how everything fits together, where things connect to one another, and DRAW THROUGH YOUR ELLIPSES!

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

2016-09-22 19:54

Very nice work. Over the course of this exercise, I think you've improved considerably with each and every exercise. Your sense of form and construction has gotten much stronger, as has your general sense of how forms sit in 3D space.

As far as the textures go, I believe your first pass at the exercise were decent, but they had one clear misstep - you were treating your pen as though it were a pencil. This influenced how you approached your transitions from light to dark, attempting to achieve a more graphite-like effect where the tool you were using was not really designed for that. In later attempts, you start embracing the nature of the felt tip pen itself, becoming much bolder in your use of solid black shapes, and much more aware of how to approach transitioning between them. Based on some of your studies, it looks like you did look through the notes on the 25 texture challenge, and you do seem to have applied the principles correctly.

Aside from that, your organic forms are feeling solid and voluminous, and your form intersections feel cohesive and well laid out. As for your questions,

Keep up the great work. I'll mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto the next one.

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

2016-09-22 19:39

You understood it correctly. I'm not entirely sure why I only marked out that corner, but it's likely because drawing a box around that whole section of the plane would have cluttered up the drawing, so I meant for students to infer that the plane's dominance at the corner would imply this quality kind of fades back as you move through the plane. It's not entirely clear cut in terms of where the plane stops being dominant, so it's not so easy to mark out in terms of such simple boxes.

Long story short, you've got it right. You're not missing anything.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Cylinder Challenge"

2016-09-21 19:14

I'm really glad you pushed beyond the initial 250. I think up to around that point, you were a little sloppy with how you drew your ellipses, and you perhaps weren't putting as much time and care into crafting the various components of your cylinders as you could have. This improved considerably as you got into the 300's, and by the end you seemed to definitely have a much better sense of how to approach these forms. Things take a bit of a dip right around the end though, where you're probably getting pretty exhausted. Ultimately it is very important that you focus on working when you're fresh of mind, so things don't get too sloppy, but I do understand the desire to get through tedious exercises like this.

Overall, you've done a good job. Just continue to work on your patience, taking the time to apply the ghosting method as much as is necessary before executing each mark, and so on. Keep up the good work, and consider this challenge complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-21 19:08

Honestly, I prefer your newer drawings to your old ones. Though it's very true, you have applied your contour curves without much thought or patience, the silhouettes themselves are able to stand up pretty well on their own, giving the impression of clear three dimensional form.

The drawings near the end of the set are interesting, but you definitely go way too heavy on the texture there. It makes for some great experimentation in terms of what works and what doesn't, but what I'm seeing is that you're piling on more and more ink as you fail to get the effect you want, ultimately resulting in 95% darks and 5% lights. You need to strike more balance - in order to do that, think more about what you want to do, and draw less. It's all about the time you invest in planning, rather than execution. This kind of experimentation certainly is necessary though, so I'm glad to see that you did go through it.

Another thing I want to point out is that here and there you show a tendency to fill forms up with hatching lines - mostly leaves. While this can be an effective approach in certain cases, in your work it comes off more as "I want to fill this area in because I'm not comfortable with leaving it blank, but I don't want to put in the time required to actually capture the texture that should actually go there". It's a very common shortcut people take, but perhaps not the best route. There often is also a great bit of value in leaving things blank, rather than trying to cover more surfaces with visual information (especially when that visual information doesn't actually communicate anything).

Ultimately though I'm really, really happy with your general sense of form and construction. Your volumes are clear, and the drawings marked 'new' feel much better organized, much cleaner, and much more comfortable with balance and blank spaces. You do need to put more care in how you design and craft your contour curves, but overall you're doing great.

Keep up the great work and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-21 18:52

Generally very nice work! Your leaves flow nicely through 3D space, and most of your constructions feel reasonably solid. There's certainly room to grow, but you're moving straight in the right direction, so at this point it's just more a matter of practice and mileage.

I did notice that your flower pot in one of your earlier pages was a little lopsided - for that, you should probably give the notes over on the 250 cylinder challenge a read(you don't have to do the challenge of course, but the concepts there are important).

The only other thing I want to mention is your page 3 drawing - I think you may have ignored a fair bit of the forms present in that drawing, which results in a sort of bare impression. It's important to be patient and break down your construction, ultimately building up to create that sort of density. If you stop short and then try and add that heavy black to compensate, you're only going to accentuate the lack of actual substance in the drawing. If you look at my demo, there's far, far less black than there is white. This particular weighting of dark to light is rather important when tackling a drawing like this.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I'll mark this lesson as complete.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-20 18:34

Haha, yes, the top one is definitely much cozier, and it certainly wraps around a lot better. (Also you're commenting under the wrong account!)

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-20 18:03

That cuckoo wasp is looking especially good. One thing that I am catching is that you have a tendency to be a little too loose with your marks, drawing perhaps a bit too soon before really having the chance to plan out the next stroke. Try and hold yourself back a bit, and remember the importance of the ghosting method.

On one hand, I definitely do like the energy in your drawings - they're anything but stiff, so the legs and other such things flow quite nicely. That said, in order to really emphasize the illusion of form and weight, you need to exhibit a little more patience.

Overall though this is a big step up from your last submission, so keep up the great work. I'll mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-20 18:00

Definitely coming along well. The line weight is a nice touch, though I think you'll continue to refine your approach to this with more mileage, and as your pressure control improves.

As far as the main focus of this lesson goes - construction, that is - I see a lot of improvement, but there's one particular drawing that stands out well above the rest - that is the ground beetle. The forms, the line weight, the contour curves, all of it comes together to create a very solid construction and the illusion of real, tangible forms that carry their own weight. Very nice work.

There is of course plenty of room for growth, but this shows me that you're moving in the right direction, and that you ultimately understand the concept of construction and how to properly depict form. I'm glad to see that you're pushing yourself to draw larger (this also has an impact on the relative thickness of your lines, as a small drawing with very thick lines tends to look clunky).

Also, the photos are certainly much better than the scanned version, as they capture a much wider range of tone and value, giving your lines much more nuance and subtlety. Your scanner appears to be set to the 'drawing' preset - the photo preset may give you much better results.

Anyway, keep up the great work and feel free to move onto the next one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 4: Drawing Insects and Arachnids (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-20 17:37

Lovely work! Your sense of form and construction is really coming along well, and your drawings apply the use of line weight and black/white shapes very effectively to take the inevitable clutter of lines and organize them nicely into a well focused piece.

As you move forwards, I do believe that you should continue to focus on how your contour curves wrap around the rounded forms (overshooting those curves a little bit should continue to help here). This should ultimately help really reinforce that illusion of curvature in areas like the segmentation on the abdomen/thorax. In some areas you've done this very well (the house fly's abdomen), in others (praying mantis' abdomen (which you labelled as a grasshopper), ant, etc.) it's coming along okay, but there's definitely room for improvement.

I also noticed that there were a bunch of drawings here where you didn't draw the little shadow outline - looking at your scorpion, it really goes a long way to ground your drawing, so it's definitely worth doing for all of them.

In general though you're doing great, and are definitely moving in the right direction. Keep it up and feel free to move onto the next lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "State of the Union - September vacation, and dealing with the overwhelming number of homework submissions"

2016-09-20 17:28

Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

Uncomfortable in the post "State of the Union - September vacation, and dealing with the overwhelming number of homework submissions"

2016-09-19 23:15

Unfortunately I don't feel terribly comfortable with that arrangement. If your parents don't approve, then stick to reading the lessons carefully and making use of the self critique resources (currently available for lesson 1 and 2, through the blue button at the top of each of these lessons) to help identify the majority of the most common mistakes people make.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6: Drawing Everyday Objects"

2016-09-18 22:11

How dare you! I said fineliner! Shoves everything off his desk and flips it over I ASK FOR ONE LITTLE THING. IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK. UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR GET OUT OF MY CLASSR-

It's fine :D

There's one really remarkable thing about your work here - it's generally very well done (aside from a couple troublesome bits) despite missing out on the core principles of cylinder-construction. That is, the importance of the minor axis. Despite this, your perfume bottle, your salt shaker and that film canister all look pretty solid. This tells me that you've developed a reasonably strong sense of space.

That said, your camera lens falls apart without a good grasp of what the minor axis represents. I do talk about it a little bit in the lesson, but for a better breakdown of how to construct cylinders, consult the 250 cylinder challenge. Additionally, I noticed that your mouse was a little weak. I've seen this in the past, and did a demo for a student ages ago - you can find it here.

Aside from that, fantastic work! I'll mark this lesson as complete. Feel free to move onto the next lesson (but it'd be a very good idea to do that cylinder challenge beforehand).

As a side note, I remembered you being the first homework submission after I started recording them in that spreadsheet - that was just over a year ago, so it seems you've been keeping at it for quite a while! Congrats on a full year of drawabox nonsense.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 7: Drawing Vehicles"

2016-09-18 21:58

These constructions are feeling really solid:

The rest of them vary in terms of quality, but in general you seem to be making some good headway. There's two major points that you seem to be struggling with:

And that's all I have to offer! Keep up the good work, and keep at it - I'll mark this lesson as complete, but you definitely have a lot of practicing to do (as most people who reach this stage do). Congrats on completing the dynamic sketching lesson set.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 3: Drawing Plants (new 40min intro video, 3 new demos)"

2016-09-18 21:50

Ultimately not bad. I've got a few little concerns, but generally you're moving in the right direction with the flow of your leaves and the solidity of most of your constructions. I also really like your stems exercise. Honestly though, the drawing on page 8 felt really sloppy relative to the rest of your work, like it wasn't really done to the best of your ability. This happens of course, so don't worry too much about it.

Here's a couple areas where I think you can improve:

I'll mark this lesson as complete, so feel free to move onto then ext one.