On Courses + Tools use code BLACK20
Alex Smith
Alex Smith
Canada
Programmer learning to draw
Activity Feed
Alex Smith
Wanted to try this one again after the critique and demo videos, see if I could get more loose with my sketches, and I think I got much closer to the mark this time around. Fought the urge to get more detailed this time and refine lines! I'll refine this one for fun later.
Stefan Sharkov
Your lines are loose and confident, which is excellent for this assignment. Now all you have to do is channel those lines into more accurate proportions. Your on a strong pace, keep up the good work.
Alex Smith
Attempted the hand and VR girl. I'm very happy with how the hand turned out, still not convinced I actually drew it, but I struggled a lot with the VR girl and her proportions. It turned out okay, but I definitely got hung up on sizing, spacing, and details, and found myself zooming in and drawing contours instead of sketching with larger, energetic strokes to capture the flow. Is there an upcoming lesson on getting proportions from observation or reference down onto canvas, to avoid redoing sections midway into a sketch?
Alex Smith
Starting with the penguin as it's all I've got time for today. I caught myself trying to contour more around the feet because of the fine details (erasing and re-doing small segments too much), but beyond that I really enjoyed trying out looser strokes at a lower opacity (digitally) to "find" the line on this one, and I felt like I was much faster at getting through the penguin compared to previous projects. Dreading the hand a bit though...
@sweethouse
This looks really nice!
Melanie Scearce
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the process and didn't get too caught up in those details in the tail feathers. The point of using the sketchy lines is to help you find those interesting shapes, which I think you did a great job of. Good luck with the hand!
Alex Smith
The demo and critique videos helped so much. Boxing in the shape first, and then laying down several lighter strokes to build up the value of the CSI lines (using averages) went much better, compared to my first attempt which I took to be more like a gesture drawing. Any critiques at this stage? I already see that my accuracy/consistency with repeating strokes needs work, particularly on that lower, wavy bit of the snail's tail/body, but I know that'll come with practice.
Alex Smith
"Fight the urge and simplify," and I took that personally. I might have gone too simple and ended up more with gesture drawings with CSIs instead of contours with CSIs. I'll watch the demo and retry this one as I feel that I didn't quite get the intent the first time around. Would still love critiques either way!
@sweethouse
Yeah I agree, I think you nailed this too. It's inspiring me to redo this task and try to simplify more. Thanks for sharing!
Rachel Dawn Owens
If you’re going to make a mistake, you made it in the right direction. These drawings are terrific. Understanding how to simplify like this is way more helpful than focusing on contours. I think you nailed it.
Alex Smith
Asked for help
This was a lot of fun. Doing it digitally made it clear how hard it is to control pen pressure, but I can feel it getting better! It was also a great way for me to try out different pencil settings (size, opacity, flow) to make lay-in easier. Also found out how hard it is for me to do clockwise circles (right-handed)! I wonder if that's worth practicing too, or if I should just stick with what's comfortable and just rotate the canvas. Love this as a warm-up.
Alex Smith
My first attempt at the project! Drawing on a tablet was a lot of fun, and I'm really satisfied with the result. It's not quite as rounded-looking as I had hoped though - maybe I could have added another small rectangle of shadow where the top and bottom halves of the pear meet, to imply that there's some depth as the bottom sphere curves into the top sphere? I'll check out the critique video and give it another go, but I'd love some critiques from the community!
Alex Smith
6mo
Follow-up - I definitely had a better and easier time on the 2nd attempt after watching the critique video. I think the shapes could still be simplified as I keep cutting corners (literally) to smooth out the shapes, but the lines are are cleaner (trying a different technique) and I'm happy with the project.
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