Assignment 5: Ellipses and Cilinders

[Jorge Gecov]

Hi!
Sorry for the delay, here follows my stuff. I'm really disappointed with the result and i'm thinking to try again.

[yoitisi]

As I'm still working on the next assignment, I'll leave this open for a bit. If you want to post more of the exercise or haven't done so yet, hurry

After we have covered the basics (read: cubes and ellipses) things become a bit easier for me to set up I think. Two more assignments with ellipses are coming up, and some shadowconstruction after that.

[yoitisi]

Time to get some critiques up in here

Arttorney: I already made a few comments on your work here and there, so I'll keep it brief. Apart from keeping in all of the construction lines and watching your line wheight, try not too hard to get the ellips to fit all the points you set out the first time around. If you focus too much on those points, the ellipse will become more like a diamond shape. It is more important to get a nice ellipse than to get it to fit in the points. If you missed the marks the first time, try to correct it on the go while continueing the movement for the second round and so on into the third. You might end up having three or four ellipses that miss one or more points, but the combination of them should convey an ellipse that fits.

UnSharpened: Looking good Not much to add here, only keep an eye on the bleed of your markers. I think you're using paper that allows the ink to bleed quite a lot, which makes the shade go over the edges and messes a bit with the shape of the cilinder. When adding the core shadow, make sure the first layer of marker is really dry, because right now the core shadow has bled all the way up to the outline of the cilinder. The cilinder on its side is explained in assignment 6

Enrigo: Funny thing, you've got a correct cilinder on its side and one that is way off (the right one) in the same image. Check the next assignment for those Several small issues: since you're working with pencil, I suggest you try to get a bit more of a gradient out of it for the shading. I explained that it's hard to do so with markers, but with pencil this should be easy. Also, try to play around a bit with line wheight. Right now you made all the important lines heavier, but you might want to compare it with the cubes and which lines you make heavier there.

D-Holme: For those lines, try to keep making them in one fluent motion instead of building them up with little strokes. Especially the top right image suffers from this, as the ellipses all look a bit rough. It also really helps to get the shape right for the ellipses, as in my experience to draw them in one motion works better than to build them up from different strokes. For the rest they look okay, and the toilet paper rolls look better in terms of those lines already. For the cilinders, keep in mind that the lower ellipse is more round than the top one. In some of them you do that, in some you don't. Take care with the one lying on its side, as you've drawn it as if it's on eye height (we only see the side and front because the central axis is horizontal). As for the example Seedling posted, they are usefull but there are easier ways to draw ellipses instead of first constructing the square around it first

Hamtaro69: Good to hear you're still doing the inital exercises as well, it helps to get more control over your motions even for ellipses You seem to have taken this lesson quite well, I've got little to add. You've probably found that drawing more round ellipses is harder than the flatter ones, as more of the first went wrong if I look at your drawings. Take care with using green for drawing lines though, as in some cases the whole theory about line wheight doesn't really work if you start using color. For some colors the lines will only become more colorfull instead of 'heavier'. Might be just the picture though, I'm not sure

Asmodie: Don't get too depressed The top left cilinder looks most like a real cilinder, even thought the central axis is slightly at an angle. With most of your ellipses though, I think you focus a bit too much on the points you set out as guidelines. As I said to Arttorney, this causes your ellipses to become more like a diamond shape as you naturally try to connect the dots instead of focussing on the ellipse shape. Getting the ellipse to look like a proper ellipse is more important here than to really hit all the points.

Legato: Yep those templates are usefull sometimes I have one for circles and some for random curves, but they are rather vulnerable. Anyway, for now we're not going to use them. For the ellipse practice, you might find it useful to try them in between vertical lines as well, as you already have a start for a cilinder that way. Also, always add the major and minor axis to guide the ellipses. Especially the more round ellipses would benefit from it. Next time try to stick a little bit more to the exercise I set up please. They have a certain set-up that lets you experience things you wouldn't immediately see when just palying around. Making fun of the theory is cool and all but some more seriousness wouldn't hurt either I think. For example, those cilinders on the last sheet all are above and below the horizon making them look rather huge, but if these weren't rolls of toilet paper but something less recognizable we would read them as being huge. The cones and tube you added are something we'll dive into later on. Ah, and drawing on the wrong side of the paper does sometimes happen indeed

Jorge Gecov: I think the biggest issue for you is getting some more control over your arm movements. You might want to try some of the earlier exercises as well as the current assignments to train yourself. Apart from that, I think you've grasped the theory (the cilinder on the side looks good apart from a few things with perspective and point of view, check assignment 6 ). Even when working with pencil though, the idea of the core shadow still applies. So if you shade your cilinders, keep in mind that bounce light from the environment makes the outline of the cilinder on the darker side a bit lighter again. Also, the lower ellipse should be more round than the upper one, as the last one is closer to the horizon and therefore appears to be flatter.