Level 1 attempt. Workflow was lay-in, then thumbnails then could not decide between bottom two thumbnails so did lighter one then converted it to darker one, which ended up being better. Played around with shading a sphere methodology for the end of the nose - mainly to indicate reflected light on underside of nose. Thought I’d then keep working it to level 2 but realised this is not possible - once you get the 5 tones down in these big connected shapes you can’t grade between forms without a ton of erasing. Lesson learned. I’m still a bit puzzled how you’d go from the big shape basic tones to lots of smaller forms with more tones without losing the connectedness. Guess there is a lot of forward planning needed as you work…kudos to those that did this!

Some things clicked after this lesson - i) orthos are not just reference, you can use them as you draw to solve problems ii) building the box and scaffolding first is a very good idea before attempting curves iii) tracing paper is great for problem solving… As the penny dropped it gave confidence to try and solve a problem I’ve wondered about and tried to freehand intuitively with poor results; a hollow open canoe-like form in vertical perspective with a lot of foreshortening…so curves in perspective. Tried a simple oblique view first then tipped the canoe vertical for more extreme ~worms-eye view. Well, the results were a lot more successful than freehand intuition…! Also learned a pencil eraser works to remove ink on tracing paper. Useful stuff. 🤩

Mind-bending….had a go at mimicking the demo then tried chasing some boxes around the page with twist connections. Takes a bit of practice to begin to understand that the curves of each contour line twist and intersect in ways that are not immediately intuitive.

Wow, that really helped with the concept of big to small forms and working systematically toward the detail. I see I really make mistakes by getting into detail in smaller areas before the big forms are described. Thanks 👍 🙏

Thanks for the critiques and learned a lot! Great point on play vs discipline…I definitely tend toward play and sometimes get too carried away by sudden ideas and concepts that I don't quite have the skills to pull off. Creates a sloppiness which I need to work on. So, will focus on more focus, in a disciplined way!

Great video of the process. Quick question; at 12:05 minute in the video, the discussion on how the rear stabilizer wings look off - initially part of the illusion, later concludes grid error- but, are there sometimes situations where you‘d be inclined to ditch perspective ‘law’ in favour of artistic license (i.e. you would thicken that more distant wing to make more similar) when that makes a visually better outcome?

Not completely convinced that I’m not just drawing outline using c and s curves to be honest….but I think I get the difference between shape approach vs gesture approach I.e. this is more part to part whilst gesture is connecting through parts with perceived rhythms(?) I think I also was too part to part in the gesture approach however as my drawings with both approaches look eerily similar 🤔

Orthos to barrel rolls…not sure of my plane sound onomatopoeia….maybe should have been more of a ‘neeee-oaarrrrw’…not too important for the assignment I guess. Dared to foreshorten and ‘diminute’ or whatever the verb is for make smaller in perspective…diminish?

Using the 3D models (pic 1) then spinning and redrawing/relabelling axes from memory (pic 2)

Ok @Marshall Vandruff I think I smell a trap, or maybe I’m just being dramatic 😱 . So, we have 9 basic views and we can draw these as boxes and even add their X, Y, Z axes. Then we have an arrow as an object, and can assign X, Y, Z and a bonus XZ (pic 2). Now, when we put the arrow in a box and draw it from one of the nine views, we can either prioritize Arrow X, Y, Z (pic 3) or maintain consistent X, Y, Z between boxes and arrows (pic 4). The consequence in picture 3 is that the arrow X, Y, Z (solid line colour examples) is different to the Box X, Y, Z (dashed line colour examples). The consequence in picture 4 is that you are constrained in ways you can tumble the arrow in order to keep the box/arrow co-ordinates consistent. So what’s my question….well, I guess that the axes of the object stay consistent no matter how we tumble them, and the axes of the environment stay consistent regardless of viewer position, but object and environment axes will usually be inconsistent and so we keep two sets of axes (or more if many objects) in mind when drawing…?