How to Bend and Twist an Arrow

459
Course In Progress

How to Bend and Twist an Arrow

459
Course In Progress
Marshall Vandruff
Learn how to draw a twisting and bending arrow in perspective by tracking movement around the X, Y, and Z axes using blocks, ellipses, and curved cross-contours.
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@odinnot
7d
Here is my arrow design. I put them in box. I use a ellipse or half a ellipse in box, to do the bend. I also use perspective.
Kassjan (Kass) Smyczek
Very good explanation. I like the overall scientific approach with a dash of intuition. Quickly done. Twist and shout!
Kai Ju
11d
You explain everything so well Marshall, that I feel like I understood it right away. I was expecting to struggle a lot more then I did after all your warnings so was surprised to find out that it made immediate sense when I sat down to do it myself.
@vange
19d
Amani Noor (Amu)
Blondie the good
Excuse the messiness here,was trying a new pen and marker! will try some harder bend and twists to challenge myself later!
Dave Sakamoto
These are awesome!
@rupertdddd
I found it quite difficult to smoothly transition from box to box so I tried 2d slices which seemed to work better. Having enough space between the boxes to draw in the transitions is also important.
Marshall Vandruff
Wow! Rupert, You Rock!
Maria Bygrove
Möbius strip :)
Marshall Vandruff
Good show Maria!
Rick B
22d
gave it a couple tries then came up with one or my own. Ben letting my lead dull out. I can do about half of what Marshall is using before hitting the lead sharpener. I will eventually make it work.
Marshall Vandruff
I am so impressed! You have invested your time for your own and our benefit. Thanks!
Ishaan Kumar
Your understanding of which corners lead to which corresponding corners on the next box is perfect!
Carlos Pérez
nice
Lucie VERGNON
Marshall, It was a complete surprise to discover my arrow used as an illustration in this lesson, and I have to admit I’m a bit flattered—haha! I didn’t give it much thought when I drew that arrow, and now that I’ve seen and tried to follow your lesson, I couldn’t resist taking on the challenge myself—this time more thoughtfully. I hope I passed; it’s a very difficult task but so rewarding to develop this technique "scientifically" and explore this "P.O.V."
Marshall Vandruff
Hahaha! We are on a roll and a twist. Thank you Lucie!
Rick B
22d
those look excellent.
Ishaan Kumar
Decided to follow along with the video but without any filter paper or coloured drawing tools. If what you see looks like a mess then it is because it is one.
Ishaan Kumar
Alright I think my second attempt went a bit better.
Carlos Pérez
This is tricky
Rick B
22d
it is, I only posted the last 2 tries before coming up with one. but there were a few extra when I got confused and went the wrong way.
Mon Barker
23d
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.
Marshall Vandruff
Takes a bit of practice, but look at what you did! Great!
Andreas Kra
Here is a color-coded 3D model of the initial twisted form.
Marshall Vandruff
Wow! Thanks!
Andreas Kra
For me, the most confusion comes from losing track of which edge is which after rotation in space. So I tried to explain it to myself with a process like this—maybe it helps? 1. Draw a rectangle. 2. Select the twist rotation by rotating each square 90 degrees further using the arrows. 3. Assign a shape to each corner to define its identity. 4. Connect points with the same shape using a smooth spline. 5. Darken the visible lines for emphasis.
Maria Bygrove
My attempts at bending and twisting and turning the arrows :) It keeps surprising me how satisfying it is to these exercises by hand, rather than digitally. I think, somehow, drawing things with pencil on paper allows me to accept imperfection easier.
Carolina Pachon
I am still in the failing stage and I will be here for a while ;). I found this resource from a Proko student which is the 3D grid model of the rectangle twisting. I thought it was a nice extra to share with the rest and see if you are like me, that I am still trying to wrap my head around this https://practicedrawingthis.com/3d/model-twisted-box.html
Rick B
22d
that model was excellent. Helped me visualize things a better.
Daniela
23d
Sometimes you are in the middle of something and you realize that it is going to be very bad. And you see all the flaws and mistakes possible in it. And maybe you start having second thoughts about showing the thing because it really makes all your weaknesses shine through. And did you even learn anything from doing that? You don't know. But you tried and that's gotta count for something. Message brough to you by: "How hard can it be" behavior.
Daniela
21d
hm I don't know what to say. I stuck with what I started originally but I think I would make very different decisions next time.
Ishaan Kumar
The fact that you're able to conserve its volume while redrawing it at different 3D angles is what is preventing me from believing what you've written and instead believing what you've drawn.
Daniela
23d
Jyayasi (*Jay-o-she*)
I tried to do the twists intuitively without drawing boxes but keeping the concept of a box rotating at the back of my mind. I first drew approximately a simpler version like a ribbon of negligible width and then added depth and tracked the depth throughout using x-ray vision. The colored dots are added as the last step to double check if the edges of the box (imaginary) align correctly throughout. I think I have made a few mistakes in proportion, regarding keeping the width steady and in perspective. It looks right to me but my eyes are not much trained, though.
Rick B
22d
Reminds me of the Obi Knot on a martial artist belt.
@ashfin613
24d
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I Write, I Draw, I Teach
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