Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inFigure Drawing Fundamentals

1.2M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 714

Lesson Notes

Downloads 2

Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Figure Drawing Fundamentals

1.2M

Mark as Completed

Assignments 714

Lesson Notes

Downloads 2

Start by practicing cylinders and boxes of the things around you. Here you’re using observation and what you know about structure to draw the forms. Then move on to drawing them from your imagination. Can you imagine a box in your mind and draw it exactly how you imagined it?

When you’re ready, get some reference of animals and try to simplify them into balls, cylinders, and boxes. Avoid flat angles. Try to find dynamic angles of the animals in motion. That will be a much more valuable exercise.

Post your work and participate.

Kevin C

1mo

had fun on this one. did a couple animals and assorted shapes.

Jesper Axelsson

1mo

Hi @Kevin C, nice drawings! The boxes and cylinders look pretty good, and I think you did a good job simplifying the animals😎👍 - I would recommend considering the ground plane as well. This will anchor the animals more, and it will help you with placing the feet. - The boxes and cylinders could be even stronger, so keep playing with them. BOXES Most of the time the edges are converging, but in the paws of the lion, the edges of the boxes are diverging. Try drawing some more single boxes. Draw through (lightly), as if they were made out of glass, for an extra level of structure control (and challenge 😎) and try to make the convergence even better. You could extend your lines beyond the boarders of your box, with a ruler, as a way to check if the edges seem to go to the same point. Only extending them a little bit, not all the way to the vanishing point, is often enough to spot errors. I would also encourage you to do some more drawings where you play with placing the primitives in the same space, as in the top left of image 1. Add a ground plane. Keep in mind what edges are parallel. If they are rotated back in space, then they should share vanishing point. Think of which planes are level to the ground, and if you have two boxes rotated the same way, only with different placement in the space, they will share vanishing points. CYLINDERS I attached two slides with cylinder tips. You get most things right, but the shape and openness of the ellipses could be improved on sometimes. I hope this helps :)

hArtMann

2mo

Wanted to increase the difficulty of the imagination forms, so I did several types of deformations such as stretching and twisting.

Martha Muniz

1mo

Very nicely done! Looks awesome :D

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@sikcool

2mo

I drew through the forms and tried to focus on simplification.

Martha Muniz

2mo

Nicely done! This is a good simplification into structural basics, with solid forms that indicate the 3-dimensionality of the reference. I think something that can help as you continue to practice would be to start out with a gesture, aka a looser drawing that captures the general motion and proportion of the subject. After jotting it down, you can add the structural forms on top, and using this process can help you get a more accurate representation and make sketching easier to tackle overall.

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michael gilbert

2mo

Brandon

2mo

I drew these in these 3 days, yesterday I watched the critique video and then redrew the jaguar using proko's approach, but basically i drew this in a way taught by Araon Blaise in the basic course and thought about the shape first then structure. Feel free to comment and critique

@needsmuchhelp

3mo

I had a time with this horse I don’t think I fully understand structure

Smartlin

2mo

Hello fellow student, I attempted your horse picture as it is such a nice picture. Left is before watching the critique video (struggled a lot) and right is after. I am also a beginner in structure. Watching Stan demo the Rhinoceros helps a lot. You can follow his and do several times. You will get better.

Peter Tinkler

3mo

I agree with the previous comment, and would also add be careful with your foreshortening, as that's one of the things most catching you out. Your cylinder shape for the body/torso needs to be shorter/more compressed. The angle is a three-quarter view, so that cylinder shape will be foreshortened. If it's still catching you out, try use comparative measuring. Hope that helps. Keep going.

Peter Anton

3mo

Your structure looks like you have the basic idea of it, you just need more practice is all. The biggest issue I see is proportion. Even if your construction were perfect, it would still be in the wrong place. It looks like you did a decent job with the "parts" (limbs, head) but didn't capture the overall big shape of the horse. The original horse could fit into a TALL rectangle, whereas yours would fit into a very WIDE rectangle. I'd take a look at Proko's gesture videos on youtube. But basically, start with the big shapes first and then work your way to the smaller shapes. Great job though, it just takes time and a lot of practice

Noe Luis

3mo

Did a couple of cylinders and boxes to relearn the lesson. @Jesper Axelsson Im ready to be critique

Jesper Axelsson

3mo

Hi @Noe Luis! Overall it looks nice! I'll point out things to improve on: BOXES The convergence could be more accurate. If I extend some of your parallell edges, it becomes clear that they are note going toward the same vanishing point. Some edges are diverging. If you need a refresher on how the perspective of a box works, let me know😎👍 Draw through (lightly), as if the boxes where made out of glass, to make the construction more accurate and to make the exercise more challenging. It might be a good idea to try to draw them as cubes, so that you get to practice maintaining proportion. And cubes can be an aid when drawing ellipses and spheres :) CYLINDERS The openness of the ellipses are good, but the shape and angle could be improved. I attached a slide with some cylinder drawing tips. Be especially aware of not making the ellipses pointy. Draw through here too. It will be a big help in making sure that the crosscontours are proper ellipses. SPHERES The crosscontours on a sphere will be helped by your ability to draw cylinders☝️ The bottom right one might be a little flat. Aim at making the contour a true circle. The placement of the crosscontours could be fine tuned. In the top left, the equator line is a little below halfway. I would encourage you to study the forms from life. Maybe you can find a cube/cylinder/sphere at home. Rubik's cube or sugar cubes/ a paper roll/ a ping pong ball that you've drawn equator lines on. Or you could use a 3D model like this one https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lined-sphere-aa19bbaf6db94bfd93a40af6c0413d08 I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!

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@grugrugru

3mo

Most of my drawings halfway into this weeks lesson, oldest to newest. Tried to do some sculpt style structure drawings too but they feel off. Would love to get critique. Thanks.

@grugrugru

2mo

end of the week

Martin M

3mo

With the lions I felt that I had trouble understanding the anatomy their pelvis and hip area. So I tried to represent the pelvis as a box on one of them and as a sphere on the other. Sphere was easier but it doesn't really represent any direction or tilt. And I think I have the proportions of the lions limbs incorrect. The limbs on my drawing make them look more like humans striking animal poses. With the eagle I struggled to represent the wings. I split them into thin boxes but still lost the bendy shape of a real wing. Should I have added more boxes? Also thin boxes make it tricky to show direction as one dimension of the box is so small and thus determining the vanishing point is tricky. Also I think I lost some of the gesture. I did start out with gesture lines but once I start to add shapes I seem to make them more rigid. I guess I should exaggerate the initial gesture more?

Noe Luis

3mo

I would love some feedback on this assignment pls and thank you

Noe Luis

2mo

I redraw the horse. The drawing a lot better than first above.

Jesper Axelsson

3mo

Hi @Noe Luis Nice work on the exercise! - One thing that helps with this exercise, is to have learned to draw the box and cylinder well, individually. Your boxy and cylindrical forms look good, but there might be things that could be fine tuned. So feel free to do this: Draw three boxes from different angles, from imagination. Draw through, as if they were made out of glass. Do the same with cylinders (and why not some spheres while you're at it. To show the form of the sphere, add crosscontours.) Then tag me (@Jesper Axelsson ) if you want me to take a look. - This was not in the lesson video, I think, but as you break things down into simple forms in the future, consider how the animal functions. In animation there is an idea that the character you draw should have good anatomy. What that means, isn't a lot of anatomical details, but it should have the parts it needs to function. Usually those parts are shared by humans and most animals. We have for example: Head Neck Ribcage Waist Hip Spine Shoulder Upper arm Lower arm palm fingers Upper Leg Lower Leg foot toes. I hope this helps :)

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@thesmokingrotoscope

3mo

I can FEEL that something's off, but I'm having trouble figuring out what it is. I don't know if it's the lack of triangles/prisms (as can be seen in the thumbnail of the critique video) or something else entirely, but compared to examples in the video, the breakdowns feels incredibly stiff (though that ultimately may be the point.) Am I doing this right?

Liandro

3mo

Hey, @thesmokingrotoscope, I’d say yes, you’re on track. I agree with @Jesper Axelsson, it’s nice that you’ve attempted to simplify and design the forms (instead of just copying what you see) - this is the core of this exercise indeed. Practicing drawing simple 3D forms isolatedly first, as Jesper suggested, should help you get more familiar with how they look in various perspectives, which is an essential skill for constructing more complex animal structures as proposed in this exercise. I’d also definitely reinforce Jesper’s recommendations regarding gesture, which, through practice, is what is sure to help solve the stiffness you seem bothered about. I’d strongly suggest you always try to keep gesture in mind when starting a sketch and remain aware of it throughout the whole drawing process. From what I notice in your drawings, here’s a few extra comments I have: USE CROSS-CONTOURS ON ROUNDED FORMS - Whenever you choose to draw spheres or cylinders as part of a body’s structure, add cross-contours on top in order to better describe their rounded volumes - often, when we don’t, things may end up looking kind of flat. KEEP IT SIMPLE - Another tip is to try to keep your choice of forms as simple as possible (without losing the general character of the animal, of course). With that in mind, the lioness’s neck, for example, wouldn’t need to be anything much more complicated than a cylinder (as illustrated in Jesper's drawing), and the dolphin’s body and head could be welded together in just a big teardrop form (I’m attaching an example). TREAT IT AS JUST A SKETCH - As much as possible, take it easy on your pencil and try to soften the pressure in order to draw with lighter lines, especially in the earlier moments of the process. Usually, it helps to simply hold the pencil at about halfway its length (as opposed to holding it near the tip, as it’s more common) - example image attached. An even more effective solution is to hold the pencil with an “overhand grip” and move our entire arm when drawing - if this is new information to you, check out Stan’s video on How to Hold and Control Your Pencil. Ultimately, for this structure exercise, there’s no need to attempt getting tightly defined lines - it’s okay if the drawings turn out a bit sketchy or “messy”, as long as they’re not confusing or unclear. Best regards!

Jesper Axelsson

3mo

Hi @thesmokingrotoscope, this is a tricky exercise, but I think you did a good job simplifying the animals. I like how clear they are. You're not blindly copying, but trying your best to break them down to simple forms. So good job on that! I'll do my best to help you further: - The stiffness probably comes from a lack of gesture. Changing the drawing process might help: start with an underdrawing where you establish the proportions, pose and gesture. Then draw in the forms. The fun thing is that you can build the animals in any way you want. On your drawing journey I encourage you to analyze and copy the work of skilled artists that you admire, to see how they construct what they draw. - The perspective of your forms look pretty good, but I think you can become more comfortable with drawing each. If working on this sounds like a good idea: Draw three boxes in different angles from imagination, then do the same with cylinders. Draw through the forms, as if they were made out of glass. Then post the drawings and tag me (@Jesper Axelsson) and I'll try to take a look. If you think of this way of drawing as a language, then the forms (boxes, cylinders, spheres), are your words and these animals you've constructed, your sentences. The better you know your words, the easier it will be to construct sentences. The better you know the simple forms, the easier it will be to construct with them. I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work 💪😎👍

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Noe Luis

4mo

I am not confident that I capture the 3d form of the dog and frog. Photo references are from Line of Action

Noe Luis

4mo

I had a hard time trying to breakdown the animals into simplify shapes on my first try. The deer drawing was my best. I choose the gorilla reference from Line of Action since it was my first attempt and also started to struggle with the whole body.

Noe Luis

2mo

I draw the gorilla again. What shape would I need to draw for the entire body of the image below. I had to imagine it from my head to do it.

@leltri

4mo

The rabbit's back body side & ears, and the frog confused me. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Jesper Axelsson

4mo

Hi @leltri. Nice drawings! I think the simplifications are well done👍 - "The rabbit's back body side & ears, and the frog confused me". It can be difficult to understand forms, especially when looking at a photograph, where our binocular vision won't help us. For me it has helped to imagine touching the subject; I might imagine swooshing my hand over the surface of the animal, or I might imagine rubbing my face against it. Like it was my pet😀. And strangely enough, that tends to give me some more information of what the forms I'm seeing actually are. It's a bit like how imagining that you're striking the pose yourself, can help you in the gesture exercise (How to Draw Gesture). In fact imagining being the animal could help here too. - I can see that you're taking the Drawing Basics course as well. That's great! Keep doing that 💪😎👍 If you haven't already, I would recommend that you get the warmup exercises into your practice routine (Warmup - Mushrooms & Warmups to Improve Line Quality). You might want to watch this video Ultimate Guide to Pencils and Erasers for instruction on how to hold and control your pencil. - The forms you've drawn feel three dimensional, but some angles and crosscontours suggest that it could be beneficial for you to work a bit more on drawing the individual forms (spheres, cylinders & boxes). If that sounds like a good idea, draw three boxes from different angles, from imagination. Draw through the forms (lightly), as if the objects where made out of glass. Do the same with cylinders and spheres, then tag me (@Jesper Axelsson) if you want me to take a look. I hope this helps :) Let me know if you have any questions!

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angelina andreas

4mo

Jesper Axelsson

4mo

Hi @angelina andreas, I think you did a good job with this exercise. The objects you've drawn feel quite three dimensional👍 - I would practice drawing boxes and cylinders some more. I'll point out some things to work on, then after you've retried you can tag me (@Jesper Axelsson), and I'll try to take a look. Common issues BOXES - Parallel edges are diverging instead of converging. Aim for a vanishing point (though, it doesn't have to be on the page). To check your work, you could extend the edges you've drawn with a ruler. Extending them only a bit is often enough to notice errors. CYLINDERS - The ellipse sometimes has the wrong shape - The ellipse at the further end of the cylinder is pointy sometimes. - The ellipse at the further end is too narrow sometimes (it should be as open, or more open than the ellipse for the end closer to the viewer.) I would recommend drawing through the forms (lightly) as if the objects were made out of glass; drawing the hidden edges too. This will help you with making sure that the structure is correct. Combined with drawing from imagination, I think I would recommend drawing from observation as well. Study from boxy and cylindrical objects you find at home (a shoe box and a paper roll for example). Or you could draw from a 3D model you find online. You might want to challenge yourself with trying to draw your boxes as cubes. All the edges are the same lenght in a cube, and learning to draw it, means that you'll learn to control proportions in space. As reference you could use a rubick's cube for example. Or a 3D model online. I hope this helps :)

David

4mo

This was a lot harder than I expected. I really struggled with the dog's angles... and I'm not very happy with my results in general. I've been doing shapes as a warmup. Also included examples of shapes both from imagination and from observation.

@decentworking

4mo

Nice work! From a fellow traveller: This is a tough exercise. I would recommend watching the video again and following along with Stan as he draws cubes - Then draw a bunch of cubes using that same three point perspective method; do the same with cylinders. THEN… drawing things from life, or turning animals into simple shapes should be easier. Like juggling… add one ball at a time!

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@michael_idahosa

5mo

Some studies of boxes. What do you think?

Billy Morris

5mo

Tried to a bit of everything. This is nearly all of what I've done for this assignment. Any critique/feedback would be much appreciated.

Billy Morris

4mo

Did a few more trying following the advice of @Jesper Axelsson (thanks again). Ended up getting a little caught up trying to get my angles and measurements right with the objects. Kept noticing how off they were when I looked at the photos side by side.

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Jesper Axelsson

5mo

Hi @Billy Morris, nice studies! I think you did a good job using geometric forms to describe the objects. All your drawings feel quite 3D. The perspective of your single boxes and cylinders look pretty good as well 😎👍 - The cylinders you've drawn look pretty good. But they could be even better. You could improve the shape and angle of the ellipses, and you could straighten the sides of the cylinders in some, making sure they hit the ellipses right without creating gaps or making the ellipse spill over. Do one or three more, where you really try to nail it. You could start by doing it the same way you did the ones you posted, then clean and tighten it. (Or pick one that you've already drawn and clean it up) You might want to challange yourself with some cylinders at angles where the cylinder aims more toward you. If you need reference, you could use a household paper roll or a 3D model like this one https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/cylinder-transparent-artistic-reference-6951cfeb304441b090049e3dd3b0aa4c. - Do the same with the boxes. Do one or three more, or clean up a box that you've already drawn. Make the lines clean and connect the corners. Keep an extra eye on the convergence and try to make it even more accurate (Extending the edges a little bit with a ruler is a good way to check if the convergence is off). - When drawing an objects keep the major perpective in mind, as if it was in a large box (The paintover of the controller) - The 3D forms in the animals feel pretty solid but the proportions don't match the reference. You might want to try the process of first starting with an underdrawing focusing on gesture and proportion, then add the 3D forms on top of that. I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!