Group run through creative environment design week 1 art and feedback

[braden H]

@demotlj I'm really liking some of those building silhouettes! Lots of neat bridges, gates and towers

[MichaelaH]

Exercise 3, this time I had more fun drawing.

[braden H]

@MichaelaH I see a couple of airships on there!

[MichaelaH]

@Braden-Hallett Yeah, than I did well, if You can see them

[murielle]

@ErinCortese I really like them. I don't mind that they are 'rigid', they look good.

Maybe you need to make a mental shift?
Whenever I feel I can't get anything on the page or create work that is too stiff, I realize I care too much about the end result.

This forum is where we give feedback and to be honest when I saw what was already posted, I felt my work sucked. I was very hesitant to participate. Then, I shifted my way of thinking and said to myself "post it anyway, get feedback, get better".

You also mention that you don't have any mental references to pull from. That's fine. That is what Pinterest is for
What I've noticed looking at your trees is that the trunk is always straight. I was looking for references today and realized that does not always have to be the case. It's these little things that I look for.

[murielle]

@JerrySketchyArt I like the Mars Habitats, they mostly follow the 3/5 rule. Some of them can still be divided in half, I'm not sure if that is what you are going for.

I can give the same comment for the trees, but there I feel the 3/5 rule is missing for most of them.

To be honest I think the tree exercise is harder than the houses. It's the 'symbol thing' Jake talks about in the class. Our brain just wants a tree to look a certain way. (I haven't posted my trees yet, because I want to redo them if I find the time. I made the same mistake )

[murielle]

@demotlj Nice work. These look good. The buildings are interesting especially if you don't like drawing them.

[murielle]

@MichaelaH Nice!!! I have so many favorites :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat:

[Erin.Cortese]

Here is my second attempt at the thumbnails, I managed to loosen up. It really does seem counterintuitive though, I had to fight the urge to draw familiar structures, through all of them.

Thank you @Braden-Hallett @JerrySketchyArt, brilliant advice to just put a mark on the page or draw some random shapes, it really worked for me!

[braden H]

@ErinCortese Nice! Just wingin' shapes and lines around can really help to shake out of a design rut

I'm seeing a lot of nice thirds goin' on!

[Erin.Cortese]

Here is my Exercise 4. I was drawn to this thumbnail because it is outside what I would usually do...loose and not overly structural. I am finding that I feel more relaxed working on things that are more stylized and less structural, but it still feels strange.

[JerrySketchyArt]

Exercise 4

[JerrySketchyArt]

@murielle I was going for a mix of "boring" and "interesting" in those thumbnails. They mention in the class that sometimes you want boring, and since I often need to make background elements that blend in the boring stuff is important for me too.

I don't disagree on the trees. I probably could have made more of those interesting. I tend to try and make my distinctions on the vertical shapes for those. I think the problem is that trees tend to be pretty evenly distributed (at least horizontally) in real life.

I went for a walk after reading your comment and took a good look at all of the trees. Noticed that they are amazingly symmetrical in general. Pretty much all of the asymmetrical ones I spotted were forced that way by cutting. I guess being different would be what makes those one's interesting though.

[demotlj]

@JerrySketchyArt Do you live in a residential area? I think it’s true that trees in a residential area will be more symmetrical whereas in a woods, they are rarely symmetrical because of crowding and wind damage. I took these pictures on a walk down my road lined by State forest. Even the trees in the open have damage from winds. Thinking about this is helpful because the shape of the trees in a drawing then could help signal the setting.

[braden H]

Remember ladies and gents that the intention of this course is not necessarily to design things that are real (though that's fine ) it's to design things that look good.

[braden H]

Also (watching Jake's exaples in the 'reference' video at about 50 minutes) a great way to make sure that you keep the awesome silhouette for your building/tree is to take the black silhouette, resize it (and lower the opacity) then draw overtop of it on a new layer. I've found that if I don't do that I tend to de-exaggerate my silhouette.

[Heather Boyd]

1-3 Exercises completed this week. Just squeezed in. I loved doing these. But houses were the hardest -master perspective class after this.

[braden H]

@Heather-Boyd Perspective is haaaaaard! But i do find it easier in thumbnail form It's a lot easier to extend those imaginary lines waaaaaaay off the page when what you're drawing is tiny

[Heather Boyd]

@Braden-Hallett

You make it look easy.

[demotlj]

@Heather-Boyd These are great! Very creative.