sketch critique

[Marcus]

Hey yall,
I've been drawing for a couple of months now trying to get the fundamentals of scrollwork down and have finally created a couple of designs that I think are pretty good. Both Ron smith and lee Griffith's books were very helpful in understanding the fundamentals of this wonderful art and getting me off my feet. I was wondering if I could get suggestions from the community on what to improve in my drawings and how to make them better.

 

[JJ Roberts]

Marcus, Just work on the back bone's of the scroll's for now. J.J.

 

[monk]

the real basis of all this design is the "spine" or "backbone" as some call it. regardless of the term, the basic scroll element must be near perfect. a casual look at yours shows a tendency towards oval shape. this must be worked on first. jmho

 

[allan621]

Learning to successfully draw scrolls is like learning a new language. Its like a comedy routine where a person goes into a French restaurant sort of knowing half the language but not enough of the language. He orders a chicken dish but with his mangled French, insisting against the reluctance of the waiter that he doesn't really know he's ordering. The waiter shrugs and comes out with a pair of boots on a platter.

That's where you are. It looks like scrolls but certain elements of your design are wrong. The connections between the scrolls do not line up right. The shapes of the scrolls, like Monk says are leaning in to being ovals instead of a beautiful round.

But, and this is the important part, this can be hard to learn. From your drawing I can see that you have a good idea of what's necessary but the execution is really lacking. Go back to the beginning of the Lee Griffith book. Look at his simple scroll designs that have one single line ( the backbone ). Look at the shape of the scroll, look at the space between the overlapping line as it curls. And draw that. And draw it until it looks as identical as possible.

With all the work and reading you have done, it will make starting over easier and things should fall in place quicker. But don't rush. As an apprentice I was told that the way to pick up speed was to go a slow as possible. That works.

Plus don't fill in any shading, either in the background or within the scrolls. Just the outline of the scrolls. This makes it easier and cleaner to erase the parts that need redrawing.

Stay with it.

Allan

 

[JJ Roberts]

My first year was spent drawing scrolls and practicing engraving with hammer & chisel on practice plates and went to gun parts I'd find at gun shows learn how to draw if you want to be a successful engraver it an art. J.J.

 

[Brant]

Only perfect practice makes perfect.

 

[Marcus]

the real basis of all this design is the "spine" or "backbone" as some call it. regardless of the term, the basic scroll element must be near perfect. a casual look at yours shows a tendency towards oval shape. this must be worked on first. jmho

I will do that for sure. the muscle memory on drawing backbones is definitely better than when I started but it is still tricky. thank you for the advice!

 

[Marcus]

the real basis of all this design is the "spine" or "backbone" as some call it. regardless of the term, the basic scroll element must be near perfect. a casual look at yours shows a tendency towards oval shape. this must be worked on first. jmho

Learning to successfully draw scrolls is like learning a new language. Its like a comedy routine where a person goes into a French restaurant sort of knowing half the language but not enough of the language. He orders a chicken dish but with his mangled French, insisting against the reluctance of the waiter that he doesn't really know he's ordering. The waiter shrugs and comes out with a pair of boots on a platter.

That's where you are. It looks like scrolls but certain elements of your design are wrong. The connections between the scrolls do not line up right. The shapes of the scrolls, like Monk says are leaning in to being ovals instead of a beautiful round.

But, and this is the important part, this can be hard to learn. From your drawing I can see that you have a good idea of what's necessary but the execution is really lacking. Go back to the beginning of the Lee Griffith book. Look at his simple scroll designs that have one single line ( the backbone ). Look at the shape of the scroll, look at the space between the overlapping line as it curls. And draw that. And draw it until it looks as identical as possible.

With all the work and reading you have done, it will make starting over easier and things should fall in place quicker. But don't rush. As an apprentice I was told that the way to pick up speed was to go a slow as possible. That works.

Plus don't fill in any shading, either in the background or within the scrolls. Just the outline of the scrolls. This makes it easier and cleaner to erase the parts that need redrawing.

Stay with it.

Allan

thank you so much for the critique! i will draw some more and post my progress when i get the backbones down