Well, the title is deceiving, because so far I have only one picture to show for, but here it is. I must say, I really don’t like it, apart from the shed frontside, part of the surrounding fence and the bark. I like the fence in the front.
I need advice/help with the trees especially. Don’t like the treeline at all.
I’m completely new to this medium. I used staedtler 0.1 and 0.05
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Hi Jennilein -
I think this is a really good “start” but could benefit from some more work. I have not done this course, so I popped onto it to take a look at the lesson. What immediately became apparent is that you’re missing a full range of VALUES. Specifically, you’re missing the darkest tones. Go back and look at Matt’s finished drawing and I think you’ll see what I’m talking about. The door opening to the shed, the bark on the tree in the foreground, and the fence posts all need to be a lot darker. They are all in shadow on the side where the viewer is standing because of the light source from the upper left side. Then look at the tree line in the distance and see the variation in the really dark evergreens on the left side, and the lower darker shadows next to the ground on the entire tree line. Also look at the texture of your mark making. In the e-book for this lesson on the top of the second page, Matt talks about creating textural marks to allow the value to be darker. Your marks here are very linear and Matts are kind of circular. These are the things that you can easily adjust and will make you happier with the results.
So my suggestion, go back to the ebook and look again at the lesson paying particular attention to the variation in value (from light to dark) and to the texture of the mark making).
A big part of all these lessons is learning how to “see”. Hang in there - you are really off to a wonderful start.
Terri Robichon
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Thank you for taking the time, to help me out I really could not put my finger on what’s wrong, so your comment helps tremenduously! I will definitely have a look at the ebook then. I also thought about trying again (with fresh eyes so to speak), as I don’t want to rush through the exercises
Jennilein - I really don’t think you need to start again, because patience and more work is all the existing one needs. Believe me, MANY of us get part way done, hate it and want to throw it away. Most of the time that is not necessary. Just don’t rush the process. Drawing takes time. If you find yourself rushing because you just want to be done, it’s an indication that it’s time for a break.
Terri Robichon
Thanks for the encouragement, I tried to darken up some values now, and I feel it is getting somewhere. I also do think I will try the whole drawing again to get some more practice (I also saved some pictures that look pretty similar to work on my weak spots)
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I think you are doing a great job. Continue what you are doing.
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So I did some more work. I added some darker values and non linear lines to the trees.
I am much happier with the result, it doesn’t look nearly as flat.
2 areas that I am still not sure what to do with are the tree in the front, it feels pretty flat. However, if I add darks to the right side the whole thing will be unbalanced as I have dark values on the left behind the tree.
I also don’t like the roof-tree transition. It seems very abrupt.
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Hi Jennilein.
This is much improved. You are learning how to SEE and this will take a lot of practice.
One of the reasons you don’t like the roof-tree transition is because your roof on the right side is a single line. You missed making the overhang with the shading under the entire roof line. (Go back to the lesson and stop it at 24:28 minutes to see Matt’s final drawing.) But really, don’t worry about it. You are learning and doing great.
Terri Robichon
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Thanks, yes once I put it in I noticed I missed that part, but hard to correct in pen and ink.
Any ideas for the tree in the foreground, though? It’s still rather flat, but if I darken it on the right I will lose contrast. Not sure whether to abandon the drawing just yet…
Also once again thank you for all the tips, they really made a huge difference. I like the picture much better now!
Hi Jennilein -
Please know that you have been doing great. I’m only giving more feedback because you asked for tips. I decided it was easiest to show you what could be done to the drawing you’ve already created.
I took the last drawing you posted and put it into photoshop, making it a true rectangle and turning it into black and white. Then I printed it and I added marks to show you how you could make modifications to your existing drawing. So YOUR DRAWING is on the top, and MY MODIFICATIONS are below it for easy comparison.
On the trees in the background on the left, I added more RANDOM darker textures to add more realism. In the trees behind the right side of the building, I added more tree trunks like I could see on Matts drawing. I made the roofline on the right side of the building thicker and added a visible shadow under the entire roofline, including on the upper part of the left side of the building. I made the fence posts darker because shadows on the ground would only occur on the shaded side of the posts. I added more horizontal lines on the fence also, trying to line it up as much as possible. Then I darkened the trunk and branches of the tree as well. One more thing, on the big doorway into the building, I made it even darker on the top and right side. In summary, overall I increased your range of values, by adding more dark tones. Hope this is helpful. Happy drawing to you.
Terri Robichon
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Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me. It actually helps a lot, because I really was scared to go too dark, but I can see now, that I could have gone a lot darker (something I noticed with my portrait I’m working on as well). I will try to keep that in mind for future paintings because it makes such a huge difference. Especially love what you have done with the roof, I will try to add some darker values to my painting still
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Hello @Jennilein ,
Terri has some excellent advice for you. I would add a couple of tips for future reference. On the texture part look at using smaller strokes, circular strokes sometimes do a great job for foilage. The value bothered me a little at first, but my biggest constructive criticism would be the perspective. The back side of the barn appears larger than the front side. In perspective, things appear smaller as they get further away and appear to converge to a point in the distance. Your barn appears to converge toward the viewer. The rest of the drawing seems to be following the expected perspective. I originally looked at linework as a style choice, but the perspective is what hit me first. Then after I read the comments I decided to offer this suggestion. It is a process to get better. Keep working on it and it will improve. Before you know it, you will be asking for advice on miniscule details that only you will notice until you point them out. Remember none of us have ever produced a perfect drawing, someone will always see things we don’t. Don’t get rid of any of your drawings, but rather learn from them, date them. Put them away and come back and compare to current future works in 6 months to a year and see the difference.
Hope this helps.
Lenet
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Thank you so much for the advice. My first thought, when I read about the perspective was: well, it’s bigger on the inside. Dr. Who jokes aside, I really did not notice this, I still have a hard time with perspective in buildings. I really tried with the vanishing point with this one, but did not really know “where to go” I think the bottom of the barn and the roof should be parallel, shouldn’t they, including part of the fence? (As I said I wasn’t sure while I did the pencil sketch and that shows in my finished drawing, still not sure if I’m on the right track now, I might try a sketch later)
As for the foliage, I will try next time. I also wanted to watch the video on trees. The “problem” is, if you watch different artist’s pen trees they all have different marks. Looks very easy in theory, but doing it myself I saw how difficult it actually is… Thanks again for all the help!
@Jennilein , I took Terri’s value correction and did a quick screen overwrite (on my phone) to give you a little better clarification. See difference in a little perspective modification.
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I’m trying a little sketch just with the barn and some trees, I still think I’m off with the roof, but I will keep trying. I’m really amazed at all the help I’m receiving! Thank you so much 
That is what makes this forum so good. People here enjoy art, learning better skills and sharing their art and opinions with regard to helping others! We sometimes learn also by helping others. It is sometimes easier to see things that can be improved on in works other than our own, because we don’t always look objectively at our stuff. However, learning to recognize stuff that can be improved on can translate into incorporation into our own works.
Lenet
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Wholeheartedly agree, even though I am very critical with my own work and always find things to do better. I think that’s a big part of doing artsy stuff.
I tried a sketch just focusing on the perspective and treeline just now, and while I think the barn looks better, I found the fence pretty wonky. I will try again some other day…
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Here is the drawing from yesterday, where I focus on perspective and the treeline. Did this one on A5 with a 0.3 pen because I have a couple of spare ones. I feel the trees are way better. I also think the barn looks okayish. I feel that the fence from the barn, especially towards the trees is somehow wonky, drifting off towards the sky, even though I tried to line the lower and upper part up.
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Hello Jennilein,
I only skimmed through the advice you have received. Your improvement is really good. When I went through the Pen and Ink course I did redo many of the projects. I think that Matts suggestion to practice, practice, practice is so important in whatever way you decide to go forward. What you are doing with this project will help you with future ones.
All the advice you received is great, so I have no more except to remember also that every artist as we work through each piece of artwork, every course, all the live lessons we will eventually develop our own style and that should come out after we work all the kinks out of what we are working on.
BTW…perspective is a battle for me in everything I do that requires it. You are not alone in dealing with all the questions you have and they will help others who go through your post here.
I will sometimes use a ruler and make sure the angle is the same for all the lines of perspective toward the vanishing point as they go across the paper in a project like this one. I am not sure if it is mentioned but there are old live lessons on perspective that are great resources.
Also your tree line does not have to be the same as the perspective of the house and fence, and the fence and house can also go at various different angles as they are lines and flow with the terrain. In this exercise it is your horizon if I remember correctly. It could go straight across but tree lines sometimes look a little wonky in real life if there is a curve or hill the are growing on.
So I am still practicing, practicing, practicing too! I hope this is not confusing or repetitive. So keep up the good work! I look forward to watching your progress.
Teri
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Thank you! I think the forum is incredibly useful. As a newbie I also search for certain topics and read older posts, so I hope this will be helpful to others, too!
I will definitely do the practice, I love the course(s) and I’m watching and rewatching the instructions. I see constant improvement and things I did not notice before. That helps a lot, even if you only notice your mistake after it is “set in stone”.
As someone who has taken the course, would you say it makes sense to do the projects with technical and nib pens both?
I found some of the live lessons you mentioned about perspective and saved them to my ever growing to watch later list. Next time I will try the ruler trick and hope to finally nail perspective in 2024 