Stan Prokopenko: Hello, welcome to another critique episode of Proko. My name is Stan
Prokopenko. We're gonna be critiquing the rib cage today. If you haven't seen the rib
cage lesson, click on the link in the description below. There's a lot of people that submitted
their assignments in the Facebook group. So let's jump right in.
The first critique submission is from William Shepherd. So William, I can see you're still
thinking in terms of line. You're looking at contours. You're thinking two-dimensionally,
and you need to transition to thinking three-dimensionally, thinking in terms of boxes, cylinders, that
sort of thing. That's a really difficult thing to wrap your mind around. The only way is
to just start practicing drawing three-dimensional objects. Draw things around you. So for example,
when I look at your drawing here, I can see that you drew the cranium and then the jaw,
and it's all just one line. It's like a contour line around the head. You're not drawing it
as volume. So it would have been nice to have start with a ball for the cranium. Then cut
off a side of that. Just chop off a piece of that ball. Look how you just put a C in
there instead of actually putting a plane. Then mapping out a grid in here. You know,
now that's three-dimensional. And also, the features you drew are a little bit premature.
You didn't figure out the perspective of the face before you put the features on the face.
So it would've been nice to have wrapped this equator line all the way around. That'll tell
you the brow, and then from here, the nose, and then drop another one for the chin, and
then from there, find the jaw. See, when I start thinking three-dimensionally, things
start to feel more like volume. When you approach it linearly, it just looks cartoony. Start
getting comfortable with three-dimensional shapes. I know we're doing critiques on rib
cage and I just drew a head, but the same thing applies, really. You're doing that for
all of these forms. I feel like instead of thinking of volumes, you're just going through
the motions. You saw somebody do the Loomis head, and so you knew that, "Okay, you have
to draw a circle. And then you have to draw an oval on the side plane, kind of." And then
you remembered maybe somebody drew a nose with this kind of blocky form, but it seems
like you don't actually understand these forms. You're just going through the motions, like
step-by-step almost. Like, you're remembering the lines you have to put down rather than
imagining the form and putting the lines that represent that form.
Now let's move on to Alejandro Farrera Hernandez. This is a person that is thinking about form.
Alejandro, you are drawing three-dimensional shapes, and you're imagining them three-dimensionally
in your head. So this is a good comparison. There are a few areas, though, where I think
you can improve the three-dimensionality. So up here, on that first one, if you think
about the angles of the front plane, or from side-to-side, that you're indicating, these
are all good so far. And then uh-oh, what happened here? See that? This guy's here is
much lower than this guy, and it should relate in the same way that all these other side-to-side
relationships are relating. So just drawing some horizontal lines across there would've
fixed that. This second one looks pretty good. Maybe just not enough of a forward tilt on
this top plane that you're ghosting in there. I know the photo you're drawing from, and
I think we're gonna be looking right at that top plane. So if my hand is the top plane,
you're drawing it as if you're kind of looking under it, but it's actually more like this.
You're gonna be looking right at that top plane.
So it would look like just a straight line instead of a top plane. The third one here,
rib cage looks great. I like that rib cage. The pelvis looks a little bit twisted, looks
like the sacrum is pointing this way, and then you've got the pelvis kind of going this
way. And so things are getting a little bit twisted up. This fourth one, good job actually
drawing a female pelvis. I know that the model in the photo you were drawing from was a woman,
and so you actually drew a pelvis that is compressed, so good job. For the rest of these,
I think you're doing the same thing that you did in this first one. You are not relating
the angle from side-to-side of the bottom corners of the rib cage. You see how you're
bringing this bottom edge all the way down here? It should be more about there. That's
where it would end. Same thing on this one. It would end right there. Same thing on this
one as well. And same thing on this one. So all of them, I think you're just forgetting
to relate, 'cuz you're relating in other places but just not that bottom corner. So maybe
it's just not part of your thought process yet to check every side-to-side relationship
as you draw it.
Moving on to Todd Jaeger. So Todd, I'm seeing Ryan tilting back quite a bit. There's a center
line right between the pecs. So notice how Ryan is tilted back more. So always observing
the center line helps. Also, in complicated poses and weird angles like that, it might
be helpful to start with the big shape first. So getting a gesture line for the whole torso,
like that, would've helped, maybe containing the whole form. You know, if you drew something
like that, you could kind of divide that shape a little bit better and you can judge the
width to height relationship of that shape. And then if that's correct, then it's easier
to place the rib cage within that, and the pelvis where it would belong in there as well.
That always helps me. You know, start big and then start cutting it up into smaller
and smaller chunks. That would've solved your gesture issue, so he would be leaning back.
And also, I'm seeing the rib cage and pelvis much closer together. So let's say right about
there is where the rib cage would end, and then right about there is the pelvis. And
so look at how much distance there is between them. Very little. You're putting probably
three times as much distance in there. So big shape, create a container, put it within,
look for the gesture, look for angles.
This submission is from Caleo Nebula. Okay, Caleo, so you're pointing out here that this
is the way you used to draw it, and now these are your notes from my videos. So watch out
that you don't draw a perfectly round ellipse. Looks like this is a perfect ellipse for the
rib cage. The rib cage is more of an egg shape. So what you have here, as what you used to
do, is actually more accurate than what you did here from my notes. You remember in my
video, I said that the apex of the rib cage, of the side plane, that means the part that
comes out the most, is about two-thirds of the way down from the top. So it would be,
if this is the bottom of the rib cage, this is the top, this should not be the part that
comes out the most. And you're showing that as the part that comes out the most. The part
that should come out the most is about two-thirds of the way down. So if you divide that into
thirds, right in here would be the widest point, just like you have here.
So that's correct. The only thing I don't really like about how you used to draw it,
is that it's just a very sharp corner. I would soften it so that it's more of an egg with
the widest point two-thirds down. What you have here looks pretty good. That's a good
curve. Another thing that I'm seeing is that you're not only putting the widest part in
the wrong spot, but the top and bottom, you're drawing as the same thickness, but they're
not. See how the top is this thick and then the bottom is this thick? And that's the same,
but it's not. It shouldn't be. The top should get much narrower. So if I'm going to draw
a rib cage, let's- Okay, there's front or back view. Right in here, about two-thirds
down, is the widest part. And then right here is the width of the top plane, and there's
the width of the bottom plane. Try to remember that it's an egg. It's not an ellipse. It's
not just a stretched out ball. I do like your analogy here of the thoracic arch being like
the laugh line on a face. That's pretty cool. It's like the jowls right there. Right? You
can see it more on older people. You start getting those jowls hanging there. That's
pretty cool. It's a good way to remember it.
Moving on to this drawing you have on the right. I like most of it, the only thing is
the thoracic arch in this one, actually. You're not really following your analogy. See how
you have this curve, both of them are curving this way? Whereas on this one, you're kind
of showing it like that. From three-quarter view, the roundness of the rib cage starts
to overpower the U shape of the front. Right? So if you kind of think about it for a minute,
from the front, you do see this U shape. But from the side, everything is wrapping this
way. So do you draw the thoracic arch like this, or do you just draw it like this? Well,
it depends on the angle. You know, how much is it towards the front, or how much is it
towards the side. In this case, it looks to me like it should be more curved outward.
So this one is obviously gonna be curved outward, because it's following the U shape and it's
following the roundness of the rib cage. So that, no question about it. In here, it won't
be as curvy as the side on the left, or as the curve on the left, but it will still be
a little bit curvy. Maybe like this, just a very subtle curve. So okay, nice job, Caleo.
Let's look at what Austeja Vaicyte submitted. Okay, Austeja, so you're drawing things linearly
still as well, just like William did. So you need to also start drawing more boxes, drawing
things three-dimensionally. And another thing I'm seeing, is that you are trying to fit
the rib cage too tight into the body. You're kind of distorting the rib cage in order to
really fit it, so it looks like that rib cage is starting to blow up and it's starting to
press up against the body. So for example, in this one, see how you're really just following
the contour, and then here you start to go outward. It's not really gonna touch there.
You have to leave some room for muscles. So in some areas, it will protrude from the surface.
Like right here, that rib cage is really pushing out to the side, and anything that's covering
the rib cage is just stretched so thin that you don't really even see it.
But from there, you're gonna have some scapular muscles, you're gonna have the lat, and that
is going to take up this area in here. Okay? So really look for the actual shape of the
rib cage and think of it three-dimensionally. So see how in here you have this angle, right,
of the shoulders? If the rib cage is tilted this way, then the bottom of the rib cage
should also be tilted that way. So in here, let's end the rib cage here, like you did,
but then bring the other side down farther, all the way over here. And then remember that
the thoracic spine curves this way. It curves over the roundness of the rib cage.
Okay, let's look at another one of yours. Maybe this first one. You're stretching it
out and you're making it really tight in there again. It looks like you're just not familiar
with what the rib cage should look like, and so it's harder for you to put a rib cage shape
in the body. And so you're kind of just drawing a shape where it might fit in the upper part.
Now, I wanna move on to Rebecca Shay, because Rebecca, you're doing the same thing. Look
at the contours you're showing. Look how wobbly this is. You're not drawing the structure
of the rib cage; you're just drawing a shape in the top part of the body. Again, in here,
look at how wobbly that is. Look for a simple curve. Look for angles. Whoops. I almost made
that same mistake. So I have established this as the angle from side to side. So now if
I'm drawing the top plane, I have to make sure that that angle converges somewhere.
Now how much do I converge? Do I go like that, or do I make it almost straight? Well, that's
up to you, really. How much perspective, what's the aspect ratio of the camera? You kind of
have to feel it out. You could really push that. The closer you are to the person, the
more of that effect will happen, but it's really up to you.
Okay, and then from there, drop the side plane. And then I'm not gonna draw that top plane
parallel to the bottom plane. I'm going to lean it forward a little bit, just like that.
And then find the center line, find an edge to separate the side plane, and then maybe
divide this in half. That's the sternum, and then there's the thoracic arch. And this is
a female rib cage, remember, female rib cage, you really wanna make it more feminine. That
thoracic arch would be more like this. Male or masculine rib cage, you'll make it more
like this. So I'm making this much sharper of a corner.
Next is Neville. With Neville, I really just wanted to show what he did. This is such a
useful exercise. He's drawing the rib cage pretty much from every angle, starting in
the center, just straight on from about eye level. And then as you go up, he's rotating
that rib cage back. And as he goes down, he's rotating it forward. Then as you go left,
you rotate the rib cage left. And as you go to the right, you rotate it to the right.
So then you just have this giant grid of the rib cage from every angle, and so you have
to draw it from every angle. It's very tedious, but once you're done with it, you've just
drawn, like, 50 rib cages. You know, that's more than anybody else drew in the exercise,
so that's good. The only thing I would wanna say, though, is try to keep the sizes correct.
Also, if this whole row is supposed to be tilted just a little bit forward, why aren't
they the same height? Draw horizontal, and then just make sure that all the rib cages
fit within that space.
But let me show you what I mean. So let's say I'm drawing the rib cage. I'll tilt it
forward a little bit more. Okay, so that's leaning forward a little bit. If I was to
now draw this rotated to the left quite a bit, let's draw perfect horizontals and let's find the angle. So it's tilted forward
a little bit. And look at this. We can find where this point is, by drawing another horizontal.
So it looks like I need to bring this down a little bit more. So there's that whole plane.
If I'm seeing this much of that top plane, then I should see that same amount even if
I rotate it a little bit. So I could do the same thing for the bottom of the sternum.
Now, what if I want to draw something in between that? Okay, now let's imagine what it's gonna
look like. You can lightly draw something in if that helps you to kind of start exploring.
Okay, so there we have one that's tilted to the left a little more, and it's leaning forward.
It's somewhere in between this one and this one. Maybe a little bit closer to this one.
But anyway, great exercise. Thank you, Neville, for suggesting it. And that was the last critique.
Okay, thank you guys for watching. Thanks for everybody who submitted their critiques.
I will see you next time. Bye-bye.
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