Castur__

Hi there, I'll be looking over your lesson 5 submission today.

Starting with your organic intersections, you're off to a pretty good start! They all have a sense of gravity and weight to them, which is exactly what we're looking for. You show a good grasp of 3-dimensional space. You could've been a bit more generous with the cast shadows, but the ones that are there are generally decent. It is good that you've only used additional line weight to help clarify where there are overlaps.

Remember to always prioritise confidence over accuracy (when it comes to drawing lines, that is). That was explained all the way back at lesson 1, and it still holds true here. Your lines are quite wobbly and hesitant at times. Your ellipses especially aren't very... elliptical. Remember to always make good use of the ghosting method for all of your lines, and fully commit to the line once you've started it.

Now we move unto the mean course of the night: animal construction. You consistently make use of something that Uncomfortable calls a clean-up pass, which, while a perfectly valid drawing technique, is firmly discouraged when doing Drawabox. You can read more about it here. The gist of it is that every mark you put down should be done with the same confidence and boldness as any other line in the drawing, and you should never go back over a line to try and "correct" it (except for when you're adding line weight ig). Remember, these are exercises, not pieces of art. Drawabox is all about developing an intuitive sense for how forms exist in relation to one another in 3D space, so the constructional part is much more important then the final drawing. That's the most important thing you can take away from this critique.

Another thing that you should avoid is cutting into and altering the silhouettes of the underlying forms (like you did for your first bird's head). This severely undermines the 3D feel of the shape, as illustrated here. You almost always will want to work with additive construction instead. By working additively you also provide information on how those forms connect/relate to one another, which further strengthens the illusion of depth. The will work the best when you make use of simple forms, which is why we draw all those sausages back in lesson 2. Complex shapes, such as that of animal legs for example, will thus be constructed out of many simple shapes interacting with each other rather than one big solid shape. It's like working with clay: you start with a simple base, and then you iteratively add more clay around that initial base, wrapping them around and building up a more complex shape as time goes on.

When it comes to detailing, you need to be more mindful of the marks you put down. You need to think through and design the shapes, not just scribble down an approximation. You need to really observe the reference images to understand why things look the way they do, and often things will look different in reality from what we picture in our heads. And remember, detailing is optional. Drawabox is mainly about the construction.

Don't get me wrong, your drawings aren't bad. Your snail cat (snat? cail?) is really cute. They just don't adhere to the principles of Drawabox, and to get the most out if this course you must follow the lesson instructions as closely as possible. Trust me.

So, I think that covers most of it. I want you to do one more quadruped drawing (hoofed or non-hoofed, you choose) before you move unto the 250 Cylinder Challenge, and really pay mind to your mark making this time around. Be bold, be confident, don't hesitate. Perhaps redo some of the lesson 1 exercises as warm-ups. I also want you to be more mindful of the shapes you put down when you construct your animal. Read through the lesson material again, and try to do as it tells you as closely as possible. Keep up the good work, and good luck!

Thank you so very much for giving me such a thorough critique. I'm genuinely at a loss for words. Thank you! I especially appreciate you including examples and pointers to various sections in the lessons, that is extremely helpful. Not to mention you taking the time to actually draw over and literally outline the areas in these exercises of mine that need improving. Reading through your feedback has really made a few things click for me -- like adding masses not to alter the silhouette but to reinforce the masses around it, that is such a huge oversight on my part. Thank you!

I'm glad to hear! You're very welcomed, I'm happy to be of help. Good luck in your art journey, wherever it may lead you

Hi there DuoTheImpaler, I'm Castur_ and I'll be reviewing your work today.

Lines

Superimposed lines: You're off to a pretty good start! Most of your lines look pretty smooth and confident. There is some fraying at the far end, but that's fine for now -- accuracy comes later with practice and mileage, right now we're just focusing on line confidence. There is some arching and wobbliness going on with some of your lines, so make sure you're really drawing from your shoulder.

Ghosted lines: Your lines are confident and show little to no wobbling or arching for the most part. They do tend to either fall short of or overshoot the second point by a little bit, but like I said before: accuracy comes later. Nicely done!

Ghosted planes: These look really good! There's not much to improve here. You have improved your line confidence since the last two exercises. One thing though... It appears you haven't properly plotted the central lines of the planes, ie. you didn't place points on middle of the sides before you drew those lines. This isn't a huge mistake, but it is important to have a clear start and ending point when practising the ghosting method. I believe I also forgot to do this when I went through this lesson, so it happens to the best of us ;)

Ellipses

Table of ellipses: Your ellipses are pretty good. They fit somewhat snuggly, and you've drawn through them 2-3 times. They are a bit uneven and wobbly though, so make sure you are really ghosting your ellipses before you put your pen to the page so you familiarise yourself with the motion (just like with the ghosted lines earlier). Remember, confident lines is still and will always be your first priority when doing Drawabox.

Ellipses in planes: Same as Table of ellipses. They are starting to look a little smoother on the second page, so I believe you are heading in the right direction.

Funnels: Nice! Your ellipses become more elliptical with each passing page. The ellipses' minor axes don't always align to the funnels' centre lines though (ie. your ellipses are slightly tilted) so keep that in mind. It could be beneficial to do this exercise as a warm-up before future sessions.

Boxes

Plotted perspective: Nice! These look really good. You've drawn through all your boxes, and you've made good use of line weight and hatching to clearly communicate to the viewer which face is in front of which. Good job :)

Rough perspective: These are really good for such a difficult exercise. Your line quality has worsened somewhat, but that is to be expected. The perspective on the boxes is mostly really good -- there are some lines on the front- and back planes that aren't quite parallel/perpendicular to the horizon line (which they ought to be since this is one-point perspective) but besides that you clearly have a good understanding of vanishing points.

Rotated boxes: This exercise is one that is notorious for its difficulty, so with that in mind I think you've done a stellar job. You've drawn through all the boxes and made good use of hatching, and the perspective is pretty good too. The boxes are rotated nicely. It looks a little rushed perhaps, but I can understand that. This exercise alone took me like two days when I first went through this lesson lol

Organic perspective: Very nice! The perspective is a bit questionable on some of the boxes, but most look solid to me. Remember that parallel sides should always converge, since they should point toward a common vanishing point -- in practise this means that parallel sides will never face away from each other (as seen in the topmost panel here). You could've made better use of line weight as you did in Plotted perspective, but at this point I'm just nitpicking. This is overall a really good first attempt.

Overall, I think you did well! You've made it all the way through, and that is a feat in and of itself. I believe you are ready to tackle the 250 Box Challenge. There you will have plenty of time to improve on perspective and line confidence. I recommend you to keep doing these exercises from lesson 1 (in particular the ellipses) as warmups going forward. Good luck!

Hi there ClassySquid, I'm Castur_ and I'll be reviewing your work today :)

Lines

Superimposed lines: You're off to a pretty good start! When doing Drawabox you should always prioritise confident, smooth lines over accurate lines -- accuracy comes with practice and mileage -- and you seem to do so quite well. So, even though there is some fraying at the far end of the lines, that's perfectly fine for now. There is some arching and wobbliness to some of your lines though, so keep in mind to draw from your shoulder and focus on confident lines. Good job!

Ghosted lines: These look really good! Smooth, straight, and confident, just as we want them. They sometimes overshoot or fall short of the second point, but as I said earlier: accuracy comes later.You're putting the ghosting method to good use. Well done :)

Ghosted planes: Pretty much the same feedback here as on the last two. There is some more hesitancy to some of you're lines here, but overall you've got pretty good line quality. They tick all the boxes, so to speak ;)

Ellipses

Table of ellipses: Your ellipses are pretty good. They fit somewhat snuggly, and you've drawn through them 2-3 times. They are a bit uneven and wobbly though, so make sure you are ghosting your ellipses before you put pen to page so you familiarise yourself with the motion (just like with the ghosted lines earlier). Remember, confident lines is still your first priority.

Ellipses in planes: You're ellipses are starting to look better here! They are still not quite elliptical (egg-shaped, perhaps?) yet but we are getting there, and they aren't quite as wobbly as in Table of ellipses. Good job!

Funnels: Much the same as the last. Although, here it is more apparent that you don't quite align the ellipses' minor axes to the funnels' centre lines -- in other words, your ellipses are slightly tilted. I suggest you keep doing these ellipse exercises as warm-ups going forward.

Boxes

Plotted perspective: Nice! You've drawn through all of your boxes and even made use of some thicker outline to make them read better to the viewer. You sometimes seem to darken the wrong lines though (like in the leftmost box on the middle panel, you accentuated the backmost line even though it's not actually visible to the viewer from this angle), so I can't help but think that those might be one accident? Remember that you have to work with what you've already got on the page -- no redo's.

Rough perspective: Your line quality is noticeably worse here, which isn't uncommon to see in this exercise. Especially when you go back over the thicken up the lines they get really wobbly. Remember that these too should be done in one single, confident stroke. Other then that your boxes are pretty good here. Your perspective's a bit off, but there's clear improvement from your first panel to your last so I think you've got the hang of it now. Remember that in one-point perspective the lines of the back- and frontmost planes are supposed to be perfectly parallel/perpendicular to the horizon line. You've also made good use of hatching to show which side is facing the viewer, and you've used the line correction method to see where the lines' relative vanishing points land.

Rotated boxes: Keep in mind that this exercise in particular is notoriously difficult at this stage in your Drawabox journey, so it's not expected to be "good", much less perfect. The most important thing here is that you attempted this exercise to the best of your current abilities, and I think you have. You've drawn through all the boxes and made good use of line weight, and the perspective on them is also quite decent. They aren't rotating enough though (see how we almost don't see the fathermost box's face?). Good job :)

Organic perspective: The perspective here isn't the greatest, but that is to be more or less expected at this stage. Just keep the vanishing points of the box in mind (like the topmost example here), as your sides here aren't converging properly. Parallel sides should be pointing towards each other, not away (as I've tried to illustrate here. See how your lines doesn't go towards a vanishing point?)

Overall, I think you did a pretty good job! Drawabox is really tough by design, and yet you persevered and made it through! I want you to do one more page of rough perspective, really keeping the vanishing points in mind, and once that's done and you've submitted it here you should be ready to tackle the 250 box challenge. Good luck!

Thank you! I really appreciate that :D

Thank you! I drew this on my phone (with my right thumb lol) with an app called Sketchbook. It's pretty good!

That's a good point... I hadn't really thought about that. Good catch, and thank you for the feedback! Although, I do suppose that you may sacrifice some realism for the sake of the scene? Making the kaiju smaller or the ground thicker would be detrimental visually, I think, but perhaps adding more support would do the trick? Either way, thank you

I'm glad I could be of help! I trust you've done another page of Rough Perspective (and if you haven't, you'll have plenty of time to practice perspective in the 250 box challenge regardless), so I consider you complete with this lesson. Good luck with the rest of the course :D

I'm glad I could be of help! Perspective can be a difficult concept to grasp. It wasn't until after the 250 box challenge that I started to get comfortable with thinking in 3D, and I admittedly still struggle with it 4 lessons later. Your new attempt is a huge improvement over the last two! Well done :D