CheeseNeeps

Hello Rivgar,

I completed two extra pages of boxes as you requested, and I did my best to specifically focus on the getting the lines to match up towards the imagined vanishing point. Still a little difficult, but I feel as though it's getting easier.

Anyways, I really do appreciate the critique, I'll be sure to keep it in mind and reference back to it from time to time.

Again, thank you for your time! And best of luck to you as well!

Here is the link: https://imgur.com/a/ANJycS5

Hello!

Before we start, I’d like to congratulate you on completing your first lesson in DrawABox! It’s easy to get tripped up on the first step, so good job on making it to this point!

To begin, let’s take a look at your linework. All in all, it looks solid. There’s some minor instances of wobbliness or arcing taking place, but I'm honestly nitpicking something that doesn’t need to be nitpicked. One small thing, and I’m guilty of this as well, might be the situations where you “repeat” or “redo” lines that weren’t quite right the first time. This isn’t necessary, and each line should be treated as perfect the first time around, even if it isn’t. Finally, I would like to have seen a greater quantity of planes put into your ghosted planes assignments. While it’s not encouraged to spend time grinding your lessons, it’s equally important you’re giving yourself enough opportunity to learn what is being taught.

Transitioning over to your ellipses, there’s a few concerns I’d like to mention. First off, there are recurring signs of wobbliness with your ellipses. This suggests that you’re giving your brain too much time to “correct” your line’s path, and is the antithesis of confidence. We want to draw our lines quickly and confidently. Utilizing this strategy might result in difficulties at first, but the long-term benefits to your accuracy will eclipse any that had been drawn without this method.

Continuing on with your ellipses, I would have been interested in seeing a larger variety of shapes in your tables assignment. The majority of your tables contain shapes of similar angles and sizes, and I feel deviating between sections helps broaden our understanding of this exercise.

Before we start with your boxes, I just want to place a quick reminder that these exercises are hard. The box assignments are where Lesson 1 hits its zenith, and it’s not expected of anyone to complete these perfectly.

So! Boxes. There are a few spots in your rough perspective exercises that show guesswork happening, whereby your lines are neither vertical, nor horizontal in reference to the horizon line. But, overall they look good. Continuing on to your organic perspective pages, though, I must admit it strikes me as a bit of a mixed bag. From what is there, it honestly looks great. Unfortunately, I’m more concerned about what isn’t there - more boxes. Again, we don’t want to grind, but we also need to guarantee we’re giving ourselves a chance to fully appreciate the assignment. Learning by rushing is a fast track to burnout.

As we move back to your rotated boxes, I can’t help but notice that it appears incomplete. The space on the far right where the heavily rotated boxes would be is missing. Like I said before, these exercises are tough, none more so than the rotated boxes. However, DrawABox (and learning in general) is all about breaking out of our comfort zone and trying out new things, even if those new things lead us to failure - especially if it leads us to failure.

I’d like to offer a few suggestions to help you with this exercise. Keeping the corners of your boxes close to one another helps significantly with this assignment. If your boxes have only a small amount of room between them, you can use each neighboring box as reference as you move onto the next. Moreover, and I cannot stress this enough, don’t ever be afraid to return to the course page for reference, or even just as a refresher.

I will mark the lesson as complete, as it’s silly to stop you from moving on to the 250 box challenge simply because you missed a few boxes that you’ll be doing a bunch of in the challenge anyway. Just remember to always try, even if it’s tough.

Sorry about how long of a critique this ended up being, it wasn’t my intention going into this for it to end up being a page and a half long. But I hope it can be of help to you in your artistic journey! Congratulations again, and good luck in the 250 box challenge and beyond!

Hello!

Congratulations on making it through your first lesson of DrawABox! I personally think the first step in literally anything is the hardest, so good job on making it to this point!

To start off, let’s cover your linework. Overall, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are lines that look like they were drawn perfectly, and others that still show signs of wobbliness/arcing. Even as we work our way through to your organic perspective exercises, there continue to be lines with varying degrees of shakiness. If we look back to your ghosted planes, you’re so close to having it consistently down, with just minimal deviations occurring in your linework there.

If I were to offer suggestions for improvement, it would be to make sure you’re taking all the time you need to ghost you lines out with confidence. Even if it means going through the motion a dozen times before actually placing the line, do it. As you develop a muscle memory for this sort of motion, it’ll become far easier and quicker. Continuing on, I’d also consider utilizing the tools available to you to help combat some of the arcing taking place. Rotating your page, remembering to use your shoulder, and consciously reminding yourself to arc in the opposing direction are all ways of countering struggles like these if they persist. And as always, you can refer back to the course pages themselves if need be.

Next up are your ellipses. You’ve done well in ensuring that each ellipse is drawn over 2-3 times, and like before, your ghosted planes look pretty solid. Additionally, your funnels look well centered on their axis lines. But before we go on, there are some concerns I’d like to quickly bring attention to. Glancing over your ellipse tables and funnels, we again see indications that your line confidence may still be developing. When it comes to ellipses (and lines in general), be sure that you’re drawing them in a smooth, confident, and quick motion. This method limits the ability of your brain to “correct” the motion of your line. Lastly, and this is more of an opinion, but I feel your funnel exercises are a little light on content, and I would like to have seen a few extra examples added to the page.

Finally, let’s wrap up with your boxes. The biggest worry I have regarding your rough perspectives exercises is the frequency in which lines are slanted against the horizon line. This assignment operates in one point perspective, and adheres to a specific set of guidelines on how your points should be placed, and consequently, how your lines should be drawn. As for your rotated boxes and organic perspective pages, I really don’t see any major deviations from the instructions here. There are a couple spots where your rotated boxes aren’t quite rotating, like the box that is specifically two to the right from the center. These exercises are where Lesson 1 hits its zenith, and it’s not a lie to say the difficulty soars with it.

Any lasting advice I'd offer would be to always reread the assignment page before starting each session, as well as taking 10-15 minutes to warm-up with previously completed exercises. And make sure you’re allowing yourself the time needed to ghost out your lines.

Alright, I think that’s everything! I know this is a lot to read, but I hope it makes things easier going forward! Congratulations again on finishing your first lesson, and best of luck in the 250 box challenge and beyond!

Hello!

Congratulations on completing your first lesson here in DrawABox! Glad to hear you’re feeling more confident in your work. Getting this far is an achievement all its own, so good work!

So! Let’s get right into discussing your linework. Starting with your superimposed lines, most of them look correct, but there are a few concerns I’d like to cover before moving on. One common mistake that can happen with this exercise is when the lines you draw “fray” on both ends. This happens a few times in your work, and can result from not utilizing the time needed to position our pen accurately at the starting point. Taking the time we need to prepare our lines will be a recurring theme going forward, and is absolutely essential in building confidence with your linework.

Before we continue, there are two more things I feel the need to quickly mention. There are a good few lines that arc from the start point to the end point. I personally find rotating the page until you locate that “sweet spot” to be very valuable in countering issues like these. The Ghosted Lines assignment page talks more about this in detail if you still find yourself struggling. Lastly, and I’m guilty of this as well, we should only be drawing the line one time. Even if the line isn’t accurate, don’t repeat the line a second time, simply proceed as if it has been drawn perfectly.

Moving on to your ellipses. The ellipses placed in your ghosted planes look good, and it seems you started to get a good feel for the exercise. Though, as we move to your two pages of tables, I start to see signs that indicate that this exercise was being worked through too rapidly. Because it helps with building confidence, each ellipse should be drawn over specifically 2-3 times before moving on to the next. Additionally, many of the sections show ellipses that either overlap or contain too much space between shapes. Ideally, these would be touching, but not overlapping. It’s not expected to do this perfectly, but I do get the sense there is room to improve here. As such, I’d suggest taking a few minutes to thoroughly reread the various assignment pages regarding ellipses, and really analyze what the lesson is trying to teach.

Finishing up with your boxes, there’s a couple more points I feel are important to go over. Feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken here, but it looks as though you stopped placing points/dots on the “far” side of your boxes. Adding these markers helps immensely in visualizing your goal, and is another critical strategy used in the 250 box challenge. Also, I’ve personally found adding weight to a line to be more visually appealing by instead pressing down slightly harder with your pen as you draw your line, as opposed to drawing many smaller lines.

If I could leave a few suggestions before concluding, it would be to emphasize the value in thoroughly studying the lesson notes before each session as a refresher on how the assignments are handled. Specifically, use this time as an opportunity to examine the homework examples and see what the end result of your work should be. Additionally, make sure that you’re slowing down and guaranteeing accuracy and confidence in your lines.

Going forward, I’d be interested in seeing you complete another page of ellipse tables, in addition to one more organic perspective page as warm-ups going into the 250 box challenge. After that, focus on warming up with your choice of box exercises before each session.

Well, that’s it! I hope this ends up being helpful to you as an artist! I know this is a lot to read, but I tried my best to not leave anything out. With that said, congratulations again on completing Lesson 1, and good luck in the 250 box challenge!

Hi there,

Congratulations on completing Lesson 1 of DrawABox! The first step can often be the hardest, so good work on making it this far!

Beginning with your overall linework, your initial exercises show promising signs with minimal degrees of fraying and arcing taking place. However, I can’t help but notice that upon reaching the rough perspectives assignment, your lines begin to show a visible increase in wobbliness. If we return to your two pages of ghosted planes, your lines are pretty much spot on, so you have already proven you can utilize the ghosting method effectively. I’d recommend using the same method you used on your ghosted planes for future linework. Don’t be afraid to return to the course pages to refresh your memory on what strategies work best.

One final note on your lines, I do see instances where you repeat or redo lines that weren’t quite accurate the first time you drew them. This is super common, but isn’t something that is encouraged. Don’t worry if your first line is way off, proceed as if it had been drawn perfectly.

Alright, moving on to your ellipses. Honestly, your ellipses look great! I particularly respect the effort you put into your tables. You have a monumental variety of both shape and quantity in your ellipses. Regarding your spacing, I do see some situations where the ellipses are a bit too spread out. This is in contrast to the times where they are overlapping each other, specifically your smaller ellipses. If you find this to be a recurring theme in your work, it might be beneficial to consciously remind yourself to slow down when working with smaller ellipses.

Let's finish up by discussing your boxes. In your rough perspectives, my biggest concern is that your lines are not being extended out towards the horizon line. This is essential in visualizing errors in your covergances, and is a core element in the 250 box challenge. Additionally, I do see some degree of guesswork happening whereby lines are neither perpendicular nor parallel to the horizon line. However, it’s not to an extreme, and it looks as though you have already taken strides in ironing that out.

Honestly, I don’t see any obvious mistakes in reference to your rotated boxes and organic perspective exercises. Perhaps the only thing would be a few specific places where there’s a bit too much space between the boxes in your rotated boxes assignment. Ideally, they’d all be tightly packed with the corners in close proximity to one another. This helps make it easier to use the neighboring shapes as reference. But in truth, this assignment is extremely difficult, and I can’t see any missing boxes, or any that weren’t drawn though. As such, I’d say you did a solid job on it.

If I could make a few suggestions before heading off to the 250 box challenge, it would be to first return to your rough perspectives and extend those lines out to the horizon. Make sure you do this during the challenge as well. I’d also like to suggest taking 10-15 minutes before each session to warm up with your choice of box exercises.

I believe that’s everything! Sorry for writing such a long-winded critique, but I hope it helps you grow as an artist!

Once again, congratulations, and good luck in the 250 box challenge!

Hello,

Congratulations on completing Lesson 1! Hopefully what you’ve learned will serve you well in the lessons ahead.

Let’s start with your lines. Overall, there aren’t many instances of your lines wobbling, which suggests you’re already beginning to understand the fundamentals of drawing with confidence. I do, however, see a few recurring themes. Many of your lines tend to arc from their start point to their end point. You can counter this by rotating your page to a more comfortable angle, utilizing your shoulder more, and consciously arcing your lines in the opposite direction. Lastly, there are a few times where you repeat or redo your lines in situations where the first one wasn’t quite how you wanted it to be. Even if the line is way off, don’t worry about repeating it.

Moving on, I’d like to suggest taking some time to reread the assignment pages covering ellipses. You put effort into completing your work, but there are a few noticeable oversights that are covered in the lesson notes. When drawing your ellipses, make sure you’re going over them specifically 2-3 times. In addition, do your best to keep the ellipses touching, but not overlapping. They should be densely packed into their tables, but not projecting into their neighbor’s space.

Finally, boxes. Your rough perspectives look good. The only minor thing is that there are a couple lines that didn’t get extended out to the horizon. You’ll be practicing something similar to this a lot in the 250 box challenge, so don’t worry too much yet about any inaccuracies. As for your rotated boxes, there are some boxes that didn’t get drawn through, and it looks like the top left and bottom right corner boxes are missing. This exercise is brutal, so I can understand any struggle with it. Don’t be afraid to refer back to the lesson page if you find yourself getting lost. Lastly, the biggest thing about your organic perspective exercises is that it feels a little “light” on boxes. This isn’t a gigantic issue as, once again, you’ll be doing something similar in the 250 box challenge.

Well, that’s my critique! Just make sure you’re slowing down and taking the time to really focus on your work. I’d like to advise taking 10-15 minutes before each session to warm up with your choice of ellipses or boxes exercises from lesson 1. I hope it helps you on your journey to being a better artist! Congratulations again, and good luck!