Jekettex

Hi polarshifts,

Overall I think you've done a good job! I'll also commend you on the clarity of your image submissions. Mine look like they were taken with a disposable camera in a dark alley..

In terms of critique, the main thing I've noticed is your line confidence. There's a fair bit of that 'furry' line habit going on. I'd really like to stress that it is better to just go for it with a continuous line than it is to be hesistant. Something I've really tried to hammer in to myself is to confidently draw things regardless of how they turn out. I'll be making hundreds of thousands of bad drawings throughout my journey. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that I fully throw myself a each one and don't worry about what others will think.

With regards to your leaves, I think you could do with practicing contour lines a bit further. The lines are pretty flat and detract from the idea that theyre 3D. Contour lines will either make or break your drawing, so if you're going to do them then make sure they promote the idea of form. I hope that makes sense.

Finally, the texture on your cactus is distracting. This isn't because its bad at all. In my opinion it's because the pacement of the nodes/spikes or whatever they are are all extremely similar to one another. Nature is random. Randomness and variety sell the idea of reality whereas repetition and sameness suggest an object is man-made. I hope this helps. Also, just because you don't see improvements, doesn't mean you aren't improving. That nagging voice in your head saying you are stagnating should be pushed aside. If you keep going and choose to be confident no matter what, you'll improve.

All the best,

Jekettex

Hi,

Just a couple things I'd like to point out but overall your submission is pretty solid! I think (this I particularly noticed with the arrows) your line confidence needs to be focused on. Some of the linework in your arrows seems hesitant, giving it that 'furry' edge. I will say though, your second page is a lot better!

Your textures look great! I think with the analysis you would have benefited from observing and marking a bit more in the initial boxes, though the concept seems to have translated well to your dissections. I particularly like the 'hairier' ones. This is something I struggle with myself so it certainly helps to see others pull it off. If anything I'd say a lot of them are a little too uniform? I think if you were to do it again, play around with the idea of leaving areas of blank space to suggest a lit area and parts where the texture dissolves into darkness. You've definitely tried the former on your second page though!

One last thing - remember, if you're going to add shading/hatching/shadows/whatever to your submissions, it's best to completely fill them. There's a fair bit of hatching with a lot of little white spaces that translates as unnecessary noise. I got myself one of those pentel pocket brush pens and that works great. I hope this helps.

All the best,

Jekettex

Hi Slyx,

Thanks so much for the critique. I'll definitely check out the discord server for further advice and keep doing boxes until I get it right.

Cheers,

jekettex

Hello Stiest and congrats on finishing the challenge! I think I'm seeing boxes in my dreams as well, so it's nice to know I'm not alone in losing my mind.

With regards to your linework, I see confidence in some sections so good job! I will say however theres a fair bit of wobbly line, under/overshooting and line fraying. This is all totally normal so I wouldn't worry too much, however it is important to keep practicing so that your confidence builds via ghosting lines and practicing superimposition. A confident, inaccurate line is better than a hesitant, accurate one! I've also noticed some of the lines that describe the inner corner of the boxes have been redone (e.g. 118). While I totally get the desire (I have to hold back the temptation to do it to everything I draw), it detracts from selling the 3D form and thus is detrimental to the goal you're trying to achieve. Apply all of this to your hatching as well, with a bit more density in the number of lines, though this may be my personal bias I'm not sure. Focussing on improving all the elements I previously discussed will invariably help to sell your boxes as real objects.

As for the structure of the boxes themselves, I definitely see improvement with convergences, though there are still some issues. Having just finished the challenge myself, I know how frustrating this can be, as I still have convergence issues myself - particularly with the inner corner (this is due to the sum of all mistakes that came before). They will resolve in time, though what helped me was to make a point of looking at relationships between lines within each set of 4 (for which there are three describing the dimensions of space) as separate from the sum that makes the box itself. Ghost these lines out into space to ensure they all are going to the same vanishing point as best you can. Some more variation in your boxes as well would certainly help! While you definitely have variation in box length/width/depth, I'd play around with the initial 'Y' a bit more. For instance you could have the angle describing the relationship between two of the initial lines be a lot closer to 180 degrees, which would create a face of a box that is just barely visible, with a lot more emphasis placed on an edge, rather than a corner. This would utilize two-point perspective more than 3 (meaning you only focus on converging the two horizontal sets of your 3 line sets and leaving the vertical one pretty much parallel) which I believe would give you a more rounded learning experience. I THINK that this is right (it's what I've been trying to do, though it's hard for me to describe this through text alone and the site does a much better job of explaining https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/6/123pointperspective . Please feel free to call me out on anything I may have gotten wrong, as I want nothing more than to learn and do this right myself.

I also share your sentiment with drawing everyday creating some sort of structure. I think building the habit of drawing everyday is arguably just as important, if not more than what we're actually learning here. That's definitely my opinion though. I wish you all the best in your drawing journey and I hope to see you around as we go through lesson two (and the 250 cylinder challenge lol).

Peace,

Jekettex

Hi Pakas,

This is all really helpful advice! I definitely have a habit of imposing on lines a little too much where it isn't necessarily needed. I think i'm trying to iron out imperfections, i'm not too sure. I've noted what you touched on with the funnels exercise as well and will incorporate that when I do it again. I look foreward to sharing critiques with you again soon!

All the best,

Jekettex

Hi El,

Thank you so much for the critique, it's very much appreciated. I'll be working on making sure I ghost properly from here on out!

All the best,

Jekettex

Hi!

I'm at the same stage as you so I'm not sure how much I can give in the way of solid advice. That being said, I've noticed in the last of the exercises, organic perspective, most of your boxes are oriented similarly (in terms of the angle at which we're observing them). If you want to alter the rotation, try playing around with the initial 'Y' of the construction process. This little tool does a good job of illustrating what i'm getting at https://tasty-tangy-meeting.glitch.me/. For instance, you could make the angle between two of the initial lines just under 180 degrees (that would be a flat line), to give just a hint of one of the faces, rather than giving equal measure to all the angles (this leads to directly looking a corner). You could also try throwing in a couple boxes in one point and two point perspective (creating boxes where the viewer is directly looking at a face and looking at an edge respectively) for variation, to really hammer the concept of the box in 3D space.

Another thing I'll mention is line confidence. I'm hesitant to say much here because I'm far from where I want to be myself, but something I've learned is to value a confident straight line that isn't directed exactly where it was intended, over a hesitant, wobbly line that eventually reaches its mark. I'm still struggling with this but hopefully through repetition and keeping with the ghosting method it'll pan out for us both! Also, I recommend ditching the blue ballpoint in favour of the pens recommended on the site when you can. I know I definitely prefer using them!

All the best,

Jekettex