Thank you very much for the detailed look! This lesson was the hardest. I went through and made notes on the video. Looks like it's easy to slip on basics (like boxes and converging lines) when things get complex!
Hey, no rush. School comes first.
These look good--you've got the hatching and the overlap in. The upper right arrow might be backwards, since the hatching reads opposite to the taper (the hatching makes it look like the thinnest part is closest, rather than the thickest). However, it overall looks like you've got the idea, and I'd say to move on to the next lesson!
Next Steps:
Onward and upward to lesson 4!
Congratulations on completing lesson 1! Here's some feedback.
Lines
Many of your lines look really confident, including the curved ones. It seems like you might strugle a bit with longer lines wobbling, so be sure to practice those in warmups.
Ellipses
The table of ellipses looks lovely! Really clean and confident, and a good variety. Like the lines, there is a bit of difficulty when you do larger ellipses, so this might be good to include in warmups as well. There are some slightly pointy or egg shaped ellipses in the "ellipses in planes," but also a bunch that work well.
Boxes
Plotted perspective: looks good. A few diagonals, and one missing line in the middle panel, but you clearly understand this just fine.
Rough perspective: While that first panel has some diagonals that should be horizontal and vertical, it looks like you corrected this by the end. There's a lot of improvement over the course of this, including in the convergences.
Rotated boxes: Looks great!
Organic perspective: This is a great start! It seems there is a page missing. I'm guessing you did it, but that it didn't make it into the upload. Given the improvement I saw on the other pages, I'd like to see what page 2 looks like. There are a few diverging lines, but you'll work on that in the 250 box challenge. Also, the size of the boxes doesn't gradually shrink or grow as they travel through the thread. One way to manage that is to shrink or grow the very first line you put down with each box, then go from there.
Next Steps:
Submit page 2 of the organic perspective exercise. I'm assuming you did it and it got lost in the shuffle, but I'd still like to see it.
Keep practicing lines and ellipses during warmups, especially long lines and larger ellipses. When you practice tables of ellipses, try to avoid making them egg shaped (like the 2 egg shaped ones at the top of page 2). (You don't need to show these.)
I recommend joining the discord server. There's a critique exchange where you can trade to get critiques sooner (the pinned message there gives details). Also, it's a good idea to post a few boxes on the basic challenges channel early in the 250 challenge to make sure you're on the right track.
Congratulations on getting through these--this challenge is tough.
It does look like you struggled at first getting a variety of sizes, aspect ratios, and rotations, but you do cover a variety eventually.
The degree of the farther ellipses is generally higher than the degree of the closer ones, so you clearly understand how this works. You align your ellipses to the cylinder axis well. Your "checking lines" look good, for both the plain cylinders and cylinders in boxes.
Overall, really nice work!
Next Steps:
On to the next lesson (6, I believe)!
Congratulations on completing lesson 1! Here's some feedback.
Lines
Your lines look really confident. There appears to be a bit of a curve on some of the longer ones, but it looks like you corrected that by page 2.
Ellipses
These also look confident, and I see improvement as you go along. Continue to practice them in your warmups, and remember to include both flatter and rounder ellipses. I personally find the flatter ellipses easier, and the round ones more difficult. In lessons 2-5, you'll be drawing lots of ellipses and circles for the organic forms.
Boxes
These are looking really good. The plotted perspective is good.
The rough perspective also looks like you understand it well, but the lines to check your work are missing. https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/20/step9 You'll be doing a similar thing to check your work on the 250 box challenge. The organic perspective looks great! The boxes are spinning about, and it seems you already have a handle on convergence. You'll practice an even greater variety of box types in the 250 box challenge.
Next Steps:
This looks really good overall. I just need you to add the colored "check your work" lines to the rough perspective exercise. You'll do something similar in the box challenge to check your work.
Beyond that, if you join the discord, there's a critique exchange channel that lets you critique 5 things and ask to receive a critique (details in the pinned message). Things get critiqued a lot faster that way! Also, you can get feedback mid lesson on each lesson channel, which helps a lot.
Yes! That is much improved! Keep doing those things as warmups (you can alternate days of doing lines or ellipses, or just do a bit of both each warmup--doesn't really matter).
Next Steps:
250 boxes. Your lines and ellipses will continue to improve over the next few months of warming up and box making.
Make sure to do some 50% rule stuff so you don't burn out on boxes.
If you join the discord, there is a critique exchange where you can give 5 critiques on a lesson you've completed, then request being added to a spreadsheet that gets priority. They have a guide on how to critique the first few lessons, so you don't have to be super lost. You also need to post some other stuff, like a 50% rule image.
Congrats on getting through lesson 1! Here's some feedback.
Lines
Good, I see you've prioritized making the lines confident. It looks like the first page of frayed lines frayed both sides, but that you corrected this the second time around. As you practice line exercises in your 5-10 minute warmups, the accuracy will increase as well. You'll build your muscle memory and eventually find what I call your ideal "Goldilocks speed"--fast enough to be confident, slow enough to be accurate.
Ellipses
Again, you've prioritized confidence and do your 2-3 passes. This is a good start, and it looks like the accuracy also increased as you went through the lesson. Again, I recommend you include ellipse practice in your 5-10 minute warmups. You won't need them to draw the 250 boxes, but you'll need good ellipses and curved lines in lessons 2-5.
Boxes
Plotted perspective: looks like you've got this
Rough perspective: You have the idea here. Horizontal and vertical lines for the front facing planes, and the other lines aiming at the VP. You'll get more accurate and learn to converge them as you go on.
Rotated boxes: You did a plus-sign shape, but didn't attempt all the boxes. There needs to be 16 more. Try them, even if they end up wonky.
Organic perspective: Most of the lines diverge when they should converge. Don't worry--you'll work on this in the box challenge. Here's how I like to think about drawing boxes: https://imgur.com/a/CP1JmaB
Also, here's how to avoid the pitfall of drawing your checking lines wrong (this doesn't apply now, but will in the 250 box challenge): https://imgur.com/a/3YXACR6
Next Steps:
Revision requested: Attempt the last 16 boxes in the rotated box exercise
Move on to the 250 boxes, but continue line and ellipse exercises in warmups--they will be important later!
Now, because I see a lot of diverging lines on your boxes, here is some advice to potentially save you a lot of pain later. After you've drawn just a few pages of boxes for the 250 box challenge, ask someone to check them to see if you're on the right track. You can post them on drawabox discussion, or better yet, on the discord server "basic challenges" channel. You absolutely don't want to spend 3 months drawing 250 boxes the wrong way, then find out when you turn in your homework.
Finally, I also highly recommend finding an accountability buddy on the discord or elsewhere who is at a similar point as you--this is a long journey!
Yep, like this: https://imgur.com/a/Gnu4CqI
A good rule of thumb is that if a task is difficult enough that it's just not working for you, find a way to make doing the main important part simpler. Then when you get that, try the harder thing again.
Also, I highly recommend finding an accountability buddy who is on a similar lesson/timetable. I spend a couple of weeks finding a group, and would have given up many times over without them. I just finished lesson 7, and another guy in the group is working on his last vehicle. You may go through a few people--just find them in whichever lesson sub you're in.
This course really does take over a year. Also, don't worry if you don't do the entire thing this time around--even getting through half of it is hugely beneficial.
The Lesson 2 texture unit is a difficult roadblock--when you get through that, Lesson 3 is more straightforward. The difficulty also ramps up with your skill level, so it's hard the whole time and it may feel like you aren't improving, but you really are. It shows when you do stuff outside of drawabox. Heck, even if all you get out of this is line confidence, that's worth the time spent.
Hey, congratulations on getting through lesson 1! Here is some feedback. Just a heads up--there will be some revisions requested, but if you do them, they'll help you.
Lines
Line confidence looks to be the #1 thing to work on here, but I do see signs of improvement by the end of the lesson.
When my lines start to get wobbly, I "reset" myself by just drawing a bunch of loose, straight lines (not superimposed or dot-to-dot--totally free) on scratch paper. Then I do some superimposed lines, and then I go back to whatever I was trying to do.
Eventually you'll find your optimum speed--fast enough to be confident, slow enough to be reasonably accurate.
Ellipses
This looks very new to you, and ellipses take a while to get down. It took me a couple of months of including them in the 5-10 minute warm ups for them to look decent. (I'll still sometimes get weird ones.)
It looks like one of the tables has one pass on most of the ellipses, and the other has more than one pass. I'm going to assume you reread the instructions and learned that you need 2-3 passes.
Ellipses in planes and funnels: These are good attempts. However, these ellipses need 2-3 passes.
For ellipses, try a similar thing to smooth them as with lines. First, draw a few quick super loose ones (not in a table or anything--just free on the page), then a few aligned with a minor axis (like this: https://imgur.com/a/FVVPp6Z ). Afterwords, try constrained ellipses (like one or two panels of a table).
Boxes
Plotted perspective: This looks solid.
Rough perspective: Looks like you understand the idea here. The horizontal and vertical lines are correct, and the rest aim at the VP.
Rotated boxes: This is a good effort. You'll understand how to do this more as you draw more boxes in space.
Organic perspective: I see you've rotated the boxes and made a good effort. There are a lot of divergent lines, but the box challenge will train you to make them converge, so don't worry about that now.
Next Steps:
This is tough, but I'm going to ask for 3 redos.
Frayed lines, 1 more page: (This is assuming there are no medical issues that cause the wobbles, and that you just need to build muscle memory.)
Focus on confidence and moving your entire arm, even if it means the lines aren't accurate at all! If you see wobbles, "reset" yourself by just drawing a bunch of loose, straight lines (not superimposed or dot-to-dot--totally free) on scratch paper. Then do another batch of superimposed lines.
Ellipses, 2 things
1 full pages of free ellipses. This wasn't in lesson 1, but I think it will help. Don't put these in boxes or funnels or anything, just loose so you can focus on smooth line quality. Pass through each ellipse 2-3 times.
1 full table of ellipses. If you feel they're getting wobbly, do a few free ones on a piece of scratch paper and then go back to it. Focus on smooth lines and pass through each ellipse 2-3 times. I'd rather you miss the edges of the table lines than make a wobble.
Once you redo these, post them here and then move on to the 250 box challenge. Each day you do boxes, spend 5-10 minutes warming up with frayed lines or ellipses. It will take time to learn the muscle memory, and it's best to do that along with moving forward, rather than spend a month just doing ellipses and nothing else!
You'll need smooth curved lines and ellipses for lessons 2-5. Doing them as warmups during the 250 box challenge will give your arm a chance to learn this motion before you need it for the next lessons.
Finally, when you do the 250 box challenge, post some of your first 50 on the discord so they can be checked. That way you can know you're doing them right, or fix anything that needs fixing.
Congratulations on getting through lesson 1! Here's some feedback.
First off, the bottom line is that you're definitely ready to move on to the box challenge. As for the nitpicks, here they are.
Lines
They look clean, confident, and ghosted overall. There might be a bit of an arch on the longest ones, but it might be how your paper is bent in the photo. If there is a bit of an arch, try ghosting them in almost a reverse arch for a while during warmups.
Ellipses
Same thing--clean, confident, and several passes. You have a variety of degrees, sizes, and tilts. If you find larger ellipses are tricky, include some large ones in warmups. You'll be using large freehand ellipses and curves more in the plant and animal lessons. The ellipses in planes look good too. The ellipses in funnels are great, with confident lines and some degree shift. A few on the ends are too small, but I think that's just because you were running into the edge of the paper.
Boxes
The plotted perspective looks good. There's just two wonky vertical lines, but hey, it's fineliner. Things happen and you clearly understand what to do.
The rough perspective looks good as well--your front planes have lines that are parallel and perpendicular to the horizon, and the rest aim at the VP. Your lines have remained fairly confident.
The organic perspective looks solid--confident lines, and a variety of rotating boxes. You'll practice lots more boxes shortly. I see you added overlap and hatching. Nice!
Again, congratulations, and on to the 250 boxes!
Next Steps:
250 boxes
A lot of folks have heard about Scott Robertson's "How to Draw" - it's basically a classic at this point, and deservedly so. It's also a book that a lot of people struggle with, for the simple reason that they expect it to be a manual or a lesson plan explaining, well... how to draw. It's a reasonable assumption, but I've found that book to be more of a reference book - like an encyclopedia for perspective problems, more useful to people who already have a good basis in perspective.
Sketching: The Basics is a far better choice for beginners. It's more digestible, and while it introduces a lot of similar concepts, it does so in a manner more suited to those earlier in their studies.
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