WillHeydecker

If you're just starting out, its probably just soreness as your body acquaints to a new task. Starting dedicated drawing programs, many quickly realize that drawing is amazingly physical. Especially foundational and perspective courses like Drawabox. So its probably nothing to worry about.

That said, as somebody with a long and illustrious history of repetitive stress injuries, the single best piece of advice I will give new travelers on the path is "If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won't have to hear it scream." Pushing yourself and working hard is important, but always err on the side of caution when it comes to your physiology or you can end up sidelined and losing out on time anyway.

It could just be your body getting used to it! A dull ache while drawing for extended periods can be normal. Remember good posture and taking regular breaks. You have to take care of your neck, shoulder, and back as well. If you do that, you can push as hard as you want!

Warning Signs

• If you start to experience twitching or tingling in the first three fingers of your hand

• Sharp, needle-like pain in any part of your hand

• Tenderness at the base of your palm or along your forearm

If you experience any of those symptoms take a few days off for sure. If they persist/worsen, see a doctor.

Hey, I'm actually glad to hear you say that you enjoy digital painting on your off-drawabox time.

The key is, like Elodin said, to use your off-drawabox time to chase whatever it is you want to eventually do -- be it illustration, concept art, narrative art etc. The point is to apply the skills you're learning. It's the difference between hitting pads in a boxing gym and actually getting real rounds in. You learn how to draw a box not so you can excel at drawing boxes, but so you understand the principles of form and perspective when building the structure of anything -- be it weapons, vehicles, anatomy, armor etc.

In the beginning especially, you might still feel frustrated. But I can tell you that the skills you gain from a couse like Drawabox are well worth it as these things become internalized. Steven Zapata, an absolute top-tier wizard of art, talks about spending years and years studying anatomy so that you can, eventually, let all of that knowledge "sink under the surface" of the water; eventually you won't be thinking consciously of how a tricep contracts or extends or the way the ribcage protrudes when leaning backward -- you'll just draw the thing you want to draw.

Same goes for perspective. You draw box after box and learn how to make grids so that one day you're not. You're just creating the image, and it's about the decisions you make, rather than how "successful" the execution of any one decision is.

Like Uncomfortable says, it really isn't a magical skill. Drawabox, and foundational sketching courses like it, really do teach you how to draw anything. Keep going through it, and very soon you'll be more concerned with what than how.

Hey Uncomfortable!

I hope I can still use this thread to submit the revisions you'd asked for, albeit months later. Around the time I'd made the initial submission, I had just made an international move and in the time since have been settling down and dealing with the subsequent work involved with repatriation etc.

In that time I did not stop drawing whatsoever, though a lot of it was whatever digital painting I could do with my free time etc. That said, I learned a lot in that time and am excited to get back into it. I made the remaining revisions you requested, and have a couple notes I'd like to mention.

Lesson 4 Homework Revisions

https://imgur.com/gallery/N8PVY79

Notes

Firstly, I can see how stupid it was to over-render the insects on the initial construction -- and even more so to attempt to do so with so much hatching. It might have been better if I'd stuck to just dark/light so I would've exercised some understanding of the form. I see now all I did was create noise, waste my time, and make your job harder. So thanks for the gentle kick in the butt there, I appreciate it.

The sausages, boy did I neglect those sausages. I see now how important they are. Initially I foolishly, and rather arrogantly, saw them as something of an afterthought -- "Oh, the sausages! Those are simple. Easy. I don't have to think about those!" But, after getting back into it, I see just how fundamentally important they, like all of the exercises, truly are. The two pages there are far from the "only" pages I did, so if there's only a few on each one that's just because those were the ones I photographed. There's actually dozens of pages, and they're all terrible, but I'm committed to doing them everyday as my warm up alongside the rest of the stuff until they "feel" intuitively "correct."

Finally, your words about the importance of additional construction as opposed to subtractional changed the game. Once it clicked, my mind was blown. Rather than reconstructing the shape, slapping forms on like clay and building from the inside out helped me IMMENSELY. Using something like a flat disc like with the Crab-Faced Orb Weaver or the cylinder inside the Smolidea Circumflexa helped me understand everything much, much better.

Anywho, let me know if this constitutes a better tackling of the homework for lesson 4. I am ready and willing to make as many revisions as necessary to get it done right and obtain the skills necessary.

Thanks!

Hey Uncomfortable,

Thanks for the critique. I've added the three additional plant constructions below. I tried to touch the paper as little as possible, while being cognizant of where I overlap and how I construct the stems. In regards to your concerns over pen choice, I think it might have something to do with the brand of fineliner I picked up recently. Except for that first leaves exercise, everything else was done with one pen, a 0.5. I think the felt tip has a little more give than other pens, a characteristic further exacerbated by different speeds of markmaking.

I hope these constructions are more in-line with what the exercise called for. I wish I'd been more careful during the lesson, there's nothing I hate more than a suboptimal use of time.

Question about shoulder drawing: does that also apply for smaller details? Is there never a reason to use the wrist? And if not, is there a way to gauge how much is too much drawing from the wrist?

Anyway, thank you for your time. It is much appreciated.

LESSON THREE HOMEWORK (ADDENDUM):

https://imgur.com/gallery/euPQkL3

Thanks Uncomfortable.

Your critique is encouraging -- having someone with real expertise to point you in the right direction, even if they're on the other side of the world, is a blessing. I'm excited to move on to plants and really stretch the fundamentals of construction with some real-deal library building. Once my hand heals... lol. Dealing with what could be the onset of carpal tunnel, trigger finger or both and trying my best to give it a rest without going insane. Have you ever had to deal with any RSI stuff?

Anyway, thanks again, and keep up the great work! I love the way Drawabox continues to grow and coalesce!