kotka

Thank you so much for taking time to critique my lesson 2, I have been waiting for a long time. It was worth it!

It looks a lot better! I think you have addressed the major issues. The point is to see how off your inner corners are, not that they are perfect. This time, since you have done all the convergence lines, you will immediately see what to work in. As for the other convergences, it still looks quite good. Congratulations on finishing ????

Good evening soldier, nice to be on the "other side" of Box hell right? Give yourself a pat on the shoulder, you did good!

It's funny how a lot of people I see, feel that they peak at round boxes 150-180. It was the same for me, and I think one explanation might be 1) Like you say, higher standards, 2) Fatigue, 3) You start to experiment with more "odd" types of boxes, especially the long ones. Don't worry though, your box 200-250 still is a lot better than the first ones, and that is the goal!

First, some things I noticed overall.

• You have a good variety of boxes and the perspective communication is quite clear. I understand the direction you wanted to present the cube in and this is good. You really seem to have a knack to quite accurately draw the boxes in dramatic perspectives, I'd like to point out boxes 61, 98, 137 as especially good.

• The less dramatic boxes are not as accurate. I feel that you need to practice these a bit more, not only because they are harder but also because the ones I see have too little convergence and thus become too parallell. You can read more about it in this link, where the issue is illustrated in detail.

• You are not drawing all the possible convergence lines for your boxes. In a majority of boxes, you are forgetting, or skipping, the last convergence line. For this reason, I'm afraid I'll have to ask for a tiny revision from you. It's very important that the convergence line from the inner corner exists, so that you can clearly see if you have issues with the inner corner (a very common issue!).

• You are never supposed to correct the convergences by tracing the back from the common vanishin point, like you did in red marker for boxes 246-250 and a lot of others. This defeats the purpose of the exercise, but I understand that you are doing it to "check" how off you were. In that case, do it on the side but not within the scope of DAB course submissions and instructions.

Now for some specific critique.

Extending lines in the wrong direction

While often skipping the proper amount of convergence lines, yours are extending in the right direction, which is away from the viewer. That is correct.

Divergences and parallel lines

This relates to my earlier comment about trying to do some more boxes with a perspective drama somewhere between very parallell and extreme. In your revision, I'd like for you to focus only on these type of boxes. Here you can find some examples, but remember to imagne your own boxes and draw from imagination.

Hatching lines

While optional, if you do it, they need to be as accurate as the line techniques listed in Lesson 1. Keep hatching, but try doing it just a bit more carefully in your revision.

Lineweight

I strongly encourage you to try this in your revision. Just like in lesson 1, lineweight should only be added to the silhouette of the boxes, and with a superimposed line, one is enough, as it's important to keep it subtle. When doing this superimposed line, it should be done ghosting and drawing it confidently, having it lose accuracy is acceptable, but having wobble is not. As always, confidence > accuracy.

Wobbly lines and repeating lines

No matter how off a line is, you shall not correct it with another line on top of the faulty one. All lines have to be drawn by drawing first its starting and ending dots, ghosting it, and drawing it confidently with the shoulder prioritizing confidence over accuracy. Just like in Lesson 1! For your last boxes, they looked much better than your first boxes but suffered from this mistake.

Similar orientations with boxes

You have a good variety of orientation!

Inner corner

This is your major issue and the reason why I want to see a revision - I cannot see how off the inner corner is if you are not extending the convergence from the corner! It's pretty normal to have the inner corners come out pretty off, as they are affected by the accumulation of previously done mistakes.

This diagram explain the issue, so that you can understand why your revision must have all the convergence lines drawn out.

One tip that is commonly suggested as "inner corner fix" is to draw the lines in a particular order. By drawing the inner corner before the last line of the box, it might become easier to think about the relationship between lines, which will make it easier to nail the convergences.

Good evening! I'm kotka#1891 on Discord and I'll be your reviewer tonight. Wherever you are, I hope you have a nice evening (or morning) with lots of tasty tea.

Lines

Your lines look very confident and there is a minimal amount of arching, which tells me that you have understood the task and your shoulder movement has a good balance of control and relaxation. Fraying of lines at the end is expected and something that will slowly improve over time as you keep doing lines as warm-up, but I see some fraying at the start of the line. Don't rush, place our pen perfectly on the same spot every time, and this error will disappear. Actually, it already disappears in your second page of Superimposed Lines, which means that you already know how to correct this. Great!

You have a minimal amount of overshooting in your Ghosted Lines and Ghosted Planes which is good. Try to see if locking your eyes on the end point while drawing towards it can improve your accuracy.

Ellipses

Confidence and fluent motion is more important than accuracy here. You have understood the assignment and done your best, but, your ellipse exercises need to have a bit more variety! You seem to choose very similar ellipse degrees, try experimenting a bit more. It will help you develop your skills. For now, it's fine, but make sure to include all kinds of degrees, axis and sizes for your ellipse practices. Your major strength in the ellipse exercises is that you are good at following boundaries for your ellipses, even though the accuracy suffers a bit. Nicely done! Just take a look at the big difference between your first and second submission of Table of Ellipses: you clearly understand how you need to improve and what to do. You accuracy is a lot better in the second, too.

Your strongest ellipse exercise is Funnels, so if I'd choose one of these exercises for you to prioritize once you use them for warming up, I'd recommend you to keep doing a lot of Table of Ellipses.

Boxes

Nothing to comment on Plotted Perspective, looks correct. Next, the Rough Perspective. Not much here either, some lines are wobbly but it's not a big problem and will improve with time and practice. You have done the exercise according to instructions.

Now, The Rotated Boxes is a very hard exercise, prone to a lot of mistakes. I applaud you for clear lines (even if wobbly), not drawing over and correcting twice, and finishing the exercise as instructed. While your sphere of rotated boxes is more of a rounded square, you have done all that is expected and with a minimum of unnecessary features. You shine especially in imagining and drawing boxes above the horizon line and they are quite symmetrical on both sides of the sphere. If anything, try improving your boxes at the lower half of the horizon line as those ones are suffering a bit more.

Organic Perspective is basically preparation for the 250 Box challenge. You wrote that this one was rough, too, but I see a proper execution of this exercise, and clear communication of how you imagine the boxes twist and turn along the curve. Just keep applying line making concepts such as ghosting and planning the end points with dots as you continue your journey, and it will be fine.

Your submission is solid and confident, but remember to have patience and ghost more than less in future DAB endeavors.

While I agree that the lesson could be marked as complete, I'd like to give additional comments on this submission that I hope DEFALTER sees and incorporates as they keep using these exercises as warm-up in the future.

First of all: you got some great confidence going on in all your homework samples. At the same time, I see a lot of ways that accuracy could be improved, so I wanted to share some tips that helped me and some others!

• Have patience with ghosting and planning your lines, don't rush (if you do). Do as many ghosting motions as you need to feel that "this line surely will be straight!"

• To constrain your ellipses more within boundaries such as planes in the Ellipses in planes exercise, let your eye focus on the maximums of the boundaries (top, botton, sides) while you move your arm with the shoulder joint. Relax the other joints, there is no need to tense them.

• Use the concept of planning your end points with dots, like in Ghosted Planes, when you draw boxes in perspective.

That's all, I wish you good luck with the 250 Box challenge!

Good evening! I'm kotka#1891 on Discord and I'll be your reviewer tonight. Nice job finishing Lesson 1!

Lines

Your lines look very confident and while there is some arching, it is probably due to your shoulder learning how to move (alternatively, your arm tries to second-guess and take control during the draft). Try experimenting with slowing down and/or relaxing your elbow and wrist while still keeping it firmly in place. Eventually, you will find the perfect balance between locking off every joint but the shoulder, and the arches will get less and less dramatic with time. Keep practicing to find the proper feeling in the shoulder, and make sure that it doesn't tense so much it hurts afterwards (if so, you need to be careful and relax). Fraying of lines is expected and something that will slowly improve over time as you keep doing lines as warm-up, so don't worry too much about that.

I'm impressed that you barely have any overshooting in the Ghosted Lines exercise! God job! At the same time, I see that you miss the end point quite often. This is not a major mistake, but I have a great tip to experiment with: try to see if locking your eyes on the end point while drawing towards it can improve your accuracy. In your Ghosted Planes, these inaccuracies become more apparent, but, his exercise is also a lot more frustrating to finish. I think that you would benefit to do this exercise a little more often from your future warm-up pool. Already in your second Ghosted Planes, I see improvement, which means that you know what you need to do.

Ellipses

Confidence and fluent motion is more important than accuracy here. You have understood the assignment and done your best, but, your ellipse exercises need to have a bit more variety! You seem to choose very similar ellipse degrees, try experimenting a bit more. It will help you develop your skills. For now, it's fine, but make sure to include all kinds of degrees, axis and sizes for your ellipse practices. While your ellipses in funnels are sloppier than in the other exercises, they still adhere to the rules and are symmetrical enough.

Boxes

The Rotated Boxes is a very hard exercise, prone to a lot of mistakes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you really tensed up here. It's very common. You have followed the instructions, and I appreciate that you decided for one line and one line only, and put it down no matter how it turned out. For this, you get a pass, because your mindset is correct!

A lot of the resulting boxes are wobbly though, and to me that signals a tense arm and/or problems with line planning/execution. Next time you do this exercise, apply all the techniques you demonstrated in the line exercises (because you definitely have confidence and understanding).

I see the same, albeit less dramatic, problem in Rough Perspective and Organic Perspective. Because the point of Lession 1 is understanding what needs to be done, not producing perfect drawings, you will get a pass for this, too.

Your submission gets the green light, because I can see that your line exercises are strong, so just keep applying line exercise concepts such as ghosting and planning your markmaking with dots to the more difficult exercises!

Good that you found it. The box challenge will be tough and boring but believe me it's worth it! I wish you strength end endurance, if you struggle ask for help sooner that later so that you don't burn yourself out.

(Don't forget to ask for agrees on this submission if you notice that some time has passed without)

Good luck ????????

Looking good, nice work on your first lesson submission!

Looking at your homework, I definitely see that you have understood all the tasks and their meaning. Now, some improvements that you could keep working on while using the exercises from Lesson 1 to warm up:

Lines

You don't have a lot of wobble or arches, in fact, your lines look very confident and there is barely any dangerous overshooting. You have stuff under control. There are some line clusters with fraying on both ends but it looks like you have corrected this later. Fraying on one end is expected and something that will slowly improve over time as you keep doing lines as warm-up. Keep making sure that it doesn't happen on both ends.

Overshooting lines becomes more apparent in the Ghosted Lines exercise. But even here I see good control and shoulder usage so just keep going, making sure to place the pen carefully at the start. To correct overshooting, it helps focusing on the end dot while letting your shoulder move, and lifting the pen earlier than you think.

Ellipses

Your ellipses are made according to instructions. Accuracy is a problem in all your exercises with ellipses, but this will improve with time, and the lessons states that confidence and fluent motion is more important than accuracy at this stage. For me, I helped myself by visualizing the extremes of the ellipse while letting my shoulder do the work. This also helps develop the eye-hand coordination needed to consistently hit the extremes of the ellipse that you imagine on the paper. While your ellipses in funnels are sloppier than in the other exercises, they still adhere to the rules and are symmetrical enough.

Of all the submissions, I'd say this is the one for you to keep working the most on as you do your daily warm-ups.

Boxes

This is a very hard exercise, prone to a lot of mistakes which creates extra lines and wobbles everywhere but you seem to have avoided them. If this is your first try it is extremely good! Congratulate yourself!

You are drawing through like you should, rotating and doing exactly what is expected. I appreciate that you are not too timid with the organic perspective boxes, and I can understand your idea of rotation from the largest to the smallest boxes. You are also applying line quality to the boxes which is perfect in preparation for the coming box challenge. In the first of the two Rough Perspective boxes, your line quality suffers but you seem to correct yourself quickly as it already looks much better in the second.

Overall, your submission has good quality, so just keep practicing these as a warm-up before! Soldier through the box challenge and remember that you can always ask for support when it feels impossible and hard. Good luck!

Hey and thanks for the speedy and useful feedback! I have tried different order of drawing the lines to complete the box and found out pretty quickly that it really affects the inner corner issue. I wish I had found your pic related earlier during the challenge, but, better late than never. Since boxes are always part of my daily warm up, I can keep working on my issues. Thanks!

Hi, hope you're having a nice weekend! It's nice to be done with this challenge, right? Good job!

First, I have some general critique which I wrote while looking through your boxes. Then, I will try following the critique recommendation.

• Your boxes started out with a lot of parallell, non-coverging lines to the VPs. During the journey, I can clearly see that you started to rotate them in a bolder way. From boxes 180-190 it looks like you are really taking off, doing more dramatic perspectives and your line quality starts to get better. You have definitely improved!

• I'd like to applaud you for box 47, 54, 92 and 100, 138. To me, they stand out from the rest because I can see that you are beginning to nail the VPs quite early into the challenge. This is very good! Also, the perspective choice for Box 144 is something I rarely see and it's good of you to experiment and also get it pretty accurate!

• Some thoughts about box 160. Remember, if you are looking at a box from below, it means the VP is below the box. Then, the line extensions showing the height perspective should converge above the box, and that would make the vertical lines slant inward, not outward like in your box. The problem with this box is that the bottom convergence contradicts the fact that you see the bottom plane of the box instead of the top. Are we looking on your box from above, or below? The opposite is true for Box 162. 172 and also 226. Regardless, A lot of your other boxes look fine so I think you know this already. Don't stop this from experimenting, but make sure to keep the rules in mind when doing so and trust them!

Now for specific stuff!

1.Extending lines in the wrong direction. You did not have any problems with this whatsoever. Great!

2. Divergences and parallel lines. This was a problem for you in the beginning. You clearly improved quickly.

3.Hatching lines I think that this would be really helpful because it hold you accountable to what kind of perspective you were imagining in the first place, especially in cases such as in Box 160, 172, 226. Since you definitely have the rules down, try adding the cross-hatching.

4.Lineweight It's time to add this, too!

5.Wobbly lines and repeating lines Looking at your work, I think you need to start here, first. It's not hard to fix but you need to do it because over the entire challenge, your boxes often suffer from this error. Remember to use the ghosting method and if you are finding it hard to resist redoing mistakes with new lines upon lines, try planning your line by placing dots on each end. Place new dots in small adjustments if you are not happy and when you find the one that looks right, draw one single decisive line towards it!

6.Similar orientations with boxes. I think your boxes are diverse enough, especially later on. Keep experimenting and roatating in all kind of directions!

7.Inner corner. Your inner corners are pretty good! They can be off and that is very common. Especially around boxes 180-190 it really looks like you haven't accumulated too many mistakes in earlier steps. I can clearly see that you think more about relationships between lines, than focusing on individual lines.