mrmokhnach

Hello! Thank you so much for your critique and sorry for a super late reply and a random notification.

Thank you for your comment about sticking to one box orientation and line weight, I'll take notice of it. I struggle with line weight a little bit, so drawing ghosted planes with additional line weight seems like a reasonable thing to try.

Additional box exercises is something I'm definitely interested in. Now that I came back to Drawabox after a long hiatus, I'm enthusiastic about giving it a try.

Have a nice day!

Hi HIRAEJAZ!

Congratulations on completing Lesson 2! Overall, you're off to a pretty good start.

Organic Arrows:

Well done, your arrows are generally drawn in confident strokes and with attention to perspective. However, don't be afraid to push it and explore different types of directions and overlaps next time you attempt this exercise. Also, I notice that you try to correct errant lines. Don't do that, leave them be and try again with your next arrow.

When applying line weight, avoid wobbly and chicken-scratchy lines, instead take your time to ghost a new line on top of the first one and execute it in one confident stroke. Pay attention to your hatching too, because sometimes you draw it in the wrong side of the overlap, you might want to reread the section on arrows to clarify that a little.

Organic Forms with Contour Lines:

Overall, you manage to keep the forms of the sausages consistent. Ellipses and contours are generally aligned to the minor axis, the exceptions of this are few. Try to focus more on executing your ellipses confidently; for now they are a bit wobbly and not drawn through 2 times, which you should do. Even though you generally manage to keep them in their allotted spaces, remember that confidence is prioritized over accuracy. Meaning, you should take your time to ghost and draw your ellipses confidently, and it's OK if they don't fit into their places nicely if they are confident. After you become better at drawing confidently, you can focus on improving accuracy. Try to be more bold with changing the degrees of your contours and ellipses because for now they change only slightly.

Texture Analysis:

Good job on your textures! You draw them by using shadow shapes and convey the transition from dark to light successfully, congrats on a very successful first attempt.

Dissections:

Nice job on that as well! You're very thorough in your attempts to transfer a texture onto a 3D form. However, be mindful of the way texture wraps around the form, as in some of your examples dissections look very flat and 2D. Try to imagine additional contour curves around the form, along which texture details are situated, it might help you visualize a texture on a 3D form better. Also, don't forget to break the silhouette of the form because it helps to enhance this effect even further, it could improve some of your dissections (for example, bamboo, concrete and bricks). Try to be more implicit in your drawings too, focusing mainly on shadows and not transferring every explicit detail onto your drawing, try to keep this in mind in the future.

Form Intersections:

I would recommend that you work on your boxes and 3D shapes a bit more, because there's a number of mistakes with that, which makes the shapes looks a bit inconsistent, like they don't exist in the same space.

As for the intersections themselves, I'm afraid you have misunderstood the task a little, because there are very few of them. There are only cones that are intersecting in your work. Try rereading a section on form intersections and imagine how the forms cut into each other, which can be shown on the drawing with some additional lines. Simply applying line weight wouldn't be enough here, because it doesn't tell us anything about the way forms intersect, suggesting that they simply float next to each other.

Organic intersections:

The forms themselves look consistent and as if they exist in the same space. The drawings look solid as a whole. However, always draw through your forms and pay attention to the shadows being casted: they should stick to the forms they are casted upon, not the forms that cast them.

Generally, I recommend that you focus a bit more on sausages with ellipses and curves in your warm-ups, maybe do them a couple times to start to get the hang of them. The same thing applies to boxes.

Actually, I'm a bit unsure if you've completed Lesson 1 and 250 boxes challenge prior to completing Lesson 2, as your sketchbook doesn't have them; I will assume that you did and provide next steps based on that, but if you didn't, I would recommend that you start from the beginning (Lessons 0 and 1), so that you're not missing out on a lot of essential info.

On ghosting a curve, you do it the same way as ghosting a straight line, applying the same ghosting method from Lesson 1, but to draw a curve. It's trickier than drawing a straight line, but from what I can tell practice does wonders.

On drawing a line in segments, it's actually a tip Uncomfortable gives here. Apparently, it's not a set in stone requirement, but it helps me greatly with my arrows.

No problem! I hope it helps too. I wish you best of luck!

Hey! I agree with SCOOBYCLUB and MMANSALAD, but I would like to add something:

You say that you struggle with matching the second curve with the original one. I would recommend that you take your time to ghost it, this seems to be the way to achieve accuracy. It could be more difficult than drawing a straight line from point A to point B (at least it is to me), but the same principle applies here. Also, don't forget to draw the second curve in segments (which I think you already do, since your arrows look controlled and accurate).

As for the initial curve: I actually don't see how it is weird. It looks perfectly fine to me. The only thing is that I see a little bit of wobbling in some of the lines, try to eliminate that and draw confidently, as SCOOBYCLUB already pointed out.

As for perspective:

Try to consciously reduce the space between the initial curve and the segments of the second line that you add up to create an arrow, as you go deeper into the page, if that makes sense. It may not come out perfectly after the first attempt, but aim for it. I think you actually managed to achieve the 3D-effect with your arrows on page 2, with each segment getting gradually smaller/thinner. My only critique would be that in some of them you could increase the space between the lines in the first segment, the one that is the closest to the viewer. Try to experiment too, so that you don't stick to only one type of arrows.

Other than that, I think you're on the right track. I hope this helps a little. Keep up the good work!

Thank you so much for sharing! This is very helpful indeed. I think more people need to know about the work you've done on creating the intersections library, because this topic can be rather mind-blowing. Especially if you don't have any reference images. I myself struggle with intersections a lot, especially when there are two rounded objects (like a cone and a cylinder) intersecting with each other, since they are rounded this particular instance leaves me so confused. Thanks a lot again.

Hi NIDDLER!

Nice job with Lesson 1! Overall, you're off to a pretty good start.

Lines:

Your strokes are mostly executed with confidence and have nice continuous flow to them. There is some wobbliness/arcing present, but this will improve with enough practice. Just remember to take your time to ghost every line, and that confidence should be prioritized over accuracy. Once you eliminate wobbling in your lines and draw good lines consistently, you will be able to focus more on planning out their direction and thus, work on accuracy.

Ellipses:

Ellipses are generally drawn with confidence, with some wobbling present however. Some of them are not fully drawn through, and some are drawn through 4 times or more. Continue to execute your ellipses with confidence and draw through them 2 or 3 times (2 is preferable). I also get the impression that you rushed a little bit while completing the Tables of ellipses exercise, because it looks somewhat messy as compared to your Ellipses in planes and Funnels exercises. Try not to rush in the future, we're not here for the quantity. Give yourself enough time to plan your mark before you commit to it and execute it. And if you feel that you can't concentrate anymore, give yourself a break and continue next day.

Your accuracy is actually pretty good, many of the ellipses fit their allotted spaces quite nicely. Just remember that, again, we prioritize confidence over accuracy. Once you have a habit of drawing your ellipses with confidence, you can commit yourself to solving the accuracy problem and focus on it more.

On funnels, the ellipses are generally aligned to the minor axis, with a few exceptions. Some of them tilt slightly and lose their symmetry, try to avoid that in the future.

Boxes:

As you go through your boxes, I notice that your lines remain confident. Continue working on your line quality and execute lines with confidence. Don't be afraid to apply line weight, all it takes is enough time to ghost the new line over the line that you've already put on paper. Usually one line over the initial one is enough to add line weight. You generally commit to the lines you've made and don't try to correct them, which is a great habit, keep that up! Continue to plan out your dots and commit to the lines you make, even if you make a mistake.

Rough perspective:

Try to focus more on keeping the width lines parallel to the horizon and height lines perpendicular to the horizon, because there are some mistakes with that. The convergence mistakes aren't too bad, so good job overall.

Rotating boxes:

Nice job with the exercise! You've managed to rotate the boxes successfully, so congratulations. They are also well neighboured and drawn through. The boxes at the corners of the composition are missing, but I don't see it as a major problem, just keep these in mind next time when you attempt this exercise.

Organic perspective:

Overall, well done. The boxes feel rather solid, and you generally manage to convey the feeling that they go further away from the viewer. There are some instances where the size difference in a line of boxes is not that obvious or, in contrary, too drastic, so I suggest that you attempt this exercise again and try to make the change in size more smooth, sort of like table 3 on page 2. There are also some mistakes with convergences, but don't worry about it, you'll have plenty of opportunities to practice that during the 250 boxes challenge.

With that said, congratulations on completing Lesson 1!

Thank you so much for your review, I appreciate the time and effort you've put into critiquing my work!

I will try to avoid the bubble situation in the future, that's just what I thought too, that 250 boxes challenge and Lesson 2 don't have that much in common. In contrast to, say, Lessons 3-5 where every consequent lesson basically builds on top of the previous one, so missing out on bits of important information is more critical.

Although that's a little bit beside the point in the course, thank you for your words anyway, it's really flattering to hear that. But I think you're not bad yourself! You're making good progress with Drawabox, so I believe next time you attempt these exercises you'll be able to do them even better.

Anyway, thank you for your recommendations, I will definitely try to follow them. Have a great day!

Hey REKKER!

Congratulations on finishing Lesson 1!

Please take this review with a grain of salt as I'm a beginner at Drawabox as well :D

Overall, nicely done! You're off to a good start.

Lines:

You mostly keep fraying at one end minimal, which is a good thing! Your lines are pretty confident, but there's some wobbling and arcing present when you draw longer lines. Wobbling is OK when you're starting out, so just keep practising the ghosting method and drawing your lines from your shoulder. Feel free to take another look at Uncomfortable's video on using the shoulder pivot, it may help if you try to copy what he does as accurately as you can.

Remember that confidence should have a priority over accuracy. First aim to achieve smooth strokes with continuous flow and don't worry too much if your line doesn't meet the targeted point. Once you've learned how to draw smooth lines, you can focus on improving your accuracy as well.

Ellipses:

I see that with some of your ellipses you focused more on putting them into their alloted spaces (most of the times, quite successfully), resulting in lack of confidence and some wobbling in lines. Just as it is with lines, confidence and smoothness should be prioritized over accuracy, so try to focus on that first. Don't forget to take enough time to ghost your ellipses before actually executing them.

Most of the ellipses are drawn through, continue drawing them 2 or 3 times through (2 is preferable). In funnels, ellipses are generally aligned to the minor axis, although some of them tilt slightly, try to avoid that in the future.

Boxes:

Try to follow the principles from the Lines section while drawing your boxes, because I noticed some wobbling in lines in the Organic perspective exercise, as if they weren't drawn from the shoulder. Try to draw your lines with confidence and don't correct them if you've made a mistake, now matter how tempting it is.

Rough perspective:

Nice job on maintaining the lines perpendicular/vertical to the horizon line! The convergences are sometimes off as the boxes go further from the vanishing point, but this is totally expected when you try this exercise for the first time. Overall, nicely done.

Rotating boxes:

Very well done as well! The boxes are generally well placed, rotated correctly and drawn through.

Organic perspective:

Great job on conveying the sense that the boxes are gradually getting smaller and move away from the viewer! Again, try to make your strokes confident. The sets of lines don't always converge into their shared vanishing point, but you'll have a lot of opportunities to practise that while working on 250 Box Challenge!

Again, great job on completing Lesson 1 and good luck on your Drawabox journey!

Hi! Thank you so much for your detailed and informative critique, I'll do my best to follow your advice!

Good luck and have a great day!