NathanP

Geometric Guerilla

The Indomitable (Spring 2022)

Joined 3 years ago

5625 Reputation

nathanp's Sketchbook

  • The Resilient (Summer 2022)
  • The Indomitable (Spring 2022)
  • Sharing the Knowledge
  • Geometric Guerilla
  • Tamer of Beasts
  • The Fearless
  • Giver of Life
  • Dimensional Dominator
  • The Relentless
  • Basics Brawler
    4:20 AM, Thursday June 29th 2023

    Hi Rhyldur,

    I hope you're keeping well. I decided not to finish Drawabox. I finished Lesson 5 and have been focusing more heavily on illustrating recently. I learned much from DAB, but I feel that my time would be better used finishing art rather than spending so much time on exercises.

    I probably won't be on the DAB platform much; so if you'd like to connect you can do so at nathan at nathanparkinson dot com.

    Take care.

    3:56 AM, Saturday February 11th 2023

    Hi Rhyldur,

    Coming at you with another finished piece! This time with some digital spice!! A special appetizer I like to call Fishlev.

    I plan to do more digital art; I've got my first drawing tablet on the way! Woot woot!!

    I hope you're doing alright. Sorry if you feel I've been pressuring you to spend more time on art than you're ready for right now. My intention was only to encourage you along your art journey, but since I've not gotten a response in a while I wonder if I've overstepped my bounds. I hope to hear from you soon.

    4:08 PM, Monday February 6th 2023

    I do like that idea of using simple geometric forms first. It would be great to see a kinder progression in difficulty level leading up to the big exercise, and maybe not soooo many dissections; if the point is just to plant the seed, perhaps 1 page could suffice. I spent 5 months on lesson 2 mainly because of the Dissections exercise XD

    I feel I have a decent level of determination with DAB because I'm committed to finishing it, but I could definitely see how many (maybe most) people might quit at lesson 2 or just rush not really understanding the exercise. DAB is a very lengthy marathon.

    2:26 AM, Monday February 6th 2023

    Hi Vyse,

    I agree; unfortunately (as I recall) the examples weren't aligned with the instructions, but I do think the instructions and exercises were still really valuable. It strengthened my ability to mentally hold a form in my mind and try to project the shadows onto the surrounding forms without actually having to draw it first. I'm still not very good, but I can see the potential value in actually getting that level of control of form and shadow. I think the exercise also helped me grow in my ability to receive instruction, and I also leveled up in Perseverance and Tenacity :)

    I hope you're getting along well with Lesson 3. I have yet to begin Lesson 6 as I'm working on making more finished art for now, but I plan to try to carry on with DAB as well.

    If Uncomfortable happens to read this comment, I would suggest that maybe he could request permission to use the work of a student who did the exercises correctly as an example until he has time to redo it himself.

    12:36 AM, Saturday February 4th 2023

    Hi Rhyldur,

    I finished an image!!! Woohoo! I tried to treat it as if it were client work done to the best of my current ability with tools I'm fairly comfortable with. Boy! That was a challenging week fighting procrastination and other mental baggage, but I was able to work through it and come through on time with a finished illustration: Here, Kitty Kitty.

    Same time next week? ;) I hope you'll join me with the skills you currently have. You do have something to offer now. Please don't wait decades before you allow yourself to make finished work. Just use whatchya got. I usually feel a lot of satisfaction from actually finishing something; I know I did this time.

    3:07 AM, Thursday February 2nd 2023

    I love this short little video Finished Not Perfect by Jake Parker. It has been extremely helpful to me in my art journey; maybe it can inspire you too . . . to get on that Finishing Train :D

    I've been working for a few days to try to finish a professional piece of art this week. It has been challenging, but I'm sticking with it. I plan to have something to send you by the weekend.

    0 users agree
    6:39 PM, Wednesday February 1st 2023

    Great idea. I did the same with another art course, but with self-portraits. I actually ended up liking my first one better even though the later one was more technically advanced. I think the first one looked more like me. I wish you a great time with Drawabox.

    8:50 PM, Monday January 30th 2023

    your pacing (especially the 150 across 2 days) is a little worrying

    I always try to take my time and pace myself with every mark, but . . .

    I didn't realize placing points was still a necessary step. I usually ghost for most marks that require accuracy, but I've not been placing dots except sometimes when constructing boxes or doing a few of the exercises (e.g. when placing the minor axis for the first 150 boxes, I didn't plot the points for that line since it didn't require any particular accuracy; I do however constantly analyze the straightness of my lines and try to improve on the next line when I notice they are arching). When constructing boxes I occasionally plot points, but usually I try to use intuition without points to create my Y; I do think my lack of planning shows up clearly in the form of redrawing or correcting lines sometimes, but many times the points aren't enough for me to see the box and I only really understand it once the lines are drawn (I also have Aphantasia). I started plotting points a bit more regularly for my boxes near the end to try to improve my accuracy up front to reduce the need for corrections.

    In checking how far off these are from converging towards the box's own vanishing points, we can see how far off we were from having the ellipse represent a circle in 3D space, and in turn how far off we were from having the plane that encloses it from representing a square.

    This part finally started to click for me with the last few pages. I could see how the ellipses' vanishing points revealed how the plane should have been constructed and what needed to change (i.e. the degree/angle of the plane they sat in).

    So! I'll go ahead and mark this challenge as complete. Keep up the good work.

    Thanks a bunch, Irshad. God bless.

    1:42 PM, Sunday January 29th 2023

    Trent has a way of giving no-nonsenses answers, but at the same time imparting extremely valuable information. I love the quality of his work. Many greats in that list.

    1:40 PM, Sunday January 29th 2023

    You're welcome.

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