Thank you for the critique! Definitely agree with all of your points, and learned some things. For textures in particular - do you have any resources to getting better at this - for example, some artists to look at? I find I keep falling back to negative space, as much as I try for light and shadows I feel like something just isn't clicking.
What I've been doing has just been playing with the concepts I've learned (just submitted Lesson 02). For example, I recently drew my bathroom - lots of angular shapes (the sink, the tub, etc). I've been thinking of it less as "let's do this assignment" and more of "can I draw this thing?". So far the results haven't been great, but there are always surprisingly good parts of the drawing - at least based on my current skills!
Took me about 3 weeks, but I was pretty focused on it. Aimed for 10 boxes per day at least.
I'd say it took me about 6-7 minutes per box, plus say 1-2 minutes to draw the lines at the end, so each of my pages of 5 boxes took about 35-45 minutes or so - so not so far off from your pace!
Yes, I think so! Just really pay attention to the flatness as you draw plants so they really pop.
Very cool!
Arrows look good - maybe try being more dramatic in how they expand though? A few of them get narrower right before the arrowhead too, which sort of breaks the illusion.
For the drawn through sausage forms, most (not all) have ellipses with the same or similar degrees, which makes them look flat. The best one is the second from the top on the left I think. Same goes for the non-drawn through ones, the ellipses mostly have the same degree. My favorite here is the second from the bottom on the left.
I like your texture analysis and dissections. I think you did a really good job finding ways to break the silhouette - the apricot center and cabbage are my two favorites. The pill bug shell looks flat, since it doesn't seem like the lines follow the form as much as they should.
Intersections are nice, but I'm still struggling to visualize these in general - so all I can really say is I don't see anything that's obviously wrong.
For the piles of organic forms, there's a good sense of space, but I think the shadows could be improved. For example in this one https://imgur.com/CatNYxi, the straight one on the top should be casting shadows on the forms below, not just at the two ends. Same with the form on the bottom left - I think there should be more of a shadow on the ground.
This is awesome!
I like your texturing a lot, but for the most part they are all explicit textures - you might want to try some with implicit textures too https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/2/implicitexplicit
Really like the textures such as the screw head (-ish) - the depth follows the form nicely and it was all super believable.
Wow, LOVE your arrows - so dramatic! I feel like they're flying out of the page at me!
The daisy looks good, but the overall shape of the flower seems kinda square to me.
Really love the texture on the raspberries. The bottom right one seems a bit off - like it goes dark - light - dark - light - but it still looks good.
Sunflower looks kinda flat to me - maybe it's because the top pedals are bigger than the bottom ones, so I'm not super clear what angle it is supposed to be at. Nice penmanship though.
Basil looks great!
The leaves and branches look nice to me, but the arrows and flowers all feel flat.
The arrows are supposed to increase in width as they get closer to the viewer, but yours are generally consistent width.
I like the rose, but the daisy and the sunflower are both looking at the viewer - maybe try putting the flower head at more of an angle? For both of them, the pedals at the top (which should be further from the viewer and so smaller) are larger than the pedals at the bottom, which breaks the illusion.
I think the plants have a similar problem - the leaves are mostly the same size, and mostly facing the same angle.
Super nice! Some observations (just finished lesson 1 and 250 boxes myself):
Your superimposed lines often fray a bit on both ends - take time to start at the same point.
Ghosted lines look nice!
Planes look nice too - confident line work.
Your ellipses are super consistent and drawn through nicely - and really good aim. A few of the ones on planes look a bit squished or uneven, but nothing major (i.e. first page, first row, second column and third last on the bottom row).
On the rotated boxes, it looks like the boxes are just moving further into the distance without rotating. I made the same mistakes - move your vanishing point closer (much closer) for the more rotated ones.
Organic perspective is nice!
Thank you for this thoughtful reply, there's a ton to unpack. I like the analogy of perceiving the paper as a window into 3D space. Your notes about not tracing, and incorporating construction lines into your tone are also really good ones.
In the times when you're not solving tricky spacial problems, are you just relying on the intuition that you've built up?
This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.
I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, so you may want to shop around. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.
No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.
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