tami

Lines

Superimposed lines

Some slight arching is normal but there is significant arching of your lines. Ensure try that you are drawing mainly from your shoulder. Aside from this your lines seem confident and don't have much wobble.

Ghosted lines

Your lines are confident here - no wobling or hesitation.

Ghosted planes

Same as above, clean, condifdent lines.

Ellipses

Table of ellipses

The ellipses should be kept within the bounds, each ellipse touching each other, without overlapping. You should be aiming to draw the same ellipses with the same degree, size degree and angle within the same row (not size if row is segmented). Also, do not draw ellipses with ellipses.

Ellipses in planes

It seems you struggled to figure out the shape of some of the ellipses within the plane. Ensure you ghost until you are confident in the shape you want to make.

Funnels

Ellipses should be getting 'thinner' as they approach the centre line to simulate the rotation of the ellipses by the change in its degree indicated by a shorter minor axis. It seems you have drawn ellipses with the same minor axis.

See here: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/14/step3

Boxes

Plotted perspective

Clean and neat lines. No issues here.

Rough perspective

Just in general, width lines should be parallel to horizon and height lines perpendicular to horizon. Keeping this in mind will help avoid wonky lines. In terms if accuracy, make sure to ghost toward the vanishing point and look toward it when drawing the edge.

Rotated boxes

You have done this exercise well. Only thing is tha some lines are a bit wobbly other than that well done.

Organic perspective

It seems that you are uncertain of how to construct boxes here which is fine as you will move onto the 250 box challenege and will better understand how to approach it but because of this some of your lines are wobbly, repeated and uncertaine. Despite this you have been able to convey the sense that the boxes are in a 3D space within the frames by scaling up the size of the boxes as they approach the viewer.

All in all, well done for completing Lesson 1 and good luck moving forward!

Hi, for the organic forms, the change in degree of your ellipses are what will help convey the curvature of the form in 3D space, so it's best to only draw the poles if they are actually intended to be facing the viewer. Hope this helps!

Arrows

Generally done well. You have convyed perspective well as the width of the arrow gets smaller as it moves further into the page or wider as it comes forward tpward the viewer. Only thing to point out here is adding lineweight/shading should be done neatly, taking your time using ghosting, it looks rushed for some arrows.

Organic forms - Contour ellipses

Sausage forms are drawn smoothly and you have drawn the ellipses with changing degrees throughtout. One thing to point out is that you should draw the poles (the small ellipse) only when it is actually facing/visible to the viewer. See here: https://imgur.com/a/QNzbwPF

Organic forms - Contour curves

Some of the curves are outside the boundaries. Take your time to ghost until you comfortable to make your marks. https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/60054aa2.jpg

Textures

You have done well in identifying cast shadow shapes and being able to create a gradient with them. Perhaps the middle texture could be more graded.

Texture analysis

The textures look really good but the only thing to take note of is that the textures should be graded from dark to light from the edge of the organic form to the centre as you did in the first page but no the second. Also, the scale texture does not follow the flow of the form as it does say for the bark texture you did.

Form intersections

Most intersections feel solid and believable. Adding lineweight around the forms, not the intersections, will allow 3D forms look like one large mass rather than drawing the eye to multiple intersections. Also, take your time to do your hatching as it looks rushed. Take your time to ghost.

Organic intersections

On a whole they look solid and you have wrapped cast shadows around the forms they are being cast onto. There is one form you forgot the contour line along its lenght but this is minor.

Overall, you have done well and good luck with the next lesson!

These look good, great improvement!

Thank you for doing the revision. There is improvement from your initial attempt.

Well done for completing lesson 1. Yes, this course is much more challenging than it appears. Some people come in thinking it will be a breeze so they skip lesson 0, don’t read the written instructions properly and end up giving up when given critique or when they realise that it’s not so simple they give up. But keep pressing on! The key to this course is patience, perseverance and consistency. Consistency doesn’t necessarily mean everyday, it may be every 2 days even but as long as you don’t leave huge gaps it’s fine but it may happen.

Take your time the point of the course is not a pretty picture but to build fundamental mark making and understand concepts around perspective and the illusion of 3D on a 2D page.

Critique

Superimposed lines:

Your lines are very hesitant. It’s better to sacrifice accuracy for a smooth, confident line. Accuracy improves over time anyways. Ensure you are working from your shoulder when making any line.

Ghosted lines:

Try not to repeat lines if you make mistakes, just move on. The lines here seem okay, a little shaky but no major critique.

Ghosted planes:

Lines are a bit shakier here. Work from the shoulder to ghost until you are comfortable. Again accuracy may be sacrificed to create a confident mark.

Ellipses in a plane:

The major issue is that the ellipses should fit snuggly within the bounds of the plane as shown here https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/267cf168.jpg

Funnels and table of ellipses:

Your ellipse are quite shaky again, ghost until confident. Ensure the ellipses are touch neighbouring ellipses and the bounds the row.

Rotated boxes:

I see you struggled here, but don’t worry because this is a difficult exercise. I’d say it would have been better to draw bigger as it makes it easier to figure out what is going on. Your sense of rotation, perspective etc. will improve with time.

Rough perspective:

The major issue is you have plotted your line to the vanishing point and not to where they would extend to as detailed here: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/16/step6

Every vertical line should be perpendicular to the horizon line and every horizontal line should be parallel to the horizon line as detailed here: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/16/guessing

I advise you don’t use pencil but a different coloured pen. It doesn’t have to be a fine liner as long as it doesn’t smudge and ruin your work. Also don’t doodle on submissions, keep work neat and presentable.

Organic perspective:

I feel like you could have created more depth by drawing larger boxes closer to the viewer. Construction of boxes with be explained moving onto the 250 box challenge so not much much to comment on there.

Superimposed lines

There is a lot of fraying on both ends of your lines. The line should never fray on the starting dot. You should place the pen carefully at the beginning of each line so this does not happen.

https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/1585f266.jpg

There is also arching in your lines so ensure you are drawing from your shoulder joint. If arching still happens, consciously try arching the line in the opposite direction.

Ghosted lines

It seems you have done less that an A4 page for this exercise. Despite this the majority of lines are confident strokes but there is some wobble here and there. Also, make your points less noticeable, just a dot will do.

Ghosted planes

There should be 2 pages of this exercise but I have only seen 1 submitted. Same critiques as above

Ellipses in planes

There should be another page of this with the ghosted planes. Generally, the ellipses are touching all edges of the plane but some seem wobbly so ensure you are ghosting until you are confident.

Ellipses in table

This exercise seems rushed. You should be ghosting each ellipse aiming to have no gaps between the neighbouring ellipses and between the upper and lower bounds of the rows.

Funnels

This exercise seems rushed too as you have made a mistake that was noted in the exercise instructions. There should be no gaps between the ellipses but you have done well in keeping the ellipses within the bounds established by the curves.

Rotated boxes

Rotation is good but hatching is rushed and messy. All hatched lines should be ghosted. The same goes for your plotted perspective exercise.

Rough perspective

Ensure every vertical line is perpendicular to the horizon line and horizontal lines are parallel to the horizon line to prevent the boxes from turning out wonky or crooked.

Organic perspective

The sense of perspective can be exaggerated by adding larger boxes closer to the viewer and smaller boxes toward the end to create more depth.

The construction of boxes will be explained fully in the 250 box challenge but I will say your lines are rushed. In Draw A Box each line and ellipse will have to be ghosted to achieve confident, smooth lines.

Overall, I'm getting the sense that you didn't take enough time to read through the instructions for every exercise. You should be reading the text AND watching the video to have a good understanding of what is expected and the concepts. Make sure to note common mistakes to avoid unnecessary revisions and ensure you are fully completing the number of pages asked for.

I will also say you need to improve your presentation. Don't doodle of submissions and keep your work neat.

Superimposed lines

There are some wobbly lines but the majority are confident strokes. There is also some arching lines so ensure you are drawing from the shoulder and if your lines keep arching, consciously try and arch in the opposite direction.

Ghosted lines and planes

Generally confident strokes. Improving accuracy improves with time so it's not a big deal your aren't hitting all the points but make sure you ghost until you are confident you will hit the mark and look towards that end point as you draw the line.

Ellipses in planes

These are quite good and well controlled but ensure you are hitting each edges of the bounds of the row.

Funnels

It seems you struggled with this exercise. You need to aim to keep the ellipses within the bounds of the curves. To create the illusion of the changing angle of the ellipses, the ellipses on the outer edge should be wider and toward the centre line, they should become thinner, simulating the turning of ellipses.

Rough perspective

When drawing the edges of the boxes try consciously ghost lines toward the vanishing point to improve accuracy.

Rotated boxes

You have done well rotating the boxes only thing I would say is draw the boxes larger.

Organic perspective

There is a sense of perspective being conveyed but I would say don’t be afraid to overlap boxes to create move depth. Moving forward to 250 box challenge, you will learn how to approach constructing boxes.

I would say generally try not to make the random marks on you work or scribble out mistakes. The dates and timings are fine.

Well done for completing the first lesson!

Thank you for completing the revisions. They look better, still some wobble but try incorporating some ellipse exercises in your warm up and they will improve with time. During the 250 box challenge I’d definitely join the Discord to post my first few pages and then every 10-15 boxes because there are many useful tips people could give you and useful images in the pins section. Also remember it’s hard and not to give up even if you do 1 or 2 a day that’s good enough. Good luck!

First off well done for completing the challenge!

In general, neat presentation of boxes

Some critiques:

• Boxes 19 and 25 the extension of purple lines in the wrong direction but it seems as you went along you figured this out but reference this picture if you are stuck https://d15v304a6xpq4b.cloudfront.net/lesson_images/149200bd.jpg

• It seems you are struggling with the back corner. Try and think of each set of 4 edges converging to their own vanishing point. This image may help https://i.imgur.com/8PqQLE0.png

Try estimate the back corner by ghosting and pacing a small dot, assessing whether the perspective makes sense. But this improves with time and more experience with perspective.

This image conveys how I’d approached the box https://i.imgur.com/vYLKKwe_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

• A lot of your boxes have a similar orientation try and switch up the lengths of edges and the angles of the boxes. If possible try some foreshortening. Here is an image to help with imaging rotation. Try identifying the Y or upside down Y shapes in the boxes https://imgur.com/Kqg6uMX