Observation and memory question

11:26 PM, Friday April 15th 2022

im new to drawabox and ive been trying to practice lesson 2/3 material, im not sure if im doing this wrong? but i cant seem to "retain" any information im observing especially proportion. Im looking at a sunflower, I think im observing it closely, i look back and forth often and i sometimes look for 5 or 10 minutes at different aspects like shape/proportion/angles and then every single time when I start going to draw my head goes empty/blank and I cant seem to draw what i observed at all. (or it comes out looking very weird and flat.) ive been quite stressed about it for the past 2 weeks ive been trying to practice, am i just observing wrong or is there something im missing? thanks :(

https://drawabox.com/lesson/2/2/observation (part of lesson im refering to)

1 users agree
2:27 PM, Saturday April 16th 2022

Before I address the question, one word of caution. When you say you are trying to practice lesson 2/3 material. Are you trying to do that simultaneously? The lessons build on each other and are not meant to be done at the same time. I do suggest going through them in the recommended order and getting feedback along the way, whether from the community or official feedback. I have received great feedback that way and it has helped me.

It sounds like you are on the right track with the observation, you just need "mileage". Just draw. You have to have a lot of wrong before you will get to right. Keep your work, set it aside and look at it after a couple of days or a week. You will be able to see why things are right or wrong more clearly than you can in the moment. You may be doing better than you think.

I think your stress might be coming from wanting a pretty picture. When I showed my wife what I had spent a month doing (lesson 2), I was quick to explain its purpose because lets face it, it doesn't look like much (although the dissections look cool). Drawabox lessons are exercises. Save the pretty picturess for the 50% rule.

If you can be brave, post some of the things you think are a problem here and let people have a look to see if there are any specific areas you could practice.

3:05 AM, Thursday April 21st 2022

hello, apologize for the late reply! to clear up confusion, i have alraedy finished lessons 2 and 3 but i am still practicing both of them as i feel like im still lacking a lot.

https://gyazo.com/4fd9d86465f4ed66201624c1a060bb6c

heres a link to a drawing i did a few days ago, this isnt specifically for any lessons but i wanted to try and learn how to draw heads for fun/practice , (very well aware its difficult to do and looks awful) but this is the struggle im having where i am looking at my references and stuff but it never comes out right when i actually draw, I dont know what im doing wrong or am i just not "observing" well enough?

8:45 PM, Thursday April 21st 2022

Sorry, but it is a broken link for me.

8:37 PM, Tuesday April 26th 2022

hello! sorry for the very late reply, i must have accidently deleted what i posted

https://gyazo.com/c9ab5af8f5d72a63c41d5185ebcd3862

heres another session i did hopefully it works. trying to draw some skulls (w/ ref)

my issue is how in-consistant they are from each other going from left to right is my first vs my last ones

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