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11:45 PM, Saturday May 7th 2022

You could try other drawing lesons and have fun with them; and then come back to Drawabox if you want to, or you could take those as a side thing. But I think that if you're getting overwhelmed is better for you to come back to this course once you have the time and energy to commit to it.

That's the thing I guess, having the energy to commit. If you half-ass a lesson, it will not benefit you and it will only stress you out. And that goes for all courses, not just this one.

On another hand, while this is a course based on construction, as opposed to say, "Keys to Drawing", a book that relies more on observation, eventually both approaches collide. Things like drawing solid lines from your shoulder will be necessary even if you're doing sketches based on observing something, where you just draw and overlap lines instead of erasing them or doing just one line.

So, I don't know really. What I can tell you is that, whether you take another shot at this course, or try another one, you'll need commitment if you want to study and learn. If you want to just draw for fun (which you absolutely should anyway), then draw and don't get bothered with anything else. But be aware that all learning requires a level of commitment.

You could try to split up your work. For example, when I have a new lesson on Drawabox, I "sacrifice" a day for each section. For example, on Lesson 2, I would take one afternoon just to read the first section; watch all the videos (which combined usually take like 1 hour).

Then, I go to the first homework page, read it, watch all the videos (which is another half an hour) Then, I ask myself if I got everything; if I have questions I go to Discord and ask them, if I don't, I give the section a re-read and just then move on to the homework. I'll immediately take on just this first homework (because I'll be exhausted) but it's important to me, because it allows me to screw it up with the knowledge fresh on my head. For example, I would take the homework of the Organic Arrows and do one page, taking it slowly, thinking about every line. If I'm not burned out, maybe I'll do the second one. But that's enough to apply what I just learned, and to screw it up and discover if I have any doubts.

And you have to have in your mind, this is where you actually apply what you read and actually learn to do the thing you're supposed to do. That's why you have to take it slowly and be very thoughtful about it. Later, when you have this knowledge incorporated into your mind, and you're drawing for fun, you won't be thinking about it.

Nowadays, I can make the petals of a flower without any worry in like a couple of minutes, but when I had to make the exercise of leaves, I had to do it slowly and think about every.single.leaf. How did they turn, how the main line flowed in space. Now, I just think about it when I have something particularly complex, or when I want to be careful. Otherwise, it has become ingrained in my mind, I just do it.

After that, the day of drawing is over. I sacrificed like 2-3 hours of my day, but I got one section of the lesson, I got what I have to do for one homework. And then, the next day (or the day after that, if I'm swamped in work), I'll read again the page for the homework, give the section of the lesson a quick re-read if necessary and then work another hour at that. And keep that rhythm for like a month until the lesson is over and the homework is uploaded.

If you notice, I've been here for a year and I'm just reaching Lesson 6, that's because I work at this rhythm (and because getting free critiques takes quite a while). But I'm comfortable with that, because I'm positive that I've been learning a lot. It is a very slow rhythm, and if you can do it quicker and still be effective, then great. But for me it works, because if I did it any quicker, I'd just half ass everything and wouldn't learn anything.

That's the thing. Not to grind yourself for a week and pump the lesson out as quick as you can, but doing things constantly, over a loooooong period of time. Remember that drawing is a long, long road, and like any artistic endeavor, we'll never be quite perfect at it.

That's it, hope it's useful for you to make up your mind. But in case of doubt, choose whatever makes you happier. You'll have time to learn anything you want, but if you have to sacrifice happiness for it, then that's no choice at all. Just choose your happiness.

1:12 AM, Thursday May 19th 2022

https://drawabox.com/community/submission/WAANHV9L

hi bro can u please give me feedback

10:47 PM, Monday August 1st 2022
9:30 AM, Saturday August 20th 2022
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