Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

5:15 AM, Saturday January 30th 2021

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Submission of Lesson 1 one of the images is sideways though

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8:22 AM, Saturday January 30th 2021
edited at 8:24 AM, Jan 30th 2021

Superimposed Lines: Solid. We got two pages full of straights and "C" shaped curves. Be sure to practice "S" shaped curves and some shorter straights in the future. We want to get that shoulder comfortable in creating any kind of stroke. Also, although it is slight, I do see some fraying at the start of your lines. Be sure to take special care when setting your pen down on its make your mark.

Ghosted Lines: Solid. We have a good variety of lengths to your lines but we do see some waviness creeping in. Be sure to prioritize confident strokes over accuracy at this early stage. Continue to rotate that page to find the most optimal position to draw from your shoulder.

Ghosted Planes: Solid. To the letter of the law the exercise is complete. We got two pages of planes. I would strongly suggest however, that when you revisit this exercise that you play with more sizes and angles, like we see in the lesson plan. (https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/ghostedplanes) Technically speaking this is not a distortion or perspective exercise but it's a good place to start experimenting and understand 3D space. Remember to plot and ghost every single stroke. Your lines bisecting your plane seem to suffer from a bit of wobble.

Table of Ellipses: Good. Two full pages with most of the Ellipses touching without too much overlapping. We do have some wobblers that creep up from time to time. Keep ghosting and using that shoulder to improve with that. I'm also noticing that none of your Ellipses tilt to the left. Be sure to implement some next time you revisit this exercise.

Ellipses in Planes: Solid. The ellipses are in their planes and a good deal of them are smooth. Continue to practice drawing completely through your ellipses twice from your shoulder to improve.

Funnels: Needs Work. Make sure you take your time and carefully construct your funnel. If the minor axis is misaligned it will be impossible for the exercise to be completed properly. It's best to use a ruler, to create the minor axis and then find a curve that your can trace whether it be a protractor or a cereal bowl. I notice that some of your smaller ellipses have a good deal of wobble to them. This could mean that you're falling back to using your wrist. Whatever the case continue to ghost and use that shoulder. Consider changing up the speed of your Ellipses from time to time to see if your need to speed up or slow down to create a smoother shape.

Plotted Perspective: Needs work. I recommend getting hold of a clear ruler for this exercise it makes it much easier to keep track of your lines. Be sure to take your time. This assignment is an exercise in patience and precision. Start with one vertical line and extend 4 angled lines back to both Vanishing points. Once you have those lines down, carefully fit two more vertical into those angled lines and create another set of angled lines (https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/plottedperspective) None of your vertical lines should be tilted or protruding through your angled lines. Also notice that you did not draw the back corner to any of your boxes. I would lastly say, consider adding line weight to the silhouette of your boxes and hatching to the front face of them. It's not required but it is good practice.

Rough Perspective: Incomplete. Be sure to carefully read the instructions before starting the exercises.(https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/roughperspective) All of your boxes need to be drawn through and with a ruler create guidelines from your angled lines back towards the Vanishing Point.

This is how I draw through boxes on this exercise: (Feel free to ignore my novice advice)

1: Start with just four points that will create a square or rectangle. Don't worry about anything else other than that all of your horizontal lines will be parallel to the horizon line and that all of your vertical lines will be perpendicular to the horizon line.

2: Now pick any corner of your neatly constructed square or rectangle and ghost a line towards the vanishing point. Keep ghosting till you can visualize where you want the edge of your form to stop and then place a plot point. (Do not draw a line yet just the dot.) Now understand that this dot will dictate the rest of your plotted points, because the next three points you put down from the remaining three corners of your original square/rectangle must create another square/rectangle in the distance. Again, all horizontal lines will be parallel to the horizon line and all vertical lines will be perpendicular. No ifs ands or buts about it.

3: Now it's basically connect the dots. Using a confident ghosted stroke, create another box in the distance and then connect the corners of the near box to the far off box and then VIOLA! You should have some pretty boxes with confident lines, and with any luck that initial plot point was accurate enough that all other lines will follow suit, back to the vanishing point.

Rotated Perspective: Good. This is a very good first effort. Many of the boxes are indeed rotating. Note that you are missing a box in the bottom right corner. Also keep in mind that no matter how complicated some of the problems may get in these exercises, always go back to the basics. Plot your points, rotate the page, ghost your strokes, and from one clean motion from your shoulder put down a line. Lesson 1 is really all about getting that nice straight line.

Organic Perspective: Good. Again a very good first effort. The boxes don't quite have enough size differential but your clearly understand the spirit of the exercise with the boxes following the curve and getting larger as the come closer to the viewer. We will learn more about the "Y" method of constructing boxes and working with 3 point perspective in the 250 box challenge.

Overall Thoughts: It's a solid effort all way around. I feel that you understand the Funnels and Plotted Perspective so I'm not going to force you to redo them. Just keep some of those pointers in mind when you revisit them as a regular warm-up. We do need you to resubmit your Rough Perspective exercise since it was not completed as intended.

Next Steps:

2 Pages of Rough Perspective. Reread the lesson plan and be sure to draw through all of your boxes and create guidelines off of your angled lines that fall back towards the Vanishing Point.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
edited at 8:24 AM, Jan 30th 2021
12:01 AM, Wednesday February 10th 2021
edited at 12:02 AM, Feb 10th 2021
edited at 12:02 AM, Feb 10th 2021
2:33 AM, Wednesday February 10th 2021

Rough Perspective: Solid. The boxes are drawn through and you used a straight edge to create guidelines back towards the Vanishing point. Try to keep in mind that your Vertical and Horizontal lines should not have any tilt to them. Try to keep those lines as straight as possible. Also as always, continue to practice ghosting every single stroke that we make to improve on creating nice straight lines.

Next Steps:

That's all from me. Cheers and Happy Drawing.

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