Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes
12:53 PM, Monday January 20th 2025
Please ignore my use of highlighters. I couldn't help myself!
Hello I'm Simon and will be reviewing your Lesson 1 :)
1. Superimposed lines
First of all you did a good job of drawing your lines confidently and committing to the stroke once you started it. Fraying is only visible on the end of your lines that proves you took the time to start each stroke on the same point, well done!
2. Ghosted lines
Well done your Ghosted lines do not wobble. Your lines remain straight, that's good in the future keep the habit of drawing with your whole arm so you have long confident lines! You did a good job of having your lines end up near or on the final dot, keep practicing this exercise (and the others) in your warmups to get even better at it!
3. Ghosted planes
You did a really good job of doing your ghosted planes, your lines are as good/better than the ones from your previous exercises.
4. Table of ellipses
Great job on drawing through every single ellipse twice! Make sure you keep doing that with every single ellipse you draw along the course! You tried to fit every ellipse and circle snugly along the borders of your tables good job, it is tough to achieve but as long as you keep striving for it you'll improve! Most of your ellipses are evenly shaped and appear smooth good job! Getting a perfect ellipse is a really hard job but you'll have time to work on it through your warmups.
5. Ellipses in planes
Once again good job on drawing through every ellipse twice! You tried and managed to fit your ellipses right between the four sides great job on managing to do that! Most of your ellipses are evenly shapes good job here too.
6. Funnels
Here too you tried to fit every ellipse snugly along the curves well done, even if it is tougher to do with a non straight edge it's a really good practice. You kept most of your ellipses along the direction of the minor axis, keep practicing this exercise as a warmup in your next lessons.
7. Plotted perspective
As mentioned in the exercise you used a ruler to draw your boxes that's all good. Some of your initial lines for the boxes that should be perpendicular to the horizon aren't perfectly lined up which makes your boxes less solid, when attempting this exercise in your next warmups simply take more time to set up your ruler as well as you can before drawing your lines. You made sure to plot every single line back to the right vanishing point so good job, even though some back corners don't come out perfectly that's completely fine :)
8. Rough perspective
Managing to land every single line exactly back to the vanishing point is a near impossible task at this point but what's important is you tried and most of your lines do try to reach that center point! The front back of your boxes is rectangular each time, that's great. You managed to draw every line extension in the right direction, that could get a little tougher in the 250 boxes since you have to extend in 3 directions but this shows you got the base of how to do it! You seem to have used the ghosting method for every stroke that's good! Keep using it for every stroke and your exercises will look much better than if you didn't!
9. Rotated boxes
The setup of your rotated boxes is well laid out with the cross and the 4 cubes to strive for in each cardinal direction :) You kept the gaps between each box tight and consistent. That's a key to having a good result with this exercise. You are correctly rotating your boxes, if you traced the vanishing point of every box you'd see it moving as your boxes rotate more and more! Drawing through your boxes is also a key part of the exercise and is also making you start practicing this skill that will be used for every box in the 250 challenge. You drew every single box well done! Many people forget some boxes in the corner but you didn't!
10. Organic perspective
Once again using the ghosting method for every single stroke of this course is a crucial part into getting good habits for your whole drawing journey! Looks like your boxes don't have parallel or diverging edges for the most part well done! That's already a great skill to have moving forward in the 250 boxes challenge. You did some boxes that were a bit too dramatical in their foreshortening so when you practice this exercise in a warmup be sure to do shallower foreshortening other than that it's perfect.
Great great job overall! Good luck moving forward with the 250 Box challenge
Don't forget to complete your 50/50 rule and to add these exercises to your warmups for future lessons!
Also I strongly encourage you to go review some submissions on the website :) You can review some lessons 1 and once you've completed future lessons review those as well. Don't hesitate to do a review every so often. It really benefits you so you don't forget the point of the previous exercises and helps other people who are waiting on a review :)
Next Steps:
Move on to the 250 Box challenge
Thank you for providing an in-depth feedback, Simon. I have already been rotating through all the exercises in my warm ups and I am happy to report that my ellipses have improved significantly. I am glad that you noticed my habit of excessively applying dramatic foreshortening, going forward I will try to make a conscious effort to ensure that I vary the extent to which I foreshorten my boxes as I approach the 250 Box challenge. I will also take your advice and look into reviewing my peers as well (Although, I feel unsure that I will be helpful at this point in time but just like everything else I am certain I will improve with time).
No fraying at the start and the lines are executed confidently, the material is understood
Ghosted lines are done straight and confidently over time the accuracy will be perfect so don't worry about it for now
Ellipses are confident, have variety and fit in well
Well executed, ellipses almost always fit in the 4 corners. The task is understood well
The minor axis is understood, the ellipses fit well and aligh with eachother
The task is understood and executed well
Just like the previous task it's well understood and executed, don't worry about the lines that miss the vanishing point by a far margin but keep in mind the angles and distances that give you trouble for when you do this exercise as a warmup in the future.
The edges align and have consistent gaps, all the boxes are drawn completely, but I'd personally make the foreshortening more drastic
The task is understood well, there is a large variety of rotations and sizes and they all follow the path.
However keep in mind what hatched parts of the boxes would be obscured by closer boxes and in result not be visible
Next Steps:
I mark this lesson as complete and suggest you do the 250 box chalange next
Thank you for reviewing my work and providing a proper feedback. I will be taking your suggestions into account as I approach these exercises during my warm-ups.
Some of you will have noticed that Drawabox doesn't teach shading at all. Rather, we focus on the understanding of the spatial relationships between the form we're drawing, which feeds into how one might go about applying shading. When it comes time to learn about shading though, you're going to want to learn it from Steven Zapata, hands down.
Take a look at his portfolio, and you'll immediately see why.
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