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Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

10:03 PM, Monday June 15th 2020

Draw A Box Lesson One - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/pbhMiUt.jpg

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Towards the end of Lesson One, I struggled with the box lessons. My habits of overlapping lines and not keeping my lines within the distance between the two dots did not help keep the line work clean and exact. Resulting instead, into a bit of a mess especially seen in my box homework pages. I see that I will need to practice more ghosting as time goes on, and that I should strive to keep the lines within a set distance that I am aiming for.

Otherwise, any feedback or other pointers would be appreciated. :) Thank you for your time.

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3 users agree
10:58 PM, Monday June 15th 2020

I think you realise some of the issues you have that need more practice.

I can note two distinct things in these exercises.

In the early exercises you seem to be swiping with the pen rather than confidently drawing the line from point to point. This is evident in the fact your lines taper a lot as well as missing their destination. I took my a couple of months of daily practice before I really started to feel I was drawing controlled lines, from the shoulder, from point to point. So this would be something that I suggest you really focus on for a bit. It makes the rest a lot easier.

Because of the above some of the other exercises look sketchy and, in particular, the rotated boxes is hard to read at all.

Your ellipses are much better. They still need improving but they are much closer to where they need to be.

Next Steps:

Spend some time on the first couple of tasks in particular until your basic line confidence improves.

Then resubmit superimposed lines, ghosted planes and rotated boxes.

Getting this sorted will really help.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
3:04 PM, Wednesday June 17th 2020

Hi! I was reading your critique and while your feedback was cool, your next steps were a bit vague. Try to give actionable next steps, in a number of pages. Like one extra page for each exercise that the student needs to redo. Also, try to avoid encouraging the student to grind. Most exercises here don't expect super good results and most of us won't be good enough in our first try. :)

5:19 PM, Wednesday June 17th 2020

I get that you are trying to up the standards of critique. But I disagree for the most part on the above points. I don't believe I have encouraged grinding. Re-doing or practicing is not in itself grinding. I also think

"Then resubmit superimposed lines, ghosted planes and rotated boxes."

is quite clear and actionable. I thought about that when responding, even going as far as to check that those were the correct names of the homework.

I was noticing that there were pages and pages of submissions and few critiques so I thought I would help. If my views are considered too harsh I will refrain as I don't want to actively discourage but as the intro to drawabox says "our approach is tough and involves a lot of hard work".

Compared to some others I thought the line quality wasn't there. When the next challenge is 250 boxes, going into that with the same quality of line would be wrong IMO.

5:39 PM, Wednesday June 17th 2020

Well then that's okay. I think that everyone has it's own way of giving critiques and teaching, after all. I apologize if it I've sounded nosy. I know you haven't said that, but just to be sure it is just my opinion and I respect your view on how to give quality critique.

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12:21 AM, Friday June 19th 2020

https://imgur.com/a/HxPfPzP

Thank you for the critique, SCOOBYCLUB.

I wasn't certain how to to resubmit the superimposed lines and ghosted planes. So I made a new imgur gallery of the work I have done and linked it above. I haven't gotten a chance to draw the rotated boxes exercise again, but I will try to complete it soon for feedback.

I've gone ahead and incorporated a daily warm up before I draw to help practice the topics and lessons Lesson 1 had taught. While also keeping in mind, the advice about not grinding needlessly: https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/4/grinding

I know it will take time and practice to improve, and I will keep in mind what I have learned so far as well as your helpful critique here. Draw from the shoulder, from point to point. : )

I will post the rotated boxes again here or wherever I need to post it. Hopefully after the rotated boxes, I can start the long journey of drawing boxes.

Thank you again for your time and help. : )

12:15 PM, Friday June 19th 2020

You're welcome. As you can see from the above conversation as a community effort reviews and judgements can vary according to an individual's perception.

I think the improvements in quality and accuracy of lines are clear in your resubmissions. It really does pay dividends to get the muscle control and accuracy baked in early IMO.

With the rotated boxes exercise read the instructions carefully and draw fairly big. A key note is remembering that edges that are next to each other on adjacent boxes will be very similar and this knowledge can help you maintain the correct perspectives.

8:42 PM, Friday June 19th 2020

HI. I know you already had "your differences" with another user, but I can't help to notice one thing.

I see that this submission has two agrees on your critique but it's not marked as complete.

I don't wanna be that guy, but by chance, did it gave you the option to ask for additional homework or mark as complete in this last reply? Because, by experience, it did to me when I asked for additional work. If it did and you didn't put it, would you be so kind to try and mark the lesson as complete? I'm sure we can find a way to give this person their badge.

I can't speak for the entire community, but I'm sure we're all grateful for your efforts and your good intentions. I hope this little pointer wasn't annoying. Your help matters and I hope this didn't discourage you from future reviews :)

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9:09 PM, Saturday June 20th 2020

https://imgur.com/a/nrYppHT

Thank you for the continued feedback, SCOOBYCLUB.

I completed the rotated box exercise and linked it above. I felt this second time through wasn't as rough as the first time. And the daily warm ups using the lessons I've learned so far gave me a little bit more confidence when drawing these lines.

Thank you again for the advice and feedback so far.

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