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Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

1:52 PM, Thursday July 9th 2020

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Greetings,

In the hopes of putting my free time to slightly more constructive use, I've been looking into picking up drawing again for the first time in a very... very long time. I've been struggling with various mental health issues for the majority of my life, and even though I've always wanted to get into (digital) illustrating, these issues have always prevented me from sticking with it for more than a few days.

However, things have been a bit better lately (aside from, you know, the whole global pandemic thing), so I figured it was time to dust off this bookmark I've been keeping around for years and give this a proper shot.

Suffice to say, it was exhausting. I actively had to fight decades worth of anxiety and other such fun things every time I put my pen to paper, but I managed to stick with it and finish the first lesson. Some things definitely went better than others; the ghosting and elipses went pretty okay I think. But good lord, the rotated boxes and organic perspective exercises nearly broke me. Really had to fight the urge to throw away my first attempt and start over, but I managed to not do so.

I really must thank the author, Uncomfortable, for continuously reiterating that some of these lessons are explicitly made to be (too) challenging, as well as not hiding the small mistakes in the videos accompanying each lesson. This helped ease my anxiety and perfectionism greatly, and is probably why I managed to make it this far. It also turns Draw A Box into more than just a guide for learning drawing fundamentals; it also functions as quite decent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy :p

Anyway, that's enough rambling. Any and all feedback would be much appreciated. Meanwhile, I'll go do some dooling, as per the 50% rule thingy.

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2 users agree
4:44 PM, Thursday July 9th 2020

Hey there bud!

First off; I feel you. I do have mental health issues as well which prevented me for the longest time to do what I want in my free time, and they still do. But as you do, I as well give my best to finally work on something I wanted to do for a long time already.

You got my full respect for starting to draw again.

You got my full respect for sticking with it,

and you got my full respect and congratulations for submitting it! People like you give people like me the motivation to do the same.

Now, to your submission:

Superimposed Lines + Ghosted Lines

Overall, I think you have very confident lines. In regards to your mental health issues and the fact you have not drawn anything in a certain amount of time, I'm positively surprised, wow! Nice one ^w^

Accuracy seems a bit off here and there, that's the biggest issue I see, but nothing that you need to worry much about since that'll get better by doodling and all that, but I think you are aware of that.

You took your time to place the pen correctly for each lines, again something that was surely not an easy task for you. Congrats!

Ghosted Planes

Your line quality seems above average to me. Accuracy got much better already, your ellipses are great as well, seeing this really motivates me to do this excercise for myself ! :D (It's been a while :P)

Can't really see something that sticks out in terms of improving, overall, you do great in my opinion.

Ellipses + Funnels

Once again, I think you do very good. The only thing I notice is that your ellipses are sometimes varying much in shape, perhaps pay a bit more attention to this or practice it more? (Again, something that's completely normal and improves by time anyway, you are already doing so good imo!)

What I do like to see as well is that you're pointing out in which direction you've drawn those ellipses (like in which direction you've moved the pen)

Need to try that out as well! Like that a lot :D

Funnels seems good, too.

Boxes + Perspective

One tiny thing I spotted on your "Plotted Perspective"-Page (perhaps you've seen it as well) : On the bottom frame, the most right box.. there's one line, the most-left one, which you extended too far, but one oopsie is none :P Happened to me so often, too xD

I do love your "???", and those smileys, just generally, that's giving so much love and life to your excercises, daaaamn w

Conclusion

I think you're definitely ready for the 250 boxes challenge.

Huge respect for your motivation and love and energy and what not else you have put into those excercises!

Seeing your stuff really makes me wanna grab my pen and paper and draw as well, you're literally filling me up with energy :D

Thank you so much for sharing your stuff!

Oh and, one last thing I want to mention, perhaps you've heard it before already.

Uncomfortable once mentioned (I can't reproduce it 1:1 but hopefully the meaning) that not the end result matters, but the process while creating it. Doesn't matter how the result looks like on paper, what matters is your mindset while you have been working on it. And for my taste, you have definitely the right mindset and will do great!

Next Steps:

Move on to the 250 boxes challenge.

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
5:25 AM, Friday July 10th 2020
edited at 6:42 PM, Jul 1st 2023

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edited at 6:42 PM, Jul 1st 2023
3:55 PM, Friday July 10th 2020
edited at 3:57 PM, Jul 10th 2020

I'm glad if you were able to take something useful out of my review, really looking forward to see more from you! < 3

But of course, take your time~

edited at 3:57 PM, Jul 10th 2020
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