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250 Box Challenge

6:36 AM, Sunday August 2nd 2020

DrawABox - 250 Box Challenge Submission - Album on Imgur

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

Post with 3 votes and 238 views. Shared by Gioezc. DrawABox - 250 Box Ch...

It took me a while but I finally finished it. Also, something to note. This is 250 boxes...plus 50 more boxes for a total of 300. I just recently started supporting drawabox through Patreon, after I already completed the 250 Box Challenge. Uncomfortable told me I didn't have to redo the 250 boxes all over again but that I should do more 50 more boxes which I am including in my submission. These boxes have driven me insane but I can't wait to move on to the next lesson.

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10:50 AM, Sunday August 2nd 2020

Hello, and thank you for your hard work! 250 is already a lot! Unfortunately, I’m going to have to assign you a few more... Before we get to the why, let’s talk about the good!

Starting off, your line quality looks great! Applying the optional line-weight and hatching has really helped take it to the next level. In regards to those, the line-weight is subtle, and does a good job of communicating to the viewers’ subconscious, and the hatching is tight, and consistent. I do notice one tiny issue, that seems to stem from the fact that you’ll slow down when reaching the end of said line, but it’s minor. If you’d care to fix it, however, try to lift your pen off the page at the end, as per the instructions in the link.

Now, in regards to the convergences- these look good! They start off a little rough, and, though there’s still divergences by the end, they’re much more consistent. Really, the bulk of the issue is coming from the fact that you’re trying to construct parallel boxes- if you’re even 1mm off, you’re suddenly diverging! This is, as you might be realizing, not ideal, and not a goal for this challenge. Shallow foreshortening does not mean zero foreshortening- the lines should still visibly converge, just not too much.

So, I’m going to assign you 3 new pages, and, for these ones, I’d like you to also pay attention to the 5-6 boxes per page rule brought up in the instructions. For each page, I’d like you to experiment with a different degree of foreshortening. My recommendation would be to have the first page be really dramatic, the second one less so, and the third one be shallow, but it’s up to you. Good luck- you’re almost there!

Next Steps:

3 more pages of boxes

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:15 AM, Wednesday August 5th 2020

Hey Benj, I'm not gonna lie, when you said you were assigning me a few more pages it hurt lol. Regardless, you were right in your critiques. I absolutely do slow down when I'm reaching the end and I do try to fix that in these next few pages, still don't get it down right though. Also, I did try the different degrees of foreshortening so I'll have to see what you think of these. Here's the link to the 3 more pages of boxes: https://imgur.com/a/bBGNUv3

10:39 AM, Wednesday August 5th 2020

No worries- so long as you’re heading in the right direction, you’re good; you’re not expected to get it right immediately. I can see evidence of this in both of the issues i brought up, so I’ll be passing you onto lesson 2 in a second, but before that, let’s talk about a few things.

First, though there’s some foreshortening in these new boxes, it’s still a little too shallow. Not only that, but it’s not consistent throughout. If one set of lines is of a certain foreshortening, the other two need to be, as well. There’s too many cases here where one set of lines makes an attempt to converge, and the other 2 do not, so be mindful of that.

Secondly, I’d like to introduce you this diagram, that outlines the preferred way for our students to think about their boxes. Study it carefully. You’ll notice that when looking at a set of lines that share a vanishing point (not a plane!), and, specifically, looking at the angle at which they intersect said vanishing point, we notice certain relationships. The middle lines of the set, which are usually fairly close, and fairly close to being parallel, have a small angle between them. Conversely, the outer lines of the set, usually a little more dramatic in their foreshortening, a larger one. This is important, because it goes the other way around, too. If you know that two lines have a small angle between them, then you can reach a conclusion in regards to their rate or convergence, too (it’ll be very, very shallow), and the opposite can be said for lines that have a large angle between them. Being aware of these relationships helps us make certain informed decisions about our lines, as well as notice errors we might’ve otherwise missed, so it’s important to become familiar with them. Try to see them in your boxes, the next time you find yourself constructing some.

As promised, I’ll be passing you onto lesson 2, however I’d like you to continue practicing these concepts regularly. There’s a section in lesson 2 that’ll test these out (it’ll ask you go draw a bunch of boxes in a page, their foreshortening shallow, and consistent), and these aspects of them should’ve improved by then, at the latest. The only way to do that, of course, is to practice. Good luck!

Next Steps:

Lesson 2

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
3:55 PM, Wednesday August 5th 2020

Thank you so much Benj! I really appreciate the feedback. I think the diagram will help a lot.

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