Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

12:57 AM, Tuesday January 26th 2021

Lesson 1 - Album on Imgur

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The reason why there are three ghosted-plane pages is because the first looked rushed and sloppy. You can consider 2 and 3 to be proper attempts.

I should have used a frame for the table of ellipses. I didn’t realise the example had one until I had already done it. I have used frames for the perspective drawings, where applicable. I am aware that I made a similar mistake of ‘running off the page’ on the funnels exercise too. I know that I should go to the effort of making a frame for each exercise.

I know I have weighted the edges incorrectly in the plotted perspective exercise. I watched the video, but I didn’t realise that you shouldn’t go-over the internal edges, until I read the rough perspective page. It’s confusing to me how to know where to put the line weight. From what I gathered, weighting must be subtle and cannot be on the internal edges, but I don’t know what part of an edge I should add it to.

In the rotated boxes exercise, I should have done the square guides in pencil. At-least once, I confused them with the edges of the outer box I was drawing. The boxes aren't symmetrical about the axes, as some are shaped differently. I attempted to weight some of the box edges, but I don’t fully understand how to do it with ghosting. If you want to be subtle, you don’t want to cover the whole line again, correct? Should I ghost over just one end of the line? It’s not very clear. My attempt looks too messy, so I didn’t weight all the boxes. The box depth is inconsistent too, especially in the top-left.

Organic perspective was slightly better on the second page. Some of the ghosting and weighting is messy.

I would appreciate any feedback. I'm looking for motivation to move-onto the 250-box challenge.

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5:02 AM, Friday January 29th 2021

Hello, I'll be critiquing your homework today. Congrats on completing lesson 1! Starting off with the superimposed lines, your lines are very wobbly. This is a very normal occurrence but it is insisted upon that you focus on the flow of the mark rather that the accuracy. Here's the section about maintaining smooth lines: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/2/smooth. You don't have to worry about the line being perfectly accurate, just that the line is smooth. Also, I hope that you're drawing with your shoulder and not your wrist or elbow, since this can also restrict the flow of your strokes. The shoulder has a wider range hence it allows your stroke to flow widely, I hope that made sense. drawabox.com/lesson/1/3/pivots. Here's the section of wobbling: drawabox.com/lesson/1/8/wobbling. Now, this is not considered a mistake but keep in mind. Rely on your muscle memory for smooth lines, not your eyes, since this will make your lines wobble. Your wobbling in lines reduced considerably throughout the lesson, but there is still a tad bit of a wobble. The advice given here applies also to your ghosted lines and planes. Your lines have clearly reduced wobbling a lot in the ghosted planes and that's great, next time don't post a rushed page. That's all for the lines section.

The ellipses in the ellipse table are incredibly accurate, but I sense that you're focusing too much on accuracy rather than the flow, which you should be focusing on. This also applies to your ellipses in planes and funnels. It's okay to make mistakes since your accuracy will improve throughout the course. Your ellipse in the absolute center of the funnel should be cut into two symmetrical halves by the minor axis. It should be very narrow too. Also, your ellipses are misaligned in the funnels, so don't change the degree of the ellipse: focus on getting them smooth and aligned. Here's how your finished page should look: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/13/example.

About your boxes: your lines wobble again. Just apply the advice given in the lines section of my critique on your boxes too. Line weight in the rotated boxes is not needed, people do cross-hatching in between the boxes to prevent confusion and that's all. You don't have to focus on line weight here. From what I understand, you can add line weight to the lines that come close to the lines of the other boxes; that is, the visible lines of the box. In plotted perspective you add more line weight to the silhouette of the box, less on the internal edge facing the viewer, and even lesser on the opposite edges, as mentioned here: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/14/step8. Also, to ghost over a line for line weight, ghost the same way you would for the actual line, then put down the mark. Rotated boxes was meant for you to mess up, I did too. When you come back after lesson 2, your spatial reasoning will improve and you will find it easier. Lastly, your convergences will improve in the 250 boxes challenge so no worries.

I want you to do the funnels exercise as a warm up, alongside ellipses in planes. Good luck on the 250 boxes challenge, hope you see boxes in your dreams!!

Next Steps:

Post a revision of the funnels exercise. Also, please critique homework using this critique guide since this will help you revise your concepts: https://pastebin.com/dYnFt9PQ Hope you see boxes in your dreams!!

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.
5:08 AM, Friday January 29th 2021

I also forgot to mention, add line weight throughout the line. Don't course correct in between. In other words, don't chicken scratch

2:00 PM, Saturday March 13th 2021

Thank you for the critique. I have made revised versions of 'Funnels' and 'Ellipses in Planes': https://imgur.com/a/G3AzAYx Are they any better?

4:43 PM, Saturday March 13th 2021

I do see improvement in the funnels. However, in the planes exercise, just focus on the ellipse first, not on the boundaries. You can go beyond the plain since your ellipses are too pointy at the edges of the plain, make it smooth, not accurate within the plain.

Next Steps:

You can proceed with 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.
11:48 AM, Tuesday March 30th 2021

Thank you. I have done one page of the 250 Box Challenge (41 pages left to go): https://imgur.com/a/39JZNuL

I have used colour to identify the accuracy of my convergences. My lines are wobbling, but I'm drawing from the shoulder, using the ghosting method, and trying to draw each line quickly/confidently. I have made an effort to not repeat lines.

My line weight doesn't seem to have the intended effect, because it looks too-jarring compared to the rest of the line (where the thickness starts/stops).

Are a set of 4 edges going in a certain direction meant to have the same vanishing point, so three vanishing points per box?

Also, have I extended the lines in the right direction? I'm using the Y-method seen here (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365180330103013388/716494148093607946/unknown.png), but does it work every time?

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