Hi!
I'm just another student on Lesson 1 with you. As a result, take my suggestion with a grain of salt.
Superimposed Lines
Each line's starting point appears to be excellent, with little to no fraying. But, sometimes, your lines do fray a little too early; this will improve with practice (see: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/9/fraying). The lines are drawn super confidently, so good job! Overall, this is a great piece.
Ghosted Lines
Most of your lines look smooth. But sometimes they look a little curvy (especially towards the end). There's few misses here and there, but nothing too serious (it will improve with practice). I can see that you attempted to lift your pen before reach the end point (which I think is a nice skill to develop early on).
Ghosted Planes
Fantastic piece of work! Again, the accuracy is a little off, but it will improve with practice. I'm sure. Also, just because these are planes, they are still nothing but straight lines. Do not hesitate when making your mark!
Tables of Ellipses
This looks great; you made excellent use of the available area! There are some inaccuracies here and there, but not a real concern as this will improve with practice. Overall, everything appears to be confidently drawn/smooth with fairly snug ellipses.
It appears to me that you have gone into an auto-pilot mode, as sometimes you drew you've not gone over your ellipses 2 times. But this is minor. Remember, draw with an intention (and don't skip the ghosting part)!
Furthermore, start training yourself to go over the ellipses twice (rather than 3 or more times).
Ellipses in Planes
You've gone over the ellipses at least twice, which is great! Some of your ellipses don't look like ellipses, but rather a smooth-edged diamond shape (and/or pear-shaped), and this is probably because you focused too much on touching all sides. Remember: confidence first, accuracy second. But good work!
Here is a tip, try to ghost more slowly. Then, when you get to making the mark stage, do it a little more quickly. I found that this helped a little bit with making the consecutive marks precise.
Funnels
The ellipses are tightly joined together, which is great. You have tried varying the degrees of the ellipses, which is super! One issue though: the minor axis needs to be aligned correctly (see https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/5/minoraxis). This axis must to go through the ellipse in a way that cuts it in two equal halves.
This was especially notable in the funnel that is in the lower left corner of the sheet.
Plotted Perspective
There isn't much to say here really. You've followed the instructions to the letter, well done!
Rough Perspective
You've avoided most of the mistakes outlined in the exercise tutorial (https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/roughperspective), great work!
You've checked your work by tracing back to the vanishing point, and you've found that it's a touch off. But don't worry, things will get a lot better as time goes on!
Once again, just something regarding the line work: do not fear the exercise! I also had this issue, my lines were perfectly straight in the Ghosted Lines exercise, but then we I reached the Rough Perspective exercise, it all crumbled due to fear...
What worried me was the judgement of others. Once I got over the fact that literally no one cares, I noticed an improvement!
Rotated Boxes
This is a tough exercise, but you seem to have understood the gist of it. Great work! But, make sure you draw bigger next time, not only will the piece look better, but also you will notice your mistakes, and hence be able to work and improve yourself further.
Some of your boxes don't always rotate, but rather just shrink in size: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/17/notrotating.
Again, your line work. Do not worry, just make sure that you follow the steps outlined here (https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/10) every single time!
Organic Perspective
Again, a tough exercise. Nice boxes with little to no foreshortening in the smaller ones. The sizes of the boxes increase as they come closer, which is giving the piece the intended effect.
One issue though: you've not drawn through the boxes at the back! You need to do this: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/18/example
But, you have done a great job. The lines are confidently drawn, and I personally have no concerns.
Next Steps:
Keep working on your lines. You were able to demonstrate the you can draw straight lines in the Ghosted Lines exercise, so what makes the boxes any different? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! A box is literally a bunch of Ghosted Lines that happened to be joined together. So, why fear them?
In the Organic Perspective exercise, you should make sure that you draw through the boxes at the back.
Move on to THE challenge. Best of luck!
Thank you for such an in-depth critique, I truly appreciate it!
Thanks to your advice, I believe I now have a good few things to work on, many of which I have not given a thought before reading your reply.
Also, I have no idea why I have not drawn through my boxes in the organic perspective exercise - thank you for pointing that out.
Again, I am so very grateful for your help and time - THANK YOU!
I think you're rushing through this exercises, I think you should go back to the first video about drawing from shoulder because your lines are really wobbly, yes I can see some line progression but I think you still draw from your wrist a lot. I dont know if you are ready for the 250 boxes, maybe you are but I think you should redo some of the exercises like Ghosted Lines, Organic boxes (didnt draw through the form), and table of ellipses (primarily because you draw from your wrist based on what I see from your wobbly lines)
Next Steps:
Redo Ghosted Lines, Table of Ellipses, Organic Boxes (1x) with good confident lines
Thank you for taking the time to review my work!
My lines are definitely a bit wobbly and may look rather messy at times, but I assure you that draw from my shoulder. As a beginner, it is difficult to draw your lines and ellipses perfectly, even when applying the correct technique.
Although I agree with your critique when it comes to pointing out my mistakes (especially not drawing through the boxes in the organic perspective exercise, there is no excuse for that), I am not sure if redoing exercises until I can perform them perfectly is good advice.
Thats good to hear then that you draw from your shoulder, and no, I didnt say that you should do it until perfect, because you have to move on too, but atleast redo it with good form (at least as required by drawabox)
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