Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

8:30 PM, Tuesday January 21st 2025

All of lesson 1 DaB - Album on Imgur

Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/all-of-lesson-1-dab-R0WZgc7

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Had some... problems getting the materials until near the end

There was a ~3 month interval between plotted perspective and rough perspective

That pen drops ink really quick

It seems every ruler i had wasn't actually straight

2 users agree
9:09 AM, Wednesday January 22nd 2025

Hello I'm Simon and will be reviewing your Lesson 1 :)

1. Superimposed lines

First of all you did a good job of drawing your lines confidently and committing to the stroke once you started it. Looks like there is some fraying on both sides of your superimposed lines, take your time before drawing each stroke to put your pen back on the starting point, this is likely due to you rushing the exercise a bit and shouldn't be hard to fix.

2. Ghosted lines

Well done your Ghosted lines do not wobble. Your lines remain straight, that's good in the future keep the habit of drawing with your whole arm so you have long confident lines! You did a good job of having your lines end up near or on the final dot, keep practicing this exercise (and the others) in your warmups to get even better at it!

3. Ghosted planes

You did a really good job of doing your ghosted planes, your lines are as good/better than the ones from your previous exercises.

4. Table of ellipses

Great job on drawing through every single ellipse twice! Make sure you keep doing that with every single ellipse you draw along the course! You tried to fit every ellipse and circle snugly along the borders of your tables good job, it is tough to achieve but as long as you keep striving for it you'll improve! Most of your ellipses are evenly shaped and appear smooth good job! Getting a perfect ellipse is a really hard job but you'll have time to work on it through your warmups.

5. Ellipses in planes

Once again good job on drawing through every ellipse twice! You tried and managed to fit your ellipses right between the four sides great job on managing to do that! Most of your ellipses are evenly shapes good job here too.

6. Funnels

Here too you tried to fit every ellipse snugly along the curves well done, even if it is tougher to do with a non straight edge it's a really good practice. You kept most of your ellipses along the direction of the minor axis, keep practicing this exercise as a warmup in your next lessons.

7. Plotted perspective

As mentioned in the exercise you used a ruler to draw your boxes that's all good. You kept the first lines of your boxes perpendicular to the horizon as you should've, well done. You made sure to plot every single line back to the right vanishing point so good job, even though some back corners don't come out perfectly that's completely fine :)

8. Rough perspective

Managing to land every single line exactly back to the vanishing point is a near impossible task at this point but what's important is you tried and most of your lines do try to reach that center point! The front back of your boxes is rectangular each time, that's great. You managed to draw every line extension in the right direction, that could get a little tougher in the 250 boxes since you have to extend in 3 directions but this shows you got the base of how to do it! You seem to have used the ghosting method for every stroke that's good! Keep using it for every stroke and your exercises will look much better than if you didn't!

9. Rotated boxes

The setup of your rotated boxes is well laid out with the cross and the 4 cubes to strive for in each cardinal direction :) Your gaps between the boxes seem a bit loose or inconsistent. You should be keeping these gaps tight and consistent to guide your lines. This way, you can focus on making those lines parallel and avoid unnecessary guessing. Looks like you are keeping the vanishing points the same instead of rotating the box. Remember, when you rotate a box both vanishing points should shift. Double-check that your edges are shifting the VP with each rotation before drawing your line. Drawing through your boxes is also a key part of the exercise and is also making you start practicing this skill that will be used for every box in the 250 challenge. You drew every single box well done! Many people forget some boxes in the corner but you didn't!

10. Organic perspective

Once again using the ghosting method for every single stroke of this course is a crucial part into getting good habits for your whole drawing journey! Some of your boxes seem to have parallel or diverging lines, that's a common mistake when drawing shallower foreshortening boxes and the only way to get better at it will be through taking the time to place each stroke carefully while drawing your boxes, take your time. You will also improve on this as you move through the 250 boxes challenge! You did a good job of drawing shallower foreshortening here as some people tend to go into more dramatic foreshortening which in this exercise as the effect of making the boxes seem inconsistent in scale compared to each other, overall making the drawing less solid and less believable.

Looks to me like you were rushing these exercises quite a bit while doing them.

I'll ask you to go re read some of the material of the first Lesson, to practice these exercises as warmups as you redo one page of superimposed lines and a page of rotated boxes that you can submit as an answer to my post here. Please feel free to ask any question you may have after you have reread the adequate material and watched the video.

Good luck!

Don't forget to complete your 50/50 rule and to add these exercises to your warmups for future lessons!

Also I strongly encourage you to go review some submissions on the website :) You can review some lessons 1 and once you've completed future lessons review those as well. Don't hesitate to do a review every so often. It really benefits you so you don't forget the point of the previous exercises and helps other people who are waiting on a review :)

Next Steps:

Please resubmit one page of superimposed lines and a page of rotated boxes

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:36 PM, Sunday February 2nd 2025

I thought i would send the images here, but i guess it had to be its own post

https://drawabox.com/community/submission/1JR366

3:22 PM, Sunday February 2nd 2025

For submitting a correction yes just put the imgur link as an answer do not create a new submission.

Good job on the rotated boxes looking much better than before.

For the superimposed lines though it still looks to me like you are completely rushing them, looks a bit better from the first pages but since this is such a simple yet important exercise, please provide two more pages of it.

And it is very important that you go reread and rewatch the material of that exercise, take your time with every line you draw please.

Next Steps:

Provide two additional pages of Superimposed lines.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:15 PM, Monday February 3rd 2025

This came out pretty good i think

https://imgur.com/a/NuuKOo2

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