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What If I Enjoy Drawing Boxes?

8:06 PM, Sunday November 6th 2022

Hi all!

I'm working through drawabox on my own (without any critique at the moment), and am at the 250 box challenge. I was wondering - if I actually enjoy drawing these boxes, and I look forward to it, is there an issue with the 50/50 rule here?

A lot of times I feel like I want to draw and then I decide I'd like to draw the boxes...perhaps I'm uninspired but I quite enjoy the challenge of figuring out the angles/drawing the lines as best as I can and seeing how it turns out. Of course I am looking forward to drawing other things later on but right now I'm enjoying boxes!

I will draw other things once in a while but I would say it's definitely more like 75/25 for drawabox/other things. As for the other things I draw, I tend to lean to the pen and ink side of things, simple lines and quick sketches. I did pick up a book called "Draw Yourself Calm" by Amy Maricle, however I find that a lot of it is "against" the rules of drawabox. ie. lots of wobbly lines etc.

Anyways, hoping to hear some insight from others!

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4 users agree
2:04 PM, Monday November 7th 2022

I guess it depends on what you want to draw after you finish DrawABox. :) From my understanding, a lot of the 50/50 rule is based around the idea that those of us who are new to learning to draw will put all of our focus into learning the fundamentals and then expect the artwork we want to do at the end to have drastically improved. However without 'play', our ability to impliment these fundamentals and exercises will be hindered and it will just lead to a level of disappointment when we see that our work isn't 'perfect' despite spending all of this time learning.

I saw Uncomfortable say something in the discord the other day which was akin to the 'play' part of the 50/50 rule is not actually meant to be fun. It's not exactly about drawing to relax or because it's something you enjoy, it's about drawing what you want to draw in the end and what you're working towards getting better at drawing and getting over that fear of failing to draw what you have in your mind. It kind of reminds me of the quote "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." If your goal is to simply be able to draw boxes and draw the best boxes you can, then sure these can be a part of your play 50. But if you want to draw animals or landscapes or people, then these are what you should be drawing when not doing Draw A Box, even if they aren't at a standard that you want them to be at yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ocmPR_EprE&t=624s I highly recommend watching this video that Uncomfortable did on this topic. I hope it helps. :)

8:24 PM, Thursday November 17th 2022

Agreed.

0 users agree
8:23 PM, Thursday November 17th 2022

Ha that's funny. I'm on rough perspective now, so not too far behind you and also like you I am enjoying it. For the past 7 or 8 months though I was creating a new drawing every single day so I welcome the break to sprucen up my technical as i was reaching a limit to draw what i actually wanted to create (which was more 3D) So I suppose what I'm saying here is don't think too much about it. You'll get bored eventually and then I guess you will have to start trying to think of something else to do with it haha.

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