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11:25 PM, Saturday December 30th 2023

Hi there, I'll be handling your box challenge critique.

Not only does the challenge help deepen your understanding of important concepts but it shows your desire to learn as well. That being said I'll try to keep this critique fairly brief so you can get working on the next steps as soon as possible.

Something I do feel the need to address quickly is that a number of important instructions appeared to have been glossed over. The most important of these being that you were asked to extend the lines of every box so that you could learn from your inaccuracies and mistakes through the course of the challenge. It appears you've only done it for around 40ish of your boxes, meaning every other one is technically incomplete. In the future please be sure to read through the instructions carefully and follow them as closely as possible, choosing to ignore them will result in more revisions and possibly being asked to redo an entire submission.

Things you did well:

  • Your construction lines are looking smooth and confidently drawn.

  • It's good to see that you're taking the time to plan and evenly space your hatching lines. This helps keep your boxes tidy and makes them look more solid.

  • Line weight isn't a requirement of the challenge so it's nice to see you're applying it anyways. Most people need to build up some mileage before they feel comfortable applying it so I always recommend starting early. The sooner you feel comfortable the sooner you see better results

Things you can work on:

  • You tend to draw fairly small, I'd like you to draw larger in the future (we recommended 4-6 larger boxes per page in the instructions). Drawing large will help you become more comfortable working from the shoulder and allow you to see any mistakes you've made more clearly.

  • There are times when your lines converge in pairs or you attempt to keep your lines a bit too parallel which results in them diverging. This is an example of lines converging in pairs, and this shows the relation between each line in a set and their respective vanishing point. The inner pair of lines will be quite similar unless the box gets quite long and the outer pair can vary a lot depending on the location of the vanishing point. Move it further away and the lines become closer to parallel while moving it closer increases the rate of foreshortening.

The key things we want to remember from this exercise are that our lines should always converge as a set not in pairs, never diverge from the vanishing point and due to perspective they won't be completely parallel.

I won't be moving you on to the next lesson just yet, each lesson builds off concepts in the previous course material so if you move forward with un-addressed issues you end up just creating further issues on top of them.

I'll be asking you to draw 75 more boxes please. Be sure to read through the instructions again and follow them as closely as possible.

Once you've completed your boxes reply to this critique with a link to them, I'll address anything that needs to be worked on and once you've shown you're ready I'll move you on to the next lesson.

I know you can do this and look forward to seeing your work.

Next Steps:

75 more boxes please.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
3:48 PM, Wednesday January 24th 2024

https://imgur.com/a/6WhVxEw

I somehow managed to get worse towards the end.

This exercise gave me brain damage.

9:43 PM, Wednesday January 24th 2024

These are looking solid, they're all complete, you're experimenting and drawing larger.

You do get a bit heavy handed with your line weight, you appear to be applying multiple lines over your original lines when all you need is a single additional line.

Other than that you're demonstrating an improvement in your sense of 3D space as your lines converge more consistently.

I have no issues moving you on to the next lesson now so I'll be marking your submission complete.

Keep practicing boxes and previous exercises as warmups and best of luck in lesson 2.

Next Steps:

Move on to lesson 2.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
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Staedtler Pigment Liners

Staedtler Pigment Liners

These are what I use when doing these exercises. They usually run somewhere in the middle of the price/quality range, and are often sold in sets of different line weights - remember that for the Drawabox lessons, we only really use the 0.5s, so try and find sets that sell only one size.

Alternatively, if at all possible, going to an art supply store and buying the pens in person is often better because they'll generally sell them individually and allow you to test them out before you buy (to weed out any duds).

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