250 Box Challenge

4:15 PM, Monday April 17th 2023

250Boxes.pdf - Google Drive

Google Docs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eRC6aJGzbsFIduAJdCfvMPJzdk4upAnW/view?usp=sharing

Please let me know if this link works! My scanner made everything into PDF's, so I could easily combine multiple files together. If it doesn't work, I can look at getting it uploaded to imgur.

0 users agree
1:25 AM, Wednesday April 19th 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.

Things you did well:

  • You're doing a good job of drawing the lines constructing your boxes smoothly and confidently.

  • It's nice to see that you're taking the time to plan each of your hatching lines and space them evenly. This helps keep your boxes looking tidy rather than looking like they were rushed on to the page.

  • You're doing a great job of experimenting with orientations, and proportions. Experimenting is an important habit to build when learning any new skill, it helps form a more well rounded understanding. I hope you'll continue to display and nurture this habit in the future.

Things you can work on:

  • Line weight isn't a requirement of the challenge but I do recommend practicing it in your future attempts. It's an incredibly useful tool but one that people often require a fair bit of mileage before they feel comfortable applying it. The sooner you start to build up that mileage the sooner you'll see better results.

  • You're only extending 2 sets of lines rather than all 3 as instructed. This means that you're not gaining as much information when it comes to improving your future boxes as you could be and didn't get as much out of this challenge as you could have.

  • At times you're placing your vanishing point between the viewer and your boxes (boxes 233, and 249 are examples of this). This leads to you extending your lines in the wrong direction and your boxes becoming distorted because your lines are actually diverging from where the vanishing point would actually be. Here's a guide I wrote that will hopefully help you place your vanishing points and line extensions more consistently. If you need some more examples you can find them here and a simplified guide below.

  • I'd like you to experiment with rates of foreshortening more. Currently you tend to keep your lines close to parallel and push your vanishing points far from your boxes. Try bringing your points in closer so that your lines have to converge more dramatically. Remember that experimentation is important.

  • 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 40 more boxes, extend all 3 sets of your lines, try to extend them consistently in the correct direction and experiment with rates of foreshortening. For the first 20 I'd like you to draw all 3 of your vanishing points explicitly on the page after you've drawn your initial Y shape, this will force you to work with vanishing points closer to your box. For the latter 20 you can go back to the original method which should hopefully be easier an easier task after the first 20.

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:

40 more boxes please.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
6:05 PM, Thursday April 20th 2023

Thank you so much for this feedback. I will get working on those boxes and get back to you!

3:43 PM, Wednesday April 26th 2023

Hello there! I have a quick question while working on my first 20 boxes.

Firstly, here is my first box out of the first set of 20. Does this look like I'm heading in the correct direction?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13J16OO1iCpuNKdj1s7AdIH94mc3FNpSx/view?usp=sharing

My uncertainty was with placing the vanishing points. I wanted to verify: the vanishing point should match the intitial Y setup, correct?

I did not have access to my real fineliners today, so I apologize if any of the lines seem wobbly, as I tried increasing the linewight. I appreciate your help and feedback!

5:58 PM, Wednesday April 26th 2023

This looks solid so far, yes your initial Y's lines will extend to their vanishing points so they should be in line with the vps.

Hope that clarifies any doubts.

7:40 PM, Wednesday April 26th 2023

Perfect! Thank you!!! I'll get to work :)

1:05 PM, Wednesday May 10th 2023

Good morning,

Here is the link to my 40 boxes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOb4uUCQDV8gVZ6eNxIvJIom0AYx8314/view?usp=sharing

Thank you!

6:04 PM, Wednesday May 10th 2023

These are looking solid, you're extending all 3 sets of lines and extending them in the correct directions as well. Good work experimenting with rates of foreshortening and line weight as well.

I have no issue marking your submission complete so I'll be doing so.

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.
7:12 PM, Wednesday May 10th 2023

Thank you!! I appreciate your help and critiques :)

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
How to Draw by Scott Robertson

How to Draw by Scott Robertson

When it comes to technical drawing, there's no one better than Scott Robertson. I regularly use this book as a reference when eyeballing my perspective just won't cut it anymore. Need to figure out exactly how to rotate an object in 3D space? How to project a shape in perspective? Look no further.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.