250 Box Challenge

11:54 AM, Friday February 23rd 2024

Drawabox 250 Boxes (Pre-Update) - Album on Imgur

Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/cZ7NViy

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered enterta...

This is the entirety of the 250 boxes challenge. Since I only saw the update after I was done, it's a little different from the current version.

Since the previous template didn't have an example page, I opted to space out the boxes, and make them smaller, for better readability on the ballpoint lines.

I did stumble a lot through the process, but it was really useful in terms of attaining consistency, both in my lines and in stopping to actually draw pages, in the 2-3 months I took to do the pages, I ended up only skipping weekends and a few stand out days, due to life reasons.

I hope it's not a problem that I did end up leaving a few notes on the page for myself, it was a good way to leave reminders on what to focus on when I messed up, and good for a little break on the repetition of nonstop lines each page.

0 users agree
10:36 PM, Monday February 26th 2024
edited at 11:46 PM, Feb 26th 2024

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:

  • You tend to draw fairly small, I'd like you to draw larger in the future. Drawing large will help you become more comfortable working from the shoulder and allow you to see any mistakes you've made more clearly.

  • I'd like you to experiment with rates of foreshortening more. Currently you tend to keep your lines as parallel as you can (and at times diverging) 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'd recommend reading/watching through the updated box challenge as it can potentially reinforce/clarify some concepts.

I'd like you to draw 30 more boxes please. For the first 15 I'd like you to draw your boxes' vanishing points explicitly on the page after you've drawn your starting Y, this will make it so you have to keep these vanishing points in mind (This is what you'd be doing in the first 50 of the updated challenge). For the latter 15 go back to the challenge's method without drawing the vanishing points which will hopefully be easier after the first set.

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:

30 boxes please.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
edited at 11:46 PM, Feb 26th 2024
12:22 PM, Tuesday March 5th 2024

Hello, sorry for the delay, but I got the 30 extra boxes done.

I focused on leaving the converging point closer this time, though I did try some farther ones on a few of the boxes.

I think these extra ones helped tighten up the converging lines, even when some of them accidentally converge in pairs, they're still closer to the others, instead of deviating completely.

https://imgur.com/a/lMY1JEc

10:43 PM, Tuesday March 5th 2024

No worries, take as long as you need.

These are looking really solid, good work bringing your vanishing points in closer.

I have no issue moving you on 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.
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 we've used ourselves, or know to be of impeccable quality. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Color and Light by James Gurney

Color and Light by James Gurney

Some of you may remember James Gurney's breathtaking work in the Dinotopia series. This is easily my favourite book on the topic of colour and light, and comes highly recommended by any artist worth their salt. While it speaks from the perspective of a traditional painter, the information in this book is invaluable for work in any medium.

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