250 Box Challenge

8:21 PM, Tuesday November 21st 2023

250 Box Challenge - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/2L20FER.jpg

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Thank you. I was unable to ensure that they are linked in order. If there's a way I can/should do that, please let me know. - Howard McEwen

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12:31 PM, Friday November 24th 2023

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

In the future when doing challenges like this if you could number each attempt it'd be appreciated, this allows us to point to specific attempts much easier (we can simply say box 240 rather than having to point to the page and try to describe which box we mean and hope it's clear enough).

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:

  • Good work drawing your construction lines confidently, this keeps your lines smooth and prevents wobbling.

  • When hatching you're taking the time to space each line evenly which shows that care and thought is being put into each line. This helps your boxes appear solid and tidy rather than rushed.

  • 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:

  • It's not a requirement of the challenge but I recommend practicing applying hatching in your future work. It's a useful tool to learn and the only way to improve is to practice.

  • 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.

  • At times you're placing your vanishing point between the viewer and your boxes (the lower left and top middle boxes on page 231-235 are examples of this (assuming that you have the page orientated horizontally so the numbers are correctly orientated (good example of why numbers make it easier))). 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.

  • 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 like you to draw 30 more boxes please, focus on extending your lines consistently in the correct direction as well as experimenting with different rates of foreshortening. 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. 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 more boxes please.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
1:42 PM, Monday November 27th 2023

Thanks for all your feedback. I'll read the directions more carefully. :)

Here are the 30 you asked for.

https://imgur.com/a/KL98uOb

7:11 PM, Monday November 27th 2023

You've done a good job extending these all in the correct direction as well as bringing your vanishing points in closer, good work.

There's the occasional wobbly line which shows you may be letting your confidence slip, remember that line confidence is your top priority and accuracy will improve with mileage.

I have no problem moving you on to the next lesson now so I'll mark 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.
8:01 PM, Monday November 27th 2023

Thanks. Have a great Monday!!

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