Keep in mind that the 50% rule is mainly directed at people like you that don't know how to have fun with "fun" drawings. So you're not expected to have fun at first, it will be very hard and frustrating just like for everyone else.

The main objective of this "Drawing for fun" thing is that you draw again and again whatever thing that you want to ultimately do, creating characters, making a comic, whatever it is for you, and that by drawing it over and over and over you start to get less frustrated and to have more fun, until eventually you learn to enjoy the process.

I know it's hard, but no amount of exercises you do will make this step less painful or frustrating, so the sooner you start the better. Something that helped me to start was not to start with 50% right away. You can start doing 5 minutes a day as a minimum of this "Drawing for fun" part to make it as manageable as possible, and as it gets easier and easier for you to do it you can get that minimum up until it reaches the 50%.

I know what you mean. It is difficult. However, even if you complete Drawabox you will then be faced with having to try and draw creatively from life or your imagination. So, it's a stage you will have to go through regardless of whether what you produce is what you consider good.

I think your experimentation is actually really encouraging. You will be noticing and absorbing things as you do it.

I do tend to focus a lot on the DaB when doing a lesson but I take long breaks between lessons and do other stuff ( which is often learning other aspects of art ). If all you do is practice drawing boxes that is all you will be good at drawing.

What I've been doing has just been playing with the concepts I've learned (just submitted Lesson 02). For example, I recently drew my bathroom - lots of angular shapes (the sink, the tub, etc). I've been thinking of it less as "let's do this assignment" and more of "can I draw this thing?". So far the results haven't been great, but there are always surprisingly good parts of the drawing - at least based on my current skills!

Maybe try fun with a pencil book by Andrew Loomis, at the beginning it is super simple and you can make some satisfying little drawings. As you go through the difficulty does ramp up. Good luck!

https://archive.org/details/andrew-loomis-fun-with-a-pencil/mode/2up

try dis link

The trick is to persevere through the failures until you befome numb to them, then mistakes just become a natural part of the process you try to work around with practice

Hello Viron, sorry that your post went unnoticed by anyone. The 50% rule isn't about improving at all, as you seem to think. Instead, it is designed to address the exact issue that you have with it - by really spending the time to make art without worrying about results, you will begin to build up an enjoyment in the process, which is very important for avoiding burnout and maintain an intrinsic motivation. And yes, go ahead and use digital! It doesn't matter what you use for the 50%.

So, just go out and draw, paint, or create visual art in any medium of your choice - regardless of the outcome. Try to do things which you know you want to do when you 'become good at art'. Say, if you want to do alien landscape paintings, do that. If you'd like to design sci-fi monsters and characters, then start doing it right now - even if the outcomes are unrecognisable as what you intended, the act of actually braving the blank canvas and putting down marks is what is important.

EDIT: Whoops, it appears that you already got some great replies from Elodin and others. I have no idea why they didn't show up for me when I started writing this.

Hey, I'm actually glad to hear you say that you enjoy digital painting on your off-drawabox time.

The key is, like Elodin said, to use your off-drawabox time to chase whatever it is you want to eventually do -- be it illustration, concept art, narrative art etc. The point is to apply the skills you're learning. It's the difference between hitting pads in a boxing gym and actually getting real rounds in. You learn how to draw a box not so you can excel at drawing boxes, but so you understand the principles of form and perspective when building the structure of anything -- be it weapons, vehicles, anatomy, armor etc.

In the beginning especially, you might still feel frustrated. But I can tell you that the skills you gain from a couse like Drawabox are well worth it as these things become internalized. Steven Zapata, an absolute top-tier wizard of art, talks about spending years and years studying anatomy so that you can, eventually, let all of that knowledge "sink under the surface" of the water; eventually you won't be thinking consciously of how a tricep contracts or extends or the way the ribcage protrudes when leaning backward -- you'll just draw the thing you want to draw.

Same goes for perspective. You draw box after box and learn how to make grids so that one day you're not. You're just creating the image, and it's about the decisions you make, rather than how "successful" the execution of any one decision is.

Like Uncomfortable says, it really isn't a magical skill. Drawabox, and foundational sketching courses like it, really do teach you how to draw anything. Keep going through it, and very soon you'll be more concerned with what than how.