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10:01 AM, Saturday February 4th 2023
Hello! I’ll be doing your critique today.
Superimposed lines
The lines are fraying quite a bit the diagonal lines seem like the best ones but I see no fraying at the starting point so good job for taking your time with this, try to rotate the page as much as you need to. But don’t worry these will get better as you practice.
Ghosted lines
Great job here! you understand the ghosting method perfectly! The lines are brimming with confidence and are quite accurate too!
Ghosted planes
Good angle variations, only slight overshooting. It’s nice to see that you take your time with these
Table of Ellipses
Good variation of ellipses, the ellipses are looped, and the overshooting/undershooting is pretty minor. There is some overlap on the second page. But the ellipses get better on the second page too so you’re improving.
The lines are wobbly here so try to relax, it’s great that you’re taking your time with all of these but make sure you’re not overthinking everything. Loosen up your shoulder, rotate the page as much as you need, then use the ghosting method enough to make a confident stroke. It’s confidence over accuracy right now, you’ll get better with time.
Ellipses in planes
They’re pretty accurate showing you understand the perspective side of things well enough, but your lines did become a little shaky here but that seems like you already know :D
Funnels
Don’t worry about failing! It’s part of the process, you’ll get very good with ellipses in perspective once you suffer go through the 250-cylinder challenge waaayyyy down the line, you can keep using these exercises as a warm-up before drawing (not as intensely of course).
Plotted Perspective Boxes
You followed the instructions properly, the line weight makes each box stand out and the perspective is very clear. Good hatching too!
Rough Perspective Boxes
The lines are shaky again but most lines meet roughly where they were supposed to, the 250-box challenge up next will help you improve boxes in perspective.
Rotated Boxes
Despite being a difficult exercise, you understood it well enough. Each box has its own VP which is good, the lines are confident again, and the hatching and line weight makes everything clear. The overall shape is pretty circular. But I would say that the corner most boxes are the weakest. Having some of the top plane showing would’ve made it better for your specific set of rotated boxes.
Oh and through the x-ray vision the boxes are quite long too, but you’ll get better at presenting what you see as you practice.
Organic perspective boxes
Your scanner dulled or erased some of the lines, try not to use a scanner filter it might make things harder to see as the lessons progress and the drawings get more complex. That aside you have a great sense of depth and the boxes are rotating pretty well.
Overall, you have done a great job! You understood the purpose of each exercise and understand what didn’t go right.
Use a 10 or so minute warm-up with these exercises and keep at it! You seem pretty enthusiastic about this so good luck on your journey!
Next Steps:
Move onto the 250 box challenge.
Use a 10 minute warm up using these exercises.
Don't use a scanner filter.
5:12 PM, Saturday February 4th 2023
Heyo :)
Somehow i completely missed that we were allowed (or even encouraged) to focus on one direction to draw our lines in the first exercise ^^
I see your point with the corner boxes (Rotated Boxes), i was a little confused about them. Guess this exercise and the Funnels are getting some priority in my warm ups for now.
Haha... I actually try to keep my enthusiasm down and take a more moderate and measured approach this time around. (I tried DAB 3+ years ago on my own, but got frustrated and burned out midway through lesson 2, when my fear of failure got the better of me and had me quit drawing altogether shortly after xD)
Thank you for the thorough critique and the encouraging words!
8:28 AM, Sunday February 5th 2023
Yeah burnout can be a real pain, i'd keep the 50-50 rule in mind, it really helps.
It can be anything really, a doodle, fanart, anything that let's you just relax and enjoy drawing for the sake of drawing. I like to breakdown panels from my favourite manga and try to recreate them, it helped me alot to improve my art as well.
Also, the box challenge is hard so here, might help:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14H9N0pqLad1G0qO-wnF8yxxKGgSWndZy?usp=sharing
If you have any questions you can also go over to the DAB discord

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