I just started the 250 box challenge, so I'm super interested in others answers as well :) For me, I realized that I'm not ghosting very straight, so my VP's have been a bit off. Other than that, I've been trying to get an overall idea of how much off my lines are from converging at the intended VP, or if there is any divergence, and then seeing if I can shrink my general gap by being more accurate with where I place my corners.

Hey WYJIF,

I'm just getting started with the 250 box challenge, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I think that the non-converging green line mentioned by HEAVENCORNER is related to the back corner and by extension a red herring as mentioned in the challenge text and videos. That errant green line will fix itself If you can improve the accuracy of the rest of your converging lines.

For example, the purple extension lines are converging in two distinct places. They should ideally all converge to the same point.

You could test this by drawing a Y and its vanishing points and then using a ruler to draw as accurately as possible lines from the endpoints of the Y back to their respective vanishing points. Where two lines cross/intersect, a new corner is formed. You can then use the ruler to draw from each new corner back to it's associated vanishing point.

As for improving accuracy, I think it's probably just a matter of "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again".

Good luck!

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Hope it helps! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZf49M6jJdZ5y-SOWT7wBfm3XviChq7L/view?usp=drive_link

As you can see, even with a ruler it is extremely difficult to draw a perfect box. You might remember a similar issue from the plotted perspective exercise. And, ultimately, inaccuracies this small probably don't matter all that much unless you're doing high precision drafting, in which case you'll have high precision tools to help. Even with the back corner plotted here I'd be hard pressed to identify an issue without the aid of the line extensions. And if the box were drawn to only have front faces showing (no back corner), you could probably get away with a lot more before anyone noticed.

All this to say that accuracy is important, and certainly there is room for improvement in all of our works. But have you considered that drawing accurate boxes may not be the primary intent of this challenge? Have you considered how the shape of the Y determines the overall shape of a box? How about the box's rotation in space? Does the distance between the Y and it's vanishing points impact it's size or rotation? What about optical illusions? Sometimes it's difficult to tell which face of the box is in front of another once the box has been fully drawn. Are there tools we can use to help alleviate this issue so that we have more control over what the viewer sees?

Food for thought.

Hello, Wyjif!

From what I can see in the image you sent, you seem to be extending your lines correctly. As the challenge stated, your extension lines always must move away from the viewer, starting at the central point of the Y and moving backwards in space; in your example, that is the case.

As for the important part, i.e. what you should be evaluating, you have to check if the lines are converging to the same vanishing point — not diverging, not parallel, and meeting on/around the same place. For example, you can see that three of the green lines seem to join around the same spot, while the bottom left line meets the bottom right one much earlier. Keep that in mind as you move to the next pages. From experience, you'll find yourself repeating mistakes like this, and the extensions will help you realize it and course correct throughout the challenge. As you know, for the first fifty boxes, your vanishing points should be marked onto the page, which will make your life easier. Use the ghosting method with abandon, of course, and don't give up.