Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

2:38 PM, Saturday December 26th 2020

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Thank you for viewing and critiquing my submission!

Over the course of this lesson, I struggled a bit with line control and realized that (other than inexperience with ink pens) the surface the paper was on had more of an impact than I initially tought, despite seeming smooth. So near the end I drew on a stack of paper that "cushioned" the strokes and it ended up helping. Thought I'd add this in case it might help someone else.

2 users agree
5:57 PM, Saturday December 26th 2020

Hello Xulu!

I considered the surface problem when analysing your submission. Remarkable that you were able to achieve this despite of that. Although for the next part of the course try to find the most suitable place possible to be able to draw comfortable, otherwise it will slow your learning process down.

Now, with the analysis

At first, watching the superimposed lines i got the feeling that you tend to curve the strokes. I recommend curving the line the other way, it tends to fix the tendency to curve the lines. When you practice your confidence strive to make you lines straight, as they are already confident and precise. ghosted lines also presents a couple of curved and woobly lines, did you ghost correctly the lines?

I´m not to worried about this because, fortunately, as you move forward in the lesson it gets a lot better. Good job!

Ellipses are generally great, they have good confident strokes. In Funnels, though, they got a little woobly, but is generally well executed.

Something i noticed in Boxes, is that, you made some correction strokes on the lines you believe that you made a mistake. Avoid doing this, it is better that you accept the mistake and move on, or compensate the box at some point. Don´t overmark the lines. However, remarkable margin of error, you were pretty close to the VP.

The best section is definitely rotated boxes, a really good thing being the hardest to achieve in the lesson 1. Congrats on that.

Organic perspective presents well structured boxes, and vary a lot in depth and size. Although i´m gonna remind you to loose the fear to overlap your boxes, and stop overmarking the lines, try to take additional time to plan each stroke instead of making them so thick, it´s harder for us to revision your work and for you to improve.

Concept mistakes

-Watch out, rotated boxes has 2 missing boxes on the corners.

Next Steps:

Ok, you´re good to go with 250 boxes challenge. Remember to find the perfect smooth surface for you, grab a snack, listen some music, and making those boxes calmly and with patience. Don´t forget to pay attention to your line confidence and ghosting a lot.

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete, and 2 others agree. The student has earned their completion badge for this lesson and should feel confident in moving onto the next lesson.
6:31 PM, Saturday December 26th 2020

Thank you so much! It means a lot!

The wobbly/curved lines might have been the product of me being tense at the beginning. I would hold the pen strongly and it ended up "jittering" sometimes. I noticed that I started to relax more later on.

I will try to be more patient and take my time with the ghosting as I do the 250 Boxes Challenge.

Again, thank you for taking your time to do this and Happy Holidays!

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Staedtler Pigment Liners

Staedtler Pigment Liners

These are what I use when doing these exercises. They usually run somewhere in the middle of the price/quality range, and are often sold in sets of different line weights - remember that for the Drawabox lessons, we only really use the 0.5s, so try and find sets that sell only one size.

Alternatively, if at all possible, going to an art supply store and buying the pens in person is often better because they'll generally sell them individually and allow you to test them out before you buy (to weed out any duds).

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