Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes
8:59 AM, Monday July 13th 2020
I'm grateful for any critique.
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4:19 PM, Thursday July 23rd 2020
Hello! Here is my critique. Let me know if I say anything wrong or unclear!
- Lines Section
For the Superimposed Lines exercise, the lines are fairly fluid and confident, although there seems to be fraying on both ends of some of the lines. Fraying on both ends suggests that not enough time was taken to place the pen at the starting points, however you seem to improve with this on the second page of the exercise shown on Imgur. Additionally, your lines tended to arc a bit as oppossed to being straight, which may happen as a result of not using the shoulder pivot to draw. However, arcing can also stem from a natural tendency to do so, even when using the shoulder pivot. If this is the case, then I suggest consciously arcing in the opposite direction in order to compensate for the issue. Doing so may eventually result in your brain associating this motion with a straight line.
On the Ghosted Lines exercise, your lines appear mostly confident, with a small amount of arcing here and there. Some of your lines have a bit of overshooting, for which the written content suggests "lifting your pen off the page the second you hit that end point" as a way to fix the issue. Overshooting may also improve with time and practice, but I suggest trying what the written content says and seeing if it improves your lines at all. Overall, you seemed to prioritize confidence over accuracy, so well done there!
For the Ghosted Planes exercise, the individual lines appear similiar to your ghosted lines (mostly confident, sometimes overshooting). However, some of the planes themselves overlap in a couple of places, which can cause the work to look messy. Although it may somwhat be an issue of accuracy by overshooting the lines, I suggest placing the points for a plane farther from the borders of the other planes so that the lines won't intersect so easily. Otherwise, accuracy will improve with time over practice.
- Ellipses Section
On the Table of Ellipses exercise, you appear to have a good diversity of ellipses with varying sizes and degrees, so well done there! Many of the ellipses, however, tended to overlap themselves and the boundaries— likely as a result of the second draw through. Although this may be an issue of accuracy rather than confidence (meaning that it will improve with time and practice), I would suggest practicing ghosting through an ellipse several times before putting it down on paper so that you can become more familiar with the particular ellipse you want to draw. Doing so may help keep your lines closer together when drawing through it two and/or three times, along with giving it the desired size and slant (one not overlapping the boundaries or the other ellipses, in this case).
For the Funnels exercise, the ellipses homework section requires that you only complete 1 filled page of the Funnels exercise. But I will critique both pages nonetheless.
Some of the funnels don't appear to be split evenly in half by the minor axis (the line that cuts through the horizontal middle of the funnel). As a result, many of your ellipses, especially the ones drawn with good accuracy (well done there!), are also not cut into two symettrical halves. I recommend carefully placing the minor axis so that it makes the two arcing lines of the funnel symmetrical. Doing so will ensure that given the ellipses are drawn correctly (within the boundaries), they will be split symmetrically as well. Additionally, some of the ellipses overlap one another. I would suggest the same as I did for the Table of Ellipses exercise, which is ghosting several times through an ellipse before placing it down.
On the Ellipses in Planes exercise, again your ellipses overlap the boundaries in a few places, however here it seems more an issue of accuracy rather than confidence. For this particular exercise, it may help trying to hit the midpoints of the plane rather than trying simply to hit the boundaries of the plane when drawing each ellipse. Just remember that confidence should be prioritized over accuracy when creating smooth, fluid lines.
- Boxes Section
For the Plotted Perspective exercise, the outer lines appear to be a bit messy for some of the boxes, so I would suggest being more careful when applying line weight. It's mentioned in the written content for the 250 Box Challenge that only a subtle amount of line weight is needed to set the outer form apart (https://drawabox.com/lesson/250boxes/1/lineweight). Other than that, your depth lines appear to converge correctly towards the vanishing points, so well done there!
For the Rough Perspective exercise, the lines themselves appear mostly confident, with a few uncertain lines here and there. It may be worth mentioning that although it may be difficult to do, the width lines of the boxes should ideally be parallel to the horizon while the length lines perpendicular to the horizon. Since this exercise is done in 1 point perspective, two of the vanishing points are so far off the page that the convergences for one vanishing point effectively become parallel to one another. The convergences following your depth lines are quite off, however mistakes made while estimating perspective is normal and doing so will become easier with time and practice as well as during the the 250 Box Challenge.
On the Rotated Boxes exercise, I would suggest making your work larger so that you can use the full extent of the paper. Don't be afraid of extending your work out towards the squares drawn on each end of the axis, since they are there to unconsciously remind you of the full 180° rotation you're trying to acheive with the rotating boxes. Additionally, try to keep the gaps between the boxes as consistent as possible so that it will become easier to infer the placement of other boxes in 3D space (this is also explained briefly in the written content for this exercise: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/16/guessing). Also, many of the boxes, particularly the ones on the outer corners, don't appear to actually be rotating, meaning that they follow the same vanishing point(s) as the boxes next to them. This is also explained in more detail in the written content for this exercise: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/16/notrotating. However, as mentioned for the Rough Perspectice exercise, mistakes relating to perspective are normal and you will continue to improve with time and practice.
Finally, for the Organic Perspectives exercise, the lines of the front boxes appear quite strong in the first few frames of the exercise. Similarly for the Plotted Perspective exercise, I would recommend applying less line weight, as only a small amount is needed to set a silhouette apart (https://drawabox.com/lesson/250boxes/1/lineweight). Additionally, some areas appear cluttered with boxes, making them a bit confusing to interpret. While you can still draw these, I would suggest not drawing as many boxes behind the ones towards the front— especially near a turn in the swoopy line guide. It may help to also strategically place the boxes away from one another so that the lines don't overlap too much in any one area.
Next Steps:
Well done, and congratulations on completing Lesson 1!
Any suggestions I make for improving your work (for example, consciously arcing in the opposite direction for arcing lines) can be implemented into any warmups, if you so choose.
I recommend that you move on to the 250 Box Challenge. Good luck!
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