250 Box Challenge
10:57 PM, Sunday August 30th 2020
Hello,
I finally managed to complete the challenge!
So many boxes...
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6:41 AM, Friday September 11th 2020
Hey algebrartist, here to return the favor for your critique of my Lesson 1! I also recently finished this challenge.
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Extending lines in the right direction - yup!
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3 point perspective - pretty much there. Just be sure to have all 3 angles of the Y be over 90°, otherwise it can start to look unboxy. For example, the lower right box on p16.
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Hatching lines - recommended! Although tedious, it helps create a better visualization. And I think it can help you judge better too, whether or not it looks like a successful box overall.
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Lineweight/confidence - I think your strokes are pretty confident! An outline of the box would help, again, with the visualization in 3D space.
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Variation - great. Varied orientations and side lengths. Just make sure to have a proper Y at the start, with all angles over 90°.
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Inner corner/xray lines - can be quite off. There is often a single inner line that diverges or doesn't head toward the VP.
I found it helpful to try to ghost and plot a point that makes a line parallel to that respective arm of the starting Y, and imagine the VP and where you need the line to be to adjust. Sometimes after drawing a box you can even kind of get a sense for it - the pairs of planes should feel like they're above each other in 3D space. For example, the upper righthand corner box on pg 8, the planes at the top and bottom of the box nearly give that feeling but there's one inner line that's pretty off.
SUMMARY
I think the biggest things that will help you improve are the Y angles being over 90° and working on your xray lines, trying at the very least to make inner lines nearly parallel / slightly converging towards their matching Y arm.
EDIT
It looks like you're using pencil on some pages? Make sure to check what is required for future lessons! And if you decide to do the 'extra' exercises I recommended, try to use a fineliner or ballpoint pen. I'm not actually sure if this challenge allows ballpoint pens but I'll assume that it follows lesson 1 rules.
Next Steps:
As far as I've heard, not many people finish this challenge, so kudos to you for making it this far :)
I do think it would be a worthy investment to work on a few more boxes before you head to Lesson 2. I think being aware of the Y angles needing to be over 90° in 3pt perspective is good enough, but it would be beneficial for you to do some "targeted" practice for the inner lines.
I suggest the following:
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Start with a Y with the >90° angles. Then, use a ruler to plot some VPs. Use your ruler to complete the box. Try 2-3 of these with varying side lengths. This helped me personally when I was confused at the start!
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Quickly look over 3-4 of your boxes from the challenge where one of the inner lines doesn't look quite right. Try using a ruler to correct it - extend that line out towards the VP. Don't worry about making the inner corner a perfect intersection and just use this quick markup to get a feel for where it should be approximately.
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Start with the Y, and try maybe 3-4 boxes freehand without a ruler. See if you've improved! And if you haven't, don't worry and just move on to lesson 2. Just try to keep convergence in mind!
Don't spend too long on this! No need for it to be perfect. Don't worry about replying with your work. In fact, don't even worry about trying the number of times I suggested. I just think doing at least 2 attempts for each of the above will help you develop that awareness and intuition for the inner line.
1:32 PM, Sunday September 13th 2020
Hey hellozukohere, thank you so much for the critique!
I really liked your suggestion of plotting with a ruler and then gradually going moving towards freehanding everything. That's sure to help :)
And yeah, I was running out of fineliners and due to the pandemic (and a postal strike in my country), I'm completely unable to buy new ones... So I decide that extending my lines in pencil would be the best to save some ink.
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