Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

7:19 PM, Monday July 5th 2021

Drawabox Lesson 1: Lines Ellipses and Boxes - Album on Imgur

Direct Link: https://i.imgur.com/tKNJ4MM.jpg

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered enterta...

Hi, I started Drawabox last month, and just completed Lesson 1. It has been really great exercising my shoulder, and I can see myself involuntarily doing it while trying to make the art that Uncomfortable wants us to make in addition to the exercises. I did struggle a bit with the one point perspective boxes, with some of the lines curving, as well as the rotated boxes and the organic boxes. Any feedback and tips to improve would be welcome. Thanks in advance! :)

1 users agree
9:44 PM, Monday July 5th 2021

Hi there, welcome to DAB! You've done well to get to this stage on your art journey, so I'll be reviewing your homework today and giving you some pointers for improvement.

On linework;

You're taking time to be patient and planning with your linework (as evidenced by abscence of fraying at the start of your superimposed lines) which is good to see. You seem to be prioritising confidence over accuracy in your ghosted lines, though I'm somewhat concerned about the fact that they all seem to be eeringly accurate whilst notably wobbling through their motion. Considering the attention you payed to your superimposed lines exercise, I'm inclined to think this is an issue in confidence, as you haven't quite built up the confidence to push through with your lines yet. Try re-reading the section on ghosting in Lesson 1 for some important points to remember as you draw your lines. https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/3, https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/ghostedlines.

On your ghosted plans you seem to be getting the majority of your lines to flow straight without wobbling which is good to see, although I notice that on the larger lines you seem to have a greater tendency to arc the lines. This could be due to a lack of muscle memory in your shoulder, as you struggle to maintain a constant trajectory in a single motion. Alternatively, it could be that you're drawing primarily with your elbow joint, which would explain why the shorter lines tend to stay significantly straighter: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/2/pivots (note the effective range of the pivots.) Practising your lines with ghosting and really honing in on confidence should be helpful in correcting this mistake. Also pay attention to which joint is primarily driving the motion, as it can be easy to slip into a habit of using the elbow joint unwittingly. (as I have done myself.)

One additional point I would like to make is the increase in wobbling and curving in the boxes exercises; note: Rough perspective, organic perspective. This is a common mistake I see from beginners, as the extra dimensions of dealing with fully-fledged boxes and drawing them in relation to perspective comes as an overwhelming step-up in difficulty, and they lose sight of their linework as they focus on the extra dimensions of the exercise. I bring it up as a gentle reminder to prioritise confidence above all else as your unholy eldritch king, as it is the primordial pillar to good drawing. It can be all too easy to throw out our linework when we're focusing on these more complicated elements, so remember to take a step back and prioritise the linework first and foremost, even when And especially when it feels like it's to the detriment of the exercise. "Oh but I have to draw a box here and it has to join up and be a box".

On ellipses;

you're doing a decent job here pushing through with confidence and keeping your wobbles to a minimum. I'd recommend reducing your drawthrough's from 3-2 as I think it'll be easier for you to focus on maintaining the tightness of your ellipses this way, instead of falling into the trap of drawing a third draw-through aimlessly without real consideration of where it was supposed to be exactly. I notice you struggle significantly with the funnels exercise (which is not uncommon), as the additional requirements imposed on your ellipses causes a few notable mistakes here. Your ellipses have a strong tendency to deform and become more like wobbly blobs than ellipses, and you struggle keeping them spaced up snuggly against eachother. Occassionally (and sometimes due to the deferomation), the orientation of the ellipses does not remain consistent. https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/14/notaligned. Overall these are quite common mistakes for beginners, so my recommendation for you would be to pay close attention to ellipses in your warm-ups moving forward. Try starting out with ellipses in planes and tables of ellipses; focus on nailing confidence, then focus on getting your draw-throughs to fit snuggly. Once you feel more comfortable with this I HIGHLY recommend revisiting the funnels exercise to further hone your skills as it'll push you further and improve your ability to draw ellipses in more specific orientations.

On perspective;

you seem to have a basic grasp of the concepts of perspective, but as your brain has had little practise dealing with this kind of spatial awareness, you struggle quite significantly on the exercises on your section. I'd like to re-assure you that this is extremely common amongst beginners, and is a trend I've seen a lot in my critiques. This is noted in your rough perspective exercise firstly, where you struggle to find the correct convergences for the vanishing point. On rotated boxes you do a really good job of dilligently filling out each box, keeping them closely packed together. The main error here, for your interest, is that the boxes don't actually rotate in most cases. https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/17/notrotating . In the organic perspective excercise you struggle with finding the correct convergences for the boxes you draw, and as such you have difficulty keeping the foreshortening consistent which breaks the illusion of perspective https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/7/foreshortening.

I don't want you to worry too much, or get too caught up with, the critiques I have for you in the perspective section. These exercises are specifically designed to push students, and in a majority of cases students are not adequately equipped to deal with the requirements of the exercise. This is quite intentional, as it teaches you early on that failure throughout the learning process is inevitable, and you won't be able to grasp and complete every new challenge straight away. and that's okay.

The next step for you here is to move on to the 250 box challenge, which will provide you with a controlled grinding exercise that will give you solid mileage in developing your spatial awareness and ability to handle 3D space. After completing the 250 box challenge it may be of your interest to revisit this critique and test your understanding of the critiques pointed out in the organic perspective and rotated boxes exercise. It would also be worth revisiting these exercises again after completing lesson 2, as that lesson will tackle perspective in additional detail.

Next Steps:

Overall a very solid attempt! You've done well in tackling the content of the lessons, and have an adequate understanding of the basic conceptual concepts required here to handle the next part of the course.

Points to remember;

  • Prioritise confidence above all else in your linework, even when tackling more complex problems.

  • Continue to practise your ellipses in warm-up exercises (you'll thank me later when you get to lesson 2). Make use of ellipses in planes (which will help with your linework also) and tables of ellipses to get a basic hang of it. Once you're comfortable with these exercises, tackle the funnels exercise to further develop your understanding.

Move on to the 250 box challenge now.

See you there!

This community member feels the lesson should be marked as complete. In order for the student to receive their completion badge, this critique will need 2 agreements from other members of the community.
9:45 AM, Tuesday July 6th 2021

Hi! Thank you so much for this detailed critique.

You are right about my having used the elbow as my pivot, I believe. I had caught myself inadvertently relying on it than my shoulder while doing the first few exercises of this lesson. But the most I did struggle with were the ellipses, the rotated boxes and the organic perspective. I shall make use of the warm-up time in future to work on the same, and then as per your suggestion, go back to the funnels exercise as well. I shall also read up and re-watch the videos on the perspective section.

Thanks again for the critique!

5:32 PM, Tuesday July 6th 2021

No worries;

On perspective;

I primarily recommend going back to the rotated boxes and organic perspective exercises AFTER you complete the 250 box challenge as an extension exercise.

Don't worry too hard about getting these things down right now, just move on to the 250 box challenge as you'll get the mileage you're looking for there.

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Sakura Pigma Microns

Sakura Pigma Microns

A lot of my students use these. The last time I used them was when I was in high school, and at the time I felt that they dried out pretty quickly, though I may have simply been mishandling them. As with all pens, make sure you're capping them when they're not in use, and try not to apply too much pressure. You really only need to be touching the page, not mashing your pen into it.

In terms of line weight, the sizes are pretty weird. 08 corresponds to 0.5mm, which is what I recommend for the drawabox lessons, whereas 05 corresponds to 0.45mm, which is pretty close and can also be used.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.