Check Out NMA    Learn More About our Partnership
Close and Enjoy Drawabox Ad-free

Some questions about going forward

9:21 PM, Monday January 1st 2024

So I'm returning to Drawabox after a 7 month break due to IRL stuff and did a quick but thorough review of lessons 0 and 1 and feel like I understand the lessons even better than before. But I had already done 81 boxes in the 250 box challenge and there are some big blunders. (Extending lines both to and away from the viewer. Adding line weight internally. A probably extending the lines too far and and really cluttering the page.) Should I start over now that I have a better understanding since my break?

Also, I have trouble adding line weight. When I go over my lines with the ghosting method I end up fraying on the far end far end a lot and it ends up looking like I'm redrawing my lines rather than line weight. Is this normal or is there something I'm missing?

Report
0 users agree
9:50 PM, Monday January 1st 2024
edited at 9:51 PM, Jan 1st 2024

I believe the advice that’s been given before (though I don’t have a link handy at the moment) for where you’re at is to try drawing some boxes for the 250 box challenge (including warmups). If your skills feel solid and your boxes are good, continue from where you left off. If you feel a little rusty and your boxes are questionable, start the challenge over but don’t redo lesson 1. If it feels like your fundamentals are sorely lacking, redo lesson 1.

From what I understand, some fraying on the far end of adding line weight is to be expected at first. The focus should be on drawing confident, straight lines— accuracy will come with mileage. For what it’s worth, I’ve also found that you can get really nice line weight variation just by changing the pressure that you write with. Doing that for me has helped my boxes look neater (because I don’t have to double up my lines) and helps me visualize the whole box before I start drawing (because I need to know what lines are the silhouette ahead of time)

edited at 9:51 PM, Jan 1st 2024
7:37 PM, Tuesday January 2nd 2024

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to continue the challenge where I left off since my boxes feel good. Besides I don't think I would have the better understanding after the review if I hadn't drawn those 81 boxes before.

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.
The Art of Brom

The Art of Brom

Here we're getting into the subjective - Gerald Brom is one of my favourite artists (and a pretty fantastic novelist!). That said, if I recommended art books just for the beautiful images contained therein, my list of recommendations would be miles long.

The reason this book is close to my heart is because of its introduction, where Brom goes explains in detail just how he went from being an army brat to one of the most highly respected dark fantasy artists in the world today. I believe that one's work is flavoured by their life's experiences, and discovering the roots from which other artists hail can help give one perspective on their own beginnings, and perhaps their eventual destination as well.

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