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5:32 PM, Monday June 15th 2020

Congratulations on completing lesson one.

I can see you worked hard on your homework and improved in some areas along the way. When I look at your super-imposed lines I can see you did a fairly good job of making your lines smooth and confident. There is some wobble that I can see here, though you improve on that in your planes homework. For your ghosted lines I can see more of the wobbling that I mentioned. This is likely due to you prioritizing accuracy above creating a smooth confident mark. Your planes are a big improvement. The lines are straight and appear confident. Just remember that the confidence of the stroke is far and away your top priority. Accuracy is something that you will improve on as you continue working through Drawabox and practice ghosting.

For your tables of ellipses, you do a pretty good job of making your ellipses an even shape. There is still a good amount of wobbling though, so make sure you are ghosting and drawing from the shoulder when you make them. That way your lines will stay smooth and confident. There are also a few areas where you didn't draw through your ellipses enough or too much. Remember, you want to draw through your ellipses no more than 2-3 times to maintain your consistency. It looks like in the ellipses in planes you do a better job of drawing through your ellipses more consistently and there is less overall wobble in this assignment. Your funnels show much of the same. There is still some hesitation causing your lines to wobble but you are steadily improving overall. Keep in mind what I said about confidence in your mark making being the priority.

In your rough perspective boxes you do a pretty good job of placing your boxes correctly. I can see that you tried to have your horizontal lines stay parallel to the horizon and your vertical lines perpendicular which is very good to see. Your lines are getting straighter which is also another good sign of improvement. Though they are not of the same quality as your planes homework. Keep in mind as you progress through Drawabox and begin to construct more complex forms that it is important to put in the time and focus required to execute each line correctly and to apply the ghosting method to every step of the process, as explained here. You should also frequently refer back to the instructions to ensure you are doing everything correctly and to the best of your current ability. I can see that you went over some of your lines either to add weight or to "correct" them. This is something you want to avoid doing during Drawabox. Mistakes happen, but a smooth, confident mark is still useful even if it's a little off. Your boxes do a good job of converging near or on your plotted vanishing point which is something you will work on more in the next steps.

The rotated box homework is a challenging and complex exercise. You didn't do too badly for your first try. One of the bigger things I notice looking at your work is that you didn't get quite enough rotation in your boxes along the major axes, this is a common mistake as explained here. Your gaps also don't always stay narrow and consistent which you can read about on the page I just linked. These mistakes usually happen when we don't take our time and focus on the step in front of us. It's easy to be overwhelmed when faced with complex work like this. So remember that if you are ever confused or struggling, your first step is to look to your instructions to find your next step and focus only on that.

You have a pretty good start with your organic perspective boxes. I can see that you tried to get your sets of parallel lines to converge consistently towards their shared vanishing point. This is something you will work on more in the next steps. Keep in mind what I said about not going over your lines to correct them though. I think your line work here shows some improvement too, which is good to see.

Next Steps:

I would like for you to do one page of ellipses in planes before moving onto the box challenge. I want you to be sure to read through all the articles I linked in your critique first. You want to focus on breaking down each step of the process and focus on ghosting and drawing from the shoulder confidently. Remember, it's okay if your marks aren't 100% accurate. What matters more is creating smooth confident lines that are drawn from the shoulder.

When finished, reply to this critique with your revisions.
10:56 PM, Monday June 15th 2020

https://imgur.com/gallery/8kiYqg3

Thanks for the critique! As instructed, one page of ellipses in planes at the link above.

7:46 PM, Tuesday June 16th 2020

Great improvement!

Your ellipses are more confident looking and less wobbly overall. I can see in your straight lines that you have some trouble with ending your lines. One thing you can try is when you want to end your line, lift the pen off of the page instead of stopping your arm. This should let you create a clean, confident line throughout the whole mark.

I would also recommend that in the future you try to only draw through your ellipses twice, that can help you create a more consistent look to them as you continue practicing the ghosting method.

This is very good progress. Keep in mind what I've said here and in your critique and you should continue to see improvement.

Next Steps:

Continue to the 250 Box Challenge!

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
8:37 PM, Tuesday June 16th 2020

Great, and thanks again for your thoughtful comments!

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The Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

The Science of Deciding What You Should Draw

Right from when students hit the 50% rule early on in Lesson 0, they ask the same question - "What am I supposed to draw?"

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