How should Drawabox be used?
At its simplest level, read Drawabox from lesson 0 (which you're doing right now!). The lessons are by their very nature quite dense, so expect yourself to have to reread sections now and again, as it's easy to forget things. Most lessons will have a Homework section where a specific number of pages of listed exercises are assigned.
Each exercise listed will link off to its own page, explaining exactly what that exercise entails. Do the exercises (make a point of reading the instructions for that exercise immediately before doing the work - if your work gets split up across multiple days, reading it again for each session is a good idea), limiting yourself only to the number of pages that are assigned.
Yes, I know - you will not likely feel satisfied with your results on this first-ever attempt at the exercises. You will feel inclined to try them again. Don't. The focus here is not on impressing someone - not me, not the community, not even yourself. There is no expectation that you will be able to do these exercises perfectly, and some of them are specifically designed to be an introduction to a concept where you will fall flat on your face. Accept this now, and it will save you a lot of grief in the future.
Your only focus should be on following the instructions, as they are written, to the best of your current ability. The purpose and goal of every exercise is presented in those instructions, so take them to heart. The goal of a given exercise may not be what you assume, so read and follow those instructions carefully and avoid taking liberties with them.
Once you're done with the assigned work from a given homework section, continue on with the lesson reading. When you've finished the entire lesson, submit your homework to be reviewed by the community.
If a lesson has any homework assigned, towards the top of every lesson page, you'll see a button labelled "Submit Homework for Review". This will require you to be logged into the Drawabox website. Here you can share your homework with other members of the community for free, or even have your work critiqued by me and my teaching assistants.
Keep in mind: When doing the exercises, your focus should be on creating a body of work that represents what you're capable of currently (without rushing), and what you understand of the instructions. This will help others give you feedback, suggestions, and actionable next steps. If you appear to understand the goal of each exercise, even if there are issues, you will be told to move onto the next lesson. If there are some misunderstandings present, then you may be asked to redo specific exercises.
There is no specific amount of time you are expected to take in order to complete any exercise. There are no deadlines, and at least for these courses, you should not be setting any for yourself. Instead of thinking about whether you're going too slowly, focus only on completing the work to the best of your current ability. If investing more time to think through what you're doing will yield better results, do that.
