Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

In this course we specifically avoid driving the drawing motion from the elbow, and focus on using either the shoulder (which covers most cases) or the wrist (on occasion). It's true, drawing with your whole arm from the shoulder is difficult, and that there are many marks that will be just fine being drawn from your elbow - but what we're doing here is not about the marks you can make today, right now. We are not sharing with you tips and tricks whose goal is to produce immediate results. Our process is one that involves addressing key weaknesses that hold students back - and being able to draw using the whole arm from the shoulder is one of them.

It is not the size of the line that dictates which pivot of your arm will best suit making the mark, it is the nature of that mark you're trying to make. A lot of textural details for instance (sometimes you won't encounter until Lesson 2) benefit more from the kind of tight control that working from your wrist, or even your fingers, can provide - just like handwriting. But the majority of the marks we draw in this course (and all of those you'll be drawing throughout Lesson 1, the box challenge, and so forth) require smooth, confident executions to maintain consistent trajectories, even your ellipses, and as such you should be engaging your whole arm from the shoulder.

In this course, you'll be holding your pen in the same way you do to write, although try to maintain a relaxed grip - don't squeeze your pen tight. You'll find more information on this - specifically why we hold our pen in this manner, and why other courses and tools might use different grips, in this section.

No, you can feel free to rest the side of your hand or your pinky on the page for stability, and in fact we recommend this in most cases. You'll find this addressed in more detail in this section.

Probably not a good idea. Anything that keeps you from being in a focused, studious mindset should be avoided. This includes unstable drawing positions, busy/crowded/noisy spaces, messy environments, drawing on lined or graph paper, and so on. You absolutely want to put your best effort into completing the exercises, as that is the way you're going to get the most out of them. Being in a less than optimal mindset will cause you to work sloppier, which is something you want to avoid at all costs. If you don't have any kind of a reasonable table or desk at home, consider going out to a public library instead.

No, you should not be modifying the instructions (at least not outside of situations involving disabilities, in which case you should still try and adhere as closely to those instructions as you can). If the instructions for an exercise ask you to tackle something in a particular manner, then that approach is very much part of the exercise, and to change them (especially changing them based on what'll get you better short term results) is more than likely going to alter the exercise itself away from what it was designed to achieve.

Setting aside the variance between different brands of pens, a very common experience amongst students starting out with the course is that their pens die quickly. The reason is the lack of pressure control - as a beginner, you don't yet have the mileage and experience to vary how much pressure you're applying, and so you're probably gonna be pushing that nib into the page pretty hard. This damages the nib and impedes ink flow, causing your pen to seem like it's running low on ink even when there's plenty available. Unfortunately the outcome is the same, as most fineliners don't have replaceable nibs. Fortunately, this will improve with practice. In the meantime, you may want to buy cheaper pens initially, then invest in more expensive ones once you're able to take advantage of them.

That is not a decision for you to make. Instead, you focus on giving yourself enough time to absorb, follow, and apply the instructions to the best of your current ability, so as to create a body of work that shows whoever is giving you feedback what it is you understand, what you might need more help with, and what next steps to recommend. It is not your responsibility to judge whether or not your work looks terrible. All you're in charge of is giving yourself enough time.

Honestly - and I'm being completely genuine here - it's not a big deal. What students learn from this course all comes from the exercises, from following those instructions as intentionally and purposely as possible, getting their understanding of those instructions confirmed through feedback, and then continuing to apply them in their regular warmups throughout the rest of the course (and even beyond). The theoretical concepts only serve to get students to a point where they're willing to try the exercises.

You probably just hit the rotated boxes exercise, and are having second thoughts about this course. I get it. The thing is, we intentionally assign exercises at times that we simply do not expect students to be able to tackle successfully, and the rotated boxes (as well as the organic perspective boxes that come afterwards) are good examples of this. We use them to introduce students to a problem - the idea of rotating boxes arbitrarily in space, without necessarily having a specific perspective grid and clearly defined vanishing points to rely upon - before we actually delve into material that will help you tackle it more successfully. So you may be struggling with it, but that doesn't mean you're not progressing as expected.

Do not correct your mistakes. Let them stand for themselves, as that is how they will provide the most educational value. When we correct mistakes, it tricks the brain into thinking that their cause has been addressed (whereas what was corrected was just the symptom), making it no less likely that you'll end up doing it again. It's better instead to leave your mistakes as they are (even if you're still halfway through a drawing and have to build upon that mistake), and even to have it called out by someone else in critique if they deem it necessary.

Yup! Every mark you freehand throughout this course should apply the ghosting method. The ghosting method is important because it separates the mark making process into distinct stages, each with their own priorities, and so it reduces how much your brain has to focus on achieving at any given moment. This is a big concept throughout this course, the idea of dividing things up into stages so as to reduce the cognitive load and allocate more resources towards each individual task. You'll find more information about this in this section from the lesson material.

The use of line weight is discussed here in the rotated boxes material, since that's where we first meaningfully start dealing with overlaps. While outside of this course there are a lot of different ways one might choose to use line weight, in this course we are strictly adhering to only using line weight in the limited, localized areas where specific overlaps between lines need to be clarified, and we are focusing on keeping that line weight subtle - like a whisper to the viewer's subconscious, rather than an overt shout.

Yes. Every ellipse you freehand throughout this course should be drawn through two full times before lifting your pen. While initially you may do a bit more than that, aim in the long run for two turns of the shape, no less, no more.

This is discussed in more detail on this page of Lesson 0, with the submission process being explained in the video at the top of that page.

To access credits you've gotten through Patreon, ensure that you have connected your Patreon account on the Drawabox account settings page. If you scroll down that page, you will see a section for connecting different third party accounts, the first one being Patreon. Once connected, you should see in that same section how many credits you have to spend.

Once you have received feedback on your work confirming that you understand how they should be approached - which happens after you've completed the entire lesson - it can be added to the warmup routine where you pick two or three exercises to do for 10-15 minutes (total) at the beginning of each homework session. This means that until you've had your Lesson 1 work marked as complete (at which point you'll move onto the 250 box challenge), you will not have any warmups.