Listed here are a couple variations on the basic box exercise that should be left until after you're fully comfortable with constructing individual arbitrarily rotated boxes in 3D space. These modifications can help develop one's understanding of 3D space further, but if the basics are not grasped solidly enough, they will merely serve as a distraction.
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I'd recommend tackling lesson 2, or at least reading the section in that lesson about thinking in 3D.
This one's a combination of the rotated boxes and organic perspective boxes from lesson 1. Start by drawing a line that swoops through 3D space, then place boxes along it, as though they're all connected by a string and being pulled along.
This one's complicated enough to merit a video. It discusses how we can take a box and start cutting it up into many smaller boxes. We also discuss the accumulation of errors that occurs when we approximate, and how to stay on top of them as you push through a construction, rather than trying to avoid them outright.
This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.
I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, but most of those that I've seen are produced by Alvin. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.
No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.
Having your work reviewed by others is critical, as those who are just starting out aren't in a position to properly judge their own work, and won't be for quite some time. Don't be afraid to show your struggles - it's by analyzing your mistakes that we can help you grow. Perfect homework is not what we're looking for; we just need it to be complete.
There are currently two places you can get your work critiqued by the community - Reddit and our Discord Chat Server.
Both of these are completely free.
If you are interested in receiving extra help, I critique the work of those who support Drawabox on Patreon.
All of these private critiques are done through reddit, in specific threads where students post their work as a comment, including a link to their work (often hosted on Imgur, though most image hosts are okay).
My requirements are more strict than the free community critiques:
The minimum pledge for this lesson is $5.00/month. The orange button above will take you to the reddit thread for this lesson, you can post a link to your work there and I'll be notified. Once I catch the submission, I'll add it to this backlog spreadsheet.
Pledges are collected at the beginning of the following month, but you may start submitting your work immediately. If you're a new patron, I'll be reaching out to your shortly to collect your reddit username.
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