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Good job! You're through the first two chunks of the challenge, with just one more to go. While it's bigger than the first two, instead of introducing anything new, the focus here will be on reinforcing what we explored through the last two sections, and getting you a lot of extra mileage both with the basics of spatial reasoning and estimating your convergences, as well as the use of the ghosting method to execute your lines with confidence. Each of these concepts will serve as the foundation for everything else we learn throughout this course.
Give yourself a bit of a rest, then get ready because we're driving this baby home.
Towards the end of the video for the last section of the challenge, we go over how this last 150 will be tackled as well, so it's a good idea to review the content, both for that explanation and for a quick refresher on the process and important concepts. Ultimately this set won't be all that different.
The only real change will be that instead of only drawing boxes with gradual convergence/shallow foreshortening, we will be including those with more rapid convergence/dramatic foreshortening as well. Keep in mind that this is not exactly a mix of the first two sections - unlike the first 50, we will not be drawing our vanishing points explicitly on the page. So like the second section, whether our lines converge rapidly or slowly, we're going to be focusing on the lines themselves, not aiming for any arbitrary points.
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At this point, since we've used dramatic foreshortening in the first fifty and shallow foreshortening in the fifty after that, you should be well acquainted with the different extremes. For the remainder of the challenge, we'll be varying our rates of foreshortening between those two points. You can refer to this diagram, or the more detailed diagram here on the first page of the challenge instructions.
For the third section and final of the box challenge, we will be drawing 150 more boxes using the Y method, adhering to the following:
Vanishing points will NOT be marked explicitly on the page. Like in the second section of the challenge, we will not be relying on any vanishing points explicitly marked anywhere. Focus on how your lines are converging, and always think about all four edges of a given set (those you've drawn, the one you're drawing now, and those you haven't yet drawn) when considering how to orient a given line.
These boxes will be a combination of those with rapid convergence/dramatic foreshortening and gradual convergence/shallow foreshortening. Keep in mind that at no point will your all the lines of a given set be drawn parallel on the page. As explained here in Lesson 1 there is no such thing as "0 point perspective".
Write the date at the top of the page, and number every box individually from 101 to 250. Students in the past have sometimes used some different strategies for numbering their boxes - stick to this. It's simple, it makes sense, and it's easy for TAs to understand which order in which to interpret the work so they can see whether you're pacing yourself well, and whether issues that may be present earlier on disappear with practice over the set.
You will be drawing 5 to 6 boxes per page. No more, no less.
Before starting the next page, apply your line extensions as demonstrated in the video above. Be sure to start from the central point of your original Y and extending back along each arm to ensure you're extending them in the right direction.
In terms of tools, you can use a ballpoint pen or a fineliner, and we would like you to work on A4 or 8.5"x11" printer paper. If for whatever reason you aren't able to, keep in mind that what you do use should not be smaller than that. Going any smaller will make it harder for you to engage your whole arm when drawing, which this early on is going to make it that much harder to get comfortable with drawing from your shoulder. The 5-6 box per page count will still apply, regardless of how big your paper is.
If you've been using the Y generator tool by Eric Na, keep in mind that you should now be setting it aside, and coming up with the Ys yourself.
Some mistakes still come up frequently amongst students, so this reminder will hopefully keep you on the right track. I'm putting it here above the other sections, just so that it doesn't get missed.
Do not draw your boxes with lines that are actually parallel on the page. Back in Lesson 1 we talked about how a vanishing point can go to "infinity", eliminating the convergences of the lines it governs. This is not something we can just arbitrarily do for everything - it only happens when that given set of lines runs perpendicular to the viewer's angle of sight. Since we're drawing boxes that are freely and randomly rotated in space, make sure all of your boxes' lines converge.
It is extremely important that you ensure that your line extensions point away from the viewer, as their purpose is to help us analyze how those lines behave (whether they converge or diverge) as they move farther away. If they're extended towards the viewer, then it kind of renders the line extension analysis pointless, since it doesn't tell us how we can improve our next page of boxes. You should have a good bit of practice with extending your lines back at this point, but it's still critically important that you take care to ensure it's in the right direction.
Don't worry about the back corner being off. The back corner is a distraction - a symptom of the individual sets of lines not converging consistently. This is not something you're going to master here, so that back corner will always be at least a little off, and if all you're focusing on is the back corner, it's going to feel like you're not making progress, when in fact you are. Focus on the sets of lines, and making them converge as consistently as you can.
Vary your boxes. Don't just draw the same box over and over. Vary its orientation and proportions by playing with the lengths of the arms of the Y and the angles between them (as long as those angles are greater than 90°). You will also be varying the rates of foreshortening between dramatic (with rapid convergence) and shallow (with gradual convergence) for this set.
All freehanded lines throughout this course are to be drawn using the ghosting method from Lesson 1. This means focusing most of your time in the planning and preparation phases, and then executing each mark confidently, without hesitation. Remember - confidence takes priority over accuracy.
These are my favourite sketchbooks, hands down. Move aside Moleskine, you overpriced gimmick. These sketchbooks are made by entertainment industry professionals down in Los Angeles, with concept artists in mind. They have a wide variety of sketchbooks, such as toned sketchbooks that let you work both towards light and towards dark values, as well as books where every second sheet is a semitransparent vellum.
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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