Looking for advice with drawing lines towards a vanishing point.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/104y4vg/looking_for_advice_with_drawing_lines_towards_a/
2023-01-06 16:15
JimTheDog
I'm running into a problem with drawing boxes.
I'm having a LOT of trouble when I need to draw the sides of my boxes pointing towards an imaginary vanishing point. Putting a dot or something down to aim at helps, but... I want to get better at drawing lines towards the imaginary vanishing point without a dot down. I think if I get more accurate with drawing a line pointing at an imaginary point on the page, I'll have less trouble with making my boxes nicer.
Are there any exercises that are specifically about this? Something that focuses on drawing to a single imaginary point without any construction guides, like a dot on the page to aim for, and without the added complexity of 'I am trying to draw a box' to scramble my brain, so I can focus on the problem in isolation?
I've tried to invent one, where I put down two sets of two dots on a page, then imagine a ruler line passing through both and aiming some lines at the imaginary meeting point, then circling my best guess at it, then getting out a ruler and mechanical pencil to check... but if anyone has any better exercises for focusing on this specific problem in isolation, I'd really appreciate it.
(Picture of my invented thing below, in case it helps explain what specific skill I'm trying to improve.)
Uncomfortable
2023-01-06 16:44
This is something that the first lesson of Drawabox lays the foundation for (specifically the boxes section), but then which is further built upon in the 250 box challenge. We start out taking students from the basic principles of vanishing points, to having a point to aim for but not plot all the way back to, to having no point to aim for, and just a series of lines whose convergences we must estimate and gradually improve upon through iteration.
JimTheDog
2023-01-06 16:55
It's definitely the jump from the rough perspective exercise, with the point to aim for, and the organic perspective/250 box challenge that's giving me difficulty.
Something about having the intent to draw a line towards a point, but suddenly not having the physical point to aim for... it really feels like an almost different skill entirely? I kind of get brainfreeze between 'what shape is this box in my brain' and 'how do I make the mark that I intend to accurately', and I'm looking for a way to work on the two problems separately so I can be clearer on when a problem is that my hand's not doing quite what I want it to, or maybe I'm having trouble figuring out where on the page I want the line to go, or when a problem's something to do with how I'm understanding the boxes...
I think my physical dexterity with a pen is not where I want it to be, and... I'm thinking the best way to work on that is to run several pens dry.
Anyway. Thank you. You've put together some wonderful resources and lessons, here. Even if I'm having trouble, somewhere between the ghosting method and your guide on drawing from the shoulder? I'm drawing the straightest lines I've ever done in my life.
Uncomfortable
2023-01-06 16:58
I suppose the main thing to keep in mind is that the course is not designed in such a way that upon completing an exercise, the student has "mastered" (even remotely) that exercise. Some of them - like the rotated boxes and organic perspective boxes - are as stated in the material, just really fuckin' hard. They ask things of you that you're not ready and able to provide, in order to get you familiar with those difficulties.
Then, armed with that context and introduction to the idea of what we're trying to address, we then send you into the box challenge where page after page you're checking your convergences with the line extensions, and then approaching the next page with adjustments to your approach, per what that analysis showed.
It's a slow process, but definitely not one that expects you to succeed immediately with each exercise.
JimTheDog
2023-01-06 17:20
I really do love that aspect to the way you've arranged the course, honestly. I'm taking a couple of weeks to try it out at my own pace before I make a choice on how hard to commit, and I really love the ethos that 'mistakes are okay, because actively setting out to do something and making a mistake helps you learn how to do it'. Like, it's great life advice in general, and I love that your course says it so strongly.
I'm definitely not going to let my pen-handling trouble stop me from trying things out - I'm just at a point of frustration that's distracting me, since I stop thinking about trying to visualize a cube and its relationship to the lines already on the page, and I start thinking about how I'm going to miss the (unmarked) spot I want to get the line to.
Being more patient with myself and letting it be a slow process is absolutely the right advice, I think. And I think maybe doing more ghosted planes for warmups, since getting a line accurately onto a marked spot can only help my muscle memory on this.