I only want to learn Character design, do I need to go past drawabox lesson 2?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/10n1j66/i_only_want_to_learn_character_design_do_i_need/
2023-01-28 00:51
Rubihno194
Like the title says I'm only interested in drawing characters and character design (I'll eventually learn environmental design too for the background but characters first). Since I'm a complete beginner I'm practicing the basic stuff (gesture/figure drawing, perspective etc.) and I would like to know if lessons 3 to 6 would be any help with that. I know lessons 0 - 2 are important, especially for gesture/figure drawing, but after you start drawing stuff like cars, animals and other objects I'm not interested in. So do I need to go past lesson 2 or is that not needed for Character design?
Uncomfortable
2023-01-28 15:07
While you are welcome to use the lessons however you see fit, I feel I should use this opportunity to remind folks that Drawabox is not a series of individual tutorials. It is a course with a singular core goal, towards which all of the lessons work. As explained in Lesson 0, it's all about developing a student's understanding of how the things they draw on a flat page exist in three dimensions, and of how to manipulate those three dimensional forms to create believable structures and constructions as they draw. This is something we develop throughout the course, though this is most fully tackles betweens lesson 3 and 7, where we finally get to using constructional drawing as an exercise, turning each construction into a 3d spatial puzzle where we work through breaking our subject into simple forms and rebuilding it in the page while figuring out how those forms relate to one another in space. Lessons 1 to 2 arm us with what we need to leverage this kind of exercise, so it all builds up towards the same overall goal.
The goal is not to learn to draw plants, insects, animals, vehicles, etc. - it's to use them as lenses through which to look at this core problem if spatial reasoning. To view it in a sense of being topics you might skip based on your areas of interest would undermine the manner in which the course is designed.
Of course, no one's going to stop you from using the material however you wish, as it is freely available without restriction. It's also worth noting that not everyone goes through it from start to finish, and we benefit throughout the process (rather than only at the end where we've complete it in full) - so many people progress through it, take away what they've gained and move onto other things prior to completing it. But going in with the intent of stopping at a particular point does suggest a misunderstanding of what the intent of the course is.
Hopefully this clarifies things for you.
larsbarnabee
2023-01-28 16:12
So I would suggest you start learning about gesture drawing. You could find information about gesture drawing on YouTube. Specifically I would recommend Proko videos on gesture drawing. I would recommend you do it along with drawabox lessons. Drawabox doesnt go into human anatomy but will teach you about insects and animals which can prep you some for drawing people. I think drawabox can teach you a lot about thinking and drawing in 3D shapes in later lessons. Although lesson 7 on cars was difficult and it will probably bore you unless you like drawing cars.
I suggest trying to stick to it until lesson 6 and if you dont want to be a completionist of drawabox then stop at that point. I think the important point is to try and stick it out.