Uncomfortable's Advice from /r/ArtFundamentals

250 cylinders challenge question

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/134ss0e/250_cylinders_challenge_question/

2023-05-01 17:00

alexey_umnov

Hi, I am doing the 250 cylinder challenge, just started the second part with cylinders constructed inside a box. The annoying thing is that while those boxes are presumably just helpers for the cylinders, I struggle a lot specifically with the boxes. Which I guess is not surprising even after the 250 box challenge, because:

So my question is - is this expected, or am I doing something wrong? All in all, I am now mostly practicing boxes, because usually it doesn't matter how I draw the cylinder inside, it will look scuffed anyway. So is this another boxes challenge in disguise?:)

Uncomfortable

2023-05-01 18:14

while those boxes are presumably just helpers for the cylinders

It's more the opposite. Think of it as though the cylinders are part of the error checking method, allowing us to test whether or not the ends of the box are actually proportionally square, and helping us identify how we might shift our approach for the next page to bring those line extension convergences closer together, and achieve proportions that are more square.

This is very much intentional, and part of the exercise - it's an iterative process that will gradually refine your ability to judge which proportions to use in terms of how big things are on the page, to capture proportionally equivalent distances in 3D space regardless of how the object is rotated.

"Another boxes challenge in disguise" is a good way of putting it.