State of the Union - September vacation, and dealing with the overwhelming number of homework submissions
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/4z1wa0/state_of_the_union_september_vacation_and_dealing/
2016-08-22 18:11
Uncomfortable
Hey folks,
So as some of you likely have realized with my pattern of two months of free critiques, one month of patreon-only critiques, September's going to be the latter. I planned that out quite well, too, because I'm going to be out of town for a couple of weeks from the end of August. I've got my iPad all configured with everything I need to do critiques, so Patreon supporters will still be able to submit homework, but my response times may be a little bit slower.
So, for those of you who are relatively new, what this means is:
Free critiques will be completely on hold through the month of September. Those of you who have supported drawabox in the month of August (so current patreon supporters whose pledges are fulfilled at the end of the month, and those of you who had given one-off donations this month) as well as those who pledge or donate during the month of September will still be allowed to submit homework for critique. No other submissions will be accepted or recorded in the big old spreadsheet of Uncomfortable's personal hell.
Now, as you all know, /r/ArtFundamentals and Drawabox.com are collectively a project focused very much on giving those either unable or not yet ready to invest in more professional instruction the opportunity to learn the basics, to explore their own capabilities, and to discover that there methods other than those taught in most schools that may work better for them. Considering that even a basic one-off course at a local college can cost a couple hundred dollars, it's a big investment for those who still hold to the idea that they don't have the talent. Then there's the courses that actually teach more constructive and less fine-artsy approaches, and they tend to cost north of $600 (if you're looking online, since they're not generally available in most places).
Of course, I can't offer what those courses do (if I could, doing it for free would be absurd) - I still consider myself a student, and I've blundered into this position of pseudo-instructor. I've been learning as I've been going along - both about my own understanding of how to draw, and also about how other people absorb and apply the information I share. I started with what I learned from Peter Han, and at this point I feel fairly confident in saying that I've taken it in my own direction. Almost to the point that I feel weird referring to it as 'dynamic sketching'. Perhaps 'constructional drawing' might be more appropriate.
Now, from when I started /r/ArtFundamentals just over two years ago, or at least from when I started to see this thing take off like a rocket, I knew that I would eventually hit my own limitations. I wasn't employed when I first started this subreddit, and I remember sitting in my now-employer's office, seeing on my phone that the subscriber count had hit 1000.
Now I have a full time job, 26000 subscribers, at least 150 homework submissions per month from 107 different students and climbing (55 submissions in the last week alone, almost 1700 since I started keeping count them last September), and honestly... I'm exhausted.
Before you guys start panicking, we're not closing down or anything silly like that. I'm proud of what I've made here, and I want it to continue on. What I do need to find though is a way to reduce the volume of work without going into a permanent "patron-only" mode. I want critiques to be available for free for those who really need it.
People have suggested in the past that I should bring others on to do critiques. There's a couple reasons I haven't done this - first and foremost, it's way more work than I would ever ask anyone to do for free (the constant influx of submissions that piles up if days are missed - keep in mind that I don't take weekends off) and the money pulled in through donations and ad revenue wouldn't really cover a fair wage when balanced against the skills and understanding of the material required to fill the position, not without shafting me in the process anyway. I'm not a saint after all. Or at least, not anymore.
So, what's my proposed solution? I'm not entirely sure what I want to do, but right now I am thinking of the possibility of limiting who is eligible to receive a free critique each month. What I have in mind is that every month, there would be a "class" with a set number of open slots. Those slots would be filled by lottery - before the month begins, students could sign up and the results could be announced a week before the start of the month (in order to give those chosen the chance to get ready).
It's hard to say what a good number of slots would be, but right now I'm thinking something along the lines of 40 each month. Of course, this is for free critiques only, and I'll likely continue taking every third month off. I'd modify that number as I get a better sense of things - increasing it if I think I can handle the extra workload, or decreasing it if it's too much.
Also, if you get selected for one month, there would be a period of time before you'd be eligible for selection again. Either a set number of months, or until everyone's had a turn.
Patreon supporters would fall outside of these limitations, of course. This would undoubtedly drive up the number of $1.00 pledges (and would also drive up the number of people who pledge with no intention of actually paying), and eventually I'm sure we'd end up increasing the required pledge to get critiques in order to maintain a manageable workload, but that's all in the future and we'll worry about it then.
Additionally, I'm also thinking that if I implement that lottery/class-slot system, I would also open up a secondary subreddit for people to ask questions and get critiques from each other. I've had a few people ask for this, though since this has been a fairly one-sided community thus far (lots of people talking to me, rather than lots of people talking to each other) there hasn't been any need. This would likely create a demand for a community like that.
Last but not least, this would give me much more freedom in terms of introducing new content. The past two weekends I've been trying to revamp some of the lessons (currently lessons 3 and 4) - redoing demos, adding 40 minute intro videos, etc all in order to make the lessons clearer and the critiques a little less necessary. Between that work and the regular critiques though, I've pretty much ended up with no time to relax or work on other things.
I actually have other projects going on aside from drawabox, though it can be tough to find time to work on them. Strangely enough, despite being an artist (both 2D, and to a certain degree 3D) and a programmer with experience in a couple major 3D engines (mostly unity and the now outdated Unreal Development Kit)... My passion project is a largely text-based game that I've been trying to find the time to develop for eight years. The problem when you can barely scrape the time together to work on something is that technology keeps chugging on ahead, so you always come to a point where you figure it's better to scrap what you've got and start over with a new platform.
Anyway, this has gotten too long in the tooth already, so I'll stop it here. I'm very interested in knowing how you guys feel about this potential solution, and whether or not you guys have other solutions that may work better.
I'm open to entertaining any ideas, so leave a comment if you have something to share.
[deleted]
2016-08-22 18:43
[deleted]
disies
2016-08-22 19:01
I'm very grateful for what you're doing. There is nothing even remotely comparable to your work and I hope you'll find ways to deal with this tremendous amount of work.. wish you all the best
Geksaedr
2016-08-22 19:37
What you will get is more patreon supporters but not less of submissions!
Thanks for your work! I've just found your site and was so happy it's free that I won't mind to be your patron! Weird, huh
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 19:49
That's definitely a legitimate fear! We'll have to see how that turns out, and I'll just have to tweak my numbers to balance out the number of free slots and the number of patrons receiving critiques.
Tarrazan
2016-08-22 20:07
I haven't really gotten any good ideas, not anyone that are better that your own at least.
I just want to take the time to say how grateful i am for the time you're taking providing the work you do. I've been drawing everyday since the end of 2013, and i have seen way more progress during the last year i've been doing drawabox, than the other years combined.
While i'm already a patron supporter, i would have absolutly no problem at all increasing the amount i pay, as i think your clearly deserve it with all the time your'e investing.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 21:14
I know you've been struggling a lot, but it's really inspiring to see just how hard you push yourself to face those challenges head-on, instead of shying away from them. You've definitely gained a lot of ground because of that tenacity!
novechr
2016-08-22 20:47
Thanks so much for everything you do! :)
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 21:06
And thank you for your pledge! Is it alright if I list you on the drawabox thank you list as /u/novechr?
novechr
2016-08-22 21:19
oh also, just out of curiosity, has anyone completed all of the lessons yet? :O
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 21:31
Nope! Currently the furthest along is /u/Zoogdier with 14 out of 15 lessons done.
Zoogdier
2016-08-27 15:57
^^^^I ^^^^have ^^^^actually ^^^^only ^^^^done ^^^^13 ^^^^out ^^^^of ^^^^15, ^^^^i ^^^^had ^^^^skipped ^^^^the ^^^^vehicle ^^^^one ^^^^>.<
RalphPZa
2016-08-22 21:40
Congratulations on building something so big that you're starting to struggle with how to handle it. I don't have any particular advice how to handle it - the lottery system sounds good, as does going patreon only. Enjoy your vacation!
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 21:42
Haha, it is rather bittersweet! I certainly don't regret this pickle I've found myself in, not one bit.
[deleted]
2016-08-22 21:44
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 21:46
That definitely did cross my mind, but it just so happens that the vast majority of homework submissions are for those two lessons and the box challenge. The downside is that this wouldn't cut down my workload all that much.
1eowo1f
2016-08-23 02:31
What if you charged for the first 2 lessons, then made the rest free/Patreon supported?
A strange idea, but it would definitely cut down critiques for the initial lessons.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-23 02:34
That's.. actually an interesting idea. Of course, that would totally lock out anyone who wasn't able to put money down (rather than the lottery thing that would at least allow a certain number of people in for free every month). Still, despite that it's a very outside-the-box way of thinking!
JeffCLC
2016-08-24 14:01
Maybe lotto the first 2 lesson and box exercise feedback? Since the majority of work comes from those.
Or skip critiquing people work who clearly didn't spent the time/effort on doing it (e.g. lots of fraying ends cause by drawing in a hurry, not using self critique resource to check perspective boxes). I am not saying that the majority of work is done on a whim but more than a few submissions have not put in enough work and hours before submitting for critique.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-24 14:26
Actually, you'd be surprised - I used to get a lot of sloppy work in the past, but these days the effort investment is pretty high across the board. People believe they are doing the best they can (even if they're not necessarily), so ignoring their submissions without a word would be extremely discouraging for them. My critiques in such a situation may be curt and direct (and sometimes a little rude) but giving them no response at all would be considerably worse.
The whole workload balance is interesting to think about. The vast majority of submissions are lesson 1, 2 and the box challenge as I mentioned before, but they're also easier to critique due to the fact that it's always the same mistakes. If one of those critiques takes from 5-10 minutes each, lessons 3-7 can take 15 minutes up to even an hour if I feel some sort of visual demo is necessary (though I'm far less willing to do those for free critiques). The problems that come up in those lessons tend to be far more difficult to explain, and much more specific to the individual student.
Each lesson critique presents its own challenges, which is why I'm much more interested in just reducing the quantity all across the board.
JeffCLC
2016-08-22 23:13
I still think that enlisting someone who is willing to help (for free), preferably by those who completed the basic. to deal with the large amount of lesson 1 and box exercise would be the best way to reduce workload. Its not that hard to spot shaky lines without ghosting or fraying ends compared to later lesson of DS.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 23:55
Honestly I just can't bring myself to have someone work for free, it feels incredibly inappropriate. Of course the alternative isn't terribly feasible either, since paying even a low wage for something that isn't likely to encourage an increase in revenue is unwise from a business perspective. Perhaps the creation of a more community-oriented sister-subreddit would allow people to play that role for each other, rather than dumping the responsibility all on one person. The results of critique by committee will always be less desirable than leaving it to a single person, but at least it wouldn't be unfair.
xoemmytee
2016-08-22 23:50
You've done so much for the art community, even without critiques everyone can gain from what you've put out there. Totally understand your need to find balance. Don't be hard on yourself. Do as much or as little as you want without burning out. Thanks for all your hard work!
Zyalin
2016-08-23 05:58
Hey, ive only just found out about this a short while ago, and i was shocked that something like this existed for free on the internet, all handled by one guy.
Exitedly i hurried to buy myself some pens and start with the exercises. Great fun and i really really appreciate you teaching all of this, especially the part about being patient and methodical.
The recent lesson 1 Thread filled up with 188 comments now after only 2 weeks :o Who can handle that much?
I hope that you will find a satisfying system to keep this going in a way that feels right.
Thanks you
Uncomfortable
2016-08-23 13:40
Haha, thanks. I didn't realize the lesson 1 thread already had so many comments already.
ideeeyut
2016-08-23 14:00
As a Patreon supporter that has only submitted one assignment so far I know how hard it is to juggle a working life with any kind of outside activities. I, as many others I'm sure, sincerely appreciate all of the content you have produced as well as the time you have spent doing critiques. Thank you!
slavingia
2016-08-24 00:14
Hi! Some ideas:
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A Slack community for folks to give each other feedback. This is similar to the other subreddit you suggested, though it may be a better format for closer-to-real-time feedback.
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Limiting feedback to non-patrons to once a week, or even once a month (on your end, mainly so you don't dread coming home every single day :P).
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Instead of providing (honestly, absurdly specific blew me away) advice and feedback, maybe provide structured feedback (click
, and read 1, 2, 3 which apply to you, then do 100 more boxes) if you see a lot of repeating patterns. This will minimize your commitment, and maybe even make it possible to "outsource" this outside of your own time as there's less subjectivity going on. -
Asking folks to submit the first two lessons, plus the 250 Box Challenge, as the initial submission.
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Asking for a one-time $1 pledge to go along with the first assignment. I know this goes against your ethos a bit, but in general some increased filter for commitment on their part seems necessary.
You're more familiar with managing this whole thing. But I just wanted to drop some thoughts in here.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-24 00:24
Thanks for the input! The second point is actually something I did consider a while back, and went so far as to implement (sort of) for lessons 1 and 2 with the self-critique resources. I even set it up so that each point on there has a little link button which allows me to immediately copy a reddit-formatted link to that specific section.
It's decreased my work to a degree, but I have to constantly remind myself to actually use it. More than half the time even when I use those links I still write a novel alongside it e___e. I need to really force myself to write a lot less.
The idea of upping the filter a bit is definitely something I'll think on. You're right, the $1 barrier-to-entry goes against the values I want drawabox to stand for, but the idea of increasing the workload at the front is something that warrants consideration.
I love slack (we use it plenty at work) but I think adding another account, another app, another website would be a bit annoying for the users. Since we're on reddit already, another subreddit makes sense. Alternatively I could always build something into the drawabox site itself (woo bumping up those ad impressions) but in all likelihood I'd just stick to something that's familiar to the users.
Miggery
2016-08-24 11:11
What about doing it in an enrollment basis? Like an actual school. You'd group together people that are currently at the same Lesson and you handle each one group at a time. Like you'll announce that you'll be giving critics to this group at one day, while a different day for another group, just so you could manage your critics and your work time better(?).
Edit: Follow up question, since you wont be taking free critiques, can we do lessons in advance? Say for example, I finish Lesson 3 before September. I start doing Lesson 4 in September and finished early. Can I start with Lesson 5? Of course I won't the lessons I finish in advance(if there are any) without your approval.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-24 14:19
I read your idea just as I was waking up, and it definitely seemed to hold some promise. There's definitely something there, though perhaps not in its current form. Each group would have to have a maximum number of students (otherwise I'd end up as swamped as I am now), and if I didn't cap off at a certain number of groups, there would eventually be ridiculous gaps between each time a particular group's chance came up. As it stands, at least being given a set month to get through as much as possible would be more... satisfying, I guess, than completing one day's work and then not getting your next set looked at for weeks.
As for your other question, as long as you accept the likelihood of your having to redo the lessons you finish in advance to reflect whatever you learned from my critique of the previous lesson, it wouldn't hurt. If you receive a critique with lots of areas to improve on and then submit work for the next lesson that you'd done prior to receiving that critique, then that'd be a waste of time for both of us.
Miggery
2016-08-24 17:45
Yeah seems reasonable, I wouldn't mind doing a lesson again. Anyway, glad that you see some potential in it since you're managing a crapton of people at different lessons at a given time.
[deleted]
2016-08-25 07:52
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2016-08-25 13:14
Whenever someone pledges, I get an email. Then when I am able, I send a message to them via the patreon messaging system to get their permission to list them on the drawabox.com thank you list (by their full name or an alias), and I ask them if they happen to have a reddit username.
Lobachevskiy
2016-08-25 21:57
Judging by the number of comments, the absolute most submissions seems to be coming from first lessons as well as 250 box challenge.
How many people move on to other lessons eventually, versus those that never do? Limiting submissions to the first lessons might filter out folks who aren't going to commit to it.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-25 22:56
That is definitely something for me to keep in mind. I'm actually not entirely sure how I feel about people completing the first couple lessons and then stopping. I know a lot of people do complete those first two lessons (whether they submit them for critique or not), and then just stop, but I strongly believe that it's still a great way to order one's skills and fill in some gaps. Missing out on the whole constructional method schpiel is unfortunate, but I'm not sure I necessarily want to look at those who stop at that point as being less committed. There are of course many, many ways of approaching the challenge of learning how to draw, and the different lesson sets are divided up this way in order to offer logical stopping points.
I mean, it'd be ridiculously silly to think of the figure drawing material in the same way. I have half a mind to just stuff those ones away somewhere until I have the chance to rewrite them, so I have nothing against people who go to lesson 7 and stop. But still, I guess that's not entirely comparable, as the constructional method espoused in lessons 3-7 is very important, and it does to a great degree summarize what I want drawabox to stand for. Technically speaking, a person to say "I have done drawabox" should mean that they've completed up to that point.
Ahhh, so much to think about.
Lobachevskiy
2016-08-26 12:40
Maybe the better way to look at this is not that people who don't continue are less committed, but the people who do are more. Basically if you have to limit the number of submissions, which is probably the case, you might allow more advanced lessons go unrestricted. Both to reward people who do them and because the number of submissions seems to drop off heavily, so they shouldn't be such a burden.
Also, never forget that simply making these lessons available is incredibly helpful. Doing critiques basically brings you to Jesus tier of awesome, and no matter how you choose to proceed with it, you'll have dozens of people benefiting from your work.
Stay awesome, Tzar!
Uncomfortable
2016-08-26 13:16
Haha, thanks! Both for the kind words and the interesting perspective!
MissKhary
2016-08-27 21:42
As someone that starts and quits a lot of hobbies impulsively I understand why someone would quit after a few lessons. It might take that long to realize that you enjoy it a lot or you don't. Which is normal, not everyone will like drawing and I'm sure a lot of people have some image of what it'll be like in their mind and find that in reality they'd have to put in a lot more hours than they thought. The progress is slow and less obvious than say, learning a language, where it's a bit more obvious. Being 20% better than you were still means shitty drawings. That "less shittiness" is hard to quantify if you don't know what you're looking for. I'm sure this huge drop off is the same across any online or offline learning.
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-26 08:50
Hm...lessee.
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Every single time I load up this sub, I take a moment to boggle at the amount of content you put out there, the evident thought you give to every question we ask and crappy ellipse we didn't draw through, and the sheer number of days you've consistently been doing this for free on the internet. Every single time. I'm scatterbrained as hell to begin with, but I can't even imagine doing anything of this sort, on this scale, for this long.
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And then I'm like, well hell, if the dude can do all that then surely I can just draw through the damn ellipse this time. Right? Right. See, you're all inspirational and shit.
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Once I had a dream that you (cartoon-you, you know, the stubbly dude :-3 like that) and Scott McCloud (cartoon-him too 8-] of course) were giving some sort of lecture thing. It was pretty sweet. You told me I should ghost my lines more (you were right). McCloud didn't say much.
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All that is to say, you yourself are the thing that makes drawabox unique -- even more than the constructional drawing approach, though that's what got me here in the first place. I have hella bookmarks of drawing videos and forums and teacherless lessons, and I have had those hella bookmarks for literally figuratively forever and not gone through a single set of lessons. The difference is, none of those other places (least, none that I can afford) will draft me up an outline of my very own shittiness, with diagrams, and make me go fix it.
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So thanks. <3 You're the best.
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Speaking of constructional drawing: I just drew a made-up leaf on a piece of paper and for one of the first times ever I, like, believed in the leaf and now it's like, even the leaf believes it's a leaf and so will everyone else in the world. No, I'm not high.
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But I suddenly get the difference between drawing what something looks like and what something is. Never done that before. Never been able to draw much of anything believably without exactly copying a reference. Cannot stop drawing referenceless leaves. HOLY SHIT LEAVES.
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Of course I'm hoping like hell you keep some version of homework-with-feedback going, to whatever extent you decide is best for you. However! I do like the idea of a place for discussion amongst students to offload some of the smaller questions. I think I'd feel odd giving actual critique -- I only sometimes catch even half of what you see, when I look at other people's homeworks -- but some things we can surely manage on our own.
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You know... those weird personal tricks we come up with to check geometry (like the pitchfork shape the parallel edges of a box make) or make pens last longer (fridge, maybe). Or the mantras we chant to ourselves in times of chicken-scratchy distress (THINKING BEFORE INKING). Or things I haven't asked you because afaik you don't have personal experience with them, like, in the event that one is female what is the optimal positioning of boobs relative to table and shoulder, because I still haven't figured it out wtf. Life is complicated.
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Here's my attempt to actually be helpful: what specific aspects of running the site/subreddit are the most overwhelming? Like, is it purely the volume of submissions? Is it that they're all the first lessons, and the repetitiveness gets to you? Or, conversely, is it the other lessons that take up more of your effort because you can deliver a monologue on ghosting lines in your sleep? Or you're just sick of all these damn kids and their damn wobbly lines and you want to go work on your dream project SingACylinder? I ask because there are different flavors of solutions for each of those, and different ways we the peeps can help you out.
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The flip side of the question is, what do you find most rewarding, or what would you like to put more time into? Demos, new students, old students, anything but this...? I mean, it's reddit. Pretty sure someone's got a pillar in the desert you can go live on, if that's what you need. Whatever it takes! ;)
editz: formatting hard I'm gonna go draw leaves
Uncomfortable
2016-08-26 13:16
leaves that believe they are leaves
Whoaa...
I think what's overwhelming me really is a combination of the things you listed, but the focus is definitely the sheer volume. There's LOADS of lessons 1/2/boxes but those are relatively speaking easier to critique. I still have a tendency to write too much for those critiques, but at this point my fingers just dance across the keyboard (a typing speed of 120wpm+ is definitely an asset here). The more advanced lessons on the other hand take way longer to critique because rather than rehashing the exact same advice over and over, the problems tend to be much more specific, and aren't as easily explained outside of the context of the homework submission itself. The last point, wanting to work on my other projects and work on my own art (as I still have plenty of room for improvement), those points are really just extensions of being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of work.
Ideally I'd want to spend more time on the things that would help the largest number of people - individual critiques are nice, but they literally help one person at a time. They do make for a great way to learn where people tend to stumble, so I can craft better lesson content for everyone, but I think I'd be much more interested in really clarifying the lessons to the point that they don't necessarily need additional critiques - that is, if you're able and willing to focus (which a lot of people, at least when beginning, have trouble with).
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-26 23:16
There are a bunch of different ways you can reduce your own workload, while still keeping things accessible. Some:
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Limit the number of critiques you give
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Limit the effort & time expended per critique
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Change the way critiquing/the whole system works?!
Here follows a lot of thoughts! Which I warn you are very brainstorm, little coherence.
Limiting number of critiques you give
Easiest to implement, certainly. Although...may I suggest you avoid a lottery-type system, because shit, man, there is no drama like RNG drama and holy hell but that is DRAMA. Maybe just a signup? As in, you give 10 critiques per week; all of us students get placed in some ordered list and are allowed, in order, to sign up for a slot in the upcoming month. Once we get critiqued we go to the end of the line. Newcomers join the queue.
Good: gives us time to prepare. Gives you a way to control the rate of critiques along with the overall number. Discourages frivolous/half-assed submissions, maybe?
Bad: logistics could get gross.
Limiting your time/effort per critique
Ideally, of course, this means changing the students' work instead of your critiquing habits. XD
So...what about expanding the self-critique aspect of early lessons? I found those bits really helpful when I was going through, and I still look at them now and again.
Also, there's this disconnect between "/u/Uncomfortable's comically over-the-top intentionally shitty line with extra shittiness" and "some poor sod's unintentionally shitty line with subtler shit in it". We look at your Ultimate Wobbly Line that you drew to show us what not to do, and ours doesn't look like that, so we think we're good -- but actually, no, even if we only have two wobbles instead of 83, we have wobbles. It's...the continuum of shittiness. Yeah.
There are a few things I think could help here. First, more, um, codification? of things like line quality into objective criteria. What constitutes wobbliness? How many excursions from straightitude are ok? And make these explicit enough that even those of us blinded by our own sheer glory can sort the okayish from the not. Maybe: for every line on your page, check that it a) consists of only one stroke, b) starts exactly at its intended start, c) doesn't make any abrupt course corrections because yes those are wobbles, d) has no gappy bits in the ink flow, e) has no blobby bits in the ink flow. Or: each single box is made of exactly 12 single linear marks for edges (assuming you draw see-thru, and prior to lineweights). Count & make sure. Each ellipse has at least two go-rounds at every point on its circumference. Etc...
Second, what about a "curated" gallery of other students' homework, with your comments? Reason being, because so many of us come to this entirely new to drawing, we (well, I, anyway) can get confused by things that are idiosyncratic to your personal style, or happen because you do the demos digitally (which, frex, doesn't show gappy bits in the ink when one is too timid), or which you simply can't manage to do without exaggerating because you've so well trained yourself not to. But we, otoh! We do horrible shitty linework in spades, and with all manner of subtleties and snowflake specialness. It's easier to extract general principles from seeing your reaction to lots of different people's attempts than from only seeing your good set. And reviewing past threads, while hella fun, is hit-and-miss as to whether you catch a particularly good/bad/useful/instructive batch. But "here are some examples of wobblers" "here's a bunch with perspective flaws" "these are different approaches to lineweights" "here's that one dude with the sweet elephant skin texture"...
Good: helps with the goal of being as useful as possible to as widespread an audience, while lessening the handholding you have to do. Hammers principles into heads a bit more, maybe.
Bad: doesn't necessarily cut down on your workload! and requires a bunch of effort at the outset
Some other random ideas, aka Change All The Things:
What if you eliminated critiques on the first two lessons completely, but instead made a sort of entrance exam for the other lessons? So the homeworks would be really homeworks -- we'd have to complete them + self-correct in colored pen + redo until we satisfied some criteria (no more than x bad lines per y boxes, or some such) + submit to prove we actually did, plus, in order to be inducted into the hallowed ranks of Those Who May Have Their Leaves Critiqued, we'd submit a shorter version for your inspection and approval.
Good: means you're only critiquing people who are serious about improving/trying to learn the constructional part, but doesn't put up a barrier to entry for people attempting the early stuff and self-evaluating their own work
Bad: lots of time for them to develop the old pestilence and villainy before you can intervene?
or...
What if you divided each month up thematically, so that each week had a focus on one particular skill -- maybe week 1 you'd only critique lesson 1 submissions, and week 3 you'd only critique lesson 2, and the other weeks no lesson 1/2 at all? That doesn't necessarily lessen the workload, of course, but turns it into several short sprints instead of a single marathon kind of thing.
Good: would alleviate tedium of doing the same thing all the time, which, I am totally projecting here because I'm hella prone to getting bored/distracted/frustrated in the absence of structured variety. I suspect, given this whole endeavor, that you are unlike me in this regard. But, you know. Ideas might lead to better ideas, and whatnot.
Bad: could be you hate sprinting.
or...
What about cutting back on the written critiques, but doing a weekly video review or chat thingy where you go over submissions?
Good: You could say a thing once to multiple people, instead of typing it out 18 times. Do you speak faster than you type? Could be more interactive, I guess, if you wanted.
Bad: Less individualized. Also there are people like me who kind of hate having to watch videos. Because I can read faster than you speak. :D
or...
Or what about "workshop" threads, where you schedule something a bit like an AMA and make people bring their linework, or toasters, or whatever preset topic?
Good: could work I dunno
Bad: Wandering farther away from your current style of working -- which may or may not be a thing you're open to.
And I'll stop there. But yeah. Thanks for exhausting yourself on our behalf. :D
Uncomfortable
2016-08-27 00:27
Damn, that's a lot of ideas. I went through all of them, and for many, I went through the cycle of "ohhh that's interesting! there might be something there!" and then identifying certain problems they could pose.
Ultimately there's a few factors I always need to keep in mind, and they pertain to the more business side of things, as this is a small business for me (i'm no saint, I'm just a bad businessman):
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Reputation - This has a huge influence, and makes the difference between trying to push lots and lots of people through a quick factory, and me dealing only with a handful of people but giving them targeted critiques that have a much greater chance of helping them improve. The latter has a much more positive impact on my reputation, which in turn carries a lot of value. Quality wins over quantity every time.
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Donations - These increase for several reasons, but in terms of all of this, people who want to get in on the critiques without waiting, or playing the lottery, or whatever other system I end up implementing, are likely to pledge. This will inevitably lead to the same problem (me being overwhelmed), so I'd likely increase the threshold to keep things balanced (supply/demand).
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Ad Revenue - this is harder to pin down, but is likely to improve as traffic goes up, which in turn is likely to happen as the content itself improves and expands, and word of it continues to spread. Improving the self critique resources, rewriting and clarifying lessons, etc. is all likely to do this (and these are all things I intend to do once my time is no longer all exhausted on writing critiques).
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Man hours - of course, the whole reason this issue has been raised. The more hours I'm required to put in, the more my relative compensation shrinks. Conversely as the revenue increases, it is mitigated, but while money is wonderful, sometimes being able to take a night off is far more valuable.
So, I evaluate every idea against this sort of criteria. For example, my importance of offering a service for free is the bedrock of my reputation. I've improved as an instructor over the past couple years (considering that I started off as nothing, so there was nowhere to go but up), but I'd be laughed out of town if I tried to create a more traditional online school, or mentorship, or anything of that sort. So, this whole thing is built upon the good will of others, and I foster that by putting forward loads of my own. To forsake that now would be spitting upon the principles of this whole project, and that's some bad juju.
Now, that doesn't mean that I need to focus on delivering that free service to as many people as possible, especially considering the fact that the lessons themselves are, and always will be, freely available. Limiting the reach of my individual critiques would still be in line with the founding principles, while expanding that reach at the expense of quality would undermine my reputation and put the overall growth at risk.
At least, that's how I see things - I could very well be wrong. Traditionally expanding your reach and watering down the content is a great way to make a lot of people feel special on a superficial level, which is a great way to loosen purse strings too. Just not one I'm wholly comfortable with. Again, it goes back to the founding principles of the project.
One idea that did catch my eye was the weekly video review. I could see it applying at least in some ways to lessons 3-7, where I'd gather enough homework-fodder to establish a nice chunk of issues I could cover, grouping them off as "these people made this mistake, those people made that mistake" and so on. The primary issues would be that I honestly hate making videos (though this is something that's tough enough to avoid as it is, so it's really just me bellyaching), and that it would result in HUGE wait times for most people. The advantages of this method would be that it would result in more content (more ad revenue, improving my reputation just by having more stuff available, reaching out to more potential viewers, etc.), and that content would actually be better in that it would show clear examples of things to avoid and things to strive for while allowing me to present them in certain contexts. And, to be fair, writing and drawing a lesson takes for EVER. Time just runs through my fingers. Making a video is, at least often times, a much quicker process (also because I don't really edit them, clean up audio, and my production values are shiiiiit).
The thought of making videos very weekend makes me feel a bit queasy, but it does have a lot of merit. So, again - you've given me lots to think about. Thanks for taking the time!
MissKhary
2016-08-27 21:28
I think your site is the great free resource, and you offer so many tools for people to self-evaluate so that even if one were to never submit for critique you could still do the lessons. You would still improve. I think it's honestly unheard of to put the time and thoughtfulness in your thorough critiques, it's very generous. But since the critiques are a "nice to have, not must have" maybe another option is to charge a few bucks for a critique.
Pro: people would refine their homework and not submit half assed attempts because money.
Pro: get paid for your time.
Con: ? I guess lose the "holy shit look at everything you get for free!" Though I think the lessons themselves being free is the real value, the critiques are icing on the cake. You could offset this by doing a weekly question thread where you can answer quick questions and quick checks like "is my ellipse ok" without going into huge detail. Then you could spend your time building up your site (ad revenue), doing critiques for a few bucks (revenue) and answering quick questions (customer support for a small business). It's tough, as a small business owner myself I get it, I used to give a LOT more away for free.
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-28 21:27
Ahaha, well, ideas I can do for days...you get the lovely task of sorting/evaluating/implementing. I can't say I envy you that. I feel you on the aversion to making videos, though if it's any consolation none of that comes through in your videos themselves. They're chill af.
MissKhary
2016-08-27 22:03
what is the optimal positioning of boobs relative to table and shoulder
I have a good amount of uh, chest, so totally get it :) But what I found was to change the table. I don't have a drawing table as I don't normally do traditional art, but when I was starting the ellipses and the lines I tried different pens, different positions for the paper, different angles, until I found one that was comfortable and let me make consistent strokes. Ultimately for me that was to have the paper at about a 45 degree angle and a bit off to the right, my shoulder opens up a bit, it gives me full range of motion for the shoulder, elbow is out, and my hand ends up being to the right of the boob, not in front. If I try to draw in front of my body then the boobs are in the way. Side is where it's at!
edit: For the angle I just used a solid flat clip board and propped it up on something to give me the incline. Putting it on my lap and leaning it onto the desk works too.
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-28 21:20
Aha! Thank you for the tips! I think my current best (tho still imperfect) solution is similar to yours -- I do the angled paper and the sideways offset, so, like, if my desk were a map of the US, I draw most of my lines going Ohio Kentucky Tennessee. Or something. And sit on an extra cushion all curled over the page, which I think is effectively equal to the clipboard?
I still have this weird thing with large circles/ wide ellipses where they end up vaguely triangular in a very consistent way, which I think may be more down to arm mechanics than course correction (i.e., the pointy bits are at some kind of inflection points of shoulder rotation). Stupid ellipses. >:[
MissKhary
2016-08-28 22:05
I don't think it'll be the same thing to just sit higher and draw down on a horizontal surface. Try it out, take a paper pad and just hold it up with your non-drawing hand. Then relax your other arm and draw on the pad, see if a different angle results in an easier time. If I hold the pad up and draw at about boob height and about a foot in front, that seems to be the sweet spot for full motion of my arm without being annoying. When I'm over a table after a while I rest my arm without thinking and then all the drawings go to shit because I start drawing with my wrist without noticing. Not that I'm an expert on drawing, but when I had a Cintiq (like a monitor that you can draw on) I had it at an angle because straight down just was awkward. I think they say that drawing flat like that skews perspectives when you're drawing and that having it at an angle helps offset that.
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-28 23:06
Hmm. At one point I did get an extra large clipboard... I'll give it a shot!
Tis_Unfortunate
2016-08-30 19:44
Alright, so, I gave it a shot. And, you know what, it's all true and you're a lifesaver. Handsaver! Something. I had a hell of a time at first trying to even judge where the paper was -- like, my ghosts would accidentally touch down, or I'd try to touch down and the paper wouldn't be where I thought it was -- but once I got used to that part, things got better. Plus, I think there's some half-subconscious effect where having the 2D paper and clipboard free in 3D space, instead of constrained to a 2D desktop, makes me more aware of 3D-ness. Huh. Fascinating...
Anyway, thank you (from me and my boobs)
cheerann
2016-08-26 21:40
I feared this day would come, but you're seriously awesome for tackling this monster endeavor SOLO and for as long as you have and I can't thank you enough. The information and critiques are enormously invaluable especially to those who either aren't sure about art or lack the resources, and well, basically the entire art community.
I broke down the number of submissions from the spreadsheet roughly and a whopping 70% come from the first two lessons and the box challenge. And from that 70% about half is the first lesson alone. The third lesson has about 140 submissions and the fourth only has 89. The first two lessons and box challenge are more or less plug'n play being fairly straightforward. The shit gets real in the third lesson when you actually have to apply everything from the ground up.
So with that being said, what do you think about a peer review system? You gotta give a couple of 'critiques' before you can get one. The critiques are structured into a rubric format with either a pass/fail, or maybe on a number scale and you add it up to a passing grade, much like school. In fact, that self critiquing area on drawabox.com is pretty much a rubric already. That way you'd be virtually free from the first lesson at least and onto lessons that are more complex where your knowledge/critiques are better needed and less in volume. Granted a rubric doesn't feel as great as "Excellent work!" or as encouraging, but it should help combat the volume and any concern of the blind leading the blind, and it certainly doesn't hurt to have people further analyze the lessons and hopefully interact as well.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-26 22:45
That certainly is an interesting idea, and even if I didn't necessarily implement it in the main subreddit, it would probably be a welcome addition to the sister subreddit I mentioned. That said, I'll have to put a lot of thought into how exactly I would even consider breaking down such a rubric, and how I would weight the different exercises. There's some cases where I'd let a bunch of mistakes slide, and others where a single core issue would be enough to hold a student back. Even there, I for one person, say, drawing stiff ellipses, I might let them move forward expecting them to pull it together with additional practice, and I might be a bit more adamant about having another redo the section just based on the general feeling I get from the rest of their work.
But still, I don't think anyone would expect the same kind of result as a targeted critique. But for those reasons I might be a little wary of relying on that as a means to let students go through the first two lessons on this subreddit. It'd work great as a way to help others learn how to critique one another, though, in a less structured environment.
BarnabeJonez
2016-08-27 09:42
Since you mentioned that you tend to see a lot of the same problems in the first two lessons, maybe you can make up a "common problems and what they mean" sheet? If it's a doable thing, people may be able to self-correct and lessen the need for critique.
I'm (very) slowly working my way through the first lesson, but I've already seen improvement in my art. Thank you so much for setting this up!
Uncomfortable
2016-08-27 16:05
I actually did add something along those lines at the beginning of the year. At the top of lessons 1 and 2 (where I rarely ever see mistakes that other people haven't done before) you'll see a blue button that says "Self Critique Resources." It'll lead to a page listing all of the most common mistakes for that lesson and explanations of why they're incorrect, and what would be better.
BarnabeJonez
2016-08-27 23:03
Ah, I found it now. Maybe you could increase the visibility of it so other people don't miss it too? Maybe give it a mention in the homework submission thread's sticky?
MissKhary
2016-08-27 21:52
When I was working on the homework for the first lesson I think I read through the whole thread pertaining to that, I looked at everyone's drawings, and I read your comments on all of them. Then I went back and looked at what I was doing myself and adjusted. But the thing is, the same feedback was coming up again and again. Your ellipses are not loose enough. You need to do the ghosting method more. You are going too slow and getting wobbly lines. Etc etc. And each time you write it out again for a new person.
Some things to consider, I'm sure you have and realized they're not good but:
Report cards, our kids report cards have letter codes in each subject. Maybe one will have A,D,F and you go in and look at what they mean "talks during class" and "uneven effort" etc. Maybe something like this, where each of the issues that come up consistently is reduced to a letter, this still gives the student good feedback while seriously reducing the amount of time spent typing it up.
Other option would be a text auto expander. If you type "word" it would insert "paragraph". Then the critique could be as simple as typing in a few words that automatically expand to full text, with a few lines at the bottom for the things that didn't fit into the standard issues.
Edit: Also saw in some other replies the idea of small questions thread or something like that, I think that would be a great idea. Some questions actually have little to do with the lessons themselves and are more like "what kind of pens are you guys using? where did you buy them? what paper? how long did it take you to do XYZ? Does your hand cramp up when you draw or am I holding the pen wrong? " etc etc.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-28 01:55
Thanks so much for all the thought you put into this! My phone was off for a good chunk of the day, as I was in a sky-sausage, so I was kind of amazed to see all of your messages when I turned it back on.
I think of all your ideas, I think what struck me the most was the weekly question threads. This, in combination with something another student suggested in regards to doing a big group-critique in a video at the end of each week, could be a good idea. Instead of a group critique, I could take questions during a set period of time every week, and then publish a video answering as many of them as I can. This would huuuugely cut down on the amount of effort that goes into the free side of things, while also allowing me to create more video content that could in turn greatly benefit the people not interested in submitting work for critique.
[deleted]
2016-08-27 23:16
How would you feel about requiring a minimum of 1 USD donation per homework review ?
It is very noble of you to help everyone for free and I am incredibly grateful.
1$ is just a symbolic number but maybe it can help reduce your workload. If not, I hope it can bring you some money.
At the end of the day, your time is valuable and only people who are really motivated should ask you to review their work.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-28 02:23
To be honest, I am pretty adamant about providing something for free on this subreddit, for a few reasons.
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Giving a chance to those who can't afford to spend money on taking a shot on what could one day become a passionate hobby, or even a career is one of the core founding principles of this project
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I walk a narrow line with reddit - while it's less integral now, I've always relied on this subreddit to draw attention and drive traffic, and it's been okay because I've always provided a significant free service to redditors. Technically you're not allowed to take donations for the moderation of a subreddit, so I wasn't able to set up my patreon campaign until I constructed an entirely separate website (drawabox), separating what the donations were for. If I stopped offering free services altogether, I'd probably run afoul of reddit's policies and would lose a considerable asset.
That said, I could always offer something less work intensive (like a weekly question thread or something), instead of actual free critiques across the board.
FishToaster
2016-08-27 23:53
If you go the "limited enrollment"/lottery route, some thoughts:
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I don't know how much extra money actually increases your ability/willingness to take on more work, but... you could do some sort of sponsorship system. Like, "pledging $1 on patreon gets you critiques, but pledging $10 will open up an additional lottery slot for someone else." I don't know if this will work for everyone everyone, but I'd definitely be very motivated by the idea that I'm helping someone else get access to this amazing resource.
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Since it seems like the majority of submissions are in the first couple lessons, maybe only make those limited? That way, if the limited class only lasts for a month, a student just has to make it through the first two lessons in that time frame and then they can continue in through the lessons without being interrupted. This seems like it avoids the problem of people getting cut off once their class ends, but still allows you to drastically cut down on your workload.
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Whatever you do, I don't think anyone (reasonable) will be unhappy. When I first stumbled on your site I was amazed that all that high-quality content was free. "Surely there's some catch, right?" But nope. And then I saw that you were doing individual critiques. "Surely they're just a sentence or two, or he only reviews a small percentage of them, right?" Nope you write multiple paragraphs on everything that comes through. It's downright amazing. If you have to step down your commitment a bit, no sane person could fault you.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-28 03:20
Thanks for the thoughts, and the kind words. The sponsorship program is definitely an interesting one. I don't know how much people would be swayed by that, although I think honestly I'd be more interested in a decrease in work over an increase in income. I'm just exhausted right now.
I've heard the suggestion about separating lessons 1/2 from the rest of the set, in terms of only limiting those, or only limiting the others, and so on. Those first two lessons definitely constitute the bulk of the submissions, but they're also a lot easier to critique. Conversely, the other lessons are more infrequent, but they tend to take waaaaay more effort to critique. At the end of the day, I'd say it's fairly balanced, and in the spirit of cutting down my workload, I'm a lot more interested in just reducing the workload across the board. I figure if now's the time to do it, tiptoeing around the issue would do me a bigger disservice than stepping it down now, then stepping it down again in the future.
Terminon
2016-08-28 12:58
Every time i see the load of your work i continue to worry that you burn yourself out. You said yourself some time ago that this does not scale indefinitely. You are the victim of your own success.
You and your project are the first guy/system that made me stick to
a daily drawing routine ( Starting May 2015 ). I assume i am not the
only one really appreciating the benefits of your work.
From my point of view, there are two separate things you offer, which should be measured differently:
1.) Free critiques
As you expect no compensation for them , it is entirely up to you how and how many of
those you make per month. The suggestion to set a fixed limit and doing a
lottery seems good to me, although since you offer them for free, you could
use any system you want. You could totally choose to critique the ones which are of the
greatest interest to you.
2.) Paid critiques
You are limited in how many critiques you can (or want to) do per day. When the demand
rises towards your limit, you have to increase your rate. If you want to stick to the
current system, a first step would be to eliminate the lower patreon tiers, and monitor
if your monthly patreon income rises,falls or stays the same.
If you continue to make this a one-man show you will have to accept your limits.
Making this bigger would require a huge organisational effort. What i really like
for example is the peer-review system of the Online System of the Watts Atelier of
the arts. Unfortunately, they concentrate on traditional media, which - at least for me -
is not where i want to go long term. Anyways, pulling off something like this (Guild system,
Apprenticeship system) is probably not feasible for one person.
However you decide on how to continue, i will stay with Drawabox. ;-)
So keep cool, enjoy your success, and dont burn out !
-Torsten.
Uncomfortable
2016-08-28 16:14
I really appreciate that (and the increase to your pledge!) - I genuinely am curious though, what is the Watts peer-review system like? I'm not familiar with it, and while you're likely right that it might be unfeasible for me alone, I might be able to pull things from that concept anyway.
Terminon
2016-08-29 06:36
When enrolled in the Watts Academy Online, you advance your level (Journeyman, Guildsman, Senior Guildsman, Master Guildsman) not only by passing assignments, but there are additional requirements like having mentees of your own. They say they want to capture the live studio/atelier atmosphere where there is constant support between the students of different levels of capability.
This review describes the system better than i can: http://artschooldb.com/2015/06/01/review-watts-atelier-online/
I also like the idea, that in order to preserve your level, you have to constantly participate in
skill challenges. In my point of view, this gamifies the constant basic (and not so basic) practice, you
have to do anyway.
radiantrain
2016-09-01 18:16
Why not have volunteers of people you know are capable and trustworthy to help you out at their discretion. You set some general guidelines and then they give critiques as well.
Uncomfortable
2016-09-01 20:20
I actually touched on this in the post. There's a lot of complexities involved, but long story short, it'd compromise on my morals (free labour for something that generates money for me), it'd compromise on the quality of the work and therefore the reputation of drawabox and /r/ArtFundamentals (from my perspective, better to offer good quality critiques to a few people than low quality stuff to many), and volunteers are understandably less reliable than people who actually have a financial stake.
It's for that reason that I am going to open up a second subreddit for more community-oriented question-answer/discussion posts, so people can help each other outwithout directly impacting the reputation of the core service.
StarmanTheta
2016-09-04 02:38
Hey so this may be off topic, but I got a dumb question.
So I only just recently discovered this sub and I want to really start drawing. I got the sketchpad and pens and everything. However, I'm a bit confused on some things. This topic seems the best to ask, given the circumstances:
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I've come across a lot of tutorials that I've been trying to follow, and in my lurking I've noticed that in a lot of the homework threads, and indeed the site itself, you seem to stress perfecting one lesson before moving onto another, as well as sometimes requiring additional homework before one moves on. My question is are we supposed to focused exclusively on one thing before doing anything else? By which I mean, if I'm on lesson, say, 4, am I to do absolutely nothing BUT lesson 4 until it is turned in and approved or am I free to experiment with separate tutorials or my own doodles until someone responds?
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Following number 1, should you be unable to give critique on homework again in the future, either due to being burnt out or some other reason, should I wait until you are able to review homework again to move on or should I just move on when I feel I've 'got it'?
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How much time am I expected to be working on each exercise? I am told it takes 20 hours to get good at something, though I don't know if that's 20 hours per exercise or 20 hours of practice total. I only ask because I want to make sure I can schedule the time--I'm currently trying for an hour of practice each day but I don't know if I should be doing more.
Uncomfortable
2016-09-04 03:10
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I definitely don't stress perfecting one lesson before moving onto another. These lessons are intended to teach you how to practice - I'm not teaching you how to draw, I'm teaching you how to learn how to draw. You do the required amount of homework with the intent of getting a sense of what each exercise is asking of you, and what you should be aiming for. I mark a lesson as complete when I'm confident that you're going in the right direction. Mastery is a target, not a location you'll actually reach. Especially with lessons 1 and 2, they're collections of exercises that you should practice regularly. So no, you're free to do whatever you like alongside the exercises and lessons. When you do the lessons though, follow them to a tee - don't add anything external. That is, no information from other tutorials, no ideas of your own - get your head around what the lessons describe, and once you really feel confident in it, then you can consider it against other things you've learned.
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Plenty of people go through the lessons on their own, making their own decisions on whether or not they're ready to move onwards. I'm also likely going to create another subreddit for drawabox students to critique each other and get input.
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It's not a question of how long - it depends on the person. What matters is that you put in your absolute best effort towards completing the minimum required amount. An hour a day is a substantial amount, but you might find that it'll take you a week or two to get through one lesson. Just make sure you don't rush and do sloppy work. If it's not the best you're capable of, then it's not going to help much. Of course, even if your best is awful, that's still worthwhile.
StarmanTheta
2016-09-04 18:12
Ah, my apologies. I must have misinterpreted. In any case, thanks for the answer, it cleared things up.
ReDraw-mind
2016-09-16 23:20
Hello Irshad..how are you doing?
I don't have any new idea to add but i just wanted you to know how amazing ' Draw a box' is & how grateful I am .. i read many times & learned in many courses about believing in yourself & practicing really hard to gain any skill even if it is being a professional artist but it were all just theories .. the only thing that proved it true to me is joining your course..
i may be at the very beginning & I'm struggling a lot but behind all that i see me in progress . right !
I want you to know that i really understand that you are suffering with this overwhelming critiques but it's what it makes it so unique among other courses & artists ... we need your priceless critiques & sometimes we need it for free not because you don't deserve to be paid but because there are lots like me who live in countries where one dollar equals 12 of their local currency & their income is very low .
as i always say thank you is not enough . i'll pledge a donation as soon as i can
Mr_Guest_
2016-09-18 23:25
I'm not old enough for a credit card and i don't know how to transfer money to paypal my parents would most likely not give me money to spend online so can I give you a ten dollar amazon gift card code as a pledge cuz I can buy those with my lunch money.
Uncomfortable
2016-09-19 23:15
Unfortunately I don't feel terribly comfortable with that arrangement. If your parents don't approve, then stick to reading the lessons carefully and making use of the self critique resources (currently available for lesson 1 and 2, through the blue button at the top of each of these lessons) to help identify the majority of the most common mistakes people make.
[deleted]
2016-09-20 17:18
[deleted]
ApocAlypsE007
2016-10-05 14:16
So... What is going to happen now in October?
Uncomfortable
2016-10-05 15:25
Free critiques are open currently, and will close indefinitely after October 7th. You can read more about it in this post I made last week. Looks like I forgot to update that little red blurb above the comment boxes - I'll fix it up right now!
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 18:46
Thank you for the kind words. It's comments like that which have helped me continue with this for these two long years.
jvene1
2016-08-22 19:13
It's the least I can do. This post encouraged me to pledge $3/mo on patreon! How do I link that to my reddit account so I can keep progress on the homeworks?
Uncomfortable
2016-08-22 19:47
Whenever someone becomes a patron, I get an email notification. Then when I have a chance I reach out to the person to get their reddit username. Since it's pretty obvious which patron you are, I'll go ahead and note that down.
Additionally, is it alright if I list you on the drawabox.com thank you list by your full name, or should I use another alias like your reddit username? (And thanks for the pledge by the way!)
jvene1
2016-08-22 20:04
Full name is fine! And no problem, as I get a better income hopefully I can move up the donation level ladder! Cheers from Texas :)