[250 Box Challenge] Is it ok to check the convergence while drawing a box?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/ub2mde/250_box_challenge_is_it_ok_to_check_the/
2022-04-24 19:45
MusicNotes2
When I have drawn 2 lines that create a vanishing point, and I need to draw another line that converges at the same vanishing point, I ghost from one of the vertices of the box towards the vanishing point, and after I've done that, I draw a point that sits inside that ghosted line. I then grab my ruler, and check if everything converges nicely. If it does, great, if it doesn't, I try ghosting again (without the ruler). I did this for 2 pages, and while rereading the lesson text, I noticed that this could be considered a crutch, since I'm supposed to only check for convergences after I've completed the whole page.However, in my opinion, checking the convergences only at the end doesn't really tell me how to be more accurate. It only tells me "You've done x out of y lines correctly", and I move onto the next page without having learned a thing. When I check for convergences midway, it gives me a clear next step: "x line has converged too quickly" or "y line has converged too slowly". I can then ghost towards the vanishing point again, reminding myself to make the line more gradual/steeper, improving my intuition.I know I'm probably missing the point, but I just wanted to make my thought-process clear to see why I'm wrong. Thanks in advanced, and have a nice day!
Uncomfortable
2022-04-24 20:03
As long as your approach does not involve:
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Using a ruler when actually drawing a given stroke
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Does not involve plotting the vanishing point itself on the page
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Does not involve correcting, redrawing, or attempting to alter lines you've already drawn
The way you describe it sounds entirely fine to me, and it is a perfectly appropriate strategy to put little points down to kind of figure things out - while a whole line is a commitment, a single point is not, and is easily ignored. You'll notice that Scylla's approach here uses various points to figure things out as well.
jinn_art
2022-04-25 19:27
This is interesting. May two rulers or two pens also be used for this?
Uncomfortable
2022-04-25 19:53
In what way would you use two rulers, or two pens?
jinn_art
2022-04-25 20:00
If two lines have already been drawn that lead to the same vanishing point, then you could place one ruler on the outer line and place the second ruler on the ghosted line. This would make it easier to see if the lines have the same vanishing point. By close vanishing point.it could be cheating.
Uncomfortable
2022-04-25 21:00
Ahh. Yeah, that's fine. The important part is that in doing so, students are forcing themselves to think about those convergences. Of course students can do that without rulers, but this gives them something more tangible. Just remember that boxes are made up of 3 sets of 4 lines each - so it is necessary to think of all 4 edges simultaneously, including those that have not yet been drawn. So the one pitfall of using 2 rulers is that you might end up focusing purely on just those two lines, rather than all 4 at once.