How do I know when I should move on to the next exercise?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/ypsf4n/how_do_i_know_when_i_should_move_on_to_the_next/
2022-11-08 17:13
melaagony
Like the title says, how do I know when I should move to the next set of excercises/homework?
I might be a little slow because I can't move on to the next exercises
I have at least 20 pages of Ghosted Planes and I can't stop, everytime I sit down for another drawing session my "warm ups" take 3 hours because the lines are never "straight enough" or they are a little to wobbly or a little too imprecise so I go back to the beginning for another week
I've been doing drawabox since July and I still haven't finished the first lesson!
I managed to make it to the rough perspective exercise but guess what?? The box was a little too wobbly and a litte too imprecise, so back to the beginning we go!
Am I hesitating? Nop, am I drawing from my shoulder? I think so(?), am I rotating the page? Probably more than necessary, am I holding the pen correctly? I have no idea!
I don't know what I'm doing wrong and it feels like I'm losing my mind because I feel so incredibly stupid for failing at a single straight line
When should I call it quits and say "well I tried"?
I'm sorry this is so long, I'm just very frustrated
I would appreciate any advice at this point.
Uncomfortable
2022-11-08 17:16
Your question suggests that you may have missed, or perhaps forgotten, what is explained in Lesson 0 - so I strongly urge you to go back through Lesson 0 in its entirety, but especially this video which stresses the fact that you should not be grinding your exercises until you're satisfied. You complete the amount of work that is assigned, get feedback on it, and then once the person/people giving you feedback feel you're demonstrating a good understanding of how to approach the material, then it becomes part of your warmups.
Brettinabox
2022-11-08 18:36
I went straight to the discord and asked a few times, people that were further along told me if and what I needed rather quickly.
chamacchan
2022-11-09 12:21
You're not meant to keep doing these until they're perfect! You're meant to do your best following the instructions, complete the assignments as listed without re-doing them, and move on. :) you'll keep learning as you go! It's not only about the finished product at first, but about training your motor skills and your brain. Not all your exercises are going to turn out beautiful, but if you followed instructions and drew to the best of your current ability, then go on to the next assignment! You'll get better as you go.
Also, don't forget the instructions to spend time drawing for enjoyment.
melaagony
2022-11-08 18:04
Oh I see, thank you
It's just that I've seen others posting their exercises here and they were so much better than mine so I figured I was doing something wrong and had to make mine more presentable
I'll try to push these thoughts aside and focus in just doing the best I can
Thank you.
alucryts
2022-11-08 18:10
Honestly you will be quite far from perfect when it comes to the homework. As you learn the homework, you'll start slowly improving over time as you warmup. If you want practice, don't worry friend the 250 box challenge is coming. You will have ample time to practice your lines there.
For lesson 1, focus on confidence. Confidence is not the same as accuracy. Confidence means you think, ghost, mark.
The point of rough perspective is to get you used to the idea of vanishing points and the fact that an imprecise box still looks decent even if its not perfect.
inalasahl
2022-11-08 20:38
I appreciate you asking, because I just redid my lines and was wondering if I should do them a third time so you helped me too.
fuckNietzsche
2022-11-09 05:14
Note that Drawabox and the Art Fundamentals Reddit is not only composed of absolute beginners and those completely unfamiliar with Drawabox. Some of the people doing the course are themselves fairly good artists who're doing the course because they wanted to review their fundamentals. Others might be beginner artists, but also people who started Drawabox and then stopped halfway through, only to restart it again (I myself am in the latter category. If I had some of my original Drawabox stuff to show you next to my current attempts, you'd probably be pretty surprised at the difference. I'm not great at it, but I'm still miles ahead of when I started). And then there's that small subset of veterans who've been drawing for a while and doing Drawabox on and off for a while now.
As a result, a complete beginner who tries to come in here and compares their work to that of the others around here would likely be absolutely demoralized at the seeming difference in the quality of their work vs the quality of some of the better stuff here.
My advice, then, is that you should remember what stage of your learning process you're in. You're not a veteran artist, and you're not a veteran of Drawabox. You're essentially the artist version of a little toddler that's trying to write their ABC's but keep stumbling over the fact that they don't comply perfectly with the dotted lines. You're trying to compare yourself with the likes of professional and amateur authors in their 20s who've been writing thousands, or even tens of thousands of words every day for over a decade. But they were like you onceand if you ask most of them, they'll tell you that they're still at that stage! Many of them will straight up admit that they have artists that they themselves admire greatly and feel like they'll never compare to, but the difference is that they've managed to build up their confidence. They can say "Yeah, I'm not as good as XYZ in drawing Thing A yet, but my art is still worth something", because they have the confidence built up from having had doubts that they manged to prove wrong. They can decide that it's fine that they're not as good at making thing A as the other artist, because they've managed to come to realize that if Thing A matters that much to them, then they can just learn to draw it better.
Have some confidence in yourself. Or better yet, have a bit less confidence in yourself. You're learning how to draw lines, circles, and boxes just now. How can you know if another artist's any better than you based off the little bit you barely know yourself? That's like someone just learning English thinking another person is an English prodigy because they can say "She Sells Seashells By The Sea Shore" ten times really fast. It's silly!
Be confident in the art you drew and the judgement you received. Be cautious about your own judgement, because it's a pitfall trap made by a sadistic fellow. And above all else, remember that you will always get exactly what you work forso don't work for "perfection", work for "being an artist".