sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-08-15 19:05
Yeah, it looks like you made good use of those notes. I can see youre moving in the right direction. Good job! Ill mark the challenge as complete and send you on to Lesson 2. Continue practicing with hitting that end point while youre ghosting. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-08-15 11:48
Hey there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Nice work getting through the entire box challenge! That's a real accomplishment and I can see that both your linework and your convergences improved greatly over the course of the set. Nice job with that. I just have a few things I'd like to point out:
- I noticed you stopped adding additional line weight towards the end of the challenge. I'm pointing this out because it's important to follow the directions closely for maximum learning. Additionally, you seem to consistently overshoot your end points, making your lines poke out around the corners of your boxes. This has the unfortunate effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form on a 2D plane.
What I noted above combined with the slight wobble I'm seeing in your lines, means I'm going to urge you to continue practice ghosting in your warm-ups. First focus on finding a speed at which you're putting down consistent and confident line work and once you have that down, look towards consistently hitting that end point.
- Foreshortening. You stick quite closely with a middle-ground perspective, but in future practice sessions, I want to encourage you to try some more dramatic perspectives as well! Practicing a fuller range of foreshortening will be extremely useful for later lessons and beyond.
- Your convergences improve enormously towards the end, but I notice that the back corner of the box continues to give you a bit of trouble. This is extremely common, so that is nothing practice can't fix, but take a look over these notes for additional insight.
What you're trying to do is consider each line with regards to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a corner or a plane. Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a rather small angle between them, which will result in the lines running more or less parallel to one another once they hit the box, so look out for this kind of relationship when you're practicing in the future.
Overall, this is strong work, but I think you can push yourself further. I would like for you to submit 20 more boxes keeping these points in mind. Remember to ghost consistently and add additional line-weight to strengthen the illusion of 3D form. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-28 11:25
Hi there, welcome to Draw-A-Box! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will pop by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Lines
From the get-go, I can see that you have a strong start here. Your lines here well on their way to being very confident and clean. However, I do spy the tiniest bit of a wobble - it's more apparent in your super imposed lines, but you seem to more or less iron it out by the time you get to your ghosted lines. There, I can see it at the tail ends of your ghosted lines, which may indicate that you're slowing down so you can hit the end point. However, it's not anything too off the mark; just continue to experiment with speed until you find the one at which you're consistently creating straight clean marks. After that, you can focus on accuracy. Nice job!
Ellipses
Like your lines, this is a strong, clean start. Your ellipses are smooth and pretty well controlled, sitting snugly within their tables, planes, and arcs. Good work here! I think you can continue to work on tightening these ellipses up during future practice sessions, as they are a little loose. Here's what you're aiming for in terms of tightness.
With your funnels, make sure that they're sitting solidly on the minor axis you've laid down. You're aiming to have the minor axis going through the middle of each ellipses. Overall, you've done this, but outer ellipses are falling off the line, so keep a close eye on that.
Rough Perspective
It's pretty clear to me that you understand the purpose of this exercise. Your boxes are clean and aligned with the horizon, with the horizontals parallel and the verticals perpendicular to it. You also did a very nice job with lineweight on the outer edges of the boxes. Nice job!
Rotated Boxes
This exercise is meant to be a real challenge and you tackled it exceedingly well. Your boxes are neat and well-spaced, with consistent gaps between them. Your hatch marks are neat and you get pretty close to a full 180 degree rotation. Similarly, your line-weight is well-used, if a little inconsistent.
The reason your image squares out around the edges is because the boxes are not rotating enough. You want to make sure you're shifting the VP along the horizon enough that the box rotates rather than moves back into space. Still, really nice work here!
Organic Perspective
Again, it's pretty clear to me that you understand the purpose of this exercise. While I do see a few convergence errors, these boxes are solidly constructed. Really nice work here!
--
Overall, this entire set of homework is very strong work. Your line work is clean and confident, with only minor wobbling and it's clear you're very thoughtful when you place down each mark. Really good job! I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-25 00:32
Hey there! Welcome to DrawABox! I'm sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
One quick note before I go into it: in the future, please try to upload your homework in order and right-side-up.
Lines
Your super imposed lines are looking pretty clean, but I will note that there is a significant wobble across the board. This is a pretty good tell that you're going a bit too slowly, rather than allowing muscle memory to guide your mark-making. At this point in the homework, it's better to focus on smooth, confident line-work, working up to a speed where you're consistently making clean marks. A bit of feathering at the end of your super imposed lines is nothing to fret about in this case - once you've nailed down the right speed, you can focus on accuracy.
However, I will say that the wobble disappears after you learn the ghosting technique, which is a good sign that you're moving in the right direction. Nice work there. Like I said before, when you find the speed at which you're comfortable and consistent, you can move on to accuracy.
Ellipses
You display a good amount of control over your ellipses when it comes to fitting them in their respective planes, tables, and funnels. They are pretty snug within their bounds. However, I'm seeing a good amount of wobble in these as well. Remember that you are able to ghost ellipses the same way you can ghost lines. Planning and preparing before putting down your first mark will help you tackle that wobble and smooth out your curves. And the next step is similar to lines: once you're consistently and confidently putting down ellipses, you can start to tighten them up as you draw through them.
Nice work keeping your ellipses aligned with the minor axes for your funnels. That is something that will come in handy for later lessons.
Rough Perspective
It seems like you have a pretty good handle on this exercise. Your boxes are aligned with the horizon, with the verticals being perpendicular and the horizontals being parallel. Two things, however:
- no correction lines. You want to try and follow the directions listed in the homework as closely as possible to get as much as you can from each exercise. Part of this one was to draw extension lines back to the vanishing point. This is meant to help you train your eye, identifying where your perspective is drifting so you then know where to focus your efforts next.
- drawing back over mistakes. Fight the urge to go back over mistakes with another line because this just has the unfortunate effect of drawing the eye rather than fixing the mistake. Once you put a line down, the idea is that you commit to it, and unless a line is wildly off the mark, a slight mistake will generally go unnoticed.
Rotated Boxes
It looks like this one gave you a bit of trouble, but that is no issue. This exercise is intended as a challenge rather than as a test, combining the two previous exercises. What you're trying to do is keep the boxes close enough so as to eliminate guesswork, allowing you to estimate where each box is placed based on the previous boxes. I can see a few places where you pull this off and a few where it misses the mark. However, overall, I would say you understand the purpose of the exercise, but going over the instructions again may help for future practice sessions.
Organic Perspective
Your boxes here are looking pretty good! While I do spy a few convergence errors and your lines are a little hairy, you've built each box pretty solidly. Nice work! Again, like I covered with the rough perspective exercise, you want to avoid going over mistakes, as this weakens your work as whole, but overall, this is looking strong and shows that you've definitely improved over the course of the homework.
---
Overall, this is pretty good work. I urge you to continue practicing ghosting for both your ellipses and your lines. Similarly, rereading and perhaps even redoing the rotated box homework will be of great help to you. Still, I'm marking this as complete and sending you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-21 18:13
F I N E.
Its a lion fish btw. Not that I knew that when I drew it because all I searched was spiney fish on Google.
Anyway, thanks, boss! Ive been studying Hamptons book on the side and I think that it meshed really well with the lesson. I think Ill try more hybrids as well, to get more comfortable with that part of the challenge. See you on the other side of a kajillion cylinders.
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-21 17:54
Hey man. Maybe Im weird but you let me stay, so whos fault is it really?
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 5: Drawing Animals (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-20 20:31
Hey boss! Honestly, I'm feeling pretty good about this lesson, purely based on how much I learned. Lineweight remains a struggle and the sausage legs continue to elude me, but I'll just keep practicing those in my free time. Cheers!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-20 16:31
Hey there, welcome to Draw-A-Box! I'm sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check through this critique and give you the appropriate flair.
Lines
These are looking pretty good: there's very little wobble in your super-imposed lines and your ghosted lines are straight and clean. I do notice that you tend to under- or overshoot the endpoint of your ghosted lines, but now that you seem to have found a speed where you're both comfortable and consistently, I recommend focusing on accuracy during future practice sessions. To achieve this, continue to practice the ghosting exercise, planning and preparing before placing down the line and trying to hit that end point.
Ellipses
So I will say that I don't see too much wobble in your ellipses, they seem to lack the same confidence and control that your lines display. Remember that you are able to ghost these as well, planning and preparing before placing your lines down. This way, you can bring them under control and get them snugly within the bounds of their tables, planes, and funnels. Similarly, continue to draw through them, so you can begin to tighten them up.
With your funnels, however, you do a fairly decent job of keeping them aligned with the minor axis you placed down. Nice work there! That will come in quite handy for future exercises.
Rough Perspective
With this exercise, I can see you understand the intent behind it. Your lines are well placed, with the horizontals parallel to the horizon and your verticals perpendicular. Nice work!
What I do need to warn you against is the instinct to go over misplaced lines with another line to cover up the mistake. This actually tends to draw the eye to the mistake because of the increased line weight. Unless a line is wildly off the mark, it will generally go unnoticed, so keeping it neat without drawing over things too much is a good habit to establish now.
Rotated Boxes
Fairly strong work here! Your lines are pretty neat, your boxes are well spaced, and your gaps are consistent. While you didn't do the hatching between the boxes, it reads pretty well. The reason it squares out around the edges is because your boxes aren't actually rotating.
To avoid this, make sure you shift the VP along the horizon enough that the boxes rotate rather than moving back into space. Similarly, in the future, make sure you stick close to the directions as written, so you can get the maximum benefit from the lessons.
Organic Perspective
This is looking pretty good as well. While I do see a few convergence errors here and there, I can see you playing with box sizes to create the illusion of distance. I do notice you overshooting your endpoints here - I'm only pointing this out because this may have the effect of weakening the illusion of 3D objects in 2D space, which is why it's important to get that accuracy down.
---
Overall, you have a strong start here! Your linework is pretty strong, but continue to practice both ghosting and your ellipses exercises during warm-ups. I'm happy to mark this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-19 03:23
Alrighty, just heard back! I'm going to go ahead and critique, but in the future, please make sure you get the correct tools for further work. This will establish a baseline which ensures that we can give you the most effective critique we can and that you're learning as much as you can from the lessons. Let's get started!
Lines
While there is improvement over this portion of the homework, especially after you learn the ghosting technique, I do continue to see a bit of a wobble. This tells me that you haven't quite found the speed at which you're both confident and consistently putting down a straight, smooth line. I also noticed you were experimenting with both drawing from your wrist and your elbow - try to focus solely on drawing from your shoulder for now. Once you feel confident with that pivot, you can go ahead and try others, but I believe you'll glean more from the lessons that way.
I can see you wrist drawing again in your ghosted lines. This is where cementing the habit of both ghosting and shoulder drawing together is essential. You said you've been drawing for a decade now and I understand that it may be a bit of a pain to unlearn the habits you've already developed, but continued practice with superimposed lines and ghosting from the shoulder (do these during your warm-ups) will be highly beneficial for you.
Ellipses
You display a lot more control with your ellipses than you did with your lines. While I notice there's still a bit of a wobble in the curves, the ellipses as a whole are pretty snugly grouped and though they may be in marker, I can see that they're pretty tight.
You are able to ghost ellipses as well, so remember to do that. Planning and preparing before you place each line or curve down is also a good habit to get into your drawing toolbox.
Your funnels are looking pretty good, but keep a close eye on that minor axis. In a few, your ellipses drift off of it. It should be going through the center of every ellipse you draw for that particular funnel. Other than that, solid job keeping your ellipses between the arcs of your funnel and the bounds of your planes.
Rough Perspective
This is a fairly solid attempt at this exercise. You seem to understand the goal of drawing these boxes in perspective and are keeping your verticals perpendicular to the horizon and your horizontals parallel. The main issue here is your line-work. I understand it's a bit of a balancing act drawing in perspective and ensuring that your lines are clean - just continue to practice the ghosting technique in order to achieve smooth, straight lines.
Also, as a side note, try to use a pencil or more neutrally colored pen for check lines - this will help you learn where you're making mistakes with your convergences without the distraction of a shiny ink.
Rotated Boxes
I know you mentioned this gave you some trouble, but this is actually really strong - While you didn't complete the hatching, I can see that your marks are fairly neat and ordered. You've kept your gaps consistent, your boxes closely grouped, and on one side, you've almost hit the 180 degree rotation. Nice job!
The reason that this one squares out on the right side of the drawing is that your boxes are no longer rotating. You want to make sure you shift the VP along the axis enough that the box rotates rather than simply move back in space. However, over all, solid work on this one.
Organic Perspective
You did a fairly solid job with this as well. I can see you playing with line weight to bring the foreground boxes closer and push the illusion of distance, so that looks good. There are a few convergence errors, but that's nothing the 250 box challenge can't help. This is meant to be a challenge and overall, this is pretty good work.
---
Overall, I can see improvement over the course of your homework. From here try to focus on ghosting from the shoulder with both your ellipses and lines, to really cement that habit. I'm going to mark this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Remember to submit this next one with the required fine liner and good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-19 02:30
Hi there! Welcome to Draw-A-Box!
So, it seems that you've completed your homework in marker, rather than the required fineliner. I've sent a note to Uncomfortable about how to handle this submission, as all Patreon students are required to work with fineliner, but it is rather late where we are, so I don't expect to hear back from him immediately.
Sorry for the delay!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-16 20:12
Hi there! Welcome to Draw A Box! I'm Sluggy one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Lines
These are looking nice and smooth from the start. Little to no wobble even in the curved lines. Nice work! Your ghosted lines also look pretty good. What you want to go ahead and focus on now is fine-tuning the accuracy of your lines, making sure you're consistently hitting that end point now that you've found a speed you're comfortable at.
Ellipses
Your ellipses are similar to your lines. Consistent and little-to-no wobble. However, they are still pretty loose, so continuing to draw through your ellipses will help you tighten them up while keeping them as smooth as they are now. You do a pretty solid job keeping them within their planes, tables, and funnels, so I can see you have a good level of control. Just watch out for that minor axis in your funnels. You want to make sure it goes through the center of the entire set of ellipses - at the moment, several funnels are entirely offset. Other than that, this is strong work, so continue to work on tightening your ellipses up.
Rough Perspective
It's clear you understand the purpose of this exercise - your boxes are neat, with the horizontals parallel to the horizon and the verticals perpendicular. Your hatching is very neat and thoughtful. I will nitpick a little here and note that you want to fight the instinct to draw over mistakes. While your line-weight is pretty well placed, the places where it's been done to cover up mistakes are pretty clear because the line weight here is even heavier. If a line isn't egregiously off the mark, just leaving it is less noticeable than drawing over it. Overall, however, strong work.
Rotated Boxes
Really good job here - this is meant to be a challenge and you handled it quite well. Your gaps are neat and consistent, as is your hatching, your boxes are close together, and you very nearly hit that 180 degree rotation. The reason it squares out on that one side is because you're not rotating the box enough. You want to make sure you're shifting the VP along the horizon enough that the box rotates rather than moves back into space. Otherwise, good work here.
Organic Perspective
This is also meant to be a challenge and you did pretty well with it. You did a pretty good job placing down lineweight and I can see you played with the box sizes to show distance. I see a few places where you overshot the endpoint and that does weaken the 3D illusion a little bit, so keep an eye on that during future exercises. Similarly, there are few convergence errors here and there, but that's nothing the 250 box challenge can't help with.
---
Overall, really strong work. I can see you are quite thoughtful about line-weight and confident with your strokes. You'll want to focus on accuracy with your ghosting and continue to tighten up your ellipses in future practice sessions. I'm happy to mark this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-15 12:16
Hi there, welcome to Draw-A-Box! I'm Sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair.
Lines
This is a strong start! While I see some wobble in your superimposed lines, it looks as though the ghosting technique helped you iron that out for later exercises. You do a pretty solid job hitting consistently hitting/stopping at the end point as well, that's good to see. Of course, I will recommend you continue to practice with these exercises during your warm-ups, to continue strengthening this skill set. Now that you've found a speed where you're able to consistently make smooth lines, you can go on by focusing on accuracy and really nailing that end point.
Ellipses
These are pretty solid as well. The curves are smooth and the ellipses themselves are pretty tight. It's clear you've also got a good amount of control, keeping them all snugly within the table and planes. However, I do see a bit of a wobble later on, during the funnels exercise. That exercise is a bit more of a balancing act than the previous assignments, so it's understandable. Just remember that you're able to ghost ellipses the same way you can ghost lines, making sure you're planning and preparing before putting down your first mark.
And though there is a wobble, you do a pretty good job of keeping your ellipses aligned with the minor axis, which is great to see. Nice job!
Rough Perspective
Nice work on this, it's clear you understand the intent of the exercise and you do well, keeping the horizontals parallel with the horizon and the verticals perpendicular. I am going to nitpick, though, so you're getting the maximum amount of feedback.
On a few of your boxes, I notice you tried to re-draw a line that missed its mark. Try to resist the urge to correct mistakes, either by redrawing or drawing over. Because of line weight, it actually tends to draw the eye, rather than cover up the mistake, and unless a line is outrageously off the mark, most mistakes will go unnoticed. This also helps promote thoughtful mark-making, which will be very useful later on in the curriculum.
Rotated Boxes
This is a really strong show. It's meant to be a challenge and you've tackled it quite well. The gaps between your boxes are consistent, you keep them close together, and you get pretty close to a full 180 degree rotation. The reason it squares out around the edges, rather than looking like the example image is because the boxes are not actually rotating. You want to make sure you shift the VP along the horizon enough that the box actually rotates, rather than moving back into space. However, over all, this is very good work.
Organic Perspective
Nice work on these! Again, this is meant to be another challenge, and while there are a few convergence errors, overall, you did a good job with this. Your line work is particularly thoughtful here as well, making it neat and pretty readable, even when the boxes are all stacked up on top of one another. Keep it up!
---
Nice work overall! It shows that you are quite mindful when it comes to your lines and its pretty clear you have an understanding of 3D boxes on a 2D plane. Keep up with the ghosted lines and ellipses during warm-ups, to really iron out that wobble. I'm happy to mark this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-11 17:37
Hi there! I'm Sluggy one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Lines
This is fairly strong work from the start! I do detect a bit of a wobble in your curved super-imposed lines, but I see you were able to straighten them out a bit after you went through the ghosting portion of the homework. At this point, you'll want to focus on your line's accuracy, so you can more consistently hit the end point of your lines.
Ellipses
These are looking pretty good, but I am seeing a little hint of a wobble. You do improve over the course of the set, but remember that you can ghost ellipses as well. That said, you keep pretty solid control over each one. As you continue practicing these, try to draw through them more so you can start tightening them up.
With your funnels, be extra careful that you keep the ellipses aligned with the minor axis you've drawn out. You do a pretty good job over all, but there are a few that are falling off.
Rough Perspective
Nice work here. It's clear you understand the purpose of this exercise and you've executed it neatly and quite well. I am going to nitpick a little bit though, to point something out: This is where accurately hitting the end point with your ghosted lines is particularly important. On a few of these boxes, your lines overshoot the corners: this has the effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form on the 2D plan. Similarly, try to fight the urge to draw over mistakes, as this will draw the eye to the mistake - which is darkened as if there is added line weight - rather than the drawing as a whole. While I don't consider this an error on this exercise, it's part of the reason that ghosting is important and good to keep in mind for future practice and lessons.
Rotated Boxes
Very strong work here. This is meant to be a challenge and you tackled it very well. Your gaps are consistent and your hatchmarks are neat. Your rotation in the core of the drawing is pretty good, but you actually stopped rotating the boxes around the edges, which is why it doesn't have a fully round appearance. You'll want to make sure you're shifting the VP along its respective axis enough that the box rotates rather than moving back into space. Still, really good work on this.
Organic Perspective
The convergences here are actually pretty decent and consistent. That's really great! However, you do continue to overshoot with those ghosted lines and I'm seeing a little bit of that line wobble coming back on the smaller boxes, meaning working on your ghosting and accuracy is all the more important.
--
In conclusion, this is very strong work! Your line work is pretty clean and it's clear you took your time with the exercises. The main issue I see is you overshooting your end points and the wobble in your ellipses. Continue to practice these exercises in future warm-ups. I'm happy to mark this lesson as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-10 18:05
Hi there! Welcome to DrawABox. I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs - Uncomfortable will be by later to take a look at this critique and give you the appropriate flair.
Good job getting through Lesson 1! I understand you're not feeling great about the homework, but there are a lot of good points in here that I can see. I'll go over some of the weaker parts and how to improve, but overall, I can assure you that with practice, you'll be able to tighten those things up in no time.
Lines
With your superimposed lines, you have quite a bit of feathering at the beginning of the lines. The feathering at the ends is fine, but when it's at the beginning it tells me that you were rushing the process of thinking through when to put your pen down at the starting point. Remember that each mark needs to be put down conscientiously to build strong habits from the start.
There is also a bit of a wobble here and in your ghosted lines. I can see here that you're hitting the starting point, but then you've slowed down too much. The idea behind these two exercises is to find the individual speed at which you're consistently laying down neat, confident strokes. Accuracy can come after you've found that speed, so don't worry too much if you miss the ends point in future practice sessions. Ghost that line a few times and then commit to it.
Ellipses
These display a similar wobble to your ghosted lines, but they are also fairly tight and fit snugly in their bounding lines. Nice work keeping control on them. Remember that you're able to ghost these as well, finding the speed where you can eliminate that wobble but maintain control.
With your funnels, I notice you playing with the degree of the ellipses towards the end, giving the funnel a hint of 3D form - nice work there. However, be careful with that minor axis. You want to make sure each ellipses stays centered on that line. Overall, though, nice work. Just continue practicing and ghosting these in order to eliminate the wobble in your lines.
Plotted and Rough Perspective
On your plotted perspective, the boxes themselves are quite neat, but the rushed hatching takes away from the overall image. This is part of the reason being thoughtful about each line is fairly important. Any drawing can certainly be rough and unfinished, but at the same time, neat. What you want to avoid is being sloppy, as that will inevitably draw the eye. Being thoughtful about each line will essentially help you build that good habit and assist you in avoiding that in the future.
Your rough perspective is actually really solid. Aside from the wobbly lines, it appears to me that you understand the intent of the exercise. Your horizontals are parallel to the horizon and your verticals are perpendicular, so it's clear you're already building on your understanding of 3D form on a 2D plane. Nice work!
Rotated Boxes
This looks like it gave you a bit of guff, in all honesty. However, that is quite alright; this is meant to be a challenge, not a test. Remember to try and keep your gaps consistently sized and your boxes grouped together. What this will do is eliminate guesswork, so you have a better idea of where to place the next box. As for your rotations - the way you can accomplish this is by shifting the VP along its respective axis enough that the box rotates instead of moves back or up in space.
Organic Perspective
Like your rough perspective, I can see again that you've got a pretty good understanding of what's going on here. I also see that you're playing with the sizes of the boxes to show distance. The hatching on the boxes is a sticking point again, and there are a few convergence errors but overall, this is fairly solid. Nice job.
--
Overall, the few issues I'm seeing here can be ironed out with continued practice of the ghosted lines and ellipses exercises. You've got a fairly decent understanding of 3D in boxes and your ellipses are already pretty tight. You just need to work out that wobble! So, I'm happy to mark this as complete, but I'd also like you to give the rotated boxes another go and resubmit it here. Other than that, I'm sending you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-10 15:33
Hi there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
So, you start out pretty strongly in this challenge - your line work is clean, confident and accurate. Your convergences do have noticeable issues, but I'm happy to say that by the end of the challenge, your convergences improve quite a bit. So does the hatching on the front faces of your boxes, which tells me you're putting more and more thought into each one. Nice work!
That said, I have a few things I'd like to point out:
- fight the instinct to go back over a mistake with another line. This has the tendency to draw the eye and as a result, many of your boxes lack the solidifying focus that using line weight effectively can bring. That's because, in many cases, only one line is darkened, while the rest are left without the additional weight. Allowing a line to remain imperfect actually draws less attention than darkening that area to cover up a mistake. This will come in handy in later lessons.
- While your convergences certainly improved, take a look over these notes to help you tame the interior set of lines. What you're looking to do is examine each line's angle in relation to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner.
Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a rather small angle between them, which will result in the lines running more or less parallel to one another once they hit the box, so look out for this kind of relationship when you're practicing in the future.
In all, this is very strong work and you've shown clear improvement. I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to Lesson 2. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-05 19:26
Hey there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs - Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Lines
Your lines are looking quite good - between the superimposed lines and your ghosted lines, it's clear to me that you've found a comfortable speed that's producing consistent clean lines. The next step from here will be focusing on accuracy - in future practice sessions, when ghosting or doing superimposed lines, do what you can to hit the end point. Currently, you're either overshooting, or not quite reaching your end points, so practicing this at the speed you've achieved will be good for future exercises.
Ellipses
These are looking very clean, so really nice work here. Like with your lines, since you've found a speed where you're consistently producing clean lines, it's time to focus on tightening your ellipses up. You're aiming for a pretty uniform circle, so continuing to draw through will help you get it closer and closer to that ideal.
You also demonstrate a good degree of control, keeping your ellipses snugly in their tables, planes, and funnels. Nice work there! With your funnels, keep an eye on that minor axis. It should run right through the middle of your ellipses and in a few of those, they are shifting or tilting off of the axis.
Rough Perspective
Strong work here. Your verticals are perpendicular to the horizon and your horizontals are parallel. Similarly, your line work is neat and confident. It's clear you understand the purpose of this exercise. I would urge you to fight the urge to correct mistakes with more marks. This has the effect of drawing the eye to these mistakes rather than correcting them. Similarly, this is part of where accuracy will help you - overshooting the end-marks may have the effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form. Overall, however, nice work.
Rotated Boxes
I will admit, this is a bit small to make out too much, but from what I can tell, you tackled this portion of the homework fairly decently. Your gaps are consistent, you keep the boxes together, and you very nearly achieve a full 180 degree rotation. Really strong work there. What I will tag you on, however, is the lack of hatching between the boxes - I point this out only because it's important to follow the directions closely, so you can learn as much as possible from this curriculum, especially in later lessons.
Organic Perspective
Honestly, really good work here. While I do see a few convergence errors, your boxes are well constructed and your line work is neat and well-thought-out. Once more, I do see you overshooting your end points, creating little tails at your box corners, but this and the convergence errors are nothing the challenge can't help.
--
Really strong work here! Your linework is good and it seems like you understand the 3D form pretty well already. Continue to practice ghosting so you can improve that accuracy. I'm marking this complete and sending you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-05 19:03
Hey there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs - Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Lines
This is very solid work! I can see you've found a comfortable speed that consistently gives you a smooth line. With your curved superimposed lines, I do detect a little bit of a wobble - I would venture to guess that at some point in the curve, you're either slowing down too much or using your wrist. Continue to practice using your shoulder with these and that wobble should smooth out with practice and persistence.
With your ghosted lines - again, these are consistently smooth, nice work - try to focus on accuracy and hitting the end point consistently now. I notice you're often overshooting that end point, and when you're constructing forms, this may have the effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form. Still, good work here.
Ellipses
Similar to your lines, your ellipses are consistently smooth and pretty well controlled in that you're keeping them snugly in their tables, funnels, or planes. However, I recommend that you draw through them a bit more, to tighten them up with each pass. At the moment, they are a bit loose. Similarly, with your funnels, keep an eye on that minor axis and make sure it passes through the middle of each ellipses. You can accomplish better accuracy by ghosting each ellipse before putting your first mark down.
Rough Perspective
While your boxes are technically neatly constructed and put together, they are not quite in perspective. This is because the horizontals are not parallel with the horizon and the verticals are not perpendicular. Ensuring this is a good way to keep your boxes in line with the horizon line you've put down. Similarly, if you make a mistake, fight the need to draw back over it. One bad line won't look too incorrect, unless it's wildly off the mark, but if you draw over it in an attempt to fix it, you're darkening the line and that can draw the eye.
Still, despite the way these boxes are tilted relative to the horizon line, it's clear you understand the purpose of the exercise. I would just keep an eye on the horizontals and verticals and make sure you've got them properly aligned.
Rotated Boxes
This portion of the homework is meant to be a bit of a challenge and you tackled it quite well. You kept your boxes together and the gaps between them are consistently spaced. Nice work there! One of the main reasons that the box isn't as round as the example image is because the ones are the edges are not rotating enough. To achieve this affect, make sure that the VP for each box is shifted along the axes enough that the box is rotating instead of just moving back into space.
Similarly, I do need to tag you on hatching the back face instead of between the boxes, mainly because it's important for you to follow the directions as closely as possible for the maximum amount of learning this course can provide.
Organic Perspective
It seems like this portion of the exercise gave you a bit of guff - balancing perspective and line work can be a tough task, but keep in mind that ghosting applies here as well. Similarly, there are a few errors in your convergences, but this is nothing the 250 box challenge can't help with.
--
In conclusion, this is very strong work! Continue to work on your ghosting in future practice - as I said, try to strive for accuracy now that you're confidently putting down smooth marks. I'm happy to mark this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-05 18:22
Hey there, welcome to Draw-A-Box! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs - Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
Overall, I will say that for just starting out, this is fairly strong work and I hope you stick with this! Let's get into the finer points now.
Lines
Your superimposed lines show a good amount of thought, in that you consistently avoid fraying at the starting point. However, I do have some notes on this: though I notice that you are missing the ghosting exercises, I can tell that between your superimposed lines and your planes, you haven't quite found a speed at which you're comfortable and consistent. On your superimposed lines, you may be going a touch too quickly and on your planes, your lines are wobbly, showing that you're going slowly. Keep in mind that with every single line you draw, you want to try and ghost it ahead of time.
Planning and preparing ahead of time and consistent practice will constantly narrow the gap between what you mean to accomplish and what you put down on the page. Part of Draw-A-Box is instilling good habits and ghosting is one of them. With this, you're trying to find the speed at which you can make a smooth line. After you achieve that, you can focus on accuracy and hitting the end point.
I do notice, however, that your line work improves over your set of planes, so you are certainly moving in the right direction.
Ellipses
You note that you're not quite confident with these, but they're looking pretty solid as well. The curves are pretty smooth and I'm not seeing much of a wobble. What you'll want to focus on now is drawing through the ellipses so you can get them tighter. Other than that, you're demonstrating enough control to keep them within the boxes, planes, and funnel arcs you've put down.
With your funnels, you'll want to keep an eye on that minor axis - make sure that your ellipses are properly bisected by that line. You can achieve this by ghosting your ellipses as well, to get an accurate mark.
Rough Perspective
These aren't bad at all and I hardly think you got worse, as you say. In terms of the exercise, it seems you understand the purpose of it. You keep your horizontals parallel to the horizon and your verticals perpendicular and that keeps the boxes in proper perspective. Your lines continue to improve though I still see that wobble, but we already went over how to improve on that. Balancing ghosting and perspective is a bit of a tough act, but consistent practice will only help. Overall, nice work on this part.
Rotated Boxes
Like with the rest of your work, this appears neat and well-thought-out. This is meant to be a challenge for beginners and you tackled it quite well in that your gaps are fairly consistent and the boxes are kept together. The reason that the image is squared out around the edges, is because the boxes aren't rotating enough. I also notice that you struggled with drawing through the outside boxes - this is a matter of coming to understand the boxes as 3D forms on a 2D plane and it will happen with patience and practice.
Finally, the lack of hatching between the boxes - I'm tagging you on that because I urge you to follow the directions as written as closely as possible. This will allow you to draw as much as possible from the curriculum. However, beyond that, you did well
Organic Perspective
These look quite good, actually! You're playing with the size of the boxes to indicate distance and your mark-making is already improved. While there are convergence errors, that is to be expected and nothing the 250 box challenge can't help with.
Like I said at the beginning, this is strong work and I hope you continue! I'm happy to mark this as complete, but please submit the ghosted lines exercise in this thread. Also, continue to include ghosting both your lines and ellipses in your future practice sessions. I'm sending you on to the 250 Box Challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-05 17:37
Hey there! I'm Sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and give you the right flair.
First off, wow! This challenge certainly paid off for you. Your boxes are quite neat to start with, but your line confidence improved substantially by the end. Your line weight is solid and your hatch marks are clean and thoughtful, really nice work! I just have two things I wanted to point out for you:
- try not to overcrowd your pages with boxes. Making sure you're able to see the line extensions is important for learning and when there are too many boxes on the page, it can get to chaotic to process.
- Your convergences are fairly good to start and improve towards the end, but I do notice a few of the middle lines are still not behaving. Take a look over these notes to help you tame those inner lines. What you're looking to do is consider each line's angle in relation to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner.
Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a small angle between them, which'll result in the lines running virtually parallel to one another once they reach the box, so look out for this kind of relationship when you're practicing in the future.
Overall, though, really good work and very solid mark-making. Keep it up! I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to lesson 2. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-05 17:17
Hey there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair.
So, nice work getting through the whole challenge! That's nothing to sneeze at. I see a good amount of improvement over the course of the set, especially in the confidence of your superimposed lines. Other than that, I'd like to go over a few things:
- In future practice, try not to crowd your pages with boxes. When things are crowded like that, your brain has a harder time processing the correction lines you've laid down. You want to be able to see where those are heading to get maximum learning and to improve your convergences.
- Try to practice all sorts of foreshortening. At the moment, you've got a lot of boxes with extreme foreshortening. It is common for students to prefer these as extreme foreshortening draws the vanishing point up closer and makes it easier to estimate while drawing freehand. However, practicing less dramatic foreshortening just as often will be more beneficial to you in the long run.
- Your convergences do show improvement over the course of the set but I do see that you're still having trouble with the middle lines. Take a look over these notes to help you tame those inner lines. Consider each line's angle relative to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner. Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a fairly small angle between them, which'll result in the lines running virtually parallel to one another once they reach the box at times, so look out for this kind of relationship.
Overall, this is very solid work and it's clear that your mark-making and your grasp of 3D form has improved. I would continue to practice boxes in your warm-ups, keeping those notes in mind. Nice work!
Edit: Sorry, I forgot to include that I'm marking this as complete and sending you on to lesson 2. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-04 15:35
Hello there! I'm Sluggy, one of the TAs. Uncomfortable will be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair. :)
Lines - These are very neat and it's clear to me that you took your time with this exercise. One thing I do notice is that you have a slight wobble in your ghosted lines. This is telling me that while you are consistently hitting that end point, you may be going too slowly or drawing with your wrist. When doing this exercise in the future, plan and prepare with your ghosting and then take the plunge and put the mark down, focusing on making a smooth line, consistently. When you find the speed you're comfortable with, you can then focus on accuracy.
Ellipses - These are also quite neat and you improve over the course of the exercise, but I still see signs of a wobble. Remember that ellipses can be ghosted as well and the same concept with your lines applies here: Aim for smooth consistent curves and then work to tighten the ellipses up by drawing through them. That said, you do a good job keeping them within the bounds of the boxes, planes, and funnels you're drawing them in. With your funnels, keep an eye on that minor axis and make sure your ellipses remain aligned with it.
Rough Perspective - With this exercise, one thing to keep in mind is to make sure that your horizontals are parallel with the horizon and that your verticals are perpendicular. This is an easy way to make sure you're keeping things in perspective with the horizon. However, it seems you're starting to understand the purpose of the exercise as you go through the homework and your convergences towards the VP improve, so good job there! One thing I want to point out is your hatch marks on the very first segment of the exercise - try to put as much care into these as you do every other part of the drawing. Though there will be exceptions in other work, in this curriculum, the combination of dark pen marks and the focus on construction means that if you leave part of a drawing untidy, it tends to draw the eye. Being careful with each mark is a good habit to instill for later exercises.
Rotated Boxes - This is a very difficult challenge in the homework set but this is very strong work. Your lines are clean, your hatch marks are neat, and the gaps between your boxes are consistently sized. Also, it's well proportioned. Nice job! As for the reason the image itself is a bit squared out around the edges, that's because the boxes aren't rotating enough. To avoid this, you'll want to shift the VP along the horizon line enough that the box rotates instead of moving back in space. However, this is very good work.
Organic Perspective - This is also meant to be a challenge, and you tackled it fairly well - I notice you playing with the sizes of the boxes to indicate distance. There are a few errors with convergences, but that's nothing the 250 box challenge won't help with.
Overall, this is good work and it's clear you're learning a lot from these exercises. From looking at your pages, one thing I want to emphasize is to avoid focusing on making your homework too neat-looking. Sometimes you need to get a little messy to get rid of that wobble or get your ellipses nice and tight and that's okay. After that, neatness will come with time, patience, and practice. That said, I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-07-04 15:07
No problem! I agree that you show improvement between these two pages but I'll hold off on full feedback until you have the entire assignment. Reply to this thread when you've submitted we know when you do. Thanks and good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-27 14:37
Alright! Nice work, youre getting the hang of it - continue to practice boxes in your warm ups. Im marking this as complete and sending you in to lesson 2. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-25 21:08
Youre good!! I understand what youre saying now, so sorry for assuming it was something else. Thats a good plan - either way, I think youre moving in the right direction.
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-25 16:50
Hey there! Nice work getting through the gauntlet.
So, I do agree that your lines need work, but I also agree that you improved significantly over the course of the challenge. Your lines gained a bit more confidence and your boxes show clear improvement. I see what you mean about a dip in quality with the last 50, but even there I see that your spatial awareness improved. The ones just before the last set show the greatest improvement though, so nice job there!
I'll confess, I'm not certain I understand what you mean with 2 guide points as opposed to 1. Were you using the method with laying down end points that Uncomfortable uses in his video?
In any case, it seemed to have worked for you to some degree. However, I would like you to do 25 more boxes after watching/rewatching the video and keeping these tips in mind:
- Take your time with each box. Quite a few of these look a bit rushed. You want to be ghosting every single line there, to make sure you hit those end points you're laying down. The same goes for the hatch marks - untidy hatching has the unfortunate effect of drawing the eye and subtracting from the work.
- Try to practice a few different modes of foreshortening. At the moment, a lot of your boxes are fairly neutral when it comes to perspective, sitting in a more or less 'middle ground', but I'd like you to practice both extreme and shallow foreshortening.
- Take a look over these notes to help you tame those convergences. Consider each line's angle relative to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner. Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a fairly small angle between them, which'll result in the lines running virtually parallel to one another once they reach the box at times, so look out for this kind of relationship.
More than anything, take your time. This will help train your brain in that spatial awareness. When you complete those last 25, just post them here and I'll take a look. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-24 16:56
Hey there! Sluggy here, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to give you the appropriate flair and check this critique, so let's get into it.
Lines - Your superimposed lines are looking pretty good - not very much wobble, which tells me you're going fast enough to let your muscle memory take over. However, with your ghosted lines, I believe you're going too fast. These don't have as much control as your super-imposed lines and often either don't reach or overshoot the end points. Since your lines are consistently pretty smooth, I think it's time to focus on accuracy, finding a speed where you can maintain quality, but also hit your end points consistently.
Ellipses - These are looking good as well. They're smooth and pretty tight. Remember that you can ghost these as well, so you can make sure your ellipses are snugly sitting in the bounding lines you've created for them. With your funnels, you did a pretty solid job of making sure the ellipses stayed aligned with their minor axes, as well. Nice work there.
Rough Perspective - It seems you understand the purpose of the exercise and you do a fairly solid job of keeping your horizontals parallel with the horizon and your verticals perpendicular. What I need to tag you on is your line work. I understand it's a bit of a balancing act to manage both ghosting and perspective and your lines here show that you were either going too quickly or too slowly. With the lines being a bit untidy, this has the unfortunate effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form. However, this will come with practice. Practicing the act of planning and preparing before putting each mark down will be invaluable for later assignments, so I suggest continuing to practice your accuracy with ghosting in future practice sessions.
Rough Perspective - Like with the rough perspective, I can see that you had some understanding of where to go with this, but hasty line work weakened the image as a whole. Overall, this assignment is meant to be a challenge, so in the future, if you attempt this again, here are a few things to keep in mind: remember to keep your gaps consistent to eliminate guesswork on where to place the next box. This, combined with rotating the boxes too much, may be why your attempt is a bit oblong. Similarly, you left out the hatching. While this seems minor, I want to urge you to follow the directions in the homework as closely as possible as this will help with your learning the material.
Organic Perspective - This is also meant to be a challenged, but your attempt here is fairly good. While there are a few errors with convergences - as you probably already knew from your check lines - overall, this is pretty strong work. Again, your line work is a little weak, but that's nothing the 250 box challenge can't help with.
As a whole, nice work and I'm happy to mark this lesson as complete. You're free to go on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-21 14:20
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and flair you up.
Lines - These are quite straight and neat - I'm not detecting much of a wobble, which tells me you've found a pretty comfortable speed that gives you consistent line work. Nice job there.
I notice that you don't have your ghosted lines exercise. Going by your planes, however, I will note that I think you are going too quickly - when you overshoot the end point, it has the effect of weakening the illusion of form. Since your lines are pretty clean, I suggest focusing on accuracy now, which will come in handy later.
Ellipses - These are bit untidy in comparison to your lines. Remember that it is possible to ghost these as well. Similarly, this will help you keep the ellipses within the bounding lines that you have set up. In future practice, try to draw through your ellipses a few more times, to smooth them out and get them consistent.
With your funnels, you do a fair job of keeping them aligned with the minor axis and you seem to understand that the degree of the ellipses should change towards the edges. Nice work there.
Boxes - Your rough perspective is looking pretty good. You do overshoot the end points again, but you manage to keep the horizontals parallel with the horizon and the verticals perpendicular.
Your rotated boxes are really great. This is meant to be a hefty challenge and you did a really swell job with it. Your gaps are consistent and you almost hit that 180 degree rotation. I can see that you took your time with everything but the hatching. I urge you to be thoughtful with every line you put down - while the image as a whole looks good, mistakes/untidy lines have the effect of drawing focus and subtracting from the good stuff. However, overall, nice work.
Similarly, your organic perspective is a fairly good show - your lines are neat, and you're playing with size to indicate distance. There's a lot of convergence errors here, but that's nothing the 250 box challenge won't help with.
Overall, really strong work. While I'd like you to submit the ghosted lines exercise, I'm happy to make this as complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-21 09:50
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to give you a flair and check this critique. Let's get started!
Lines - These are more or less nice and neat, which is good, but I do see a little bit of a wobble in both these and your ghosted lines. This tells me that you are either going too slowly or drawing with your wrist. As you continue practicing, strive to find the speed at which you consistently put down a smooth, neat line. Don't be concerned about accuracy yet - even if you don't hit the end point if your line is consistently straight then you're going in the right direction. Once you achieve that you can focus on accuracy when you find the speed that's comfortable for you.
Ellipses - these are also fairly neat, but have the same issue with the wobble and they are a bit loose. Remember that you can ghost these as well. Remember to draw through them several times so you can eventually tighten them up through practice and repetition. As you're working on your control, you're looking to fit them snugly inside the bounding lines you've created (e.g. the funnels/planes/tables).
Boxes - With your rough perspective, you do a pretty decent job and it seems to me that you understand the intent of the exercise. You're consistently lining your horizontals up parallel to the horizon and likewise, your verticals are perpendicular. As for your extension lines - while they may not all extend back to the horizon perfectly, this will be something that comes with practice.
On your rotated boxes - Again, I definitely admire how neat you keep your work. This exercise is meant to be a definitive challenge and you tackled it admirably. The reason it squares out around the edges of the image is that you're no longer rotating the boxes. What you need to do to get that full 180 degree rotation is to shift your vanishing point along the horizon, so it rotates instead of moving back in space. Similarly, if you tackle this one again, remember to keep the gaps between your boxes consistent. This eliminates guesswork, so you know where to place your next box without needed to do as much measuring.
Your organic perspective is another challenge, but on this you did a really good job. While there are issues with convergences, it's clear you've got a solid understanding of this exercise and what it's meant to practice.
Overall, this is very strong work. Remember these tips during your warm-ups and you should iron that wobble out in no time. I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to the 250 box challenge. Really nice work and good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-06-20 18:04
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to give you a flair and check this critique.
So congrats on getting through the gauntlet! The sheer number of boxes is nothing to sneeze at. Nice work!
My main concern looking at this is that your boxes are far too crowded on the page. I fear that without much breathing room, you may not have learned as much as you could've, since this makes it more difficult for your brain to track and learn from the extension lines. This may be why you consistently make the same errors with your convergences, even towards the end of the challenge. These notes may help you sort things out.
Something that may help you get it even more consistent would be considering each line's angle relative to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner. Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a fairly small angle between them, which'll result in the lines running virtually parallel to one another once they reach the box at times, so look out for this kind of relationship.
However, that being said there is improvement in the consistency of your box convergences and it's clear the challenged helped you a lot.
The other point I wanted to mention was to focus on less dramatic perspective. Students have a tendency to pick a closer vanishing point for their boxes because it does make it a little easier to mentally trace lines back to it, but this has the effect of creating extreme perspectives on every box - practicing across the spectrum of perspective would be very useful, so this would be good to keep in mind for future practice sessions.
Finally, you did neglect to hatch the front faces of the boxes - following the directions closely will maximize your learning.
Overall, however, you did a good job with this challenge - your line work is clean and neat and you clearly understand the purpose of the exercise. I'm happy to mark this complete and send you on to Lesson 2. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-05-22 00:09
Wow, nice work getting through the gauntlet. I really have to say, your line work is fabulous - it's very neat and it's clear to me you take your time before you place down mark down. A few of your warm-ups are also pretty cool looking, but that's not super relevant, haha.
Over the course of your homework, the improvement in your convergences is very obvious. You seem to tame those middle lines (the real problem lines) by the end, making sure they consistently go back towards the same VP. Overall, this is really solid work, so I'm definitely going to pass you, but I'm also going to nitpick a little, to make this worth your while!
- We link these notes as a matter of course. While your convergences are pretty good, something that may help you get it even more consistent would be considering each line's angle relative to the other lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the lines with which it shares a plane or corner. Also, the angle between the two middle lines of a set will have a fairly small angle between them, which'll result in the lines running virtually parallel to one another once they reach the box at times, so look out for this kind of relationship.
- pushing your line-weight. I do see you superimposing lines on most boxes, but I think you could push it more on the outer lines, to clarify overlaying forms.
- end points. I can see that you're quite comfortable keeping a wobble out of your lines, but in a few instances, you're overshooting the end points you've set while ghosting. This has the unfortunate effect of weakening the illusion of 3D form. I think you're at the point where you can really focus on accuracy while ghosting, making sure you stop at the end point rather than shooting past it. This will help strengthen the illusion and control of the drawing.
Other than that, over all, this is really great work, and I'm happy to mark it complete, so good job! Good luck on Lesson 2!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-04-02 19:42
Arrite. Damn, these are hard, haha. But at least Im going in the right direction. Ill add it to my warm-ups. Thanks, boss!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-04-01 15:40
Agh! These are really messing with me! I hope you'll forgive me focusing more on the legs than the whole bug. I felt it start to click towards the end, but let me know if I need to do more.
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-03-31 17:31
Glad Im moving in the right direction. Thanks!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-03-31 03:52
Oh, I wanted to ask (though, maybe it's implied) - Is my line work any better in regards to it being wobbly or stiffly superimposed? I'm following up on that note from L3.
edit: i replied to the wrong comment x_x
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-03-31 00:30
Aight you got it!
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids (Patreon Critique Thread)"
2019-03-30 17:14
Alright, here we go!
I got a bit of feedback as I was working and I'm hoping I'm doing the advice justice over the course of the set - it was noted to me early on in the homework to avoid hatching. Same with keeping the legs an even size and building the odd shapes of the legs on top of the noodles. Also I did the rest of the demos last (I did the wasp first) and I wish I hadn't, to get a better sense of how to apply things, but it is what it is! Gimme the sauce, cap'n.
Edit: I forgot my sausages so I added them just now.
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-21 18:32
Sorry! I shouldve noted that. Yes, Im happy to mark this complete. Move along to lesson 2, whenever youre ready.
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-21 14:26
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair, so let's get at it.
First of all: right? 250 boxes is a huge challenge and you did it! Nice work.
Though you say feel like you didn't improve, you most certainly did. In both line work and perspective you produced strong work throughout the set. Your convergences became more consistent as did adding the line weight to the silhouette of the boxes. Good job catching yourself on the extreme perspective as well.
I will note that one reason you feel like you may not have improved as much as you could've is that you packed your pages with boxes. It tangles up the line extensions making it difficult to measure your convergences. When practicing this in the future, I think it will help solidify your learning to cut down on the number of boxes per page so you can see the line extensions.
That said, really strong work. Keep it up!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-18 23:27
For sure! You definitely got more consistent, I should've noted that. If you're looking for a good rule of thumb, remember to measure the sets of parallel lines in relation to each other. Check out these notes here for a few extra tips. Best of luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-18 22:30
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair!
So, I gotta stay, you started out strong and got even stronger! Your line work improved as did your grasp of the box form. AND you drew all 250 of them, so even just getting the challenge done is to be commended.
Throughout the set, I saw you experimenting with foreshortening on the boxes, and almost tagged you on it, but you pulled them back towards the end - that said, I do need to tag you on hatching the front faces of your boxes. I saw you did a couple of them, but I recommend doing this on future boxes you practice. This, along with line weight, helps the illusion of 3D form on a 2D plane and trains your brain to see it as such.
However, this is not listed explicitly in the assignment and I'm happy to mark this as complete. Nice work and move on to Lesson 2!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-14 01:31
Remember that you can rotate the page if you have trouble drawing a line in a certain direction. But yeah! Go for it. Good luck!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-13 23:55
Hey there! Nice work, I definitely see improvement here and that you kept a good handle on the foreshortening. Keep working with that ghosting method going forward and try to avoid the tendency to go back over mistakes again. This has the effect of drawing the eye to them.
Overall, nicely done!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-08 14:35
Hello! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to go over this critique and assign the appropriate flair. Let's get at it.
Awesome, awesome job getting through this challenge. It's a lot of boxes and sticking it out is to be commended! My first impression is that your line-work is very strong - even from the beginning, your boxes are neat and thoughtful. They look solid and only improve throughout the set. Great work!
I will note, however, that you overshoot your corners on almost every box. Unfortunately, this messes with the silhouette and the illusion of a 3D form. While your grasp of ghosting is obviously very strong, I recommend aiming for accuracy now, ensuring you don't overshoot with your lines.
I also urge you to lengthen your line extensions to get a better idea of where and how to improve your convergences. It's very slight, but some of your sets of parallel lines still don't converge evenly. Remember to consider each line in relation to the lines its parallel to rather than the plane or the box as a whole. That said, it is very slight!
Overall, wonderful, solid work. I'd say you're ready to move on to lesson 2. Great job!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-07 15:50
Hey there! Sluggy again! Like I said yesterday, Uncomfortable comes behind and checks the critique and gives the appropriate flair. Let's get into it!
So first, I want to commend you for getting through the challenge! 250 boxes is tough for anyone and you should be very proud for having gotten in this mileage.
That said, I have a few things I need to point out:
First, you do show improvement over the set, especially in your linework. There is significantly less wobble between the first few pages and the last. Nice work!
However, in several places, I notice you applying the line extension method in the wrong direction. Think of it this way: the extensions are meant to go 'back' into space. In some places, you have them coming 'towards' you. Understanding this will help you train your brain into viewing these as 3D forms rather than a collection of lines.
They are also meant to help you see how your sets of parallel lines are converging towards their respective vanishing points, so you know where and how to improve. Check out this portion of the challenge here about line extensions. Remember when drawing each line to only think of the lines with which it shares a vanishing point, rather than the box or plane as a whole. Refer to these notes for a bit more on that.
Similarly, you have placed the hatching on a back face of a few of the boxes, which does mess with the illusion of the form.
So overall, great work for getting through the challenge and improving on your linework! I spoke to Uncomfortable, and I would like you to complete and submit 50 more boxes using the line extension method I linked and remembering the hatch the front face of the box. Nice work!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-07 03:35
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable TAs. He'll be by later to go over this critique and assign you your flair. Let's get into it!
So, first off, beautiful work! Your linework started out pretty strong and only got better throughout the set. Similarly, I can see that you've learned quite a lot and your boxes at the end are very consistent in that three sets of parallel lines converge evenly towards their respective points.
The one thing I want to recommend is for you to utilize more lineweight for your boxes to clarify forms. This will really tighten up the form of the box and it's silhouette. However, overall, I think you're ready to move on! Great job!
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2019-02-06 16:41
Hey there! I'm sluggy, one of Uncomfortable's TAs. He'll be by later to check this critique and give you the appropriate flair.
Nice work completing this challenge! It's a tough one. The first thing I notice is that your linework improved quite a lot throughout the set - in the beginning, the lines were a bit wobbly, but I can see you became quite confident with superimposing your lines.
Similarly, you began with a fairly good grasp on your boxes and then substantially solidified your understanding towards the end. I can see that you became more consistent with ensuring that all three sets of parallel lines converge so nice work! I need to note that you did pack your pages with boxes and on a lot of them, the extended lines became quite tangled - giving your boxes some breathing space would allow you to better see and learn where and how to improve.
Another thing I want to recommend is to play more with the lineweight. As of right now, almost all of your boxes are composed of lines of the same weight - playing with lineweight will help the illusion of a 3D form, by emphasizing the outer lines while pushing the inside lines 'back into space'.
Overall, great work! Go ahead and move on to Lesson 2. Good luck!
ETA: dropped a word.
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"
2018-08-23 23:45
Thank you! Will do.
sluggydragon in the post "Lesson 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections"
2018-08-23 15:23
FINALLY!
I realized when looking back at my textures that a few don't follow the contours. I got a bit absorbed with the texture instead of following the form, so pbbpt. BUT WHATEVER, give it to me straight, Boxman
sluggydragon in the post "250 Box Challenge"
2018-05-27 17:04
Thanks, man! Ill put in some heavy practice with the ghosting during warm up.
sluggydragon in the post "DaB, ADD, and Depression; Is This Course Right For Me?"
2021-12-23 16:54
So u/Uncomfortable linked me over here
and I'm here to beat you upNo, I am very much kidding. We have a lot of people with ADHD in the community, myself included. So hi, nice to meet someone else with the good old brain weasels! I go by Sluggy here, in the discord and on the main site, and here's a little about me: I was diagnosed as a kid and have been medicated for most of my life, except during my pregnancies. I mention that mainly because I went through Drawabox both on and off of my medication.I wanted to come in and offer both some support and perspective about the whole thing, whether or not you decide to continue with the curriculum. I should note that I do not have any depressive tendencies, but I did suffer from depression while unmedicated, so my experiences won't be the same as yours, but maybe I can help!
First: I haven't finished Drawabox either, and I've restarted the cylinder challenge twice now. Not to say that's something I'm necessarily proud of, but there it is. Doesn't matter, though- I learned enough to become a TA and teach the earlier lessons. See, I think a lot of people mistakenly believe that completing the curriculum, any curriculum, will suddenly unlock their artistic abilities and get them drawing. Honestly, no. It's just a grade. The real value in going through this is the practice, the mileage. Sure, you've restarted it nine times, but I'm willing to bet the only person counting is you. There's no shame in that, and I think that's especially important for people with ADD to remember. I'm not advocating for students to only do half the course, but I am saying that getting the completionist badge isn't the point.
Second: it sounds like you're doing a great job doing 5 minutes or setting micro-goals for yourself every day. Keep it up! That's how I got through most of my lessons as well. I think the thing to remember here is that what works for neurotypical people won't always work for neurodivergents. They're worth a try, but listen- to be quite frank, we're not wired the same. Not better, not worse (unless it's a really bad day, I get that), but definitely different. Find what works for you, whatever gets you from point A to point B. Whatever gets you drawing and keeps you happy while you're doing it. We don't know each other, but I want you to know that I'm really proud of you for keeping up a 50+ day streak. I've never done that and I think it's incredible.
Third: I want you to know that being a pro artist is very possible for people like us, and I'm speaking from experience. After completing Lesson 5 (animals) in Drawabox, I got it into my head to start freelancing. It took a little bit to take off, but as I kept at it (after a lot of false starts, fear, and getting overwhelmed), I started getting regular commissions. Then, just this past year, I found subcontractor work with Ubisoft and Comfy hired me on to help with illustrations for the site. I don't mean to brag. I'm proud, but I'm also holding myself up as a hot mess disaster of an example. ADHD factored in, yes, but I put the work in and the proof is in the pudding. The journey isn't going to be straightforward and I know--oh honey I KNOW--the way forward seems to be at the very tip-top of a fucking mountain, but consider this: it isn't straightforward for anyone. The key is always persistence, whoever you are, and for us, wherever your attention takes you. Even if the boredom hurts and the distractions have you locked down, or you're just staring at the wall, just keep taking those baby steps and you'll get there, same as anyone else.
Finally: I personally think Drawabox IS the way to go to learn the fundamentals. I don't even think it's particularly unorthodox. Plenty of curriculums ask for the same kind of mileage that this one does. And yeah, I hated every single exercise. I took psychic damage needing to draw plants and bugs, but I have about the same goals as you: I want to do characters, specifically for comics and I recognized the wax-on, wax-off approach of everything.
As for it directly relating to learning character forms, I have to say that it's about your mindset. Maybe there's no figure drawing here, but actually??? Figures are made up of forms. This course teaches constructing forms. QED: once you get the hang of forms, you can arrange them into whatever shape you want. Figures, animals, plants, boxes, you name it.
Overall, it worked for me, because I learned a problem-solving approach to drawing through it. It's all a puzzle, fitting the forms together. That's how I see it. I can't guarantee the same for anyone else, but I can speak to the quality of the material. And moreover! I can speak for the quality of the community because that's a big thing that helped me through the thick of it. I can only hope I've been able to pass on this kind of support to you.
TL;DR:
I've got ADHD and I'm swooping by to tell you: you can do this, persistence is key. Don't count your failures, just your successes.
keep up with your micro-goals and figure out what works for you. Don't worry too much about using the prescribed method for neurotypicals if you're not neurotypical, as long as you can achieve the same end result and get the important part in: practice.
DaB might not teach figures, but it teaches constructing forms. Figures are made up of forms. QED DaB will set you on the path you want to get on. That said, #2 still applies here. If DaB doesn't work for you, find what works. (but I personally think it does work).
In any case, best of luck to you and I mean that with all my heart, whether or not you decide to continue with DaB. You can do this! <3