Uncomfortable in the post "Just a Comment"
2022-02-20 19:16
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you're finding the course useful. While I do have to remove this post (we have to stick very strictly to ensuring all posts are either homework submissions or questions about the material to ensure people can get as much help as possible), I did want to reply and say thank you.
Uncomfortable in the post "Can this help with digital art?"
2022-02-20 00:51
Every tool and medium will have its own learning curve. What Drawabox teaches addresses some basic mark making stuff, but primarily focuses on spatial reasoning, which is more related to how your brain perceives and understands the things you draw. We use ink because it reinforces the particular concepts we explore quite effectively, not simply to learn how to draw with pen.
While some of the earlier exercises can certainly help you get used to drawing with other tools (being that they're more focused on general markmaking), I'm not sure they'd actually be any more useful than just jumping in and producing artwork (whether good or bad) using the given tool.
Alternatively, you might find a dedicated course for learning that particular tool. That of course doesn't replace the importance of learning good markmaking habits and spatial reasoning skill - it simply clears the way for you to apply them more effectively.
Uncomfortable in the post "Exercises to learn how to draw faces and hands?"
2022-02-19 18:42
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. As explained here, this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com. Those lessons focus on the core fundamentals of drawing and do not explore more complex topics such as figure drawing or portraiture.
Uncomfortable in the post "Should I restart?"
2022-02-17 21:45
I would definitely recommend that you start over from the beginning.
Uncomfortable in the post "I just started lesson 1 today, here's my first homework, feedback pls because I suck at drawing straight lines"
2022-02-17 16:13
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can however get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "People who didn't have fun drawing bad stuff for the 50% rule, did you start to find drawing fun after you got good?"
2022-02-16 14:30
I think it would be irresponsible of me not to point out here that the majority of students coming through these metaphorical doors suffer from the whole "enjoying the idea of drawing more than actually drawing" - it's an incredibly common thing I see from my students all of the time.
And it is very much something many of them learn to overcome, though it is not an easy thing to accomplish. It requires us to first and foremost break the need for everything we produce to turn out well. Getting used to drawing a bunch of garbage helps erode those existing mental connections between the end result and the pleasure we feel from having achieved it.
This is a process we've pushed upon our students more and more over the last many years, and I can say confidently that we can rewire the way in which our brains derive satisfaction and fulfilment. Jumping straight to "It must not be for you", as declarative as that is, really does require some further support as it's a blanket statement that will easily drive those already uncertain of their potential to giving up.
Uncomfortable in the post "Whats leson 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6?"
2022-02-14 00:46
You may want to read the stickied thread.
Uncomfortable in the post "Pls do critique my work and I didn't draw any curves cause I wasn't confident"
2022-02-13 16:43
You certainly can.
Uncomfortable in the post "NEW TO /r/ARTFUNDAMENTALS? Don't know what Drawabox is? Read this first."
2022-02-13 16:20
Thank you for your kind words!
Uncomfortable in the post "Hi I have question about edge control"
2022-02-13 16:20
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, and does not get into more complex topics such as rendering or portraiture.
That said, I can tell you this - edge control as a concept is simply the matter of consciously choosing where you use the different kinds of edges, and basing those decisions off specific reasoning. That reasoning may vary from style to style (as each style is its own internally consistent "ruleset" for how we depict things), but what matters most is that we do not simply rely on our tools to make the decisions for us.
Uncomfortable in the post "Circles/Squares in Perspective"
2022-02-13 16:18
So you are technically correct, but ultimately it comes down to this: it is more useful for learning to teach this concept that is not always correct, but is correct in many situations, and is close in others. The principle applies very well in 1 and 2 point perspective, but where it starts to erode is in 3 point perspective, and as those vanishing points get closer to the object on the page (resulting in more distortion and thus bigger gaps between this concept and what is actually correct). The thing is, if we were to worry about ensuring everything was 100% correct in each instance, we'd be stuck at the beginning for vastly longer, rather than pushing forwards with something that is largely "good enough".
Drawabox itself isn't a course in technical perspective, but rather one that focuses on developing an overall, more intuitive sense of 3D space. That said, as you noted yourself, even Scott Robertson (who is well regarded for his mastery of technical perspective) uses this approach because it's just far more effective, and the margins of error are basically not significant enough for people to notice in most drawings.
I know that answer doesn't actually rectify the situation, but for a deeper dive into what would actually be correct, that would be well beyond what I can provide.
Uncomfortable in the post "Pls do critique my work and I didn't draw any curves cause I wasn't confident"
2022-02-13 16:13
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can however get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Can I get critique on my pages? Im struggling "
2022-02-13 16:12
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can however get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "What do you do for warm up, and when does it become grinding?"
2022-02-13 14:08
The exercises become part of your warmup routine only once you've had the lesson marked as complete, confirming that you understand how they are to be done. So until you're done Lesson 1, you don't need to worry about warmups, and should only complete the number of pages assigned in the homework.
Uncomfortable in the post "Drawabox lesson 2, 1st homework: feedback pls!"
2022-02-11 19:47
You're not being barred from receiving feedback on partial work - my initial message clearly stated where you can receive that feedback. Our Discord server literally has thousands of students who are online at any given time, and they are more than happy to help.
All we're doing is traffic control, based on experience. Previously when students were able to submit partial work here, the likelihood of posts getting feedback was very, very low. It's still not great, but it has significantly improved when we implemented this restriction.
I understand that it is never a pleasant experience to post your work (especially work you've put time into), and have it removed before it sees the light of day, but you are only seeing it from a very limited viewpoint that doesn't take into consideration why such rules exist, and whether or not they are for the greater good in the long run. But that is not your fault - it is a normal response to the frustration of having a post removed.
Uncomfortable in the post "Yesterday, we dropped a new video about the concepts around the 50% rule. This is without exception, the most important video of the entire course."
2022-02-11 17:41
I agree wholeheartedly!
Uncomfortable in the post "Drawabox lesson 2, 1st homework: feedback pls!"
2022-02-11 17:08
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 2 Texture Analysis Help"
2022-02-11 17:08
Given that we're only drawing cast shadows (with one exception I'll mention in a moment), there are no soft shadows. Cast shadows are generally hard edged (that isn't always true, but it's close enough to the case to make soft shadows not a problem in this situation).
The exception is where we have students attempt crumpled paper, because generally we look at the crumpled paper, pick a "threshold" beyond which anything darker is drawn in full black, and anything lighter is drawn as full white. While this doesn't fall into the whole cast shadow thing, it has incredible benefits because it encourages students to be much bolder and more decisive with their "shadow shapes", and I found that having them do that first yields better overall results for the others.
Another point in which the lesson can be a bit more clear (and this'll be fixed when my overhaul of the material reaches Lesson 2, for now I'm still dealing with Lessons 0 and 1), is that the cast shadows we draw are not pulled right out of the reference image. We do not simply observe the reference and then draw the shadow shapes we see. This would be a transference of information from a 2D source (the photo) to a 2D target (the drawing), and at no point would we ever think about how the things we're drawing (the textural forms themselves) exist in 3D space.
Instead, we look at our reference in order to observe and identify each individual textural form that is present there, one at a time. For each such form, we seek to understand how it sits in 3D space and how it relates to its neighbouring surfaces, so we can then take that understanding and use it to design/invent the cast shadows we feel they should be casting on those surroundings. These shadow shapes we draw may well be present in the reference, but if we bind ourselves strictly to that reference, we rob ourselves of the ability to actually modify the lighting situation.
This ability to modify the lighting to produce either areas of greater darkness, or areas with smaller shadows, is integral to producing the gradient. We draw as though there is brighter, stronger light on the right side, which burns those shadows away, and very little of that light reaches the forms all the way on the left, causing the cast shadow shapes to expand and merge with one another, creating more darkness. It's the implicit markmaking explained in the lesson, and the fact that we're drawing cast shadows and not the forms themselves, which allows us to do this. The forms that are present do not change, but the way in which they are represented does.
That's why we have to focus on spending our time observing the reference on understanding how those forms exist - not on merely copying what we see.
Uncomfortable in the post "Need tips and sources to learn compositional drawing."
2022-02-10 18:21
This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. That explanation does get into why we have the "ArtFundamentals" name given our narrower scope (basically we started with a more general scope, and then narrower it down based on what our community needed most).
That said, once upon a time there was a composition lesson included in Drawabox, and you can find an archived version of it here.
Aside from that however, I'd recommend asking this question over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw.
Uncomfortable in the post "I would like help with what types of anime girls to draw."
2022-02-10 18:16
As explained here, this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com. This question may be better suited for a community like /r/ArtistLounge.
Uncomfortable in the post "Question related with warmups"
2022-02-10 00:25
That's actually a pretty fair question, but one I haven't really considered. Ideally using a fineliner for all of them is best, but it really depends. Some exercises benefit a lot from the fineliner (like anything texture related), but a lot of the benefit of using fineliners is achieved as you continue to actually use it for the main course work.
I definitely wouldn't use a pencil though - ballpoint pen should be okay for most cases.
Uncomfortable in the post "Going through the homeworks and had a question about amount of time spent"
2022-02-09 18:33
Just to clarify, the 250 box challenge most certainly takes more than a couple of days. Most people pacing themselves decently will do 5-10 boxes a day (which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, if you factor in ghosting every line, thinking through each one's orientation in relation to the other lines of the same set, applying the line extensions after each page to specifically identify where that room for improvement still lies, etc.) By that calculation, it's entirely normal to spend almost a month on the box challenge.
If the student you're mentioning is ScyllaStew, we have her put up videos of her work uncut and in realtime in order to give students a general idea of how one might work through the material and pace themselves, specifically so people don't feel that by spending a while on the work, they're somehow doing worse than people who rush.
Uncomfortable in the post "Any programs like draw a box but for coloring/painting?"
2022-02-09 18:30
Honestly I think this question might actually be better suited to /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. We do specifically want to restrict posts here to homework submissions and questions relating to the course itself to ensure that students can get as good a chance of getting responses. On top of that, you're more likely to find people who've had a chance to explore other courses in those more general communities.
Uncomfortable in the post "What is the best book for learning the fundamentals?"
2022-02-09 18:29
I 100% understand that the subreddit's name is confusing, but as explained here, this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com (the confusing name's reasoning is explained there too).
I'd recommend asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. Of course, you can also check out drawabox.com, which is a free, structured, exercise-based course focused on teaching what we believe to be the "core" fundamentals of drawing.
Uncomfortable in the post "Boxes 1-5/250 Box Challenge how can I improve?"
2022-02-09 08:19
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 1/1 after about 4 trys"
2022-02-09 01:10
This appears to only be a submission of one page of the superimposed lines exercise. This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Concerning the 50% Rule"
2022-02-07 17:23
I see. The it seems that the whole discussion you were having with General_McQuack was largely the two of you talking past each other. Given the context of OP's question, which was about the nature of the rule specifically, and what it states. There is of course room to discuss whether the rule itself is appropriate in all of its elements, but with the lack of clarity, it seemed as though you were trying to argue that I myself was saying things differently than I was.
As far as my stance on the matter, we do provide a variety of detailed but open-ended prompts on our discord server (as explained here in the notes that accompany this video, although it did not make it into the video itself), for those who are still struggling to come up with something to draw.
I think your idea of Scrooge McDuck with cucumber arms is an example of a solid idea, but I wouldn't go so far as to recommend one print off a picture of him and replace the arms, as this leans in quite heavily to students' desire to avoid a drawing that comes out badly. Having references open for the character, for pickles, and for whatever else and then piecing them together (regardless of how it turns out) would allow the student to better push their boundaries of comfort, staying more in the spirit of the 50% rule and what its purpose is in the grand scheme of the course.
Uncomfortable in the post "Concerning the 50% Rule"
2022-02-07 15:37
I believe General_McQuack is referring to the suggestion of the following:
-
Gesture drawing
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Master studies (redrawing something someone else has)
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Following tutorials (how-to-draw-X etc)
These are all exercises and activities that would fall under the first 50%, along with any other courses one might be doing. By your own wording, you're doing these because they continue to push you in the direction of your goal.
Perhaps the video wasn't as clear as I'd hoped to make it, but the purpose of the 50% rule is to push students beyond their fear of failure and of "wasting" their time by forcing them to spend their time on things that appear to have no direct value towards developing their skills. There is value, of course, but only in terms of ensuring students get used to venturing outside of their comfort zone.
The things you listed still very much have all of the guardrails and safety equipment up, and do not expose students to the kind of "risk" of ending up with bad end results or "wasting" their time in the spirit of the 50% rule.
Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 1 : Looking to get some critique before I move on."
2022-02-06 01:26
This appears to only be a submission of one page of the superimposed lines exercise. This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 1 "
2022-02-06 01:26
This appears to only be a submission of one page of the superimposed lines exercise. This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Would this be okay?"
2022-02-04 16:25
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for posts relating to the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.
Uncomfortable in the post "Progress: First and second time trying the Rotated Boxes Exercise - a couple of months apart"
2022-02-03 21:59
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Even when I think Im drawing from my shoulder my elbow is still involved. What do I do?"
2022-02-02 23:03
I believe I explain this in the video on drawing from your shoulder, but your elbow is going to move slightly to compensate for the motion and keep the pen where it needs to be. The motion needs to be primarily driven from the shoulder, but some movement from your elbow is normal.
Uncomfortable in the post "I linked the wrong lesson, what do I do?"
2022-02-02 17:12
I've removed the post. I also noticed that it was posted as a "partial" submission, which gets relegated to your sketchbook and generally doesn't get much attention. If you did complete all 250 boxes, make sure you check off the boxes on the submission form so it is correctly marked as a complete submission.
Uncomfortable in the post "I linked the wrong lesson, what do I do?"
2022-02-02 17:04
If you link me to the post in question, I can remove it. But either way, you can just submit it again with the correct link.
Uncomfortable in the post "Is it normal to redo a lot of boxes in 250 boxes challenge?"
2022-02-02 04:40
I think you may be misunderstanding what the 250 box challenge is about (or really any assignment in this course). The goal is not for you to produce perfect work, or even good work. You should not be throwing anything away, or crossing any mistakes out - you produce what you can whilst taking your time and applying the instructions consciously to the best of your ability, but when things go awry, as they are often want to do, you continue on and finish them up, then move on.
With this challenge especially, the expectation that you're going to bungle quite a few is baked into the fact that we're asking for two hundred and fifty of them.
Uncomfortable in the post "Plants drawing"
2022-02-02 03:38
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough when I explained that your previous post (which appears to be the same as this one) was not a complete homework submission. You're missing the arrows, leaves, and branches exercises.
The homework also assigned 8 pages of plant constructions, no more than half of which should be from the demonstrations, but I'd probably overlook that if you included the arrows/leaves/branches.
Uncomfortable in the post "Drawabox.com - WOW !!"
2022-02-02 03:02
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying the resource.
Uncomfortable in the post "What do you do if you don't fully understand one of the lessons, do you continue on to the homework?"
2022-02-01 02:41
That is precisely correct. There are many situations where I do not actually expect the student to completely grasp what's explained in the lectures. The lectures themselves are just a jumping off point - much of the time, it's doing the exercises that'll help you understand the concept. Ultimately, that's their purpose.
Uncomfortable in the post "Questions about 50% rule"
2022-01-28 22:03
I should point out that many of these questions have been addressed in the newer 50% rule video which came out a couple weeks ago. You may not yet have had the chance to watch it, so I highly recommend you do.
Uncomfortable in the post "Watercolors?"
2022-01-28 16:41
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.
Uncomfortable in the post "NEW TO /r/ARTFUNDAMENTALS? Don't know what Drawabox is? Read this first."
2022-01-27 16:18
Questions related to the course material should be posted to the subreddit directly, not as comments in existing threads.
Uncomfortable in the post "Organic Perspective exercise"
2022-01-26 20:30
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Yesterday, we dropped a new video about the concepts around the 50% rule. This is without exception, the most important video of the entire course."
2022-01-26 18:46
That situation falls into the same category as working from a reference - except instead of an image, it's from life.
Uncomfortable in the post "Why are some of low quality NFT's worth that much?"
2022-01-25 17:28
NFTs are not unlike the fine art market - it's not about what something is worth (because there is no intrinsic financial value to fine art), it's about what one is willing to pay for it. NFTs are honestly a pretty messed up area - it's hype piled onto hype piled onto hype, with people hoping that their investments will bear fruit. This leads to all kinds of messed up behaviour. It's rife with the potential for artists themselves to buy their own NFTs at inflated prices in order to create the illusion of demand.
Some people compare NFTs with stocks (where prices fluctuate wildly at times), but even that's not really an accurate representation. While company valuations can become swollen well beyond any basis, companies themselves can be assessed based on their capacity to generate revenue. Their fundamentals, so to speak. For NFTs, there is no such baseline.
I would not recommend that anyone dive into the NFT market. No one can really know where it's going to go, but it really does look like a game of hot potato where no one wants to be the last one holding the spud before the bubble bursts and people move on.
All that said, this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com as explained here, so this question is well outside of its scope. Hopefully my answer has helped clarify some things for you (although to be fair, the way NFTs are going, you could just be posting across multiple subreddits to drum up more attention - not that I mean to accuse you, just that it's that crazy out there).
I should clarify one thing though - when I say that there's no intrinsic financial value to fine art, I'm referring to the kind of art that is sold at gallery or auction. There are other kinds of art - or rather, other cases - where art is able to hold a more concrete value, or at least the time put into creating a piece does. That is commercial/contract work where artists are commissioned to produce a piece as directed, and paid for partial or full licensing of that piece so it can then go on to be used as part of a larger product. Video games, comic books, books, anything that requires advertisement - these are all areas where the production of a piece is ascribed more concrete value, based on the estimates of how it would influence the capacity for that final product to generate revenue. But of course, that's a whole different barrel of monkeys.
Uncomfortable in the post "Shoulder pain when I draw sitting down, is it safe to continue?"
2022-01-25 06:51
As soon as I read that you're experiencing a burning pain in your shoulder, it became clear this question fell well outside of the kind of support we're able to provide. It'd simply be irresponsible to let members of the community weigh in, as it really is just going to amount to comments from well-meaning but largely unknowledgeable people on the internet.
The first thing you should do is stop drawing. While it's normal to encounter some soreness (dull pain akin to having worked out), anything beyond that scope is reason for concern. Next, you might consider asking about this on a more medically-related subreddit. Obviously actually speaking to a proper medical professional is best, and it's pretty much all I would recommend - but I understand that in your situation that becomes... complicated. We actually have similar situations here in Nova Scotia (getting a primary care physician even before the pandemic was basically impossible), so we generally go to walk-in clinics. Be sure to check if that's an option for you, but I'll continue with this response assuming that it's not.
While I haven't had a chance to look too deeply, you may want to check out /r/AskDocs. At the very least they have people tagged as physicians, nurses, and lay people, and it's a larger community than ours so hopefully you should be able to get some useful thoughts on your situation.
Best of luck - and remember, do not continue to draw until you've gotten some kind of answers. You're absolutely right - you only have one body, and it is not worth damaging it. One of my teaching assistants struggles with wrist issues, due to having gone too hard on trying to learn guitar, and not listening to his body. It's a consistent source of regret for him, though one that hopefully he can address with physiotherapy.
Uncomfortable in the post "I'm about to start drawabox again, can you write notes or is that considered grinding?"
2022-01-24 23:31
Sorry for the short answer, but no, I wouldn't see that as grinding.
Uncomfortable in the post "Any Advice?"
2022-01-24 22:41
This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here. You can get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server though, and the folks there would be happy to help you out. For the subreddit, we're pushing students to post complete lesson work.
Uncomfortable in the post "Perspective shadow"
2022-01-24 16:14
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.
That said, I should mention that technically perspective and shadow projection are unrelated to one another. They seem similar, because of how the mechanics of figuring out how to plot out a shadow involves the light source almost behaving like a vanishing point, but that similarity is fairly shallow and doesn't hold for too long as you continue exploring the concept.
Uncomfortable in the post "Where can I find this easel? My university used these and I desperately want one of my own!"
2022-02-20 19:17
Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.