Uncomfortable's Advice from /r/ArtFundamentals | uncomfortable's Comments, Page 14

Uncomfortable in the post "I want to learn how to draw anime fanarts mostly"

2021-12-03 16:47

Try asking this question over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the free lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. Drawabox may be something you're interested in, given that it explores the core fundamentals of drawing (those that come before more complex things like figure drawing, anatomy, stylization, etc.) but you'll get a more varied set of responses if you ask in those other communities.

That said, since you're interested in pursuing a specific style, I do have an explanation of the relationship between what one might consider the "fundamentals" and stylization in this response to another student. It may be of interest to you.

Uncomfortable in the post "Confused about foreshortening"

2021-12-01 22:21

There are two factors that influence the foreshortening of an object, which may be why you are getting a little confused:

When objects are of larger scale, they tend to have more foreshortening, simply because the far end of said object is going to be much farther away from the viewer, and thus much smaller, resulting in rapid convergences of parallel edges drawn as lines on the page. So basically, when things get really big, they tend to feature more rapid foreshortening. Conversely, if things are far away, they tend to flatten out with more gradual convergences.
When objects are very close to the viewer (think right up to their eye, not just a little close, but uncomfortably so), they'll also end up with more dramatic foreshortening. As soon as you get outside of that "uncomfortably close" proximity, the foreshortening shallows out.

So if you've got a small object really close to the viewer's eye, or a large object a reasonable distance away, it'll be highly foreshortened. If you've got a large object far away, or a small object a reasonable distance away, the foreshortening will be shallower.

The reason we touch briefly upon foreshortening in the form intersections is that because these forms are all meant to be intersecting with one another, things get really complicated when you start playing with crazy foreshortening or stretched forms, because you can easily end up with contradictory information being presented to the viewer.

For example, if you have a highly foreshortened box, that tells us it's really big, and that its far end is far away. But if it's intersecting along the entirety of its length with a box that is much shallower in its foreshortening, does the intersection (which itself defines a relationship between the forms) tell us that the two forms are the same size, despite one being much shallower? It certainly can't be that one of these forms is closer and the other is far away, if they're both intersecting along the entirety of their lengths.

So, for the purposes of avoiding unnecessary distraction and complication that falls outside of the intended scope of the exercise, when doing our form intersections we avoid forms that are overly long in one dimension, and try to keep our foreshortening fairly shallow - as though we're dealing with toy blocks within a comfortable proximity to the viewer.

Uncomfortable in the post "Want to start drawing on my computer."

2021-12-01 22:13

/r/learnart and /r/digitalpainting are probably good places to ask about this - also, Ctrl+Paint has always been a highly regarded source for learning how to work with digital tools.

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, however - so be sure to ask over in those communities.

Uncomfortable in the post "What to do draw for the theme connections?"

2021-11-30 23:00

Unfortunately this subreddit isn't the appropriate place for this question, as it's reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Normally I'd suggest more suitable subreddits, but when it comes to art theory stuff, I'm at a bit of a loss. You might try posting over on /r/learnart though - they might know of a better place to ask.

Uncomfortable in the post "WARM UPS - When do you start incorporating the warm up exercises?"

2021-11-30 15:46

It's generally after you've had a lesson marked as complete with feedback (thus confirming that you're understanding how each exercise should be done, and that you're understanding the lesson material), that you can start integrating that lesson's exercises into your regular warmup rotation.

Uncomfortable in the post "NEW TO /r/ARTFUNDAMENTALS? Don't know what Drawabox is? Read this first."

2021-11-30 15:45

Thanks for the kind words! And while I wouldn't recommend skipping Lesson 4, you can use crustaceans - so lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, etc. instead of insects. While I'm currently mired in updating the earlier lesson content/videos first, I do hope to introduce more demonstrations of crustaceans for Lesson 4 in the future.

Uncomfortable in the post "Anyone know how to draw fine detail onto a piece of laminate?"

2021-11-30 01:18

Unfortunately this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. Normally I'd recommend more suitable subreddits, but unfortunately I don't really know what would be appropriate for this question.

You might start by asking over on /r/learnart - they might be able to point you to someone who can help.

Uncomfortable in the post "What are the most known/ prestigious art competitions?"

2021-11-29 19:48

/r/painting might be a more suitable question for this. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Does anyone know any cheaper/free alternatives for Lazy Nezumi?"

2021-11-29 16:38

Unfortunately we do have to keep questions on this subreddit limited to those related to the drawabox lesson material. You might ask this on /r/learnart or, if they allow questions, /r/digitalpainting - but I wouldn't mention that last sentence.

In my own experience, I'm only familiar with LazyNezumi and Hej Stylus!, but the latter is specifically for mac. Not sure of any others.

Uncomfortable in the post "Advice/tips for lesson three and beyond?"

2021-11-28 23:27

Trying to put the demonstrations into practice on your own is definitely where I'd start. If there's something you're missing however, feedback's the only way to really help figure that out. I'd recommend posting your attempts on our discord chat server, specifically on the #lesson3 channel.

Uncomfortable in the post "NEW TO /r/ARTFUNDAMENTALS? Don't know what Drawabox is? Read this first."

2021-11-28 23:26

The important thing comes back to the intent behind the 50% rule, which is to help students loosen up, and to stop focusing so much on the end result as being the gauge by which we determine whether our time spent drawing was wasted or not. Reference itself is fine - it's a very useful tool - but if you're working strictly from a single piece of reference in an attempt to copy it directly, this is something we do for one of two reasons:

Either as an exercise, where we try to learn something from the process of copying a reference - be it an object from life, a photo of something real, or another person's artwork. All of these can be used as exercises (even the latter, which is especially useful when learning about how other artists employ brush strokes, use colour, or how they make their stylistic decisions as a whole) - but exercises are inherently a part of the same 50% as the work we do for Drawabox, or any other course or tutorial, and therefore doesn't fall into the 50% we're discussing here. It is drawing for the sake of improving our skills, not drawing for the sake of drawing.
Or, the other reason to copy something directly is to position ourselves in such a way that we have better chances of having the end result turn out well. After all, if we're copying something directly, a lot of the choices and decisions have already been made for us. We simply need to reproduce what's there. Not an easy thing, but certainly a lot less daunting and intimidating than drawing something from scratch. But, of course, this means that the intent behind the choice of copying something directly is focused entirely on the end result, which also makes it unsuitable for the 50% rule.

Again - reference is fine, but as long as it's not making all of the choices for you, and as long as it isn't to strictly shield you from the sting of having your drawing turn out badly. The purpose of the 50% rule is to get you accustomed to it, so it stings less over time. It's to make you resilient and forgiving with yourself. It's also because once we stop focusing on that end result, gradually we find the joys in just drawing, that at some point during our development tends to get covered up under the desire to be impressive.

An appropriate use of reference would be a situation where, say, you decided you wanted to draw a character lounging on top of a tiger. Well, you might choose some kind of reference for the "lounging" pose, as well as a reference for what the tiger's face might look like, and another for the tiger's body, and so on. Maybe another for the character's face, for their costume, etc.

Ultimately you're still making the choices - but if you work strictly from one reference, copying it directly, all those decisions are made for you, and your piece becomes a derivative of the tool that was used to make it. When you use many pieces of reference, choosing them based on their suitability to contribute to the greater image you're pursuing, then every piece of reference serves to further expand what you're creating.

As to your other questions, the 50% rule only requires that you draw for drawing's own sake. There are no other restrictions - not on what tools you use (pencils are fine, erase all you like), and not on how you use them (don't worry about actively applying what you've learned in Drawabox - if the course is doing its job, that will gradually seep into your habits naturally).

Uncomfortable in the post "Advice/tips for lesson three and beyond?"

2021-11-28 23:16

Have you attempted to draw along with any of the demonstrations before jumping into your own plant constructions?

Uncomfortable in the post "This is a sketch of a character Ive been thinking of, I know its not the best, but I dont know where to start to improve. Are there any specific lessons you can think of that would help? Im going for a manga/anime style if that helps. Thanks"

2021-11-26 20:23

Try posting this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the free lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. They focus on the core fundamentals of drawing and do not get into more advanced concepts such as figure drawing, portraiture, or stylization.

I do however have a response to another student here where I talk about the relationship between the core fundamentals and stylization, which may be helpful to read through.

Anyway, the folks over on /r/learnart and /r/learntodraw should be better equipped to provide you with the kind of help you're looking for right now.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 6 Clarifications"

2021-11-26 20:21

People generally find ballpoints to be less stressful to work with than fineliners. It's generally because they can make lighter marks, but whatever the reasoning, the material explored in Lessons 6 and 7 benefits considerably from reducing potential distractions (from the difficulties of using fineliners), and at this point most of the benefits of working with fineliners specifically have already been achieved (in terms of discipline, having students think through their marks before making them, etc.) by working through the lessons prior to this.
If you choose to work with ballpoint, you use the ballpoint for the entire drawing, and do not switch pens in the middle. This is noted in the instructions.
Correct - you're still not plotting explicit vanishing points, but rather looking at how the existing lines converge to figure out how to orient any additional marks being added to a given set.

Uncomfortable in the post "Welcome to anyone who will Join!"

2021-11-25 03:20

While your post is definitely breaking the submission rules (all posts must be related to the lessons on drawabox.com), the concept behind your subreddit is cool as all hell. I'm still removing the post, but I'll mention your subreddit in our discord server.

Uncomfortable in the post "Can DrawABox lessons be done digitally, rather than traditionally?"

2021-11-24 19:01

You are certainly welcome to make your own decision here, as long as you've read through the article carefully, and that the decision you're making is informed.

I'll clarify one point before leaving you to it - you mention that I say "somehow a tablet is for the impatient". I myself am almost exclusively a digital artist, and I've been working with tablets (both non-display and display tablets) daily for almost two decades now, and I find them to be invaluable tools. I am by no means looking down my nose at digital art, or at tablets, or questioning their validity as tools for producing artwork.

The issue I was mentioning - which is essentially that all digital tools, and computers in general, inherently lean into our desire for instant gratification, which does not lend itself well to the learning process. For this reason - and I've seen this both in myself, and in the thousands of students whose work I've critiqued since posting the comment you replied to - those who first get comfortable with the fundamentals of drawing using ink and paper tend to exhibit more patience and care, taking the time to follow the instructions and absorb the material. Conversely, those who do try to do the work digitally (when I started Drawabox in 2014, I accepted all submitted homework regardless of what tools it employed) tend to show a greater tendency towards rushing through the written and video lessons, as well as rushing through the work. It isn't the case for everyone, but it's a strong trend that has yielded better results when those same people (or at least those among them who were willing to) switched to working with pen and paper instead.

That's the reason I stopped critiquing work that was done digitally myself, and why working digitally limits one's access to feedback through the free/community based channels only. When students rush, they make mistakes that could have been avoided, putting that extra labour on the one doing the feedback. In the end it became unsustainable.

Uncomfortable in the post "Getting Started"

2021-11-23 17:09

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. Your question seems to be more general in nature, so try asking it over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw instead. If you are asking about the Drawabox course itself, then you can find the kinds of tools we recommend on this page of Lesson 0.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to satisfy the condition of intersection points when doing 250 Box Challenge, without deform the cube. When trying to make all the line intersection, my cube doesn't look like a cube at all."

2021-11-23 17:08

The question you're asking in the title is a little unclear, and the link you included seems to lead to an error. I'd recommend rephrasing your question and fixing the link, then posting this again.

I do have two things to say however, that may help:

The 250 box challenge does not have us drawing cubes (boxes which specifically have a square for each face) - you may have simply used the wrong word, which is fine, but just in case I wanted to clarify that misconception. We're only drawing boxes, where the proportions do not matter.
The 250 box challenge is an exercise - meaning, each individual box we draw does not have to be perfect, but rather by drawing a page of boxes, then applying the line extensions, we can identify where things went wrong, and where those lines are not oriented to converge in a consistent manner. Then, we take what we learned from that, and make adjustments to our approach for the next page, repeating the process. We make more mistakes, we identify them, and we try to improve on them, growing a little bit each time. That's why we're drawing 250 of them - it gives us plenty of room to improve over the scope of the whole set.

Uncomfortable in the post "The Rotated Boxes exercise is too hard for me, i tried my best but result is terrible. Should i move on?"

2021-11-23 17:06

It is completely normal for the rotated boxes to be extremely challenging. We by no means ask or expect for students to execute this exercise perfectly, or even well. Rather, it's an introduction to the idea that in a drawing, we're not going to be tethered to a bunch of specific, plotted vanishing points, and that a scene can involve tons of vanishing points beyond the standard 1, 2, and 3 point perspective systems.

Once you've given the exercise a solid attempt (pushing through to completion, rather than leaving parts unfinished, even if they look awful), then you should be good to continue on.

Uncomfortable in the post "Should I mark the critique of my work as unhelpful?"

2021-11-23 17:04

To be completely honest, while I don't expect that individual intended to be rude (although definitely very direct and to-the-point), the language barrier may have made it a lot worse than they meant it to be. It definitely comes off as a very unhelpful.

That being said, having glanced at your work, while I can see that you've certainly put in a concerted effort, there are areas of weakness that should be addressed before moving forward.

Your super imposed lines are fine - you are expected to end up with the lines fraying on one side. So where that individual suggested you focus on avoiding the fraying, they were definitely wrong. You can read more about this here: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/9/fraying
While your ghosted lines are a touch hesitant, they are progressing in the right direction. Just keep focusing on the idea that the approach is all about breaking markmaking into a series of steps - planning things out, preparing by going through the motion. Finally the last step, execution, needs you to push through with confidence, even though you're afraid you'll miss the mark. You need to accept the inevitability that all the planning and preparation is over, and that all you can do now is commit. While this may result in less accuracy (which will improve with practice), it will guarantee a straighter, smoother line.
Your ellipses are definitely one area where you're struggling quite a bit. From what I can see from the marks themselves, it does look like you're slipping back to drawing them from your wrist, which is a common source of the kind of unevenness you're running into. Make sure you're using the ghosting method with these too (it should be used for all the marks we draw throughout this course), and that you're executing each mark from your shoulder, engaging your whole arm, to the best of your current ability. This will help smooth the ellipses out.
Your rough perspective boxes are fine, although some of those frames seem a bit empty - with only a couple boxes, and plenty of room for more. Make sure that you're leaning towards getting more out of each exercise attempt, rather than focusing on getting through it quickly.
Rotated boxes are looking solid.
Organic perspective boxes are good, though I am seeing a habit of going back over lines reflexively - make sure that every single stroke you put down is the result of the ghosting method. This should keep you from leaning into any automatic habits, like correcting mistakes (which you shouldn't be doing).

I'd probably recommend you do some more tables of ellipses and ellipses in planes exercises - maybe one page each - before moving onto the box challenge.

Of course you certainly are welcome to mark that critique as unhelpful (I'd argue that it is indeed not very helpful), but I'll leave that to you to decide.

Uncomfortable in the post "Quick question"

2021-11-22 18:19

Given that your question appears to be more general, try posting it over on /r/learnart - the folks there should be able to help you out.. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "25 Wheel Challenge: My ellipses guide is small"

2021-11-22 18:18

That is entirely normal - the ellipse guide you got will do just fine. It's called a "master template" and basically includes a variety of degrees on the same sheet, where a full ellipse guide set will involve a bunch of different sheets, each with their own degrees. Of course, where a master template is much more affordable, a full template set will cost quite a bit. The main trade-off is in the size limitations of the master template.

While working with the master template will result in smaller wheels, that has generally not been a notable issue for other students. The fact that we're leveraging these tools instead of freehanding the ellipses counteracts the usual disadvantages of working small.

Long story short - feel free to use the ellipse guide you've got.

Uncomfortable in the post "How Clean Does Your Homework Need to Be?"

2021-11-21 20:26

You should submit the work as it is currently, but in the future you're going to have to actively avoid correcting your mistakes. It's not that messy work is inherently an issue (if the best one is capable of is messy work that's what they should be submitting - submitting the best of which one is capable right now is a student's only responsibility), but correcting your mistakes is a bad habit you'll want to try to cut off.

It helps to remember that these are all just exercises - that being where you're expected to make mistakes, so people can use them to identify what you're misunderstanding, and what you may simply need more practice with. So if you make a mistake, attempting to fix it isn't useful because it is at best going to make things messier, at worst it might do exactly what you're hoping for - hide signs of the mistakes in the first place.

Uncomfortable in the post "https://youtu.be/5EXvyhnjynU"

2021-11-20 15:59

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, and is not an appropriate place for your videos. I've mostly just been quietly removing them thus far (as it was more expedient), but as you're continually posting them, I figured I should ask that you remove this subreddit from your list of go-to communities when posting your content.

Uncomfortable in the post "Hello, Just wanted to see if I progressed. I know its strongly discouraged to use an iPad but its whats available for now, I have been practicing for a while"

2021-11-20 15:57

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.

For what it's worth, your work is coming along quite well thus far. And of course, while working digitally is not recommended, you are still welcome to submit your digital work here when you're done with the whole lesson.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is it bad practice to put a dot on where I want my line to go?"

2021-11-20 15:55

Not at all - it is quite specifically something you should be doing for all your straight lines, as part of the "planning" phase of the ghosting method. As explained here, the ghosting method is to be used for every mark you make throughout this course - although you can probably be a bit less strict about that when it comes to texture/detail.

Not every mark lends itself to having a starting and end point you can mark down, so in that case the 'planning' phase becomes more about identifying other aspects of the mark you want to make beforehand (rather than just rushing into making the mark without forethought), but for straight lines, there's no reason not to. Just make sure the points you add are small enough to be engulfed by the line once it's drawn.

Uncomfortable in the post "Collecting textures"

2021-11-19 19:56

These are looking quite lovely! I recommend that you post them over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw to get proper feedback on them, or to /r/drawing if you're primarily looking to share.

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. We do have similar-ish exercises to what you're doing here, but we do have to keep the subreddit specifically restricted to submissions of the assigned exercises and questions related to the course, to ensure that students are able to get the support they need.

Uncomfortable in the post "I need help with anatomy and prespection! It's this drawing too far to be fixed? I'm loosing hope in myself sometimes :("

2021-11-19 15:57

Try posting this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, which focus on the core fundamentals of drawing and do not get into more complex topics such as figure drawing and anatomy.

Uncomfortable in the post "Drawing for fun. This is my first proper drawing the colour pic is for reference and not my work, credit to that artist, mine is just the crappy sketch one haha"

2021-11-19 15:56

It's always great to see people putting time towards the 50% rule, and drawing for the sake of drawing. I do have two things to point out however:

In general, posts on this subreddit do have to be limited to the course/exercise work. Otherwise it's just too easy to end up with people posting their own drawings (it'd be hard to differentiate between those doing so as part of Drawabox's 50% rule, and those just looking to share their work), and those submitting homework for critique would get flooded out.
I noticed that you were working completely from the same piece of reference. Using reference is perfectly fine, but when doing your work for the 50% rule, what we're really doing is leaving ourselves open and vulnerable to producing shitty drawings. The 50% rule's purpose isn't to have fun each time, but rather to learn to worry less about how the end result will turn out, and to develop a love for the process instead. When we try to reproduce an existing piece directly, exactly as it is, we're really just doing a "study" (which itself is an exercise, therefore falling into the same 50% as Drawabox and any other course's work). While you are welcome to use reference while doing your 50% rule stuff, it's important that you are making the big choices of what goes where, and what it is you're actually trying to draw. Reference should be used to fill in the areas you're unfamiliar with, once you've already decided what goes where. So for example, you might decide to draw a wizard, but might need one piece of reference for their costume, another for their pose, and another for their staff. This way you're still making your overall choices, but you're combining them to produce your own work.

Uncomfortable in the post "Point me to my errors I know there are a lot of them. But everyone i know says its very good. I just want critics and tips to improve. I was using app Manikin for pose other stuff was from head"

2021-11-18 16:32

Try asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "wide value range and small value range"

2021-11-18 16:31

Try asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, which focus on the core fundamentals of drawing - specifically markmaking and spatial reasoning - and do not get into more complex topics such as rendering and lighting.

Uncomfortable in the post "SUPPER IMPORTANT QUESTION!"

2021-11-17 20:17

Try asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, which focus on the core fundamentals of drawing and do not get into more complex topics such as portraiture, figure drawing and anatomy.

For what it's worth, what you're describing isn't abnormal at all - think about it in terms of your brain having a certain amount of focus/attention you can afford. When you're looking at someone else's work, you're only looking at their work. When you're working on your own, you're doing many more things simultaneously - observing your reference, putting marks down, identifying where those marks might be off and might need adjustment as you work, etc.

Practice - that is, consistent, regular, structured practice over a long stretch of time - helps you better understand what kinds of features on a human face are important, and generally helps you invest your time where it's needed most. It'll also help you develop more patience and discipline as a whole, diminishing the urge to rush and allowing you to take your time where you need to.

And of course, there's the general fundamentals of mark making, of 3D space and spatial reasoning, and so on which all help reduce the weight being placed on your conscious, active brain, pushing it down into your muscle memory and subconscious, leaving that conscious brain to solve the problems that are specific to the piece you're making. When your brain isn't actively trying to worry about the execution of each and every mark, and of making things feel real and three dimensional, you free up resources that can then be committed to capturing likeness and other more complex things.

Uncomfortable in the post "NEW TO /r/ARTFUNDAMENTALS? Don't know what Drawabox is? Read this first."

2021-11-17 15:53

We generally recommend students work with ink on paper, for the reasons explained in this article.

Uncomfortable in the post "Figure drawing reference photo packs that arent Grafit Studio"

2021-11-17 15:20

Try asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, which focus on the core fundamentals of drawing and do not get into more complex topics such as figure drawing and anatomy.

Uncomfortable in the post "] am learning to render light and Shadows , I have a Question here that "Do I have to Render all the members of Light and Shadow Family like Cast Shadow, Bounce light, Reflected Light, Midtone, Direct Light and finally the highlight, Everytime for every kind of object and every kind of light? ""

2021-11-17 15:19

This question seems better suited to a more generalized community like /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, which actually do not touch the topic of lighting/rendering, in favour of developing a strong grasp of 3D space and spatial reasoning prior to getting into those topics.

For what it's worth though, there's two ways to interpret your question:

In every single drawing that I produce, do I need to consider all of these different concepts and always include every different component, without exception?
Is every one of these lighting concepts/components present in every realistic depiction of an object?

I'm going to answer the second of these first - yes, while they're not always as visible (a specular highlight might be virtually unnoticeable on an especially matte surface), each concept is going to be present for any "realistic" depiction of objects in a realistic scene.

This leads us into our second question, however - you may still choose to leave certain concepts out, as per your own specific stylistic choices. That doesn't mean "do whatever you want and call it style if someone challenges you on it" - rather, it means that style itself is a series of conscious and consistent choices or rules we apply to the way in which objects are depicted. We can choose to go fully realistic, or even hyper realistic (where we exaggerate those kinds of lighting concepts), or we can choose to neglect certain elements altogether to create a different flavour.

To that point, I'll direct you to this deeper explanation of what style is in relation to "realism" or the "fundamentals".

Uncomfortable in the post "Perfect cubes without horizon and established vanishing points?"

2021-11-17 15:13

So what you're largely describing is an important aspect of this course - that is, the ability to construct solid, 3D objects without needing to fall back to far-away vanishing points, but rather to use what is more central to the drawn object itself to get what we need - and to more generally train our instincts to be able to estimate proportions with greater accuracy. One example of this is learning to focus more on how members of a given set of lines converge to infer their shared vanishing point (and thus looking at those lines each time we need to add a new line to the set) rather than needing to have a specific vanishing point plotted out.

When it comes to differentiating between rectangles and actual squares in 3D space, we do this in a few places, though again they're all fairly late in the course:

In the 250 cylinder challenge - specifically the cylinders-in-boxes section - we develop our instincts for estimating the proportions that are required to make a pair of opposite faces on a box proportionally square in 3D space, regardless of how it's oriented in the world. We do this through repetition and analysis - drawing boxes, then testing how far off one of their pairs of planes are from representing squares in 3D space. This "testing" is done by checking aspects of the ellipses themselves, as explained here.
In Lesson 7, we reiterate the same concepts in the section labelled "Creating a Square in Perspective". It's also addressed in this video.
Also in Lesson 7, we leverage that concept of creating squares in 3D space and transferring those measurements across into other dimensions to create unit-grids as explained here to help us construct our vehicles to a more specific set of pre-planned proportions.

Note that all of these things are discussed much later in the course simply because they are advanced concepts, and students are generally able to understand and apply them more effectively once they've got more of the course behind them. Earlier in the course, we talk more about boxes in a general sense - not actually going out of our way to stick to any specific "cube" or "square" proportions.

One thing I did want to comment on was your use of the word "isometric" - I suspect you may be using the wrong word there. Isometric refers to a very specific approach for projection (that is, a technique to represent 3D space on a 2D page, of which "perspective projection" and "isometric projection" are entirely different approaches). I'm guessing that you're really just referring to a "perfect cube".

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson - 01. I did the first few exercises. Feedbacks are appreciated."

2021-11-16 22:42

For what it's worth, your work is coming along quite well thus far.

Uncomfortable in the post "Ballpoint pen vs ruller: smeared lines, what do I do?"

2021-11-16 01:28

Smudgy and smeary ballpoints are a common problem - one technique I've heard of to mitigate it is to keep a little paper towel on the side and dab the pen on it between strokes. It's supposed to help absorb any pooling/excess ink on the tip.

Uncomfortable in the post "Form Intersections Question"

2021-11-15 18:32

A better way to think about the intersections (and this really isn't any easier to wrap one's head around, to be honest - it still is one of those things that settles in as we continue to work through the course, learning to manipulate forms in 3D space through constructional drawing exercises and such) is to think of them as existing on the surface of both forms simultaneously.

This is the approach we try using in the written material, which was updated much more recently than the video, by a matter of years. This is something I'm working to fix by overhauling all the video content, but for now this is definitely one of those areas where the approach between text/video are quite different. Either way, they're still trying to make sense of that which is inherently a difficult thing to put to words.

Another way to think about it, which is fairly similar to the "line that runs along the surface of both forms simultaneously" concept is to think of it as though you're taking two forms, passing them through one another, then welding them together. The intersection line is the path you'd follow with your welding torch, to bind them together.

Uncomfortable in the post "Hello, I'm kinda new to art"

2021-11-14 17:33

This subreddit is specifically reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. It's a course that explores what we believe to be the "core" fundamentals of drawing in a structured, exercise-based way. Each lesson includes specific homework assignments with explicit quantities, and students are only asked to give themselves as much time as they personally require to perform them to the best of their current ability (rather than prescribing a specific amount of time, or a specific expectation of quality). They then submit that work for feedback, ensuring that they're not working in a vacuum, or relying on their own judgment (which at this point would not be developed enough to be useful).

For this question, which is definitely more general in nature, I'd recommend asking over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw to get a wider variety of responses.

Uncomfortable in the post "Ghost line issues- I keep missing the dots. Any suggestions?"

2021-11-14 17:32

For what it's worth, your work is coming along well, and it is entirely normal to miss the dots slightly for a bit. Reread this section, it explains the 'levels' of this exercise we progress through, even beyond the couple of pages that are assigned in this lesson. You'll continue practicing this exercise, and all of those you encounter, as part of regular warmups, and will continue sharpening your skills that way.

Uncomfortable in the post "... Inconsistency is my talent, the pics that u see follow a chronological order. I cannot for the life of me be creative and whne I'm trying to I cannot translate a reference into my own style. Idk how to restructure shapes and morph them into a stylized way of drawing..."

2021-11-13 16:39

So this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here, so this post is probably going to receive a more helpful response over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw.

That said, I do have a bit of a spiel on the topic of style that may provide some insight on how to think about at least some of the problems you're encountering. You'll find it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/gpxkca/the_battle_with_style_vs_fundamentals/frpzxn1/

Uncomfortable in the post "How to recognize the face of the box facing the viewer?"

2021-11-12 18:46

Insects and crustaceans serve as a useful middle-step because of how their natural segmentation really accentuates their 3D structure. Basically it's just their nature that makes them particularly effective as drawing exercises, as students are still getting used to understanding how the things they draw on a flat page represent objects in a 3D world.

Uncomfortable in the post "Am I meant to do the 250 box challenge all at once?"

2021-11-12 16:44

You are indeed intended to complete the box challenge in full before submitting the challenge for critique. If you were to seek feedback after every page, then the sheer overhead of people providing that much feedback per student would be pretty unfeasible.

You can however, at various points, seek feedback on partial work on our discord chat server. All other homework submissions (be it here on the subreddit or on the website for official critiques) should be completed in full.

Uncomfortable in the post "how long should i spend on an art fundamental?"

2021-11-12 16:42

For this question, which is definitely more general in nature, I'd recommend asking over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw.

Uncomfortable in the post "50% Rule Question"

2021-11-12 16:40

It depends. General use of reference is not a problem, and is perfectly fine even when following the 50% rule, but specifically copying a single photograph as a study - that is, with the intent of doing it to learn and improve your skills, or doing it to improve your chances of having a pretty end result, is not appropriate for the 50% rule. The former is an exercise, and therefore falls under the same 50% rule as Drawabox and any other courses, whereas the latter is a contradiction of the 50% rule's main purpose, to focus on getting comfortable with the idea of just drawing for its own sake.

A good rule of thumb is this - who has made the choices? Did you make the choice of what you wanted to draw, of how it ought to be posed, etc. or did you find a neat photo and decide to replicate it directly, allowing it to make all the choices for you? If you're making the choices, then reaching for a specific reference image to help you solve a specific problem in a particular section of your drawing is totally fine. If however you're allowing something else to make all the decisions, and just following along blindly, then that doesn't fall under the 50% rule's guidelines.

Uncomfortable in the post "Hi! I have a question"

2021-11-12 16:34

Alternatively, you may want to make use of the unofficial "critique exchange" program being run on the discord server (in the #critique-exchange channel). Right now, community feedback obviously has its issues, which we do want to address, but won't be able to until other more important things have been implemented. Elodin's critique exchange program largely seeks to smooth things over by allowing Lesson 1 submissions to simply be added to a queue to receive feedback, whereas those submitting later lessons/challenges have to first get a certain number of critiques done before they get feedback on theirs.

That way those who can't ostensibly critique anything else (like yourself) can get feedback, and then those who have moved further along have something to critique.

Uncomfortable in the post "How do I print out a double sided/mirrored image evenly?"

2021-11-12 04:19

Try asking this over on /r/learnart or /r/learntodraw - this subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to recognize the face of the box facing the viewer?"

2021-11-11 15:56

<__< crustaceans are pretty good for Lesson 4 as well, if you have a genuine phobia of insects.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to recognize the face of the box facing the viewer?"

2021-11-11 15:30

I'm guessing that this question arises from something I said in the "How to Draw a Box 2" video which was, in retrospect, very unclear. When talking about filling the "front facing face" with hatching, it very much seems like I'm pointing at a specific face.

Instead, each box is made up of 6 faces. Three of them point towards the viewer, the other three points away. You can pick any one of the three that point toward the viewer and fill it in with hatching.

I apologize for the confusion, and this should be rectified more permanently once I get around to redoing that video.

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