Uncomfortable's Advice from /r/ArtFundamentals
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Uncomfortable in the post "The Other 50% with draw a box"

2022-11-05 14:05

One thing to keep in mind when giving feedback that contradicts an established source (or hell, even if you're contradicting anyone else's advice, established or not), is that you're taking on a certain amount of responsibility for the outcome the one receiving that feedback may encounter - at least, to an extent. The individual in question also has a responsibility to take in all of the information available to them and make the call themselves, but in contributing to that available information, you also play a role.

So, when doing so, make sure that you feel extremely confident that should the person follow the path you've suggested, or ignore an instruction on your advice, that you do genuinely believe that this is in their best interest. It's not uncommon for people to just say things without really considering how they might impact a person's trajectory - and so they might not reflect all that deeply on how taking that path themselves impacted them, or whether they're even at a point to assess that.

If you strongly believe that your contradiction will surely be beneficial, then by all means, offer it. But always reflect on whether or not you are, in yourself, certain enough to share that path with another. In this case, reflect upon whether you feel comfortable jumping in and drawing whatever comes to mind, or whether you still feel hesitant or uncertain, afraid of wasting time on a drawing that won't turn out well. Reflect on whether you find yourself staring at a blank page, or whether you find yourself more inclined to dive in and just get things going.

This kind of thing - reflecting on the responsibility of telling people to do one thing as opposed to another - is something I think about every day.

Uncomfortable in the post "Whats recommended for a student trying to improve their coloring?"

2022-11-04 17:30

Be sure to ask this over on /r/learnart or /r/artistlounge as AutoMod explained.

Uncomfortable in the post "I have never drawn in my life and I usually get pissed off while trying as I am not good at it and don't have the patience, I would like to start drawing and making art but I don't know how to start, any recommendations/advices ? Please and thank you"

2022-11-01 20:41

While AutoModerator did cover that questions that aren't related specifically to the lessons on drawabox.com are better suited to the other communities listed in its reply, I did want to mention that drawabox may be of interest to you, as it's a free course that explores the core fundamentals of drawing. That said, asking in those other communities is advised as it'll get you a wider range of recommendations than those you'd find here.

Uncomfortable in the post "What to Draw Aside from Draw-a-Box Exercises?"

2022-10-28 18:24

Thank you for the kind words! I think that when it comes to learning the underlying pillars of any skill, there are certain general things - patience, discipline, willingness to accept that not every step will yield beautiful results, etc. - that one has to develop along the way.

Drawabox wasn't ever started with the intention of addressing those things, but I think it's inevitable - and they're the kinds of things I'd like to focus on a lot more once the overhaul of the course is completed, and my time is freed up by offloading critiques onto TAs.

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

2022-10-27 22:55

To put it simply, what the course focuses on is developing one's instinctual spatial reasoning skills, and their understanding of how the forms they're manipulating/building/etc. exist in 3D space, rather than just as marks on a page. This applies to everything - including drawing people - but the course does not specifically tackle that. Nor do any of the other lessons, from plants, to insects, to animals, to vehicles, seek to teach you how to draw those specific things. They're just lenses through we can tackle the same core problem of spatial reasoning.

I recommend that in order to better understand this and what the course seeks to accomplish, you go through the first page of Lesson 0, which goes over all of that.

Uncomfortable in the post "Using real 3D objects as reference?"

2022-10-18 17:58

Normally art classes really stress the importance of working off real objects instead of reference photos, but due to the manner in which we're working in this course (focusing on construction, breaking complex objects into simple forms and building them back up, instead of drawing directly from observation) it's not something we especially worry about here, as the process sidesteps many of the disadvantages of generally working with photos over real objects.

To be clear, it's fine to use real objects - but I would avoid taxidermy because they tend to be posed more stiffly than a normal, live animal. Also, always remember that these exercises follow a particular process, and serve each as a sort of spatial puzzle that we're solving by combining simple forms. Be sure not to fall into the trap of working from direct observation only, without the additional step of understanding how the things you're seeing sit in 3D space, before you attempt to transfer them to your drawing. This isn't so much a specific issue that's going to be more of a concern if you work from real objects, but I wanted to mention it just in case.

Uncomfortable in the post "Group to push each other during the DAB journey"

2022-10-10 17:44

You might want to reach out to this person, rather than creating a new one.

In general I'm weary about ending up with a lot of independent people advertising fragmented Discord communities on this subreddit. I let the one I linked above through as the existing Drawabox discord is very large, and so I can understand people wanting a smaller group - but I'm weary of ending up in a situation where many such servers end up being created and advertised here individually.

As such, I'm at least for the time being not going to be approving other posts of this nature.

Uncomfortable in the post "is finishing 250 challenge required to go from lesson 1 to 2?"

2022-10-07 16:44

Yes, the 250 box challenge is assigned after Lesson 1, and is a prerequisite to moving onto Lesson 2.

Uncomfortable in the post "help identify this art medium, what would you guess this is drawn with, my guess is color pencil, but I'm being told something different and I need serious opinions, I won't reveal what it's said to be immediately so I can keep opinions unbiased, thank you"

2022-10-05 19:46

Honestly you'd be surprised at how similar ballpoint pen and coloured pencil can appear, and the sheer depth of colour one can achieve with it. I myself refer to ballpoint as the "pencil of the ink world" due to its similarities in characteristics, and how it builds up- though mainly in the context of students asking about what tools to use in the course this subreddit is built around.

Take a look at this one for instance. Here I think it's a bit more obvious that it's ballpoint, but you can definitely see that it can seem quite similar to coloured pencils. Hell, the technique of layering is the same as well.

I don't think you should feel bad for not believing them, although I can certainly see people getting defensive when accused of lying. Better to express that doubt in a positive manner, something along the lines of "is that really ballpoint? I've never seen it used that way, looks a lot like coloured pencil". Doesn't come out with an accusation, but it leaves the door open for the artist to help you understand how they achieved the result, if they have the time to spare.

Uncomfortable in the post "help identify this art medium, what would you guess this is drawn with, my guess is color pencil, but I'm being told something different and I need serious opinions, I won't reveal what it's said to be immediately so I can keep opinions unbiased, thank you"

2022-10-05 19:33

While AutoMod explained why this post isn't a fit for this subreddit, I figured I'd just throw in my two cents and say I agree with your guess. Looks like coloured pencil to me, with the red area being layered quite heavily, and the greys/blacks being more lightly applied with fewer passes.

Uncomfortable in the post "Any other traditional painters in here (oil, acrylic, pastels)? What do you do with your 50% rule?"

2022-10-05 16:10

I think the second-hand information about the course and its purpose may be somewhat misleading. Drawabox isn't a broadly scoped course that attempts to develop a lot of different areas - it focuses specifically on developing students' spatial reasoning skills (understanding how the things they draw on a flat page represent things that exist in three dimensions), and only as a prerequisite to that also delves into confident markmaking as well.

While the course has lessons touching on plants, insects, animals, vehicles, etc. it does not attempt to teach students how to draw them specifically, but rather uses them as a lens through which to look at the same core issues relating to spatial reasoning. Each constructional drawing exercise becomes a 3D spatial puzzle that requires us to think about how we're combining simpler forms together, how they relate to one another within 3D space, etc.

You may want to give these videos from Lesson 0 a watch to better understand what the course's goals are, so you can weigh your judgments against what the course itself professes to tackle:

Lesson 0's videos as a whole go into a lot of detail to familiarize students with what they're going to be learning, how they should approach and go about using the course, and so on - but I'd imagine you're a busy man, and so I understand you might not have time to go through it all. Those first two videos should help clarify many of the core misunderstandings you may have about the course, however.

In all fairness to you though I will admit that the course has evolved and developed a more specific scope over time - so your idea of it may have been more accurate several years ago, while I was still forming a more solid idea of where this instruction fits in, and where the course needs to focus to have the greatest impact.

Uncomfortable in the post "Any other traditional painters in here (oil, acrylic, pastels)? What do you do with your 50% rule?"

2022-10-05 12:58

Oil painting certainly counts, as would any act of representational picture making that has you making strokes and marks.

Also, to the point about planning to always work with reference - while that's not an issue, you're mistaken in thinking that aphantasia will bar you from working without reference. I have it myself, and while reference has been very helpful, restructuring the manner in which I understand and process those references, and how it gets committed to memory when doing studies from reference does improve my ability to draw without them.

Not saying you should actively seek to work without references (although that recommendation that students may want to spend their first couple weeks on the 50% rule without reference may be something you'd benefit from here), just that you're setting up the expectations and limitations based on presumption rather than allowing your skills to develop however they will. Do not get ahead of yourself in deciding what you will and won't be capable of.

Uncomfortable in the post "Where can I find "Draw-a-box approved" refillable fineliners?"

2022-09-25 15:15

I believe the SP is the refillable one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Rotating boxes in perspective seem to follow different rules in drawabox vs Scott Robertson's how to draw. What should I make of this? (read image descriptions)"

2022-09-23 19:42

You are correct - what's presented in the video is an oversimplification which is more correct when the vanishing point moving is in the center of the frame, and less so as it moves out further to the sides. The actual math behind the rotation is complicated (although a little easier to understand when looking at the whole model from the top, as shown here), but I was concerned that digging into it would cause a lot more anxiety and panic than was necessary. There are definitely a number of places where we use such simplifications to simply avoid getting sucked down certain rabbit holes.

Another such simplification would be the use of ellipses to represent circles in 3D space - it works well in 1 and 2 point perspective, but as we get further into 3 point perspective situations with more and more distortion, it tends to fall apart. Of course, such circumstances are rare and the ellipse simplification still works well enough overall to be an extremely valuable tool.

All that said, I am working on the updated version of the boxes video, and I'm making a point to specifically not imply that the movement would be equal along the horizon line, though I still won't be getting into the specific math behind figuring it out accurately, as that is well beyond the intended scope of the course.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is 0.35mm fineliner ok to use for official critique?"

2022-09-21 18:07

Unfortunately the thinnest we're okay with is 0.4mm, as stated in here Lesson 0. We allow for a range instead of insisting upon 0.5mm or nothing, in part to allow for the fact that a nib of the same size may be more flexible in one brand than another causing some small variability, so there is certainly allowances baked in - but as such, it does mean that anything outside of the range is best kept for other drawing outside of this course.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction Dissections Question"

2022-09-20 21:14

So the cast shadows relates to what we draw for our internal marks to convey the textural forms (within the silhouette), but when the silhouette is broken, we still need to use outlines to demonstrate the way in which the overall object's outline has changed.

So in that sense, the notes here continue to be valid.

Uncomfortable in the post "If i'm not satisfied with one or more pages of my homeword should i re-do it if i feel like it?"

2022-09-19 17:13

Critique does, when necessary, come with revisions. The purpose of the critique is essentially to gauge whether a student is demonstrating a solid grasp of the material from the lesson, and whether they're following the instructions for the exercises correctly. It's absolutely true that you won't really have confirmation that you're following the instructions correctly (and all you can do up to that point is to take your time in going through it, so as not to miss things, review them periodically, etc.) but in this course, we strongly advise against deciding on whether or not you should revisit exercises yourself.

If you come to realize that you weren't following the instructions and were seriously deviating from them - the kind of thing that only really happens when a student chooses not to follow the instructions especially closely - then there's room to argue that you should redo the work on your own. But as long as you made a conscious effort to follow the instructions, taking your time to do so, then you should leave that decision up to whoever gives you feedback.

Just keep in mind that being assigned revisions in your critique is not a bad thing. It's just part of the process, like a safety net that keeps us from pushing forwards and building upon a rocky foundation.

Uncomfortable in the post "If i'm not satisfied with one or more pages of my homeword should i re-do it if i feel like it?"

2022-09-19 16:50

Short answer: no, absolutely not. This leads to grinding. Rely on others to decide whether you should be redoing work or not, via the critique you receive upon completing the entire lesson.

Long answer: this page from Lesson 0, especially the video at the top.

Uncomfortable in the post "Are drawing skills like "riding a bike", once you know how to do it you never forget? Or do you have to continue practicing to not lose your skill?"

2022-09-18 18:24

I figured it has to do with getting hurt - in my case it wasn't so dire, but I did hurt my knee badly enough to not want to ride again for a while, so a few years passed before I decided to try again. By then I found I'd forgotten a lot of the base mechanics.

Uncomfortable in the post "Are drawing skills like "riding a bike", once you know how to do it you never forget? Or do you have to continue practicing to not lose your skill?"

2022-09-18 15:57

I actually have, once upon a time, forgotten how to ride a bike, and had to spend some time relearning it. It wasn't like learning it from scratch, but it wasn't second nature. That said, it was when I was a kid, and now-a-days I can go years without riding a bike and still be able to grab one and go.

As to your question though, you will get rusty - that's inevitable. How rusty you get depends on where you are in the process - if you're learning and have a few months under your belt and decide to stop for a few years, a lot of what you'd learned will probably fade and have to be relearned. Not like starting from scratch, but it'll take some doing still to get back to where you were.

If however you've been drawing for years and take a decade off, I'd say - admittedly based on nothing more than my own familiarity with the skill, though never having spent quite so much time away from it, so take it with a grain of salt - you're likely going to retain a lot of the core muscle memory. Will you need to sharpen those skills? Sure - but think of it more as repairing a dull, rusty knife, rather than needing to forge a new one from scratch.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is it okay to just do it with my wrist?"

2022-09-14 20:10

If you do end up deciding to go for a bigger tablet, going for a XP-PEN Deco Pro or something like that instead of a Wacom will definitely save you a good bit without any noticeable decrease in performance. I've always bought Wacom stuff myself (although I did pick up Huion and XP-Pen alternatives for a comparison video I'm gonna make... eventually...) and while once upon a time there was a big difference between what you'd get from the different brands, these days it's minimal, while the price difference is considerable.

My first though was a second hand Wacom Graphire2 4" x 5", and I have no idea how I managed with that awful little thing.

Edit: Oh, as a side note - all your comments automatically go to the spam filter, so I checked your profile and it looks to be showing symptoms of being shadow-banned. If you don't think that's a result of something you've done to make the reddit admins angry, you might want to reach out to them to have it fixed.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is it okay to just do it with my wrist?"

2022-09-14 18:59

While it is possible to draw from your shoulder on any tablet - even the small ones - that does not mean that it is easy to do so. While one can, by actively taking control of the actions we take (and thus consciously forcing yourself to use your shoulder at every stroke and not letting yourself fall into the kind of instinctual auto-pilot we inevitably do when we lose focus), it will be quite challenging.

The easier solution is to pick up a medium sized tablet, but that can cost anywhere from a hundred to a few hundred dollars (if we're talking non-display tablets), so not everyone has that option. It'll still take getting used to as well, but it will at least make that challenge considerably easier to get used to.

So, the choice is:

Uncomfortable in the post "Is it okay to just do it with my wrist?"

2022-09-14 18:54

There are certainly limits in terms of how accurately I can speak to any one individual's troubles. I've had thousands of students come through these doors, and have heard of countless struggles to rewire the way in which our brains perceive tackle the challenges we put before them. I can say with confidence that everyone I've seen attempt it has grown and improved as a result (and that they've even found that coming out the other end they were far more open to tackling similarly daunting challenges in the future), but I cannot guarantee that for you. I don't know what you're going through, and I am not a medical health professional, so it would be irresponsible for me to make promises.

All I can say is to reflect upon your situation, and on the fact that this stuff is not easy for anyone. It is painfully hard. Drawing confident lines, and drawing in general. But, you get to dictate what it is you wish to get out of it, and there is a lot of flexibility that comes from pursuing it simply as a hobby. It eliminates a lot of the "requirements", and opens up choices... although that in and of itself can make it that much more difficult, as all of a sudden you're left making a lot of decisions without much knowledge. And those of us who do know about the challenges involved in learning to draw, don't know about the challenges involved in being you.

And perhaps ask yourself one thing - if you were to draw your lines confidently, and allow yourself to make a ton of mistakes (in terms of accuracy) as a result... what is the absolute worst thing that can happen as a result? And then decide whether that worst case scenario is really all that bad, or if it's something you could accept.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is it okay to just do it with my wrist?"

2022-09-14 18:24

Drawabox is indeed a course whose primary goal is developing students' spatial reasoning skills - and everything else we address is included because it in some manner or another contributes towards that goal.

To that point, skipping all of the important points about drawing using your whole arm, rather than just from your wrist, would indeed cause some notable issues. It'd result in linework that is either wobbly or chicken-scratchy, due to the basic mechanics of the way the arm works, and these qualities when used to draw forms would cause them to appear vastly less solid.

So, in sticking to your wrist, you'd end up losing a lot of that illusion of solidity, which itself serves to help rewire the way in which your brain perceives the things you draw, by convincing you that they are indeed three dimensional.

In essence, drawing strictly from your wrist will make it considerably more difficult to create smooth linework. Not being able to create smooth linework will make it considerably more difficult to draw forms that your brain will perceive as being solid and three dimensional, rather than simply as lines on a flat page. And finally, not being able to draw forms that your brain perceives in that manner, will make it a lot harder to develop your brain's spatial reasoning skills.

I certainly wouldn't advise it. That's not to say there aren't students who, due to injury or illness have no other choice but to try and learn from the course while limiting some of the use of their arm, but it certainly makes things vastly more difficult.

Ultimately if you're going through the material on your own, you're free to use the lessons as you see fit - although in making things more difficult for yourself, it would also make things more difficult for those who might attempt to provide you with feedback or critique (either through the community feedback or official critique programs).

This ultimately begs the question - what is the reason that you find yourself inclined not to learn to draw from your shoulder? It's very common for students to find it to be a difficult thing - but it's also something they generally overcome by facing it head-on, rather than avoiding it.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson One: Ploted Perspective, Having Trouble with Getting a Good Cube with Vanishing Points, even with Ruler"

2022-09-09 15:51

Since you don't have a specific question, this is generally considered a "single exercise" submission, and thus as AutoModerator explained must be removed.

That said, I did notice one notable issue with how you were approaching the exercise that may help. Your vertical lines should run straight up and down - right now they're slanting arbitrarily, which is causing your box to appear incorrect. Two point perspective has the two sets of horizontal lines converging towards concrete vanishing points, but the vertical vanishing point is at "infinity" (as discussed in the lecture portion of the boxes section in Lesson 1), and thus those lines never converge, remaining entirely parallel on the page.

Uncomfortable in the post "is drawabox good for stylization?"

2022-09-08 17:16

You may want to check out this video from Lesson 0. It focuses on what the fundamentals are, which fundamentals Drawabox focuses on and why, and most relevant to your question, the latter half of the video talks about how those fundamentals relate to stylization.

Uncomfortable in the post "should I draw boxes using the Y method or can I use something else? and if I need to use the Y method how do I make sure the proportions are what I Want?"

2022-09-08 16:16

Correct.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is copying other art okay for the 50% rule?"

2022-09-07 18:11

It's a tough one, but keep at it and it'll get easier.

Also, it seems in my rush to do a million things at once, I forgot to include the link to the video in my previous reply. I've edited it, but just in case here it is.

Uncomfortable in the post "should I draw boxes using the Y method or can I use something else? and if I need to use the Y method how do I make sure the proportions are what I Want?"

2022-09-07 17:47

Assuming your question is in the context of the 250 box challenge (initially wrote 50% rule here, must have had a serious brain fart), yes - you should use the Y method throughout the challenge, as it puts the focus entirely on how our sets of parallel edges converge together consistently when drawn on a flat page. As to proportion, the box challenge does not ask students to draw boxes that maintain any specific proportions - this is a more complex topic that we start touching on much later in the 250 cylinder challenge (which students generally should do after Lesson 5) and beyond.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is copying other art okay for the 50% rule?"

2022-09-07 17:46

In this video from Lesson 0, when I'm talking about style, I do discuss 'master studies' which are effectively attempting to learn from an existing piece of artwork by reproducing it. These will often focus on understanding the artist's choices - that is, how they're translating the real things they're trying to depict into the particular stylization they use. So for example, which colours they emphasize, which ones they play down, what they emphasize/reduce in shape, etc.

As with any study however, it helps a lot to do this in a targeted fashion, being aware of what it is you're specifically trying to understand about the original artist's choices.

That said, it is a study - and so it would not fall into the "play" side of the 50% rule. By your own admission, you're asking about doing this because you find it easier and more comforting - the purpose of the 50% rule is to force students out of their comfort zone, to try the things that they're going to have turn out badly, and to get used to the idea that having something not come out as you intended is a matter of course, and not something to take personally.

Generally speaking if you find yourself wanting to draw something because it helps you avoid or reduce the fear of things coming out badly, then it's probably not in line with the spirit of the rule.

Uncomfortable in the post "Were to start my art learning"

2022-09-03 21:57

While AutoModerator explains why this question isn't suitable for this community, I did want to take a moment to stress that /r/learnart, /r/learntodraw, and /r/artistlounge would all be a good fit for this question.

This subreddit's focus on drawabox.com would make it quite biased - although that said, you may want to check Drawabox out, as it's a free structured course that focuses on the core fundamentals of drawing. Still, you should ask over in those other communities to get a more varied set of suggestions.

Uncomfortable in the post "An attempt at doing the superimposed lines"

2022-08-31 21:56

No worries, I've already removed the post.

Uncomfortable in the post "An attempt at doing the superimposed lines"

2022-08-31 21:52

I noticed that this was your second submission consisting of a single exercise - which suggests to me that you may not have read the AutoModerator comment in your first one.

This subreddit doesn't allow single exercises or partial work, as explained here, and as mentioned in this video from Lesson 0. You can however get feedback on individual exercises on the discord chat server, 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 "(250 box challenge) I consistently fail at drawing natural-looking boxes"

2022-08-31 18:10

At a glance, I can see that you're extending your lines incorrectly - you're doing so towards the viewer, rather than away, as explained here in the notes. Below that section there's on explaining a straightforward way to extend in the right direction based on the original Y you started with.

If we extend our lines incorrectly, the analysis we're performing in order to get a sense of how to adjust our approach to improve the next page becomes largely useless - or worse, can encourage us to actually shift our approach in the wrong direction, so it's a pretty big oversight - but fortunately you're still early into the set.

Uncomfortable in the post "Is drawing boxes really the best way to practice perspective?"

2022-08-31 14:27

There are a couple things to keep in mind here:

The box challenge plays a part, but the most effective way we tackle that spatial reasoning skills are the constructional drawing exercises we explore from lessons 3 to 7. These involve having the student build up their constructions through the combination of solid, simple forms. In building the constructions up, they're forced to consider the relationships between the forms in 3D space. It's this kind of three dimensional puzzle that forces us to consider how the forms we draw relate to one another in 3D space.

We do these over and over, looking at the same problem through the lens of different subject matter - plants, insects, animals, vehicles, etc. - to gradually rewire the student's internal understanding of 3D space on a subconscious and instinctual level.

Uncomfortable in the post "DrawABox with a sketching board?"

2022-08-28 16:44

Using a desktop drafting table like that is entirely okay. While I don't want to make students feel like they need to go out and buy one because it is by no means required, your own concerns about it somehow being a problem are reversed - there's nothing wrong with using an angled drafting table surface like this. Rather, it's better.

So, go ahead and buy one, especially if you're running into serious neck/back pain.

Uncomfortable in the post "Books to read alongside lessons?"

2022-08-27 21:12

This is probably going to be a question better suited to communities like /r/learnart, /r/learntodraw, or /r/artistlounge, as per the AutoModerator comment. Drawabox exists independently of whatever else you do alongside it - so rather than looking for things that complement the material we cover, it's better to focus more on what it is you're interested in, and getting recommendations on those. As such, those other communities will be better suited to giving you those kinds of recommendations.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to choose the front of your box"

2022-08-23 18:29

I'm glad to hear that! Thank you for your kind words.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to choose the front of your box"

2022-08-22 17:25

That one's entirely on me - my wording there was deeply confusing and unclear. I did not mean to say that there's one correct plane for adding hatching to. Rather, each box consists of three faces that point towards the viewer, and three faces that are oriented away from the viewer. We can pick any one of the three facing the viewer to fill with hatching, in order to distinguish between these two sets, and clarify which side is which.

Uncomfortable in the post "Questions: About Pen and Username change on website."

2022-08-13 19:12

If I were in your shoes, I think I'd probably start over just to make sure that everything is fresh in your mind (so starting back from Lesson 0). Of course, that's up to you - you may simply choose to review the Lesson 0 material, then do a few longer warmup sessions with the L1 exercises - but you might leave yourself open to forgetting instructions/concepts.

The main reason I'd go with restarting fresh is that having left off at the end of Lesson 1, you're more or less just started, and it wouldn't be such a huge deal to spend a week or so starting over.

Uncomfortable in the post "Questions: About Pen and Username change on website."

2022-08-13 18:33

Colour is not a concern, but since ballpoint pens are allowed up to the end of the box challenge, that is probably what you should still be using (rather than introducing a third other type of pen to the equation).

As to your other question, you can send an email to support@drawabox.com from the address associated with your account and request that your username be changed.

Uncomfortable in the post "Questions about art tablets"

2022-08-12 23:08

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

Uncomfortable in the post "I just recently started studying how to sketch and I would love some feedback, based on a sketch by Agnolo Bronzino"

2022-08-12 17:33

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, and focuses on the core fundamentals of drawing, not going into more advanced topics such as figure drawing.

Uncomfortable in the post "Question about homework"

2022-08-12 17:32

This is indeed addressed on this page of Lesson 0. The use of those exercises going forwards as part of a warmup routine is addressed further down the page, though the video at the top goes through it and other important points in more detail.

Lesson 0 is an extremely important primer for how this course is intended to be used, so be sure to go through it in its entirety.

Uncomfortable in the post "Question: Drawing through boxes in Organic Perspective assignment"

2022-08-12 17:30

It's intentionally laid out that way - the expectation is that students will learn the benefits of drawing through their boxes in the box challenge - and thus, understanding the nature of those benefits, would (hopefully) apply that technique to the organic perspective boxes.

The reason we don't introduce it in the organic perspective boxes is that we want students to first attempt the exercise without drawing through their boxes, so they can come to appreciate the value of it.

Uncomfortable in the post "250 Box Challenge No Parallel reminder"

2022-08-08 19:47

The distinction falls between whether we're thinking about that which exists in 3D space (where we've got 3 sets of 4 edges, where the edges of each set are parallel to one another), and whether we're talking about the lines we draw on the 2D page to represent those edges.

Remember, a set of edges that are parallel in 3D are represented by lines in 2D that converge.

What that reminder is telling you is to ensure that when you draw your lines on the page, think about how you're having them converge - don't just draw them parallel on the page, forcing your vanishing points to infinity.

Uncomfortable in the post "looking for feed back, mainly how to start off this draw with proper perspective for the final version, something here just isnt working, i sont want to lower the camera angle since i want to show the aftermath of the chaos, but the staging isnt solid and i feel its a bit hard to read."

2022-08-08 18:37

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. While I don't know too much about the comic-art side of reddit and can't recommend anything on that front, more general subreddits that may be better suited to a post like this include /r/learnart, /r/learntodraw, and /r/artistlounge.

Uncomfortable in the post "problems drawing boxes with dramatic foreshortening"

2022-08-07 20:47

I assume you're talking about the different sets of edges, and whether they should all be converging at a consistent rate - the answer is no. If you've got a box rotated such that it has a face turned most of the way to face you, then it's going to have one set of lines converging very rapidly to a vanishing point very close to the box (like what we see in 1 point perspective), and your other horizontal VP will be way off to the side, converging very slowly.

Uncomfortable in the post "problems drawing boxes with dramatic foreshortening"

2022-08-07 16:48

You're mostly on the right track, but don't attempt to identify the specific vanishing point - instead, work based on the trajectories you're tracing along. As soon as you've got two lines pointing towards the same vanishing point, all you need to do is try to draw another line that fits with the existing two. Doesn't actually matter where the VP is, because in those two (or more) lines, all you need to focus on is being part of a consistent set with them.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 1: should I be doing warmups before starting the exercises?"

2022-08-07 16:08

The use of warmups is explained here. It pertains to the exercises from lessons/challenges you've completed - so since while you're working on Lesson 1, you haven't completed that lesson, you wouldn't have any exercises to put into your warmup routine. It's after the lesson is completed that the L1 exercises get added to your pool of warmups going forward.