Uncomfortable's Advice from /r/ArtFundamentals
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Uncomfortable in the post "Would you say that editing a photo to black and white is cheating on texture analysis?"

2022-04-20 10:29

While there is nothing wrong with doing so (in the sense that it's not cheating), remember that this exercise (as explained here) focuses not on copying the shadows you see in your reference, but rather identifying the specific forms present in the reference, understanding how they sit in 3d space relative to their surroundings, and then establishing what shadows we feel they'll cast given the lighting scenario in our drawing.

The black and white trick, while useful at times, can cause you to focus more on just copying what you see, transferring 2D information from a 2D reference over to a 2D piece of paper without ever having considered how it is meant to represent things in 3D space.

Uncomfortable in the post "My new Art Practice Companion!! This beautiful fluff stays at the place I go to learn and do my art practice!"

2022-04-19 17:44

Very cute! I'm six months into my first cat as well, and it's quite the new experience. Full of joy though!

That said, I do have to remove the post. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "confused with sphere. how do i know where to put the 3rd line?"

2022-04-19 17:43

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 "[Question] What are the best "cheats" to draw a portrait on canvas"

2022-04-18 22:31

In retrospect, /r/learnart is a big community, and I'm not sure how active the other mods are. I can understand getting hit with a ton of off-topic or inappropriate posts (we get plenty of them here too) can make one rather frustrated, and perhaps quick to remove a post and get on with their day. I know they've been around for a long time, and while I went a completely different route with this community (monetized it ages ago, and turned it into a thriving business), it's sometimes easy for me to be a little harsh on other communities' mods, forgetting that these others are not compensated for their time.

So I hope you won't take their disregard too badly.

Uncomfortable in the post "[Question] What are the best "cheats" to draw a portrait on canvas"

2022-04-18 21:11

I just saw that you took my advice and asked over on /r/learnart, but your thread got closed by /u/ZombieButch. I feel partially responsible, having given the recommendation - but for what it's worth, I do believe there would have been plenty of value members of that community could have offered.

Tracing can be a tool like any other, and spending some time on observational techniques (I don't have any specific recommendations on that front, which is why I hoped you'd get some there), and on understanding facial structure to help inform what it is you're thinking about as you trace. Everything has some element of skill to it - or at least where it can yield better results if you have a deeper understanding of what it is you're trying to draw. Looking for landmarks, knowing what to trace and what can be left out, while they're all laced with the poison pill of "tracing" and thus can be overlooked, these are all things that can be improved.

You might try /r/learntodraw instead, if you're still looking for more input. I think over on /r/drawing, the response you got from /u/moonymystery (using the grid technique for copying reference images, which you'll find explained here) could definitely be useful to you. Even if you're tracing the major facial features, the grid can help you as you vary your stylistic approach.

You might also want to check out this video from the Art Prof Youtube channel, which goes into some common portrait drawing mistakes. /u/ZombieButch posted it to /r/learnart themselves a couple weeks ago.

Best of luck.

Uncomfortable in the post "[Question] What are the best "cheats" to draw a portrait on canvas"

2022-04-18 20:57

Just to clarify, because the end result matters (given that it's a gift, and so the end result matters), this wouldn't constitute part of the 50% rule - and thus, would not be bound by any of its rules or considerations.

Uncomfortable in the post "Resources to learn to draw then to learn concept art"

2022-04-18 17:36

Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. While Drawabox is intended to help students develop a useful foundation that can help one draw from their imagination (I myself have worked as both an illustrator and a concept artist at a smaller game studio for several years), it seems to me like you're looking for a wider range of suggestions, so asking in a more general community would be best.

Uncomfortable in the post "[Question] What are the best "cheats" to draw a portrait on canvas"

2022-04-18 17:33

Try asking this over on /r/learnart. In the interest of getting students as much of a chance of getting eyes on their homework and answers to their course-specific questions, we are limiting this subreddit only to posts relating to the Drawabox course. Since Drawabox focuses only on the core fundamentals and does not break into more complex topics such as figure drawing or portraiture, asking this over on a more general subreddit should yield you better results.

That said, I will say this - the term "cheating" is thrown around very loosely and easily, and often where it is not suitable. I've worked as a professional concept artist and illustrator, and I will happily tell you that when you're producing a piece for a purpose, you're playing the role of a professional - and that means that as long as you are staying within the bounds of the law (in terms of copyright infringement, fair use, etc) whatever you can do to yield a better result or in a shorter time frame, is a-okay.

I myself ran into that issue when I had to paint a series of 8 portraits of my grandfather as part of a project to commemorate a year since his passing, and I am not a portrait artist, and didn't have months of practice to throw behind this project without delaying it significantly. So, I used the tools at my disposal to get the job done. I was, of course, clear on how I'd achieved the results, and did not claim credit for anything I did not do. I traced out the major elements of his face in rough terms to capture his likeness, then painted on top of it, and used some light overlaying of the original photo to push areas. Here's a basic breakdown of what I mean. Of course, my past experience in illustration and digital painting certainly helped a ton, but in approaching it this way I was able to lean more on my strengths.

Long story short, do what you can, use the tools at your disposal, and trust that regardless of what you produce, your father will love it.

I do have one other suggestion to offer, though this is the most tenuous of recommendations - both because I am not, as I've previously mentioned, a portrait artist and know little about it, and because this recommendation comes from New Masters Academy, which you probably know by now is sponsoring Drawabox as of this month (hard to miss the big banner across the top of the drawabox website, with its DRAWABOX22 35% coupon code and all). The only reason it's crossed my mind is because you said you have 6 months to prepare.

NMA has a handful of very thoroughly developed courses that target portraiture specifically:

One thing to keep in mind is that Drawabox is very much a "long haul" kind of course, looking to teach you skills that will help you more broadly, building a strong foundation upon which to eventually draw your own creations, leveraging reference images only as tools to help pull imagery from your imagination. What you're looking for here is comparably more achievable in a shorter period of time. That doesn't mean it's easy, but you're dealing with much fewer moving parts, with a focus primarily on observation. In a sense Drawabox tries to give students an alternative from the feeling that they're locked into merely copying reference images - but that's exactly what you want here.

But anyway, I digress. I still strongly recommend that you ask this over on /r/learnart - they should be able to point you towards some other options that may be even better.

Uncomfortable in the post "Seeking for some learning resources"

2022-04-18 17:04

For book and course recommendations, 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 "Is this the drawabox subreddit?"

2022-04-18 17:03

That it is, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Looking for something Fun."

2022-04-18 17:03

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 "How to protect colored pencil"

2022-04-17 16:58

My guess would be sprayable fixative, but you're going to want to ask over on /r/learnart instead, as that community is better suited to general questions. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Newbie wants to learn some art"

2022-04-16 21:21

As your question would benefit from a variety of suggestions, I'd recommend asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. It may be of interest to you as well, as Drawabox focuses on teaching the core fundamentals of drawing from scratch, but getting a wider range of recommendations would not hurt.

Uncomfortable in the post "Brush / line art help"

2022-04-16 21:20

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

Uncomfortable in the post "First piece of digital art. Need help, question inside."

2022-04-16 21:19

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

Uncomfortable in the post "Any advice or recommended resources for a person with aphantasia trying to learn art?"

2022-04-16 01:38

So given that this is a more general question that would benefit from a variety of answers, you should post this over on /r/learnart instead.

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

That said, you may want to check out Drawabox. While it's not specifically for people with aphantasia (it's a general drawing course focusing on the core fundamentals of drawing), it was made by someone with aphantasia - myself, in fact.

Also, all of the lesson content is entirely free.

I've also produced this video for the Proko YouTube channel which talks about how I draw and design despite my aphantasia, and I also relate it back to how I teach my students to draw and understand how the things they're trying to draw exist in 3D space.

Uncomfortable in the post "I got tired of drawing boxes"

2022-04-14 00:00

Your rendering is coming along really nicely! They look like blocks of soap to my eyes. That said, I do have to remove this post from the subreddit - in order to ensure students have as good a chance as they can to get eyes on their homework or answers to their questions, we do require all posts here to be directly related to the lesson material. But still, keep up the good work!

Uncomfortable in the post "Self taught Artist in Need of Advice"

2022-04-13 23:58

So you should definitely ask this question over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com (as explained here), which primarily focuses on the core fundamentals of drawing. It may be, at least in part what you're looking for, but if you ask over on /r/learnart the folks there will be able to give you a more varied set of recommendations.

Uncomfortable in the post "Can i sign up for official critic?"

2022-04-11 23:16

With the event being over now, we are indeed again open for official homework submissions.

Uncomfortable in the post "How to do an oil painting ? From scratch until varnish"

2022-04-10 19:51

Try asking this over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com as explained here, which only focuses on the core fundamentals of drawing, and doesn't get into things like paint or the use of any particular medium.

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

2022-04-09 15:28

What do you mean by "it" in this context? If you mean lesson 0, then you find it by going to drawabox.com, click on the lessons button in the top navigation, and click on Lesson 0.

Uncomfortable in the post "American comic book course"

2022-04-08 16:36

I'd recommend asking this over on /r/learnart instead (you'll get a wider spread of people from outside of those specifically focused on Drawabox, so hopefully more people with experience with different courses and online schools). That said, as far as online courses go, CGMA and Brainstorm School are great schools that offer dedicated feedback for each student, although the only one on which I was able to find anything related to comics was this course from CGMA. Just keep in mind that these kinds of courses (given the live feedback) are by their nature quite expensive.

If you can afford them, I'd certainly recommend going for them, but if you can't, another option would be this Intro to Sequential Art course from New Masters Academy. Full disclosure, NMA is a new sponsor to Drawabox (which also means we've been provided with a coupon code, "DRAWABOX22" that gets you 35% off your first billing cycle). Keep in mind however that their courses (aside from the live ones) do not include any feedback, and that is reflected in the price.

Uncomfortable in the post "The site should mention what to practice while you're waiting for critique."

2022-04-08 16:25

In this (admittedly recent) video from Lesson 0, I mention that you should work off your 50% rule debt while waiting for feedback. Which is similar to what you'd heard on Discord, except that the 50% rule has you drawing whatever you're interested in but without specifically attempting to apply the things you've learned from the course. You can learn more about that here.

Uncomfortable in the post "Art classes"

2022-04-07 23:19

This question is probably better suited to a more general community like /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

That said, if you're talking about Concept Design Academy, then there are other schools in that vein, but all of the ones I know of are around the LA area. I myself attended CDA, but Brainstorm School is also a similar school started some great instructors who had been teaching at CDA initially.

These schools largely exist in that area because of the major presence of entertainment industry jobs in Hollywood, so the schools come up as a response for the competitive environment. So, while there may well be other schools elsewhere in the US, there's definitely a reason they're concentrated there.

Uncomfortable in the post "Perspective Perfect Cube - Things need to know?"

2022-04-07 17:44

I think you'd be better off asking this question over on /r/learnart. This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. While we do get into techniques for establishing perfect proportional cubes, it's very late in the lesson and builds on other concepts. There are also easier approaches, which we don't use because our course focuses on using tools that can consistently exist on the page (and vanishing points can end up waaay off the page making them tricky to use in certain circumstances).

The folks on /r/learnart will be able to provide you with more general answers that use all of the tools available to us within the system of linear perspective.

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."

2022-04-06 17:54

Yep, that's correct. Due to the new partnership with New Masters Academy, I had to reedit some of the parts of the video, and unfortunately Youtube doesn't allow you to swap in a new video for an old one.

Uncomfortable in the post "Can I get some pointers for ellipses?"

2022-04-05 00:00

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.

For what it's worth, your ellipses are looking solid as-is. Unfortunately I can't give you more critique than that!

Uncomfortable in the post "Struggling with elipses, whenever I try I feel as if I'm drawing them with my left hand, they look lousy even though I'm trying my best, should I move on or do it again? Any advice?"

2022-04-04 02:38

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.

For what it's worth, your ellipses are looking fine.

Uncomfortable in the post "Another question on Texturing"

2022-04-02 15:48

Yup, they all look good to me. For the crumpled paper one, just try and focus on creating stark black/white shapes (don't worry about the cast shadows here). Then for the other two, don't try to copy the cast shadows you see - rather, use the information present in the references to help you better understand how each form sits in space relative to its neighbours, then use that information to create your own cast shadows.

Uncomfortable in the post "Should a refund my submission? I forgot to scan one page"

2022-03-31 12:44

The TA will either let it slide or ask for the missing page as a revision. There's no need to cancel the submission, but you certainly have that option as well.

Uncomfortable in the post "Submitted yesterday for the Mascot High School prompt. Working on Coloring it today!"

2022-03-29 16:36

The King's looking great! Unfortunately though this subreddit does have to be reserved only for lesson homework or questions relating to the lessons - I worry that opening the doors to other drawings during the event (even those event related) would just result in a lot of confusion afterwards. So, I will have to remove this post - but know that I'm thrilled you've participated, and it looks like you've had a blast!

Uncomfortable in the post "Looking for tips/advice to get through the insect lesson, cause I keep getting too creeped out"

2022-03-29 13:22

Would drawing crustaceans perhaps be a little less stomach-churning for you? Those are also acceptable, and you'll find some demos relating to them (though the other demos apply just as well) on the informal demos page.

Uncomfortable in the post "do I have to finish a piece of homework in one sitting?"

2022-03-29 04:37

You are absolutely welcome, and encouraged, to break up any task across as many sittings or days as you feel you need, so long as you're able to sit and work in a focused manner. Forcing yourself to work when you're no longer able to do so at your best just causes people to work sloppily, and to get less out of the labour.

Uncomfortable in the post "Recovering from Surgery, would following with a Pen Tablet make sense?"

2022-03-27 23:18

Unfortunately I don't think I can give you the kind of answer you're looking for, as doing so would undermine the reasoning behind how the course has been set up. It really isn't just a smattering of exercises presented together - all of the exercises work together to build towards a limited set of core goals.

So- feel free to use the material that's available as you see fit, but my recommendation is still that you go through the whole thing as recommended, when you're able.

Uncomfortable in the post "Recovering from Surgery, would following with a Pen Tablet make sense?"

2022-03-27 00:00

All things considered, I think it might be a better use of your time to hold off on Drawabox until you are well again. Til then, I'd recommend playing around with your tablet, and just having fun with it, rather than stressing over learning the fundamentals of drawing when you're not able to give it your all.

Uncomfortable in the post "Lesson 1:I did the lines, ellipses and boxes homework. I can not draw ovals well and its hard to fit the ellipses into boxes lol. Anyways any feedback would be appreciated"

2022-03-25 22:09

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 "L2 Texture Analysis. Looking for some ideas on interesting textures to draw. Also, would like to hear feedback on what I have currently"

2022-03-25 01:50

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 "When am I meant to do the challenges and drills?"

2022-03-25 01:31

You may have missed this page at the end of Lesson 1. It explains that the next step after you've had your work reviewed and marked as complete is to move onto the 250 box challenge. You can also follow to the next step by using the links below each page - they lead to the next page of the same lesson, then when you hit the end of the lesson, it continues onto the challenge or lesson that you are recommended to complete next.

Uncomfortable in the post "How do i draw this sideways?"

2022-03-24 17:49

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 "alot of people here are saying this course is for traditional well I am using digital, what am I supposed to do?"

2022-03-23 21:12

The course is not "for" traditional, in the sense that it doesn't teach you to draw with any particular tool, whether traditional or digital. What it teaches are underlying concepts about how to draw, and it recommends the use of ink and paper because they help students to internalize and understand the concepts far more effectively, whereas learning those things with digital tools can result in more pitfalls for students to have to keep track of while also worrying about everything else in the lessons.

That doesn't mean that you can't use digital tools, just that it's not a great idea as far as making the best use of this course. Rather, it'd be better to learn the concepts Drawabox is trying to teach you as recommended, then take another separate course to help you with the specific challenges of working digitally.

You can read more about the reasoning behind the ink recommendation in this article - but most of all, keep in mind that the course itself was designed by someone who works digitally almost exclusively - so it's not like it's making any kind of statement that traditional is in any way better overall than digital. It's just more suitable for this specific purpose.

Uncomfortable in the post "A rough breakdown of my character design process. Hope you like it"

2022-03-22 16:38

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here. Try posting this on /r/learnart instead.

Uncomfortable in the post "Using anime characters or bt21 characters in my restaurant and Instagram for aesthetic (i dont sell them)"

2022-03-22 16:36

This subreddit is reserved for those working through the lessons on drawabox.com, as explained here.

That said, your best bet for this would be speaking to a lawyer - but as far as I understand the situation, I don't think this would be a big deal. It's not really a question of whether it's legal or not (appropriating an IP that does not belong to you does likely break IP laws in some countries) but it's more a question of whether this is something the holder of that IP would bother taking issue with.

Some companies (Disney, Nintendo) definitely do issue cease and desists for people using their art for prints, selling them, etc. but for something like this, given how much fan art is out there, I don't think it'd be a big issue. And if it is, the worst you'd end up having to do is remove the images from your instagram.

The first course of action in such a situation is not to jump straight to suing you - rather, they'd issue a cease and desist to "gently" ask that you remove the offending pieces.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice.

Uncomfortable in the post "Does anyone have tips for getting accurate boxes on the organic perspective exercise?"

2022-03-22 16:32

Im most of the way through the exercise and want to at least have picked up how to draw a box in 3D space before I finish section 1.

After Lesson 1, students get into the box challenge - it wouldn't make much sense for us to expect them to be able to comfortably rotate a box freely in 3D space before having them throw themselves at it 250 times. So don't worry - you are by no means expected to be able to do the organic perspective (or rotated boxes) exercises well right now. It's merely planting a seed, which will then be explored in the box challenge.

Uncomfortable in the post "Just started drawabox and went through lesson 1 homework. never realized drawing straight lines was this difficult."

2022-03-21 01:54

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 "Just started with my 250 boxes challenge. I feel like I know what my mistakes are, but I don't know how to correct them. Any tips on how to improve is appreciated :)"

2022-03-20 15:23

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 "Lesson 1 Critique Wanted"

2022-03-20 02:27

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

2022-03-19 21:15

The course is not designed to teach you any specific toolset. Rather, while I myself am exclusively a digital artist, I push students to work with ink because it reinforces the concepts we teach here very effectively, and generally makes the course as a whole much more impactful while helping students steer clear of some common pitfalls and generally develop better habits.

So, when you se that Drawabox pushes students to use fineliners, don't interpret that as meaning this is specifically a course for people who want to use fineliners. It's a course for people who want to learn a specific set of skills (which are listed early in Lesson 0), and it uses the tools that are most suitable for teaching that. What students do with those skills afterwards is entirely up to them.

As to your other question, you're welcome to learn from as many sources as you like - just be sure to follow each one's instructions to the letter, rather than attempting to mix and match. So, when you're working through Drawabox, hold to its instructions and do not swap in instructions from other courses because you prefer their approach, as you cannot be certain that you will not undermine an important aspect of the course in doing so.

Uncomfortable in the post "I'm unable to draw with a pencil and paper, but I do have a drawing tablet. can I use that?"

2022-03-19 21:13

Fortunately we don't actually recommend that students go through the course with pencil. Rather, we recommend students use ink - specifically fineliners. You can learn more about why we recommend this over pencils and digital tools in this article.

Uncomfortable in the post "What are your favorite/best pens?"

2022-03-19 21:12

I'm partial to the Staedtler Pigment Liners. Also, the Drawabox pens should be back in stock in early April.

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

2022-03-18 16:55

The core fundamentals we teach are applicable in all fields of representational art - so yes. Characters are representations of things that exist in 3D space (even if the stylization intentionally flattens them out), and thus we have to understand how things exist in 3D space in order to apply that stylization to them. I go over this in greater detail in this video about what the fundamentals are.