I have been going through your lessons in the last months and I just want to drop by to say that I'm very thankful for this free lessons you are putting out here. You do an amazing job and the main thing I really love about your lessons is the way you point out both mistakes and right way to do things, it helps a lot to understand a concept when you talk about the "misunderstanding" side of it.
Hah! Funnily enough there are actually people who, upon experiencing auditory stimulation, see colours or shapes - it's called synesthesia, and is pretty wild.
Just finished the 250 box challenge yesterday! I feel so relieved bcz I had attempted the same two years ago and couldn't make it. And this time I completed it in 14 days ! Now I can visualize everything around snuggly fit in boxes, hehe. I'd like to hear from y'all about your experiences too.
Something was up with my microphone but I wasn't able to address it within the time I had to release this major update to the website. Over time I'm going to see about rerecording the videos to generally increase their quality, but that will take a good deal of time and won't start for a bit.
It took me over a month to do the 250 boxes challange and I am so glad to be here! Though an evil voice inside me says 'you didint do them properly' or 'youre not ready and worthy of going into lesson 2' but decided to just get to lesson 2 after practicing not only 250 boxes but also perspective on the side too. Well lets hope I am actually worthy of being here and its just my dumb brain telling me dumb stuff :,D
I just finished my 250 box challenge after 3 1/2 months and I'm so anxious to get on with this lesson! I'm excited for the texture section in particular because I want to draw things like scales and feathers on dinosaurs.
my friend recommended your lessons to me and to be honest i lost it after lesson 1 but i have started again did revision just want to say thank u for all the effort u put in teaching us thank u drawabox and uncomfortable
It is entirely normal to struggle with these, and there are many who do have some false starts and eventually come back. We are always happy to have those who return - so best of luck as you push through the lessons!
Finally done with 250 boxes! Now time to dig in on lesson 2 and then 250 cylinders. I already can see the improvements on my 3d awareness from all that boxes that i draw
Finished the 250 box challenge today, I tried not to rush through it. I tried doing the colored pens, but when I did that I just confused myself and ruined the page. Not even being able to learn from it and often confusing myself. So I opted to just draw boxes and then draw through them with a different colored pen. This helped me a bit more and my boxes began to improve. One day I may have to go back and add the extended lines to my boxes or even give the challenge another shot. But at the beginning it was just confusing me more then identifying The problem.
Same here dude, my homework is a fricking mess even I can't make sense of it! I'm nearly finished uploading it I don't care just let me go to the next challenge lmao. If I had to do it again I would die. I do think I improved during the last 100 boxes though.
@@dartagnan553 that’s how I felt too, the later lessons are hard but I can see what he was trying to get us to do. Right now I’m on applying construction to plants. I give an hour to draw a box and an hour to fun drawing pretty much every day so far while I can. If I can do an hour than I’ll have to split it between the time I have. Keep me updated on your journey!
Amazing this is SOOO amazing I mean this information is so mind-blowing and true that's so true when you believe that you are drawing a solid thing you will automatically add things lines to make it more like a soil I am so impressed Thank you soo much really appreciate the time and effort you put onto this 🥺❤❤❤
The strange thing about this video is that seconds feel like hours. I'm 9 minutes in, and have learned a lot, but I am about to die of old age on the inside.
@@Munch180 Haha, just imagine what living with me must be like. On the bright side, you're only half way - so let's hope you're just having a midlife crisis.
Started lesson 1 on the last weeks of 2020, yesterday I finished the 250 box challenge after 3 months and ups and downs in work rate, looking forward for what's to come
Thank you so much for this lessons. It has been my bible lately and it is helping me a lot. It's kinda hard for me to manage the 50/50 rule tho. I tend to focus mainly in one thing for a week lapse.
did the 250 box challenge in 2 days. broke my mind and rebuilt it until drawing a box become instinct. i can't believe how thoughtful this course has been each lesson and every exercise.
it feels like I crawled out of the pit in the dark knight rises with the 250 box challenge only to be at the bottom of a larger and somehow darker pit. Oh vey! Onward and upward.
I have finally finished the 250 boxes challenge after 16 years of living on earth and I have noticed that after like the 170-ish box how do people draw boxes so I kind of understand at least a little bit of how is a 3d object work so thanks
Lol. It was more like the consistency and rhythm of it. Every day I knew what task to complete. It was just repeating the same thing until I saw improvement. @@maisafwa
11:34 Yeah it does, please next time break the silhouette because the first time I saw this in the lesson's page I didn't think "oh this is a bump" I thought "that's a strange contour line, but ok" (probably because the contour lines were drawn "far" into this form and not just its beginning, implying contour lines that look like scales)
Aaahhhhhhh, I finally finish with 250 box..... And just the thought of I must do 250 cylinder challenge is like a nightmare. Welp, let's throw that problem for future me, lol.
@@thebluenomad1482 I've got some videos on that stuff. They're older, but still good. Composition 101: ruclips.net/video/HtJz_31yaLk/видео.html and Thumbnail Painting Process: ruclips.net/video/RrRJLPt4xv4/видео.html I actually do plan on creating a lesson set focused more on illustration (and with it, composition and such). I also do actually have my own web comic, but I don't do any lessons on that sort of thing.
Are you genuinely 100% of the time thinking in 3D at every stage of the drawing? Regardless whether or not you're doing a preliminary sketch, gesture, coloring and whatever? I find this "Thinking in 3D" to be the hardest thing. My mind is so unruly it constantly shifts into a daydreaming state no matter how many times I try to bring it back into thinking in form. I often find myself just autopiloting a line and then hating myself for not having thought in 3D when drawing said line. Then I try to combat my daydreaming habit (which is automatic) but fail. I can't even draw 4 lines without my mind going someplace else. It's frustrating to think that every other artists is just spending all their time in concentration, thinking in a productive way, about spatial relationships etc. while I am still stuck trying to get my mind even to do the task at hand, to even produce thoughts of form, rather than autopiloting lines.
So here's the thing - everything Drawabox seeks to teach, is intended to be things that you no longer worry about *consciously*. The volume of work assigned throughout the lessons as homework, as long as you work through it consciously applying all of the principles here, will effectively push all of that down to muscle memory and subconscious thinking. When working on something for yourself, for a client, or whatever, there's just so many things to think about. Design, composition, narrative- there's more, but that's what comes to mind. But in terms of the resources your brain can pull on to allocate to all of these considerations. If we add to that thinking through the spatial reasoning to ensure your forms feel solid, and your drawing appropriately establishes a sense of depth, then that's fewer resources to focus on the rest. So, by drilling it throughout this course, we clear the way for students to focus on what allows their drawings and illustrations to solve the problem that they're actually focusing on. Because spatial reasoning is just a means to an end - it's an obstacle we want to push out of the way, so you can focus your brain on the things that actually matter to what you're trying to create. One last thing - remember, you're at Lesson 2. This is not a short course, one that takes months to get through in the best of circumstances. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, because you have no idea what those other artists you admire were struggling with at this stage. You may convince yourself that you know, but you're only telling yourself lies.
@@Uncomfortable Hey, thanks a lot for replying. It's difficult to stay grounded and not compare yourself. Whenever I go around and look at others - whether it's through bias or other kind of delusions - it always seems like those people don't struggle at all. Intellectually I understand it's not good to compare, but it's also not like we can just push a button inside our head to stop all comparison. The question on how to actually change a mindset and gain acceptance of where I am and stop comparison is another big one. I think if anyone had actual control (as in pushing a button) to fix their mindset, we would all do it. Noone actually teaches how to "practice" a mindset. About the spatial reasoning and how to approach this course: So I should 100% purely and solely concentrate on the spatial reasoning? Basically try to constantly bring the mind back to thinking in 3D whenever it strays towards worrying about the result, distractions and daydreaming? The other question is: "What do thoughts about spatial reasoning actually look like?" How do I know that I'm actually producing the "right" thoughts? When you yourself are practicing spatial awareness, are you actually verbalizing anything, or is it purely non-verbal? That's the thing I struggle with the most. I find myself producing a lot of verbal thoughts, like "The object is turning away here" or "Okay there is compound movement here" whereas a few resources suggest that actually you want to enter a sort of non-verbal stage of thinking. I hope that doesn't sound too cryptic.. Thanks a lot for your answers.
@@Ryoushi_Akanagi It is indeed different, as comparing ourselves to others is a natural human tendency. At every step, we need to remind ourselves of that, but also that what we think we know about others is more than likely not accurate. Constantly. As to changing one's mindset, the 50% rule as introduced in Lesson 0 is entirely about that. No, it's not a matter of pressing a button, but rather it is an exercise that forces us (over time, and with a lot of hard work and commitment) to stop assigning the value of our time and work to the end results we produce. I recommend you review that section in Lesson 0. Lastly, as far as "thinking in 3D" and "thoughts about spatial reasoning" goes, you are overthinking it. This course does not ask students to do anything other than what is asked - it is designed to rewire your brain by simply following the instructions, over a span of time, and through the execution of these exercises. We get into this more as we tackle drawing actual object constructions starting in Lesson 3 (specifically the constructional drawing we do is just another exercise, one that breaks objects into simple forms and requires us to build them back up, effectively solving a 3D puzzle for each one, which bit by bit trains our brain to engage with the page as though it is a window looking out into three dimensions, rather than just a flat page). This overthinking is also something that is addressed in Lesson 0 - specifically in the video about "How to get the most out of Drawabox" where I talk about the tendency many students have to try and min-max their education by not simply taking what they're given at face value, but always pursuing the "secrets" that must be hidden underneath. This, while helpful in some contexts and in learning some things, is not going to help you here in this course. So, review the video about the 50% rule, as well as the one about getting the most out of this course, and hold yourself to what's explained there.
The technically correct answer is not always the best choice depending on one's goals. In this case it'd make the message being conveyed much harder to read.
Depth is the sense that something is closer or farther away from you. So to create the illusion of depth, is to take a flat image and make it seem like certain parts are farther away than others.
I wouldn't consider drawing 3D images on flat surfaces lying; verbally lying is immoral, I personally do not engage in it, at least at a conscious level, I think it is more of creating an illusionary depiction of fantasies to create a story. Fiction/ fictional/fictitious... of course we know it is fiction, but we follow comic book anthologies because the characters, art and stories, are for the most part interesting, and collectors collect specific types of stories and art. But we are not intentionally being deceived into being lied to lest the story or art sucks so bad you lose the reader. It's like eye candy or a good video game... it's just cool 😎
I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to say, but there were plenty of lesson 1 and 2 videos that were posted last Christmas. This one was part of a major update however, and a lot of videos were uploaded to fill certain gaps or cover certain topics a bit better.
Oh I was saying how videos going after this video were posted before this video if that makes sense, but thank you for the clarification that you go back in and update your course and fill in gaps. It shows me that you actually care about this project, your students’ soaring higher with it, and that it’s not something you’ve done just to get it over with but rather a course that goes over what you as a professional artist believes are the most important first things to learn in illustration. You’re amazing Uncomfortable.
Congratulations! And good job pacing it out. I know some people get discouraged when it ends up taking quite so long, but it's actually a good thing - it shows that you're taking your time and applying yourself fully to the exercise, instead of rushing through it.
Is the 250 boxes really necessary?? Im still at 80 and i dont feel like i've improved...my lines are going off and it jus feels like a chore...but i'll still do it!!
Some students see improvement immediately, some see it after the first hundred, some start seeing it when they hit the very last few boxes. Ultimately the box challenge has a few separate goals: on one hand, it's obviously about developing your internal grasp of 3D space, of building the habits of thinking in terms of lines in groupings of those that are parallel to one another. That's why we go through the analysis phase, extending our lines back to see how far off they are from all converging together. Then there's the matter of discipline - this is indeed a chore. It's repetitive, taxing, uninteresting and tedious, but learning does not always include activities that are enjoyable. When students demonstrate that they're able to work through the 250 box challenge with patience and care in spite of the fact that it's a boring slog, I can confidently trust that they'll be able to put the same kind of care and conscientiousness into the rest of their work, ensuring that they'll be putting their all into learning, rather than just going through the motions. Now, if you are genuinely curious about whether the 250 box challenge is necessary, I'm not the one to ask, as I'm the one who assigns it. Instead, ask the folks over on the Drawabox Discord Chat Server ( discord.gg/rJz2GFG ), as there are plenty of people who've gone through it there. See how they feel about the time they invested into it, and whether it was worthwhile for them. Asking the completionists (who are tagged there in green) would be especially useful to see the spatial reasoning skills and patience in full bloom.
I'm having trouble drawing the curved bean shape with just my shoulder. Whenever I try drawing to the left and downwards, like when you're drawing the shape counterclockwise, my shoulder kind of starts to unnaturally push in to the side of my body, and I feel like I have to use my elbow instead. How do you comfortably draw a shape like this on a flat surface with your shoulder? Do you hook your arm out in front of you? And how far away do you sit from your paper?
I definitely run into situations where my arm pushes against the side of my body in some situations, including drawing the sausages. It gets easier and more comfortable with practice, but based on your description what you're doing didn't sound incorrect. It's just a matter of getting accustomed to some of these sensations that may feel a bit odd. As to your questions, I do bend my arm at the elbow while I draw (not pivoting from the elbow doesn't mean you can't simply have it in a bent position, as long as that bend doesn't change much). How far I sit is more a question of my posture - I try to sit straight rather than hunching while drawing.
@@Uncomfortable Can you elaborate on how much the bend in the elbow is allowed to change? A while ago I found a post on the artfundamentlas subreddit where a guy recorded his arm as he drew lines, and he seemed to be using mostly shoulder with his elbow bending an incredible small amount, but you commented that he was still using too much elbow. The post is called "Recorded myself drawing lines for lesson 1 (and some circles) to tape how arm/ posture look." And can you be more specific about where you position the paper on a flat surface? I can't find a setup where I can comfortable draw these sausage shapes or larger circles with only my shoulder, and I feel like I need to use my elbow or use shoulder rotation in order to maneuver my arm around my trunk. I did the 250 box challenge with only my shoulder, so I feel very comfortable using it by when I try and use it to draw these sausage shapes I feel like I have to either try to unnaturally force my arm into the side of my body or I have to awkwardly hook my arm out in front of me at a pretty big angle. There's a video called "How to draw from the shoulder" by the channel The Drawing Journey where a guy seems to use a mix of different parts of his arm. In the video, the guy makes a large circle at 4:05 by moving up and right with his shoulder and left and down with a mix of shoulder and elbow/shoulder rotation. This type of motion feels natural, and I can't find a setup where I can use only my shoulder in a way that doesn't feel like I'm trying to force my arm to go past its biomechanical limits.
@@johnbarnett670 I've somewhat shifted in my approach since then. Students have a tendency to get so obsessed with figuring out what the exact amount one's elbow is allowed to move that they stop themselves from just moving forwards, out of fear of "developing bad habits". My bigger concern with that fellow was that he was drawing with the lines coming towards himself. For what it's worth, in regards to the sausage forms, I also end up pushing my arm into my side when drawing them - so while it's a bit awkward, it's not incorrect. Drawing on a slanted surface can help, but generally making sure that your desk isn't too high will help as well. Unfortunately I don't have the time to address all your questions in detail - youtube comments aren't really meant for this purpose. Instead, I'd recommend asking over on the discord server to get the input of others who are more familiar with the course.
@@Uncomfortable So just to clarify your elbow opens and closes at least a little bit when you draw these sausage shapes? The only reason I brought up the reddit post was because you have to draw towards yourself when drawing certain parts of sausages or circles, and your comment made it sound like you should try and draw with your elbow 100% locked. It's hard to tell which part of your arm is responsible for the motion and it feels like my elbow is causing it and my shoulder is only reacting to it.
@@johnbarnett670 Yeah, your elbow is going to open a little - I mention this in the 'drawing with your shoulder' video. The motion should primarily be driven by your shoulder, however, so your upper arm is going to be visibly moving much more.
No, it is still best to focus on drawing from the shoulder. In fact, here it is especially important, as it allows us to manage the wider turns more effectively (even while it may feel a bit strange), and those that slip back to their shoulders tend to have more difficulty.
@@Uncomfortable When drawing in general outside of the lessons, aren't there times when you're drawing a shape like this where it's more efficient to use your elbow to draw a curve in the form?
@@DDC-kx3uf A shape like this specifically, I'd still use my shoulder because it requires a gradual, consistent trajectory. In general, when drawing outside of Drawabox, you're welcome to use whatever pivots you please. The point here is to be comfortable enough with all your arm's pivots to be able to use the appropriate one for the task. Generally speaking there are situations where the elbow can be used, but in those cases the shoulder is also equally as effective. There are however situations where the shoulder is a *better* option than the elbow, rather than vice versa, which is why these lessons focus on the shoulder.
@@Uncomfortable Aren't there situation where the elbow is more effective than the shoulder, like if you're making a wavy line by quickly oscillating your elbow left and right and moving down with the shoulder?
@@DDC-kx3uf Perhaps, but those are not the kinds of marks you'll find yourself making in these lessons. Wavy lines specifically are, for example, intended to be broken up into smaller segments based on the third fundamental rule of mark making introduced in lesson 1, specifically because we're working largely in three dimensions, and relying on repetitious motion like that causes us to focus on how the line moves across the page rather than in 3D space.
That's not really something necessary for this course, so we don't go over it, but to find the vanishing points in an image, you'd find edges that you know run parallel to one another in 3D space, and extend them back to find where they intersect with one another. Finding several lines that run parallel to one another usually works best for this.
great lesson. voice quality is poor. low volume and heavy on bass. ironically it sounds like the microphone is in a box, and uncomfortable is speaking into the box.
I finished my 250 box challenge in 1 week, and reading the comments here I think I might have rushed it. I'm an intermediate artist with some knowledge of 3D space, but still here looking to refine my skills. I don't think my boxes suffered perspective wise, but my lines were getting wobbly on the 5th and 6th pages on some days. I did 6 pages of 6 boxes per day (around 1 and a half hours), maybe I should have lowered it to 4 pages.
It may help to take a look at the process ScyllaStew uses for each of her boxes, as shown in her video here: ruclips.net/video/mteUPdCHn4s/видео.html . It's useful for judging whether or not you may be rushing through parts of the work.
Recording instructional videos is a skill I am far from mastering - but I'll take your feedback into consideration for when I rerecord this material next.
I Don't know if this will help you at all @@Uncomfortable but you spend a lot of time talking about What "not" to do, and little time about What "to" do.
@@ryanhinchliffe7771 I'll take that into consideration - although I go over what not to do largely because I've had students go through this exercise quite a bit, and have found a number of mistakes they frequently make. Ever since I started specifically pointing out these common blunders (both in the videos and in the written instructions), my students' performance and understanding have improved considerably.
I'm having trouble understanding how to position the contour lines especially when the sausage starts bending up, down and farther away I get completely lost. Are there any good rules of thumb?
I'd recommend reviewing the ellipses video from Lesson 1. It explains how the degree of our ellipses/curves will shift as the cross-section they're meant to represent turns in space. ruclips.net/video/tHJ3rzk6kno/видео.html
@@Uncomfortable Thank you for the pointer, I'll rewatch that one! And thanks for all the work that went into making this content. It's absolutely invaluable.
Drawabox is compared to a cult pretty often, and honestly they're not wrong :P "Put your faith in the lessons, follow them through" blah blah blah. I'll need a really big hat to make it official.
It feels so nice to be finally moving onto Lesson 2 after the long 250 boxes challenge! Mine took me 3.5 months haha
Oof. Well I'm glad you invested the time to do them properly. Congratulations on getting them done, and welcome to the other side.
Only the people who have completed the 250 box challenge know the real shit. I completed mine today and boy does it feel good
Weep took me A month and a half 💀
@@manansinghchoudhary7316 bruh you wastin ur time lmao
A little more than 2 boxes per day...?
- Hey man, what are you doing?
- Learning.
- Learning what?
- *TO LIE*
XD
@@maiamaya6083 TO MYSELF!
It's sad how much the views dropped off from lesson 1. People give up so easily... You can do it!
" give up on your dreams and die"
~ Levi Ackerman
yeah, I can't belive my lazy ass got here
All of this just so I can one day draw cute anime girls.
@@bobsmithy3103 never forget what you fight for.
the spark & good feeling of a new project wears off fast
I have been going through your lessons in the last months and I just want to drop by to say that I'm very thankful for this free lessons you are putting out here. You do an amazing job and the main thing I really love about your lessons is the way you point out both mistakes and right way to do things, it helps a lot to understand a concept when you talk about the "misunderstanding" side of it.
I'm glad I could help!
We need a remake of these videos
Just finished the 250 Box challenge after 2 months and I feel like I've unlocked my third eye, I can read minds now and pretty sure I can see noises
Hah! Funnily enough there are actually people who, upon experiencing auditory stimulation, see colours or shapes - it's called synesthesia, and is pretty wild.
i am so happy i was born on this era to see your vids :3
Here’s a little lesson in trickery!
this is going down in history !
If you want to be a villain number 1
you have to chase a superhero on the run
Funny to think it was that long ago where "We are Number One!" Was a thing ha ha! Still love it though! xD
@@ness682 same
after nearly 6-7 weeks drawings those nasty boxed I'm finally here,.. i'm crying,. !!!! THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US!!!!
Just finished the 250 box challenge yesterday! I feel so relieved bcz I had attempted the same two years ago and couldn't make it. And this time I completed it in 14 days ! Now I can visualize everything around snuggly fit in boxes, hehe.
I'd like to hear from y'all about your experiences too.
it feels so good to finally emerge on the other side of the 250 boxes
I hated Lesson 1 as a big enemy. But I won, I pulled out and ate the heart of this enemy, I became stronger and here I am.
Did you finish Drawabox?
Love you content but any chance of increasing the audio quality always sounds muffled
Something was up with my microphone but I wasn't able to address it within the time I had to release this major update to the website. Over time I'm going to see about rerecording the videos to generally increase their quality, but that will take a good deal of time and won't start for a bit.
Uncomfortable thank you so much for doing these videos and for all the work you do on your website. It's helping me out a ton.
I'm glad I could help!
Ben Pami HEYY, I follow you on twitch
It took me over a month to do the 250 boxes challange and I am so glad to be here! Though an evil voice inside me says 'you didint do them properly' or 'youre not ready and worthy of going into lesson 2' but decided to just get to lesson 2 after practicing not only 250 boxes but also perspective on the side too. Well lets hope I am actually worthy of being here and its just my dumb brain telling me dumb stuff :,D
Our brains have a habit of telling us all kinds of dumb stuff. That's why seeking external feedback is always helpful to set us straight.
Best Christmas gift is new drawabox videos!
I just finished my 250 box challenge after 3 1/2 months and I'm so anxious to get on with this lesson! I'm excited for the texture section in particular because I want to draw things like scales and feathers on dinosaurs.
my friend recommended your lessons to me and to be honest i lost it after lesson 1 but i have started again did revision
just want to say thank u for all the effort u put in teaching us thank u drawabox and uncomfortable
It is entirely normal to struggle with these, and there are many who do have some false starts and eventually come back. We are always happy to have those who return - so best of luck as you push through the lessons!
It took me a year to do the 250 box challenge (with a big hiatus in the middle), but here I am, and I hope I'll reach to the end.
You've got it! Congratulations on finishing the challenge
Finally done with 250 boxes! Now time to dig in on lesson 2 and then 250 cylinders. I already can see the improvements on my 3d awareness from all that boxes that i draw
I think the 250 cylinders come after lesson 5
jokes on you, I've been living in a lie for the last 22 years of my life
Finished the 250 box challenge today, I tried not to rush through it. I tried doing the colored pens, but when I did that I just confused myself and ruined the page. Not even being able to learn from it and often confusing myself. So I opted to just draw boxes and then draw through them with a different colored pen. This helped me a bit more and my boxes began to improve. One day I may have to go back and add the extended lines to my boxes or even give the challenge another shot. But at the beginning it was just confusing me more then identifying The problem.
Same here dude, my homework is a fricking mess even I can't make sense of it! I'm nearly finished uploading it I don't care just let me go to the next challenge lmao. If I had to do it again I would die. I do think I improved during the last 100 boxes though.
@@dartagnan553 that’s how I felt too, the later lessons are hard but I can see what he was trying to get us to do. Right now I’m on applying construction to plants. I give an hour to draw a box and an hour to fun drawing pretty much every day so far while I can. If I can do an hour than I’ll have to split it between the time I have. Keep me updated on your journey!
Amazing this is SOOO amazing I mean this information is so mind-blowing and true that's so true when you believe that you are drawing a solid thing you will automatically add things lines to make it more like a soil I am so impressed
Thank you soo much really appreciate the time and effort you put onto this 🥺❤❤❤
The strange thing about this video is that seconds feel like hours. I'm 9 minutes in, and have learned a lot, but I am about to die of old age on the inside.
in the nicest way
@@Munch180 Haha, just imagine what living with me must be like. On the bright side, you're only half way - so let's hope you're just having a midlife crisis.
@@Uncomfortable i finished it, it was very informative
Started lesson 1 on the last weeks of 2020, yesterday I finished the 250 box challenge after 3 months and ups and downs in work rate, looking forward for what's to come
Thank you so much for this lessons. It has been my bible lately and it is helping me a lot.
It's kinda hard for me to manage the 50/50 rule tho. I tend to focus mainly in one thing for a week lapse.
I'm glad these lessons have been resonating with you!
Hi there Uncomfortable. I have successfully completed my 250 boxes. Waiting for the critiques. I am feeling so good that now I am in lesson 2 ❤️❤️
Goodness.
My motivation to finish the 250 Box Challenge is so lacking that I am now watching this to motivate me to finish.
My narcissist training is complete!
Almost a month after 250 boxes, phew finally here 🎉🎉🎉
Boy this is GOLD
Lesson 2 let's goooo!!
new vids!! truly a christmas gift
How many times can you blow my mind in the first 5 minutes
Lol I have been on DaB for almost a year and the website already has been updated soooo much I have to watch all the new videos. :P
Hahaha, I hope you enjoy the update.
Lol yeah me to. Thanks, though, Uncomfortable. :) I know you’ve put a lot of work into these already. Can’t wait to see new updates in the future
bro i caught the mistake before he pointed it out i feel like such a genius
Bro, i'do love the old testament Uncomfortable
did the 250 box challenge in 2 days. broke my mind and rebuilt it until drawing a box become instinct. i can't believe how thoughtful this course has been each lesson and every exercise.
"Art" is the root of "artificial"
it feels like I crawled out of the pit in the dark knight rises with the 250 box challenge only to be at the bottom of a larger and somehow darker pit. Oh vey! Onward and upward.
I have finally finished the 250 boxes challenge after 16 years of living on earth and I have noticed that after like the 170-ish box how do people draw boxes so I kind of understand at least a little bit of how is a 3d object work so thanks
Finished the 250 Box Challenge.😤I kinda miss it now, lol. But it's time to move on to the next level.
Stockholm Syndrome
Lol. It was more like the consistency and rhythm of it. Every day I knew what task to complete. It was just repeating the same thing until I saw improvement. @@maisafwa
@nicksyoutubeaccount Yeah I know lol
I've just finished the challenge yesterday and holy moly it was tough
How's your journey so far?
Eh... I'm sad to say I never continued after finishing the box challenge... @@maisafwa
@nicksyoutubeaccount Aw you think you'll pick up that pen agian? Cause I started and stopped two years ago and came back few months ago.
I would like to point that you stand more than 3 minutes looking at a blank canvas and thinking "omg... it makes ALL the sense"
took me 14 days to complete 250 box challenge. and now here!
Took me 6 months
After completing the 250 boxes, i am now moving on to lesson 2.
Lets see how this goes :)
My brain sees the world and then my eyes process it :d
11:34 Yeah it does, please next time break the silhouette because the first time I saw this in the lesson's page I didn't think "oh this is a bump" I thought "that's a strange contour line, but ok" (probably because the contour lines were drawn "far" into this form and not just its beginning, implying contour lines that look like scales)
Ah yes, after 250 boxes. It is time to learn how to lie.
Aaahhhhhhh, I finally finish with 250 box..... And just the thought of I must do 250 cylinder challenge is like a nightmare. Welp, let's throw that problem for future me, lol.
I'll give you mic my man.
Thanks for the video
Hahaha. I got a new mic - just gotta find time to rerecord these videos.
@@Uncomfortable boxpapa I shall wait for you new videos.
Do you do comics/manga? Can you teach us framing and thumbnailing hahaa
@@thebluenomad1482 I've got some videos on that stuff. They're older, but still good. Composition 101: ruclips.net/video/HtJz_31yaLk/видео.html and Thumbnail Painting Process: ruclips.net/video/RrRJLPt4xv4/видео.html
I actually do plan on creating a lesson set focused more on illustration (and with it, composition and such). I also do actually have my own web comic, but I don't do any lessons on that sort of thing.
oh thats a weird tomato "thats a persimmon" ,,*oh*
Just wait until you hear about heirloom tomatoes! Now *they're* weird.
3:30 Preach Brutha!
Are you genuinely 100% of the time thinking in 3D at every stage of the drawing? Regardless whether or not you're doing a preliminary sketch, gesture, coloring and whatever?
I find this "Thinking in 3D" to be the hardest thing. My mind is so unruly it constantly shifts into a daydreaming state no matter how many times I try to bring it back into thinking in form. I often find myself just autopiloting a line and then hating myself for not having thought in 3D when drawing said line.
Then I try to combat my daydreaming habit (which is automatic) but fail. I can't even draw 4 lines without my mind going someplace else.
It's frustrating to think that every other artists is just spending all their time in concentration, thinking in a productive way, about spatial relationships etc. while I am still stuck trying to get my mind even to do the task at hand, to even produce thoughts of form, rather than autopiloting lines.
So here's the thing - everything Drawabox seeks to teach, is intended to be things that you no longer worry about *consciously*. The volume of work assigned throughout the lessons as homework, as long as you work through it consciously applying all of the principles here, will effectively push all of that down to muscle memory and subconscious thinking.
When working on something for yourself, for a client, or whatever, there's just so many things to think about. Design, composition, narrative- there's more, but that's what comes to mind. But in terms of the resources your brain can pull on to allocate to all of these considerations. If we add to that thinking through the spatial reasoning to ensure your forms feel solid, and your drawing appropriately establishes a sense of depth, then that's fewer resources to focus on the rest. So, by drilling it throughout this course, we clear the way for students to focus on what allows their drawings and illustrations to solve the problem that they're actually focusing on. Because spatial reasoning is just a means to an end - it's an obstacle we want to push out of the way, so you can focus your brain on the things that actually matter to what you're trying to create.
One last thing - remember, you're at Lesson 2. This is not a short course, one that takes months to get through in the best of circumstances. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, because you have no idea what those other artists you admire were struggling with at this stage. You may convince yourself that you know, but you're only telling yourself lies.
@@Uncomfortable Hey, thanks a lot for replying.
It's difficult to stay grounded and not compare yourself. Whenever I go around and look at others - whether it's through bias or other kind of delusions - it always seems like those people don't struggle at all. Intellectually I understand it's not good to compare, but it's also not like we can just push a button inside our head to stop all comparison.
The question on how to actually change a mindset and gain acceptance of where I am and stop comparison is another big one. I think if anyone had actual control (as in pushing a button) to fix their mindset, we would all do it. Noone actually teaches how to "practice" a mindset.
About the spatial reasoning and how to approach this course:
So I should 100% purely and solely concentrate on the spatial reasoning? Basically try to constantly bring the mind back to thinking in 3D whenever it strays towards worrying about the result, distractions and daydreaming?
The other question is: "What do thoughts about spatial reasoning actually look like?" How do I know that I'm actually producing the "right" thoughts?
When you yourself are practicing spatial awareness, are you actually verbalizing anything, or is it purely non-verbal?
That's the thing I struggle with the most. I find myself producing a lot of verbal thoughts, like "The object is turning away here" or "Okay there is compound movement here" whereas a few resources suggest that actually you want to enter a sort of non-verbal stage of thinking.
I hope that doesn't sound too cryptic.. Thanks a lot for your answers.
@@Ryoushi_Akanagi It is indeed different, as comparing ourselves to others is a natural human tendency. At every step, we need to remind ourselves of that, but also that what we think we know about others is more than likely not accurate. Constantly.
As to changing one's mindset, the 50% rule as introduced in Lesson 0 is entirely about that. No, it's not a matter of pressing a button, but rather it is an exercise that forces us (over time, and with a lot of hard work and commitment) to stop assigning the value of our time and work to the end results we produce. I recommend you review that section in Lesson 0.
Lastly, as far as "thinking in 3D" and "thoughts about spatial reasoning" goes, you are overthinking it. This course does not ask students to do anything other than what is asked - it is designed to rewire your brain by simply following the instructions, over a span of time, and through the execution of these exercises. We get into this more as we tackle drawing actual object constructions starting in Lesson 3 (specifically the constructional drawing we do is just another exercise, one that breaks objects into simple forms and requires us to build them back up, effectively solving a 3D puzzle for each one, which bit by bit trains our brain to engage with the page as though it is a window looking out into three dimensions, rather than just a flat page).
This overthinking is also something that is addressed in Lesson 0 - specifically in the video about "How to get the most out of Drawabox" where I talk about the tendency many students have to try and min-max their education by not simply taking what they're given at face value, but always pursuing the "secrets" that must be hidden underneath. This, while helpful in some contexts and in learning some things, is not going to help you here in this course.
So, review the video about the 50% rule, as well as the one about getting the most out of this course, and hold yourself to what's explained there.
@@Uncomfortable Alright, thank you. Yeah, I find myself falling into the trap of overthinking a lot..
I'll do as you suggested!!
The "This World" text should logically be going from right to left.
The technically correct answer is not always the best choice depending on one's goals. In this case it'd make the message being conveyed much harder to read.
I'm puuuumped 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Took me two weeks of 2 hours of work a day to finish 250 box challenge. Never again.
😭😭 I did 4 pages (2 a4 papers) with 7 on each page per day meaning I drew 28 boxes per day I want to desintegrate but I must push on
Alternative title: How to set a conspiracy into the world
Finally" i finish 250 box challenge
So, I was searching through internet and I found we really see in 2d and whatever is in 3d is illusion or "depth", what is "depth" actually mean?
Depth is the sense that something is closer or farther away from you. So to create the illusion of depth, is to take a flat image and make it seem like certain parts are farther away than others.
I wouldn't consider drawing 3D images on flat surfaces lying; verbally lying is immoral, I personally do not engage in it, at least at a conscious level, I think it is more of creating an illusionary depiction of fantasies to create a story. Fiction/ fictional/fictitious... of course we know it is fiction, but we follow comic book anthologies because the characters, art and stories, are for the most part interesting, and collectors collect specific types of stories and art. But we are not intentionally being deceived into being lied to lest the story or art sucks so bad you lose the reader. It's like eye candy or a good video game... it's just cool 😎
Wait this was uploaded on 12/25/18? I could've sworn that videos before this were posted before this date, I'm confused
I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to say, but there were plenty of lesson 1 and 2 videos that were posted last Christmas. This one was part of a major update however, and a lot of videos were uploaded to fill certain gaps or cover certain topics a bit better.
Oh I was saying how videos going after this video were posted before this video if that makes sense, but thank you for the clarification that you go back in and update your course and fill in gaps. It shows me that you actually care about this project, your students’ soaring higher with it, and that it’s not something you’ve done just to get it over with but rather a course that goes over what you as a professional artist believes are the most important first things to learn in illustration. You’re amazing Uncomfortable.
I've finally finished 250 boxes took me 2 months
Congratulations! And good job pacing it out. I know some people get discouraged when it ends up taking quite so long, but it's actually a good thing - it shows that you're taking your time and applying yourself fully to the exercise, instead of rushing through it.
@@Uncomfortable It really did reminded me how long this art journey is going to take. Thanks for the good work out there man. you're the best!
Is the 250 boxes really necessary?? Im still at 80 and i dont feel like i've improved...my lines are going off and it jus feels like a chore...but i'll still do it!!
Some students see improvement immediately, some see it after the first hundred, some start seeing it when they hit the very last few boxes. Ultimately the box challenge has a few separate goals: on one hand, it's obviously about developing your internal grasp of 3D space, of building the habits of thinking in terms of lines in groupings of those that are parallel to one another. That's why we go through the analysis phase, extending our lines back to see how far off they are from all converging together.
Then there's the matter of discipline - this is indeed a chore. It's repetitive, taxing, uninteresting and tedious, but learning does not always include activities that are enjoyable. When students demonstrate that they're able to work through the 250 box challenge with patience and care in spite of the fact that it's a boring slog, I can confidently trust that they'll be able to put the same kind of care and conscientiousness into the rest of their work, ensuring that they'll be putting their all into learning, rather than just going through the motions.
Now, if you are genuinely curious about whether the 250 box challenge is necessary, I'm not the one to ask, as I'm the one who assigns it. Instead, ask the folks over on the Drawabox Discord Chat Server ( discord.gg/rJz2GFG ), as there are plenty of people who've gone through it there. See how they feel about the time they invested into it, and whether it was worthwhile for them. Asking the completionists (who are tagged there in green) would be especially useful to see the spatial reasoning skills and patience in full bloom.
I'm having trouble drawing the curved bean shape with just my shoulder. Whenever I try drawing to the left and downwards, like when you're drawing the shape counterclockwise, my shoulder kind of starts to unnaturally push in to the side of my body, and I feel like I have to use my elbow instead. How do you comfortably draw a shape like this on a flat surface with your shoulder? Do you hook your arm out in front of you? And how far away do you sit from your paper?
I definitely run into situations where my arm pushes against the side of my body in some situations, including drawing the sausages. It gets easier and more comfortable with practice, but based on your description what you're doing didn't sound incorrect. It's just a matter of getting accustomed to some of these sensations that may feel a bit odd.
As to your questions, I do bend my arm at the elbow while I draw (not pivoting from the elbow doesn't mean you can't simply have it in a bent position, as long as that bend doesn't change much). How far I sit is more a question of my posture - I try to sit straight rather than hunching while drawing.
@@Uncomfortable Can you elaborate on how much the bend in the elbow is allowed to change? A while ago I found a post on the artfundamentlas subreddit where a guy recorded his arm as he drew lines, and he seemed to be using mostly shoulder with his elbow bending an incredible small amount, but you commented that he was still using too much elbow. The post is called "Recorded myself drawing lines for lesson 1 (and some circles) to tape how arm/ posture look."
And can you be more specific about where you position the paper on a flat surface? I can't find a setup where I can comfortable draw these sausage shapes or larger circles with only my shoulder, and I feel like I need to use my elbow or use shoulder rotation in order to maneuver my arm around my trunk. I did the 250 box challenge with only my shoulder, so I feel very comfortable using it by when I try and use it to draw these sausage shapes I feel like I have to either try to unnaturally force my arm into the side of my body or I have to awkwardly hook my arm out in front of me at a pretty big angle.
There's a video called "How to draw from the shoulder" by the channel The Drawing Journey where a guy seems to use a mix of different parts of his arm. In the video, the guy makes a large circle at 4:05 by moving up and right with his shoulder and left and down with a mix of shoulder and elbow/shoulder rotation. This type of motion feels natural, and I can't find a setup where I can use only my shoulder in a way that doesn't feel like I'm trying to force my arm to go past its biomechanical limits.
@@johnbarnett670
I've somewhat shifted in my approach since then. Students have a tendency to get so obsessed with figuring out what the exact amount one's elbow is allowed to move that they stop themselves from just moving forwards, out of fear of "developing bad habits". My bigger concern with that fellow was that he was drawing with the lines coming towards himself.
For what it's worth, in regards to the sausage forms, I also end up pushing my arm into my side when drawing them - so while it's a bit awkward, it's not incorrect. Drawing on a slanted surface can help, but generally making sure that your desk isn't too high will help as well.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to address all your questions in detail - youtube comments aren't really meant for this purpose. Instead, I'd recommend asking over on the discord server to get the input of others who are more familiar with the course.
@@Uncomfortable So just to clarify your elbow opens and closes at least a little bit when you draw these sausage shapes? The only reason I brought up the reddit post was because you have to draw towards yourself when drawing certain parts of sausages or circles, and your comment made it sound like you should try and draw with your elbow 100% locked. It's hard to tell which part of your arm is responsible for the motion and it feels like my elbow is causing it and my shoulder is only reacting to it.
@@johnbarnett670 Yeah, your elbow is going to open a little - I mention this in the 'drawing with your shoulder' video. The motion should primarily be driven by your shoulder, however, so your upper arm is going to be visibly moving much more.
When drawing the shape at 8:31, in addition to your shoulder, can you use your elbow to draw some of the arcs and curves in the shape?
No, it is still best to focus on drawing from the shoulder. In fact, here it is especially important, as it allows us to manage the wider turns more effectively (even while it may feel a bit strange), and those that slip back to their shoulders tend to have more difficulty.
@@Uncomfortable When drawing in general outside of the lessons, aren't there times when you're drawing a shape like this where it's more efficient to use your elbow to draw a curve in the form?
@@DDC-kx3uf A shape like this specifically, I'd still use my shoulder because it requires a gradual, consistent trajectory. In general, when drawing outside of Drawabox, you're welcome to use whatever pivots you please. The point here is to be comfortable enough with all your arm's pivots to be able to use the appropriate one for the task. Generally speaking there are situations where the elbow can be used, but in those cases the shoulder is also equally as effective. There are however situations where the shoulder is a *better* option than the elbow, rather than vice versa, which is why these lessons focus on the shoulder.
@@Uncomfortable Aren't there situation where the elbow is more effective than the shoulder, like if you're making a wavy line by quickly oscillating your elbow left and right and moving down with the shoulder?
@@DDC-kx3uf Perhaps, but those are not the kinds of marks you'll find yourself making in these lessons. Wavy lines specifically are, for example, intended to be broken up into smaller segments based on the third fundamental rule of mark making introduced in lesson 1, specifically because we're working largely in three dimensions, and relying on repetitious motion like that causes us to focus on how the line moves across the page rather than in 3D space.
that one make my brain burn once again
how to like look at a picture and find the vanishing points
That's not really something necessary for this course, so we don't go over it, but to find the vanishing points in an image, you'd find edges that you know run parallel to one another in 3D space, and extend them back to find where they intersect with one another. Finding several lines that run parallel to one another usually works best for this.
Finally finished the 250 box challenge and I"m back for a new lesson!
Hey me too 😊
@Uncomfortable I guess you're Malaysian/ Pakistani before Canadian
9:08 What did he just draw ...
Shallan Davar is quaking
No! I never lie
damn this is deep
Illusionist aren't exactly liers
great lesson. voice quality is poor. low volume and heavy on bass. ironically it sounds like the microphone is in a box, and uncomfortable is speaking into the box.
I finished my 250 box challenge in 1 week, and reading the comments here I think I might have rushed it. I'm an intermediate artist with some knowledge of 3D space, but still here looking to refine my skills. I don't think my boxes suffered perspective wise, but my lines were getting wobbly on the 5th and 6th pages on some days. I did 6 pages of 6 boxes per day (around 1 and a half hours), maybe I should have lowered it to 4 pages.
It may help to take a look at the process ScyllaStew uses for each of her boxes, as shown in her video here: ruclips.net/video/mteUPdCHn4s/видео.html . It's useful for judging whether or not you may be rushing through parts of the work.
@@Uncomfortable Got it, thanks for the reply!
OwO
people give up too soon, that's why there are so many guitars and other instruments collecting dust.
Uncomfortable sure knows how to lie
Who else here without 250 box challange
ayo
Dude, just to tell you. I listen to your lessons at 1.75x speed, because you waffle so much.
Recording instructional videos is a skill I am far from mastering - but I'll take your feedback into consideration for when I rerecord this material next.
I Don't know if this will help you at all @@Uncomfortable but you spend a lot of time talking about What "not" to do, and little time about What "to" do.
@@ryanhinchliffe7771 I'll take that into consideration - although I go over what not to do largely because I've had students go through this exercise quite a bit, and have found a number of mistakes they frequently make. Ever since I started specifically pointing out these common blunders (both in the videos and in the written instructions), my students' performance and understanding have improved considerably.
@@Uncomfortable Nice one. You know way more than I Do about Teaching :) BTW love the series :)
@@ryanhinchliffe7771 i actually find that really helpful
I'm having trouble understanding how to position the contour lines especially when the sausage starts bending up, down and farther away I get completely lost. Are there any good rules of thumb?
I'd recommend reviewing the ellipses video from Lesson 1. It explains how the degree of our ellipses/curves will shift as the cross-section they're meant to represent turns in space. ruclips.net/video/tHJ3rzk6kno/видео.html
@@Uncomfortable Thank you for the pointer, I'll rewatch that one! And thanks for all the work that went into making this content. It's absolutely invaluable.
All artists are liars" Thus spoke Zarathustra: Of the Poets ahh sentence
Why does this remind me of religion 😬
Drawabox is compared to a cult pretty often, and honestly they're not wrong :P "Put your faith in the lessons, follow them through" blah blah blah. I'll need a really big hat to make it official.
@@Uncomfortable make it a fancy hat people love that shit, excuse my french
Not liers but illusionists, not the same.