Hello! I've just started the Drawabox course. While studying the material given in lesson 0, I had some questions.
About the 50% rule...
Am I getting this correctly, that when doing the "play" part of the 50% rule, I can draw literally, absolutely WHATEVER and ANYTHING I want (characters, some random objects, fan-arts, art promts from the Drawabox website, etc)?
And about my studying plan...
I want to clarify, if the studying plan I will describe below will be effective, or not? Should I add more time or change something in the schedule?

Day of studying (15-30 minutes for learning theory, exercises, etc) -> day of "playing" (15-30 minutes too) -> day of studying again, and so on.

And, is it OK to take breaks from drawing for some period of time? (~2 days - 1 week maximum)

If the questions I listed above are asked TOO frequently, or the answer is very obvious, PLEASE let me know, and I'll take my post down.

I feel like I might have developed a recognizable visual style naturally, but I’m wondering if I should keep exploring this path (especially faces and character design) or if I should go back to the fundamentals and practice anatomy, shapes, proportions, etc. for a few months before continuing.

I also should mention that I really don’t draw often at all. Maybe once or twice a year, lol. So I would definitely consider myself a complete beginner +++. I’ve always loved drawing, but I mostly do it when I get inspired. I usually take inspiration from real photos and then transform them into my own characters (changing the features, shapes, expressions, etc.).

I’ve watched tutorials, followed courses, practiced lines, circles, boxes, and head exercises countless times. Every time I feel stuck, I go back to fundamentals because everyone says fundamentals are the answer.
The problem is that after all this time, I still don’t know what I should be drawing or studying next. I never developed a clear roadmap. I never got comfortable with perspective, construction, anatomy, or creating finished drawings.
It’s frustrating because I genuinely love art and want to improve, but sometimes it feels like I’m standing at the same starting line over and over again.
For artists who went through a similar phase, what changed things for you? What was the skill or mindset that finally helped you start progressing again?
Any advice would mean a lot.

uncomfortable once remarked offhand: “I can draw just fine without references, and like those artists who can visualize, I’ve developed an internal library of information—based on the various studies I’ve done in the past on how things work and fit together—that I can draw upon. That is commonly referred to as a ‘visual library,’ which creates the impression that it’s heavily based on visualization, but that’s not really the case.” How exactly is this “visual library” used and developed? I’ve done some research on this topic, but I’d also like to ask you all what you know and what your thoughts are.

I have already made around 2 posts now asking specific questions about the "next fifty" part of the course, but given how I am still completely unsure of how to proceed, I think a general post would be more helpful.

As per my understanding of the task, after drawing a Y and my first 2 lines converging to a point, I should deduce the direction in which the rest of the lines of a set converge by looking at where the aforementioned 2 lines converge. I have also been told that I should not try to imagine invisible vanishing points and should instead rely exclusively on the relation of other pre-existing lines.

My issue is that I simply don't understand how it can be done without picturing a vanishing point. Is the relationship between a set of lines not just the vanishing point itself?

Hey!
So I decided to start the draw a box challenge as a totally new beginner in drawing , and I’m planning on completing the entire challenge. My question is how long did it take you to complete the entire course? And are there any tips that you wished that you knew sooner?
• the fundamentals
• part 1 challenges ( boxes - cylinders - wheels - treasure)
• part 2 (plants - insects - animals - everyday objects and vehicles)

So, I have been on my last 150 these days. The task says that my boxes need to alternate between dramatic and shallow foreshortening. However, I don't fully understand what that means. There are multiple options on what that could mean.

And, for the context, I will call vanishing points are contained within the page as "dramatic VPs", and those off the page as "shallow VPs".

By default, I understood it specifically like this:

- Each box in the last 150 MUST have at least 1 vanishing point off page (which counts as shallow foreshortening), and at least 1 vanishing point on page (dramatic foreshortening. And I mean, not explicitly marked on the page beforehand, just assumed its general position within the paper). Which leaves the boxes to be only the types of:

- 2 dramatic VPs + 1 shallow VP

- 1 dramatic VP + 2 shallow VPs

However, I might have not understood it correctly. There is a possibility that it is also allowed to:

- Just 3 dramatic VPs box

- Just 3 shallow VPs box

As long as those boxes alternate within a single page. So, it can't be that the page only has shallow VPs, or only has dramatic VPs. It has to have some of both types.

So, which is it?

And please let me know if you don't understand the question itself, I'll try to explain more, or even maybe draw examples.

I’m pretty sure I am but I just want to make sure cause I don’t wanna draw 50 of these only to find out that I was doing it wrong the whole time. By the way, I know the line extensions on the two bottom boxes are a little incorrect but that’s cause this is my first page of this, so it lowkey sucks.

Unfortunately, Patreon and Discord are blocked in my region and cannot submit for an official review. I submitted through the website but that might take some time. Can you please review my lesson 1 homework here :)

Thank you so much.

I started the 250 box challenge a bit less than a month ago, and I've drawn about 110 boxes, but I feel like I'm doing it all wrong, the first 50 boxes where fine, but when I have to draw the boxes without a vanishing point, none of them are right, most of them have one line that is way off the mark I imagine for them, mainly one of the last lines when you have to figure out the last axis of your box, am I doing something wrong?, any tips?

General in the texture section of lesson 2 it was emphasized that we want to display details not by color, but by the shadows casted - now in some of the demos - e.g. Tigerhead details are added indicating the color of the fur (the stripes of the tiger fur) - is this obsolete now and should we avoid adding such details? And a related question... when "enlarging the basic sphere of the tigershead with some lines" it is ok to not add fully constructed closed formes just new outlines to represent fur?

Is this for real? I am off every vanishing point! I did the 250 box a few years ago and got feedback (I was on their Patreon), so I decided to try again. Now every single vanishing point is off. How did this happen? My previous feedback was okay. Did I regress? So frustrating!

Well, I finished it a while ago but never got around to sharing it. I would very much appreciate some feedback!

Hi as i stated in the title i just started to learn how to draw
Im starting on an ipad because i like digital art more than normal but idk where to start tried giving youtube a shot but some say you should start with drawing lines and shapes others say start with sketching
I would like tips on where and how should i start
Tysm

I’m on box 60 of the 250-box challenge. Although my ability to build environments (houses, rooms, etc.) has improved quite a bit, I’m really rubbish at organic shapes. I can’t seem to add any organic shapes to those rooms. also without add, i live this problem when i try to draw any organic fforms in general. Is this normal?

Hi everyone,

I am currently at a loss for my life and its purpose. I have previously played around with the idea of creating my own apparel company and have gotten good reviews initially as to the wording on each of my designs.

That said, I cannot draw to save my life. I think that having some funny, quirky sketches to go along with my captions would make the product 1000x better and funnier.

I don’t think that I need to become an expert artist - my inspirations are David Shrigley and Pants (the artist) on twitter. Their art style is pretty lax, which is what I would want to try and emulate.

I have previously done some of the initial lessons on DrawABox but quickly got bogged down by the overall level of material. Is there a better resource for what I am looking for?

Appreciate any input.

Let's say you want to draw a person for your other 50

To draw a person you need Construction

But to do Construction properly you need good understanding of basic shapes and perspective

I could try to draw a person without those, but drawing the wrong way that can lead to bad habits they will hinder my progress

So wouldn't my time be better spent on exercises and redoing lessons to master those instead?

I understand the goal of the 50/50, but still feels counter-productive to me. So I would like some help on how to deal with this and hammer in it's importance

If I understood correctly, the challenge asks not to look for, but rather to estimate the location of the vanishing points using the angle at which a line is converging. Would that be correct?

I often find myself estimating the vanishing points by ghosting in the direction from which a line is drawn. Should I refrain from doing that?

tia!

I'm currently doing the Drawabox course and just started lesson two. When I'm not doing the course exercises, I'd like to practice things that will significantly improve what I actually want to do, which is drawing people. I don't know yet if I prefer a realistic style or more of an anime style. As a beginner, will I improve more by following Proko's free anatomy course, or should I maybe start by drawing random still lifes? They say still life is excellent for perfecting all aspects of drawing.

Just finished lesson 1, is it ok to move to the 250 box challenge?

Also, I feel like whenever I draw smaller lines with my shoulder i overshoot.

What can I do besides following drawabox to improve? I specifically want to draw people better

i started sketching some months ago i can do basic stuff i just need some guidance on perspective. i checked of some perspective books but they got long paragraphs and its not workbook which i can see and copy and learn. please tell me what to do

I must have been drawing and doing the drawabox for months now and sometimes I do the warmups just to get more confident with my lines but I can never seem to get clean lines despite persistently drawing boxes for quite some time. Why can that be? I am drawing from my shoulder and ghost the lines some 8-20 times before deciding to commit to it. Like my boxes still suck a lot despite having drawn A LOT OF THEM

When I’m helping others with their questions about Lessons 1–3 and the 250 Boxes Challenge, I always feel a bit of impostor syndrome, constantly worrying that my understanding isn't accurate enough and might mislead them. Even though I’ve already passed the official critique for these lessons myself, I still repeatedly re-watch the videos and review the material just to be safe.

Going through this process has got me thinking a lot: after reviewing the official course and analyzing these problems, does the feedback I end up giving carry too much of my own subjective bias? Thinking about all of this makes me a bit hesitant to offer advice because I'm afraid my perspective might be skewed. I’d love to know how everyone else approaches and thinks about this issue.