tags: #publish links: [[Learn to Draw tutorials]] created: 2022-05-13 Fri --- # Draw-A-Box https://drawabox.com/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/artfundamentals Free (donation encouraged) A beginner's technique and principals course with lots of practise. ## Lesson 0 Follow the instructions exactly. Of course you'll do bad drawing - this is *expected* and it's kind of your job as a beginner. Strong recommendation to use real pen + paper: **fineline pen**. Because can't undo. Because less to think about - only one degree of freedom: *pressure -> line thickness*. Strictly: - 50% of time for lessons - 50% of time for play. (Not meaning: apply what you've learned in the lessons. Just play. It'll happen naturally.) The course states this is absolutely vital and develops skills and integration and understanding that the lessons will not. Also fun... *it's harder to build a play habit **after** you've learned technique and theory, because you'll judge yourself more, get in the habit of not caring about "mistakes" or "bad" drawing* ## Lesson 1 ### Moving your arm * From the wrist - tight, controlled, limited range of motion before it gets wobbly. Most of us are good at this from writing * From the shoulder - free, fluid, long movements possible. Most people find this hard at first. *The course focuses on mainly using this technique* especially in the first part, to develop it - wants you to *only* do this at first. - It's ok to rest your wrist on the paper while drawing from shoulder, for stability - you can still move from shoulder. Just keep an eye on whether you're inadvertently switching back to drawing from the wrist! * From the elbow - well you can, but don't, it's not especially hard or useful Don't try to "lock" joints from moving, just pay attention to what parts of arm are moving and use your shoulder. ### Lines Plan all marks before drawing - no *chicken scratching*, drawing not sketching Ghosting - with pen not making contact, "practise" the mark before actually drawing. *Use this for basically all exercises* Practising: Confident moves, then accurate path, then accurate endpoint If it's hard to get the endpoint right, consciously lift up at end Exercises: #### Superimposed lines #### Ghosted Lines #### Ghosted Planes Quadrilateral with "union jack" lines ### Ellipses A 2D angled view of a 3D circle Major axis - long one Minor axis - short one, relates to degree and angle of view Degree - angle the circle is viewed from, 0 = side-on (line), 90 = circle, in between it's an ellipse with the minor axis growing longer Exercises: Ghost, then "draw over" the ellipse 2-3 times so you can practise consistency and precision. #### Table of Ellipses Different degree, size, orientation Practising accurate placement and even shape #### Ellipses in Planes (using the Ghosted Planes above) #### Ellipses in Funnels With line between two opposing curves. Practising placement relative to a defined minor axis orientation. ### Boxes Perspective - vanishing points - where parallel lines converge to. Important: the idea is *not* for every object in the scene to share the same vanishing point. Would be... odd. In reality objects are oriented differently so essentially every set of parallel lines has a (potentially different) vanishing point. * **3-point perspective** - 3 vanishing points reasonably nearby. All lines converge. * **2-point perspective** - 2 vanishing points (typically left and right); 3rd one is +/- vertical infinity. * Vertical lines do *not* converge. * Left-right and front-back lines do converge. * **1-point perspective** - 1 vanishing point (typically near centre of scene); 2nd and 3rd are at +/- vertical and horizontal infinity. * Vertical and left-right lines do *not* converge. * Front-back lines do converge. Rule of thumb: imagine you're looking at a box in the scene. What is the eye's orientation to the box? * Looking square at a face = 1-point (for front-to-back lines) * Looking at an edge = 2-point * Looking at a corner = 3 point Exercises: #### Plotted Perspective Practising construction of boxes using projection lines with 2-point perspective.