Same for me. I think Drawabox's approach to drawing (sketching with ink) can be good for improving your capacity to visualize on paper, because it forces you to really think before comitting to a stroke. You'll want to get it right on the first try, since you can't erase, and that forces you to consider where you start, where you end, and what kind of curve you're going for. When developping new habits or replacing old ones, you usually need to really pay attention to what you're doing at first, until it becomes second nature. I suppose it would apply to something like this. But maybe someone has better ideas. I have to say, I haven't completely figured it out yet, but those things have helped me a little.

For this assignment, I did something completely different from my physical maquette. I based myself on a sketch I did a while ago, and tried to replicate it as best as I could in Blender. (while simplifying it) It will serve me later for a future piece, done outside of this course. The background with the moon is an image imported as a plane. Ideally, I would have liked for the cast shadows to have softer edges. But I've never been very good at setting up lights in 3D softwares, and after fiddling with final touches for a serveral hours, I decided it was time to finish this. I will apply the necessary changes the final piece, instead.

I already had some clay at home, so I used it for this assignment. I even made a simple metal skeleton affixed to a wooden base with some screws, and it brought me back to my art college days. The lighting of the maquette is not spectacular, but I didn't have many light source options at my disposal, so I decided that would be okay for now.

Definitely not perfect, but it'll have to do for now. I'm mostly posting my work to feel accountable. I haven't checked Stan's demonstrations for these yet, so I haven't had a chance to compare and correct my mistakes. These are my first attempts, and I already know at least that my proportions are inconsistent. I still don't really understant how to simplify the pelvis and the ribcage, but I suppose it'll become clearer in the next lessons.

Apart from meditating on the idea that failure is your friend and that it's inevitable, here are a few tips that may help : - Do smaller exercises so you can focus on a few specific aspects at a time, until you get them right. Sometimes, making a complete piece from start to finish or attempting a very complex exercise can be overwhelming, and there is a higher chance that one mistake snowballs and affects other areas of your drawing. Smaller exercises are quicker to make, more manageable, and the mistakes you'll make will be easier to fix specifically. Like one of my teachers used to say "Making a good drawing is like making good breakfast. It's somewhat easy to make an omelette, or to make toast, or to cook bacon or home fries or make coffee, but it's much harder to prepare all of these so that they're all hot and ready at the same time. Same thing goes for a drawing. Getting the colors, the calligraphy, the perspective, the composition, etc. so that each aspect is good and they all fit together is very hard." - Try another craft or another activity in which failure is inevitable or you don't mind starting over when you fail. Pottery on a wheel for instance is great for this, because it is much harder than it looks, but also, you can't work endlessly on your piece. There is a limited amount of work you can do with each chunk of clay before it's no longer workable (at least for beginners). The point is, if failing at art is too painful for you, get used to failing at something else, and see what benefits it brings you. - Find good ressources that will help you not fail as much. I know the idea is to get used to failure, but there is some argument to be made on helping yourself feel more prepared so you'll have more confidence that you can actually succeed. Find references and tools that will help you learn and perform better. As for perspective specifically, I wish I could give you ressources, but alas I learned all I know in a perspective class that I took in person and that is not available online. One of my dreams would be to actually build an in-depth perspective course for everyone who is struggling with it. (though any course I could make could become irrelevant the day Marshall finally releases his own new perspective course that he's been working on forever) I don't have any general fundamental advice to give either, because it really depends what you're attempting to do. I'm willing to answer specific questions if you have them, though. Last words of wisdom I can provide : consider failure as nothing more than the indicator of a lesson you have yet to learn, and trust that the future You will figure it out.

I think the most important thing is that you enjoy the process, and if that means working on details for you, then allow yourself to do that from time to time, at least. But if you're trying to develop a global understanding of colors, normally yes, doing more small color studies, without focusing on details, could make you improve faster. Like someone else mentionned, it depends what your end goal is and what skills you want to develop. Being able to do detailed work is a skill in itself, and you might want to practice that, but it's also one of those things that take up a lot of time, time that you could spend doing many sketches for instance. So it's up to you to determine what is the most efficient and enjoyable way for you to learn. And it's okay to keep readjusting yourself. Finding a balance that is just right for you can be a lifelong quest. (hopefully a pleasing one)

It was not directly said as an art advice, but I like this quote by Gilles Vigneault (a French-Canadian poet and songwriter) : "Tout a été dit, mais pas par moi." (meaning : "Everything has been said, but not by me") Those of us who strive for originality in our art may get discouraged by the idea that everything has already been done by someone else, but for many different reasons I believe there is still value in doing it.

I started Drawabox lessons a while ago and I never completed them, so I picked up where I left, and started lesson 4 on applying construction to insects and arachnids. Since Drawabox exercises require a lot of focus, and I've been very tired in the last week, I moved on to the next lessons, thinking I would go back to it when I would feel better. As always, I find it challenging to estimate proportions and draw beautiful flowing lines when erasing is not an option, but that is part of the game. Some of the lines on the wasp sketch seem lighter because I've added a bit of water to the ink. Oh, and part of the wing is cut out because I miscalculated and it didn't fit completely on the page...