Drawabox: What do you love and what do you hate?
4yr
@pinkapricorn
There's a lot I like and hate about Drawabox. I hate following the curriculum to the letter because I have been forced to do so much traditional art in my life, I am eternally sick of it. It's gotten where if I can't work digitally then I don't want to be an artist haha :)
Anyway some stuff on Drawabox has SUPER helped me. Like working through lesson 1 I got where I can draw way more confident lines, and I learned the ghosting method, and how to freehand good ellipses, etc. all fundamentals my art teachers NEVER taught me!! I was b/sing as an artist for 30+ years without those most basic of skills. Now I can draw pretty sexy lines when I concentrate (with no stabilizer!) and I'm working on incorporating it into when I'm actually sketching stuff.
Currently I'm studying to learn how to better draw cylinders and it's helping lots! I need to be comfortable manipulating these suckers in 3D space if I am to ever learn mannequinization in the Proko figure course.
In the figure course I started fizzling out in the structure chapter because it went so far over my head it was like a speck in the sky! So I'm really working to get strong here.
Stupid boxes and cylinders and all that. I wanna bend them to my will! I want them to face whatever direction I want and look legit :D
I only got up to about 200 boxes - I grew to hate them so much and I couldn't come up with that many angles for them. And then because I didn't sign up to any communities I didn't get any critiques so I don't think I actually improved on it. And then it sent me into a depressive slump where I didn't draw for a few months :P
I wish I didn't postpone drawing proper cylinders in space. It's the gateway to good drawing!!!
I don't know what it is about drawabox but if I can't see a cool project next to the fundamentals I just zone out eventhough I know that the information in that site is what separates the pro's from the enthusiasts.
I need to go now, I have a fever and the only cure is to draw cylinders in space!
I’m doing Drawabox right now and it’s really one of the most helpful art teaching site I’ve come across. For me, it taught me the absolute basics that’s necessary to grow and become an artist. Like, I’ve heard many times that you should ‘break down the form to simple shapes’ and ‘think in 3D’, but it’s only after I did Drawabox’s challenges and exercises did I really get why and how to do so. After I learnt that, I found my spatial awareness and observation skill improving, which in turn really improves my art! So yeah, I really do like that site and appreciate what it’s doing
I made it partway through Drawabox and it really improved my drawing skills. Now that I’ve moved onto figure drawing and portrait courses here on Proko, I can really see how I’ve improved and my drawings have structure even though I still consider myself a beginner.
I did have some issues. I feel like it’s not great for absolute beginners because you have to do all drawings in pen. If you need to be able to walk before you run, I think you need to be at a light jog before doing Drawabox. It also annoyed me that he didn’t use pen for his demos and criticized people for drawing digitally. I understand it from a technical POV but it still felt like “do what I say, not I do.”
I think Drawabox does a great job explaining why you need to think structurally when drawing, which no one had really done for me before -- it was mostly "turn off your brain, and copy the shapes you see" or "fundamentals are important" without quite connecting the dots as to why I needed to develop a deeper understanding or understand the three-dimensionality of an object to better draw it.
Turns out, thinking about objects as existing in space, being able to break down subjects into simpler forms, etc., is all incredibly important for imaginative drawing, and I also really enjoyed that the lessons included common pitfalls (it's not just me) and the creator complaining about how much he hates bugs.
It is repetitive, though, and I'm still somewhat confused about the instructions in the texture section. I was on the last lesson before I fell off.
Draw a Box definitely helped my line quality but I never got far through the course because it simply didn't hold my interest. Past that, I already knew most of what it taught, I just haven't put the actual work into building the skills (which of course I need to do haha, but perhaps not through Draw a Box). I definitely think it is a valuable course, just maybe not best for my learning style and capacity to focus.
Love DrawABox. I'm not done with the course but the progress is already clear. I too am shocked at how these fundamentals seem to be missed by so many art schools and teachers, and how many bad habits I've fallen into by drawing without them for so long.
I have no real complaints; I don't know that the mods etc are the friendliest people I've ever met, but I don't really care. I actually love how strict and step-by-step the lessons are, but that's just my personality I think (I enjoy "Learn Python the Hard Way" for the same reason, so there you go).
I've been doing the premium course and the critiques and feedback from Uncomfortable have been extremely valuable. I recommend DAB to any art student I meet who stands to benefit from it...which is most people, to be honest.
I am in the last part of lesson one right now. I have been working on Perspective a long time to there was not much new there. I really enjoyed the rotated boxes exercise. I do not do any of the social media stuff so I have not posted my homework yet.
As a "self taught" (meaning no art school) who spent a decades not progressing at all because neither the youtuber I could find or my artists friend could understand what I meant by "How do I draw ?", Drawabox was a pure savior, in the most literal possible way.
It's clear, accurate, straight to the point and gives a really good structure for every young artist.
There's honestly nothing that I hate about it. Even the 250 boxes challenge.
People hate that it's repetitive and boring and yeah, it can be boring. But if drawing 250 boxes means that I'll be a better artist, why shouldn't I want to do it ?
It's the same with every other part of art ! Want to be good at gesture ? You'll have to make hundred of it ! Want to be good at landscape and illustration ? Bad news, it will take just as much !
Every professional artist did a thousand more drawing than any young artist, and they had to study and make hundreds of sketch by subject. It's the same here, but with boxes. And what you'll learn with these boxes will almost directly translate to every other subject !
Drawabox is basically my Bible and I recommend it to every artist before any other ressources ^^
Personally when I started drawabox is when I consider I "seriously" started trying to study how to draw. Before that I'd always be scrounging around on Youtube finding videos, mismatching concepts at the like. Drawabox definitely provides the structure that a lot of beginners need, and it's all free, which makes it even better! Everything is laid out, and you get to see where you could be/will get when you look at the people who are at lesson 4, 5, 6, or beyond.
The introduction to the pen medium is also super useful as it forces you to not obssess. The absolute fundamentals like ghosting, drawing from the shoulder, and the basic perspective of a box that he teaches is literally invaluable.
I can't really find a bad thing to say about drawabox besides that it just tosses you into the pool and tells you to swim, which can be very jarring. The tedium, ESPECIALLY during the 250 X challenges, is tremendously painful at times, but it's just part of the process in any creative field
Yes, I completely agree. I find that every time I look at the Proko Facebook group, I end up just recommending Drawabox BEFORE Proko. It's beautifully organized and full of challenges and rabbit holes (like textures and treasure chests) and their exercises for draftsmanship and perspective are INVALUABLE for Proko Figure and Anatomy.
I like DaB because of the structure. I agree with you, WHY DID MY TEACHERS NEVER TEACH ME THESE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS! The rules are clear cut. Hardly any room for interpretation in the lessons.
I actually started DaB because I started Proko figure course with some crappy lines. Now I am back to proko while doing DaB still. Although this time I am starting with the portrait course.
Take this with a grain of salt because it is your journey at the end of day, but both Uncomfortable and Stan have said learning traditional art and fundamentals will only elvate your digital art, so I hope that is enough for you to not turn away from art!
