250 Box Challenge: Should You Do It? My Experience + Advice

Hi friends! I did ‪@Uncomfortable‬'s 250 box challenge, and I wanted to share my experience. As an artist who did not have any fundamental training, I wanted to get some practice in perspective and 3D space. You can see my improvement from the first boxes to the last!
Link for the actual challenge: drawabox.com/lesson/250boxes
Link for Lesson 0 of Draw a Box: drawabox.com/lesson/0
00:00 Intro
00:12 Outlining the challenge
01:18 Working on my Boxes
05:45 Is the 250 Box Challenge Helpful?
Socials:
Twitch: / yuliyaivan
Art Instagram: / yuliyaivanart
Personal Instagram: / yuliyaivan
Discord: / discord
TikTok: / yuliya.ivan
#art #artfundamentals #boxchallenge #drawing #beginnerartist

[@Mitsoumi21]

This is by far the greatest and first thing any artist of any kind should learn.. Once you can build shapes in 3d space in your head.. The world of art opens up.

[@YuliyaIvan]

Agreed! Everything can be broken down into boxes at its core. Great point!

[@brrmbrrmm]

I think KZbin knows I’m procrastinating on my 250 box challenge and recommended me this…

[@YuliyaIvan]

Ha! I’ve been there before… You can do it! 📦📦📦

[@Quinnaka]

Same been procrastination for months last year till now.

[@YuliyaIvan]

@@Quinnaka you got this! Just have to start, it gets easier from there :)

[@alvokamau5868]

Me too been a few weeks

[@johan9388]

Just finished the first 50 😁

[@YuliyaIvan]

Let's gooooo!! You dropped this, King 👑

[@chiararosati2162]

I'm at box 150 right now, you're right when you say It takes a lot of concentration! I can only do 5 at a time, I hope to finish soon, can't wait for lesson 2 of Drawabox

[@YuliyaIvan]

Woo! Only 100 more! That’s when I noticed a lot of improvement in my box drawing - hopefully it’s the same for you! Thanks for the comment and good luck! 😊

[@Something-nh5ds]

I'll be doing this next week! Loved the video, subscribed :)

[@YuliyaIvan]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes - highly recommend to break it up into multiple days. Thank you for the support!! 😊❤️

[@luissalinas9143]

I spent over a week trying to understand the rotation of boxes. Im hoping the 250 box challenge will allow me to finally rotate it the way i wait it to 😅

[@twistedshapeshifter]

;w; I really need to do this, I avoid drawing shapes like the plague. Gonna try this challenge after I’m done with my latest drawing~

[@machinayrequiem8596]

Uncomfortable recommends starting the boxes with a Y. There is a Y Generator online just for this sonyou dont have to think about how to draw the box. After using this for a while you can get rid of it for a few sets of boxes since you have so many different ones in your mental Library. Once you run out of ideas then go bsck to the Y Generator and rinse and repeat.

[@YuliyaIvan]

Yep, great comment! I liked being forced to think of new box ideas, so I never ended up using it! Haha. I also really liked having a real box in front of me too. Thanks for the suggestion!!

[@pietrorighetto1496]

I don't care about boxes, I don't know why the algorithm chose to recommend this video to me but I watch the whole thing.... I have to say you have a beautiful voiceee

[@heyherege]

great!!

[@YuliyaIvan]

Thank you! 😊

[@andresportilla1871]

🌹para otra flor,genial me gusta todo de perspectiva ,la forma en que una persona ve y entiende el mundo.

[@bikramdas8406]

👏👏👏👏

[@YuliyaIvan]

Thank you for the support! 😊

[@mdminhajuddinkhan3014]

I am going to start it today. You look beautiful 😊

[@YuliyaIvan]

Good luck! You got this!

[@rahmathussainarts]

❤

[@asimian8500]

Key problem with the 250 box challenge and especially using a random Y to create the box is distortion. The boxes look weird because the vanishing points are too close. You need at least one or two outside of your cone of vision (60 degrees) or the box will look very, very distorted. So is it useful? With caveats, it's useful as long as you understand that the majority of your boxes will be distorted. Obvious to your eye, but If you learn basic perspective, you will understand how to correct it.

[@Ginglover9000]

From my experience, no matter which angle you draw each line that makes up the y as long as you make each set of lines parrelel, there's no issue at all. If it looks distorted you have a skill issue.

[@hyperatomart8]

Drawbox does cover this in the prerequisite lessons, the idea is to imagine vanishing points that are far away enough to avoid distortion. If anyone is reading this I would strongly recommend completing all of the lessons that lead up to the 250 box challenge before diving into it.

[@BayesRules]

@Ginglover you should use three-point perspective to draw the boxes. If you're drawing each set of lines parallel, then it's not being done correctly.

[@shuvoDhar.5537]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@YuliyaIvan]

☺️😊

[@VesperAU]

What sketchbook are you using? I think id like one like that

[@YuliyaIvan]

It’s just a Blick 8x10” “Sketch” book!

[@SolisDiem]

Are there more challenges out there to improve your skill? :D I want to learn the fundamentals of drawing too ^^"

[@YuliyaIvan]

Yes! You can keep following the DrawaBox lessons for fundamentals! I'm also working through the 100 Heads Challenge right now to work on my portraits!

[@nicoyou11]

5 boxes in... I will keep it up. Thanks!

[@YuliyaIvan]

It only gets easier from here! You got this 💪

[@redfiend]

Have you tried establishing a horizon line in your quest for a perfect box?

[@YuliyaIvan]

More of a euphemism than an actual quest 😝 This exercise is to train good boxmaking without aids (especially since the third point of perspective is still “off screen”), so that’s what I was trying to work on! 😊 It’s already been super helpful for cityscapes where there IS a horizon line! Appreciate the comment, you made me think about my approach! Haha

[@redfiend]

​@@YuliyaIvan I'm way too lazy to draw 250 boxes myself, so I'm trying to figure out the whole perspective thing by looking at yours. I'm not absolutely sure here, but I think the inconsistency in your results and some weird distortions are related to the fact that you put your vanishing points kinda at random. That made me think if there is a practical method of finding proper VPs, without guidelines and extensive math calculations. There is still a bunch of tests to do, but my initial understanding that horizon or more precisely the line of sight is important, because even if you draw an abstract cube in space, once you put your first VP, you'll need a frame of reference to establish or move around the other two. Anyhow thanks for your work. I think I'm close to figuring out something important.

[@YuliyaIvan]

Have you checked out Lesson 1 on DrawaBox? It has exercises that do have a horizon line. I read both the text and watched the videos (and did the homework) before doing 250 boxes, and found it very helpful 😊

[@redfiend]

@@YuliyaIvan Oh yeah I did try drawbox. But I got stuck at the page where they debate the importance of using your entire arm for drawing, instead of just hand. Its not like the master whose awesome skill I greatly admire draws. Plus they suggest it takes six months to two years to finish their course, which is ridiculously long for my liking. So I decided to focus on understanding principles behind techniques, instead of grinding lines and circles. Tricky with perspective though, since it is such a complex subject. But then again I recently learned that you can have beautiful perspective drawings, even if your perspective isn't very precise. 😁

[@iuel42]

​@@redfiend I'm sorry to burst your bubble but 6 or 12 months is nothing in the grand scheme of things, drawing takes a lot of time to learn and simply understanding concepts will not get your there. You have to practice these things over and over before you get them properly. You should probably listen to professionals like Uncomfortable from DrawABox instead of making your own assumptions like this

[@astolenhotpocket13]

boxboxboxboxboxboxboxboxboxboxboxboxbox

[@YuliyaIvan]

Exactly. Well said! ;)

[@fredkeebler7820]

I did the entire Drawbox course. My experience was that Drawbox was worthless and I wish I could get the 3 months back. As far as the 250 box challenge, it is like trying to learn calculus before knowing how to do algebra and trig (i.e., students do better learning the basics completely (1 and 2 point) before attempting 3-point.

[@northisdead1999]

Yeah, you gotta know exactly how this course is gonna better your art, or else it's just gonna feel like endless, boring practice.

[@BayesRules]

That usually happens when you start doing something without a clear objective in mind. Hope you learned the lesson

[@udonge1043]

did you jump right into the 250 challenge without doing all of lesson 1? the woman who made this video also isn’t drawing the boxes correctly when i slowed down the video, you have to do all of lesson 1 before attempting the challenge it isn’t optional EDIT: you are an IDIOT i just remembered drawabox DOES teach you 1 and 2 point perspectives and literally gives you homework exercises to teach you it lol

[@serge8397]

Everything would be fine if not so-o-o slo-o-o-ow demonstration of your drawing. Speed it up twice. Or more!

[@YuliyaIvan]

Thanks for the feedback! This was my first ever video and I know way more now than I did back then haha

[@regresoderambo]

250 is like nothing

[@YuliyaIvan]

Ha! If you want to draw more, keep going! 😊

[@rickraydubs]

those aren't equivocal@@cold_static

[@mplobserver7569]

I like this content, so those green eyes.

[@BLANK-wh7kh]

I NEVER comment but you are absolutely gorgeous.