Drawabox 250 Box Challenge: The First Fifty

The reading for this video is available at drawabox.com/lesson/250boxes/2. You can find all the free lessons at drawabox.com
00:00 Intro
00:38 One Key Difference
00:58 Drawing our Y
01:36 Varying your Ys
02:36 Drawing our Vanishing Points
03:36 Differentiating VPs for Different Boxes
04:13 Resolving our Corners
05:05 Drawing Through our Boxes
06:13 Numbers and Dates
07:24 Drawing the Rest of the Boxes
08:03 Line Extensions
10:23 When to do your Line Extensions
Links from the video:
Box Challenge Overview: • Drawabox: The 250 Box ...
Lesson 1's Y Method Video: • Drawabox Lesson 1, Box...
New Masters Academy: drawabox.com/nma
Use the code DRAWABOX_1STONLY to get a substantial discount off your first billing cycle on New Masters Academy. Check the banner at the top of drawabox.com for the most accurate information on what the coupon does and does not cover.
Other Links:
Drawabox Discord Server: / discord
Patreon: / uncomfortable

[@Uncomfortable]

Heads up - we still have a coupon with NMA, but the one in the video no longer works. You can use the new code DRAWABOX_1STONLY for 25% off your first billing cycle on either the Library or Library+ plans. For the most current coupon/terms, check the banner at the top of the drawabox.com website.

[@GkK-to3jr]

Thanks for updating your videos and adding new ones.

[@chr0matic556]

your opinion on YYYYMMDD is so real

[@Delta-Snake]

You made these videos just the day I finished the challenge?! Damn you, I hope all your converges are always wrong

[@wild-.]

I started this challenge, so no damn him, hope every converges are exactly right!

[@sagemiller3464]

Lol congrats on finishing the challenge and good luck to everyone just starting

[@tonysazz]

Damn, wish I had this before. I’m about 45 away from the end. Feels like I misunderstood and made mine smaller than necessary

[@ElliLovett]

saaame

[@lrose1046]

THANK YOu

[@Fjaser]

If I'm having a day where I feel my lines are more wobbly and unfocused than usual even with the ghosting method, would you take a day off or fight through it?

[@Uncomfortable]

It's always good to take breaks when you're not able to do the work to the best of your ability - but it's also worth reflecting on what the reasoning for being unfocused might be. Additionally, keep in mind that when it comes to lines wobbling, it's pretty much always because we're hesitating when executing that mark, which itself can come from both fear of making a mistake (which is natural, but we continually make the conscious choice to push through despite that fear), and because we're not always consciously pushing ourselves to execute with confidence.

[@Kellet]

the new 250 box challenge no longer mentions line weight, does that mean i should not do line weight here?

[@Uncomfortable]

For some reason I never got an email notification of this question, my apologies. Over the years we've shifted more towards using line weight to help clarify areas of overlap, as explained here in the updated Lesson 1 material: drawabox.com/lesson/1/21/lineweight . Because the box challenge involves drawing individual forms floating independently from one another without overlapping, it's no longer relevant to this challenge, and we took it out as a requirement to avoid unnecessary confusion.

[@ElliLovett]

I'm already at 200 and i didn't draw with different vanishing points for my first 50 and i never actually marked them on the paper either :( did i miss this somewhere or is this a new rule? I'm this close to just giving up on those stupid boxes if i have read the instructions 3 times and still missed that then my brain is just not meant for this course haha. My vanishing points are just all over the place sometimes close sometimes far for all of them. I also haven't recorded the date this way :(

[@yu-sama]

Be easy on yourself, my first attempt at this challenge was just like yours. Have some confidence and just take your time with this, use the boxes you have made to learn better where your mistakes may be and work towards improving, don't hang up on the failures as everyone is going to fail eventually, the important thing is how we get out of these failures.

[@Uncomfortable]

You didn't miss it, it is new. If you check the instructions for the 250 box challenge now, you'll find a little blurb at the top of the instructions telling students that who are already some ways through the challenge that they don't need to redo anything.

[@jftt42]

As you said in a previous video, a large task should be divided into small ones to feel manageable. I'm thinking 1 page of 5 boxes a day for the next 50 days. If I spend 1 hour a day on it, that would give me 12 minutes on average for each box, which sounds reasonable. I might even divide that one hour a day into 12-minute bursts to avoid burnout. One question though, do I need to keep doing lesson 1 warm-ups during that period or is it enough that I'm applying those concepts in the challenge?

[@Uncomfortable]

Generally you do your warmups at the beginning of a session - although if you're breaking your boxes up across the whole day, it wouldn't really make that much sense to do warmups each time. In that case, I'd do warmups for your first session, but if you find the boxes you do immediately after warming up tend to be easier/stronger than those without warmups, you may want to reconsider breaking it up over the day.

[@jftt42]

@@Uncomfortable Thanks for clarifying. I didn't consider that going in "cold" on an assignment might impact the quality of the result.

[@bluebean8450]

❤❤❤

[@1MasterpieceMaker]

if I made a mistake that a vp isn't aligned with a y can I add a 2nd vp?

[@Uncomfortable]

If what you're asking is that you drew your Y, then you went to place vanishing points, but one of them did not end up lining up correctly - yes, you can place another point, but it is a sign that you may need to slow down and think more when placing them. Generally the rule of thumb we adhere to is that while a line drawn is a commitment to a decision, and something you should stick with and not attempt to replace/correct, a single point is minor enough not to be a full commitment. So, we can redraw our points (especially when negotiating the corners, but in this case it's okay as well), while also keeping in mind that we want to keep pushing ourselves to pay as much attention to what we're doing as we can.

[@bestletsplaysmonthly2409]

We're supposed to freehand/ghost to place our vanishing points, right? Not use a ruler to place them after drawing the Y?

[@Uncomfortable]

Correct.

[@xbrc70]

can we draw one box per page? and for this and other homework, can we use grid paper?

[@Uncomfortable]

We recommend 5-6 per page, and don't really see much benefit from drawing one per page. As for paper, we prefer you not work on lined paper, as mentioned here in Lesson 0: drawabox.com/lesson/0/4/paper . Reason being, when there's already something on the page, it can subconsciously make us less likely to be careful and mindful of our work, because the page is already "marked".

[@KapookLynn]

(Im sorry Im not good at English) I don't understand how this new version help you develop the sense of 3D space (I have read the old 250 boxes challenge before but just have time to try it out). It feels more like a ghosting exercise, the more precise your ghosting the better box you get not because you have using sense of 3D space. It feels like Im just auto-piloting ghosting between VPs and vertexs to see where it cross and it make me feel like I haven't actually improved anything and it drains my motivation. Did I do it wrong? I don't trust the process enough? Please explain it to me it will help motivate me a lot. Thanks you

[@Uncomfortable]

When we go into auto-pilot, it's because we lose focus and stop paying active attention to the choices we're making, as we make them. If you find yourself doing that, you should take a break and come back to the work when you're able to focus better. This course relies heavily on being hyper-intentional with every choice we make, and resolving the corners of our boxes is a very intensive process weighing many different factors. If you allow yourself to just act on instinct, then you're going to defeat the purpose of the course as a whole, which is to rewire the way in which your instincts work. Training your instincts by relying on them just results in a mess. Additionally, keep in mind that it's the course as a *whole* that is designed to develop students' grasp of spatial reasoning, and their understanding of 3D space. The main part of the course that focuses on this are the constructional drawing exercises we do from lessons 3-7, whereas everything preceding that is to get students in a point where they are armed with the tools they need to make effective use of those exercises. Don't try and figure out how every individual step contributes to the end goal, as there are often a few steps in between.

[@track5378]

I'm at 20/250 boxes and I was wondering if it's normal to take 20 minutes on 1 cube? I take like 4 to 5 minutes to decide on a corner

[@Uncomfortable]

I only really get concerned when students spend too little time, rather than when they spend more. Sure, there may be ways in which your approach isn't as efficient right now as it could be, but as long as you are striving to give yourself the time you feel you require right now, you're good. It's likely that as you progress through the challenge, you'll become more comfortable with the process and more attuned to how to negotiate those corners, and the time per box may decrease. What you don't want to do however is worry about it, because if you do, you'll be more likely to artificially speed up your process - in other words, rush.

[@track5378]

@@Uncomfortable Sorry for bothering you again, I've been redrawing the same line when I miss a line connecting 2 points, should I continue to do that or should I accept the mistake as a mistake and move on?

[@Uncomfortable]

@@track5378 Accept the mistake and move on - mistakes are valuable things, as they tell us where we perhaps didn't take as much care in planning things out, or where we continue to benefit from more practice. When we correct mistakes however, we diminish their value because we ourselves become less likely to consider them as mistakes. After all, it's been fixed, mistake gone. So, leaving it as it is forces us to contend with it, and also allows whoever's providing us with feedback to see clearly where we are in our growth.

[@v-buckschan111]

That comment thread eased my stress. I shouldn't feel ashamed or rushed if I took 1 hour per page, and, as Uncomfortable said, being slow is superior to rushing.

[@dobi26jo37]

i draw 6-8 on every page and all pages have the similar type of box (i unconsciously draw them like that) how do i get variety...

[@Uncomfortable]

Your question suggests that you're not actively making decisions, and instead relying on your subconscious to decide those things for you. In this course, every single thing you do should be the result of active choices you're making. We do everything hyper intentionally in this course in order to train our subconscious instincts so that outside of the course we can focus on *what* it is we wish to draw, rather than how we need to go about it. When we try to use our subconscious to train our subconscious, we generally end up with a mess - so the solution to the problem you're asking about is to actually think about the actions you're taking, and to set out with intent rather than just doing whatever feels natural and hoping it comes out right.

[@duskgod]

To add to Uncomfy's great response and to make it more concrete: Vary the length of the arms on your initial Y's, and change the angles as well.

[@huntermitchell6335]

It took me way too much time to understand how this works but I've had multiple "click" moments. I'll elaborate later.. maybe

[@stesproject]

Why you put at 2X speed the important parts??? 😤