3 pages of blobs and boxes! This exercise wasn't new to me since it's also in Stan's drawing basics course, but that alone provided an important lesson because it reminded me that doing an exercise once doesn't mean you've mastered it!! As it is, I will add this one to the rotation and remember to come back to it every now and then. Page 1: I stayed pretty basic with this page, doing some blobs and boxes, then trying some fruits and curved forms, and finally some snake-like forms. For reference, I used the sample sketch Marshall provided in the video, and it revealed something hugely important: darken the areas where lines meet to add depth! I guess this works because you're simulating occlusion shadows? In any case, I was stunned by the difference it made. Page 2: This was the addition and subtraction page. I tried both carving pieces out of larger blobs, and sticking multiple blobs together to create complex forms. This went well overall, but I think I need to push it further to really test the limits of this technique. Once I can construct a humanoid figure out of blobs, I can rest. Page 3: Snakes! I decided to try this after being reminded of how powerful contour lines are and that I need to practice with them. I found it INCREDIBLY difficult to figure out the overlaps and process where contour lines become inner edges and vice versa. They came out pretty well in the end, but they also took me ages and I wasn't able to break away from reference. Once I can draw a bending, twisting snake from imagination, I can rest.

Decided to do the blob approach after the last assignment, That warning at the start made me laugh out loud. Really would have helped me to watch this before doing the last assignment. This is a much faster approach to drawing boxes than I'm used to! In a matter of a day I was able to draw 2 pages worth, where it would have taken me much longer if I tried to estimate the vanishing points for each and every box. The note of just letting the lines fly for now really stops me from overthinking; I'm really thankful for that. On the second one I wanted to test myself and see if I could put multiple forms in the same space near eachother. Wasn't focused on making things right anatomically or making any interesting shapes really, just wanted to play around with what I can do with the blob approach and see if I can get the beginnings of stacking form on top of eachother. Neat stuff!

The Blob Approach to Form made some things easier and others more difficult for me. To begin with, I drew a few blobs, then tried to trap them in boxes. Afterward, I tried to understand the shape of a character I had previously painted in watercolor. I find it difficult to understand the direction and shape of the ears, as they are twisted. Then I drew three blobs, turned them into characters, and tried to understand their shape by drawing them in another position. There are still question marks, but I trust I will be able to solve them later.

Blobs to Boxes

Image one (pencil box): The top left drawing was my first attempt at copying the picture. The one on the right was my second attempt as I was not happy with the first; I felt I hadn't pushed the foreshortening quality of it enough. The bottom three were made up. I notice I didn't keep the proportion of where the lid and the bottom meet consistent. On some it seems to be directly halfway along the box (when in real life it's not). Image two (tissue box): The ellipses were drawn freehand and I struggled to imagine how the tissue paper on the bottom right one would look. Image three (figurine): Maybe I got a bit ahead of myself here. Lots of round shapes instead of keeping it more boxy... for the far right one I found myself forgetting of thinking about the figure as "contained in a box", which lead to me thinking of the platform it stands on as something separate instead of as a part of the box in which the figure would be contained... so I couldn't quite figure out how the beveled edges would look.

Phew! Well, I'm about a million days late after taking a break from art, but I was pleased to see my skills haven't atrophied too much. This was a great exercise to start drawing again. I'm tempted to say it feels like one of the most fundamental / important exercises of them all? I feel like if all you did was this one exercise, you could eventually learn how to draw pretty much anything by working your way up to more and more complex forms. Attempt 1 (fireplace): I based this one off of real-world reference, a little model fireplace I have. I think I did a pretty good job overall, though I messed up the proportions of the fireplace in both angles (my drawing is too long / squat), plus I messed up the angles of the lines in the below shot - the lines should be getting more horizontal as they approach the horizon line, not less! I used line width and darkness to add some atmospheric perspective. Attempt 2 (bunny): This took FOREVER. I think I tried about 3 or 4 different ways of breaking the rabbit into forms, trying to hit on something that was boxy enough to replicate without being too robotic. I'm pretty happy with it overall, especially how the line weight came out. Attempt 3 (lizard): I tried 2 new things for this one: first, I didn't use an outer (containing) box, and second, I tried changing the lizard's pose for the second image, not just the viewing angle. I don't know if lizards sit like that, but whatever. This was a lot of small, narrow boxes and I don't know if I got all the angles right, but I think the overall impression is pretty effective. This also took ages... basically an entire day! Overall, this was a great exercise and I hope to revisit it again in the future once I'm caught up. I'd also like to revisit this once I've learned a little more about shading - I think this would be a good shading exercise once I know what I'm doing in that area.

Well it's about a thousand years late, but here's my practice! This is a good exercise. I'm going to add it to my rotation. This is a great exercise for figuring out which directions you have trouble pulling lines in! As a righty, I was not at all surprised to find that my best lines are bottom-left to top-right, and my worst lines are top-left to bottom-right.

Week 3, attempt 2 - twelve more hands and feet! This was a great challenge. I've got a long way to go, but seeing how much I can improve in just 3 weeks is really encouraging. I can only imagine the gains if you did this daily for a year or two. Fantastic submissions everyone, and good luck!!

Week 3, first practice!

Week 3, attempt 1! I was NOT expecting to have to draw hands and feet for this challenge! This was fun but very difficult. I haven't put in my hours studying hands and feet and hands in particular are still really tough for me. There are just so many forms and plane changes and overlaps that I just can't keep track of them all, even as I'm telling myself, "it's just a box with some cylinders attached, how hard can it be?" That being said, I recognize at least one of these hands (bottom-right!) from the drawing basics course. Last time I drew that hand, it took me an evening - this time it took me 5 minutes! In other words... I'm improving! And hey, that's what it's all about, right?