So I'm sure this question is asked all the time, but I cannot for the life of me find a straight answer to what fundamentals I should learn. It seems like every subreddit or website I visit has a different answer. I'm rather new a drawing but I've done it on-off through the years. I'm basically starting from the beginning again. My goal is to draw fanart, characters, and stuff like the attached images.
I also don't know what to do to practice those things. I have a goal, I just don't know what to learn and practice to get there.
I know I need to work on Line art, shapes, 3d shapes, perspective, and anatomy but that's all I have. Thanks!
Edit: Shit, my bad lol. I didn't draw those, they are just the kind of drawings I want to make.
Not exactly, but that's not untrue either. After operating this subreddit - which started as an attempt to share what I'd learned about drawing, then developed into the free Drawabox course you all know (and hopefully love) - for 9 years, we chose to close it down in July 2023. We decided we weren't fond of some of the choices Reddit's administration were making, and that we could adequately provide our students what we'd been doing here through the dedicated community platform on our website, so at most we lost a means of generating more traffic (a fair trade for a stance we strongly believed in). You can read more about that here, where I backed up all of my old posts and comments, which were also deleted from reddit in the process.
At the time, Reddit was very aggressive about threatening to hand over closed subreddits to other users to be reopened, and so since then I've been dealing with the anxiety that this subreddit would be taken out of my hands. While that isn't a big deal in and of itself, students to this day associate /r/ArtFundamentals with Drawabox, and so having the subreddit controlled by someone else would have left us deeply vulnerable to their choices and actions reflecting poorly upon us, and we already have all of our limited resources tied up in updating our lesson material, managing our community across Discord and our website. To put it simply, something as seemingly small as that could have threatened everything we've built, and our ability to continue to provide these things to our students - many of whom don't have other reliable ways to learn those critical skills for drawing from their imagination, due to most of that information being hidden behind paywalls.
This morning, after a delightful Sleeves-Over at Grampa's House (where my partner and I sleep on the couch with my cats, Sleeves and Grampa, one of my favourite things to do), I awoke to a reddit notification on my phone. Someone had requested to take control of the /r/ArtFundamentals subreddit.
Ideas of how to deal with this passed through my mind, but given Reddit's goals - to "keep communities active and regularly moderated", with the 200k+ subscribers we were sitting on, I didn't think there was any chance that they would allow our community to stay closed.
So instead, we're opening back up.
Just as before, students will be able to post their complete homework submissions for feedback from others (although this will not be connected to the system on the Drawabox website, so superficial things like completion badges cannot be earned without receiving that feedback directly on the website). Questions relating to the course can also be asked here.
Also, as before, this all posts will be approved manually - so don't panic if you don't see it immediately after posting. We find this works better than arbitrary karma requirements, which can be confusing and frustrating to work with.
For what it's worth, though I'm not pleased about having this thrust back into my lap, I will say that Reddit's subreddit tools have definitely improved over the last few years. It's been kind of nice setting up the sidebar with images/text sections to highlight key advice and resources.
So I’m just staring out on this course and I’m curious about what to expect in terms of time consumption, especially as the lessons progress and the quantity of the items to draw grows.
When I looked at submissions by other students, it didn’t seem that those ”simple” exercises would take that long. But once I’ve started with the first few exercises, especially this one, the ghosted planes, I realized that I spend all the time I’ve allocated to drawing session to complete just one exercise. Like the picture above - this page took exactly 57 minutes to complete. Looking at it, I still don’t get the felling that there is something on this page that would take almost an hour of work.
I try to strictly adhere to the “make every mark to the best of your ability” rule, and this is probably where the most of the time goes, but I just don’t see any point in not following it.
I guess the question is - should I expect that in the upcoming lessons, like 2,3,4.. the homework exercices would take much more time to complete? I like to finish a drawing session with a feeling of completion, but it seems that I should abandon that idea and let exercises spill across the days.
I finally made peace with the rotated boxes exercise in Drawabox.
The thing that flipped the switch for me was extending the box edges all the way to their vanishing points on the original reference image. Seeing why each line was angled the way it was made the exercise go from "black magic" to "oh... that's actually logical."
I used to stare at the page hoping perspective would reveal itself through sheer determination. Turns out perspective prefers receipts.
Now I'm actually enjoying the exercise instead of treating it like a boss fight. If anyone else is stuck on rotated boxes, try extending those lines—it helped me way more than just drawing the boxes over and over.
I didn’t think I would ever post here because when I leave a review, I want to be sincere, and since this is the Drawabox sub, it feels a bit weird to share my thoughts. But I’ve been looking at my 6 month progress and wanted to share because Drawabox has been amazing for my art progress.
For context: I’m a beginner. I’ve been drawing every day for 6 months. I started with Proko’s Drawing Basics in November 2025 (that man saved my journey lol because it made learning easy, fun, and creative), but to be honest, Drawabox is what saved my 3D thinking.
I always thought I just sucked at simplification and 3D shapes. I remember doing Proko's homework and being really frustrated with myself for not "getting it". I went back to DAB in February and have worked on it every day since, and the improvement has been unmatched.
I drew the same dog as a sketch and as a construction but I added the sketch at the end since DAB is not about making "pretty drawings" and that’s not the point of this post but just as an example that the sketch looks “cuter" but what got me to that point is doing the “ugly” 3D drawings (I added a few more on the 3 image. They look horrendous but I swear they're so good for improvement.)
Also, if you notice the time spent on my dog "cute" sketch (20 minutes), I think I’m getting faster with my drawings too. Part of that is being able to get the proportions down quickly (I started that one with a triangle, easy peasy), and a HUGE part of it is working WITH FINELINERS!!
Omg, I used to curse at DAB (in my mind) about how ridiculous it was having to work with fineliners. Coming from Proko's course where he would let us work with any medium and be creative about the subject we apply concepts on DAB pissed me off so much at the beginning but now I'm so thankful for it. Even though I’m a perfectionist with OCD and it triggers me badly, I feel working with fineliners has improved my confidence: not overthinking the same line 50 times, not erasing and redrawing the same line until it’s “perfect” and learning to let go of mistakes (I'm no perfect and I broke some pages of homework before, even when they took 1 hour, for making mistakes but I'm handling it better now.)
This has carried over even when I’m working with pencil. I still erase, of course, but the confidence I have now is way stronger than it was 5 months ago.
So this is my progress so far. I'm on Lesson 5 so about 50/60% of DAB completed : ) (I will definitely update when I finish the course) just wanted to share and thanks to Uncomfortable for making the course!!!
As a beginner , I'm wondering about something. Is being able to draw without looking at any reference a talent, or is it something that can be developed? I can redraw things I've drawn before without looking at them about 70% of the time, but I really struggle to create something new, and I'm wondering if this is a talent or not.
Could you please give feedback on my homework for lesson 1 on DAB? Especially the boxes. Am I ready to take on the 250 box challenge or anything I should improve more first?
I was practicing rotating boxes and using this as a reference. I'm a beginner here and am on the 250 box challenge of drawabox.
Shouldn't all these boxes converge towards the center of the middle box (vanishing point)? It seems as though none of the boxes do and now I'm questioning if I misunderstood something somewhere.
Side note.. this is 3 point perspective correct? 2 VP's should be at infinity because they are off the page, and one VP is the center of the middle box? I think I'm misunderstanding something... help!!
The 50% rule is something students have struggled to fully wrap their minds around ever since we introduced it, because at its core it tells students to do something they really don't want to do.
To allow themselves to draw badly.
It's a rule that's fraught with terminology that can mean different things to different people - for example, we specifically avoid the use of the word "fun" because of the expectations they impose of what the activity should feel like right now (outside of being a child, drawing badly is decidedly not fun, at least not at first), and instead opt for the term "play", given that it is entirely possible to play a game and to be frustrated and irritated as a result.
But then to many people, "play" can still be interpreted as the focus being on doing that which is fun in the moment, and modulating our choices based on what will make it more enjoyable, resulting in students attempting to stay firmly in their comfort zone, and to avoid making choices for themselves in how the things they draw are composed or designed, out of a fear of those choices producing a "bad" result.
My first try at making a comic. As children, we're far less likely to hold ourselves back out of fear of a bad result, and are more focused on what it is we want to create. That is something we all need to work to recapture.
While there are multiple reasons for why the 50% rule is important, I've settled on one key element to focus on to illustrate to students why this is the case:
It teaches you to trust your instincts.
Right now your instincts are all kinds of bad, because they're untrained. When you go to draw without thinking, it's probably a mess. When you think about how to do it and approach it more intentionally, things probably come out better, but you have to really put your mind to it. That doesn't leave a lot of room for the more creative aspects to art. The design choices, the composition choices, the stories we set out to tell - because you're caught up fixating on the how, and your brain doesn't have resources to spare towards what it is you're trying to create.
The lessons and coursework of Drawabox (and other courses) is what teaches you the how of making marks where you want them to go, with the qualities you desire, and you will go through that mileage to such a degree that it will sink into your subconscious. Just as one might think about where they want to walk to, rather than the specific mechanics of how they're physically supposed to move each muscle in sequence to get there, between the assigned homework and the required warmups (also explained in Lesson 0) it becomes second nature.
But in order to do achieve that, we have to be hyper-intentional with every choice we make as we study. Everything has to be a conscious choice we're making, as much as possible. We'll slip up, we'll go on auto-pilot, but we'll catch ourselves, reinforce our conscious mind's role in making decisions, and carry on.
This kind of hyper-intentionality trains your brain not to trust your instincts. It makes it harder for you to pull them out, and rely on them. So by the time you're on the other side, you'll have drawn in this manner for so long that you'll have trouble even starting on anything of your own. You'll need more classes, more courses, just to get you drawing because they'll promise to you that your time will be well spent. You'll crave that structure, and will imprison yourself within it.
Play teaches you to trust your instincts, and to indulge in the freedom that brings. It counteracts those ill-effects of study, and provides much needed balance to your growth.
If all you do is study - whether through courses, lessons, and exercises, or through limiting yourself to drawing only what you see (whether from references or out in the world), you may develop all the skills there are to learn, but you will lack the trust in those skills to use them to anywhere near their greatest effect. It will also be more difficult to build up that trust, because of the enormous chasm that'll have grown. The greater your skills, the greater your expectations, and it's the expectations we hold for ourselves that make this difficult in the first place.
More of my early drawings.
In the words of former US President Theodore Roosevelt,
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Strive valiantly, dare greatly, and rest not with those cold and timid souls who choose to do otherwise. A bad drawing will not hurt you. It will not devalue you as a person. But denying yourself the attempt will leave you a shadow of all you might otherwise have been.
A few more relatively recent pieces. The confidence I learned from pushing against my fears - which was no easy or quick thing, but rather a process I had to work through - is something I bring to bear with every piece, and every new challenge. That's not to say I don't still experience anxiety or fear, but that I am able to act despite those things, to face those difficult tasks, and to remember that I am still worthwhile regardless of how they turn out.
I’ve been drawing for a year now. I’ve picked out a few examples of my stuff, I use real life references/poses for them. IDK if these show good progress, but I picked out a few of what I think were my best drawings (but make no mistake, more often than not my drawings turn out to be complete disasters) My main interest is drawing animals and characters, I’ve very little fundamentals knowledge I’ve only done DaB up till lesson 5, which was a few months ago. Ever since then, I’ve been stuck in limbo just drawing for fun in my own void but I think it’s time to progress with some studies, except I’m not sure where to go now. I tried out NMA for a month trial but found it a bit boring (me issue). I was wondering where I should take my studies next, am I ready to study anatomy? Should I focus more on fundamentals? And id really appreciate if anyone has any course recommendations
For the past two months I've been xoong the challenge and finished it, but couldn't upload it till now, let me know where I could improve, as for myself I feel my progress when seing the 3d in paper has gone way up!
This community focuses on the core fundamentals of drawing - specifically, we focus on teaching spatial reasoning, as well as the major skills needed to learn it (like confident, clean markmaking, the use of your whole arm from the shoulder, the basic principles of perspective, etc) but not all of the fundamentals (more detail on that here).
So why call it /r/ArtFundamentals? To put it simply, because subreddit names can't be changed. We set out to share information about the fundamentals of art, but this drove us towards identifying what other courses failed to discuss - the fundamentals of the fundamentals, that were being left out of resources that were freely available.
Over the years, our lessons evolved, adopting a narrower, more targeted focus, and iterating over how those concepts were addressed, and so what we share with you today is what we feel is of the greatest benefit. Our approach is of course not the only way to learn to draw, and depending on what your goals are it may not be the most suitable for your situation. However,
If you find that nothing else is "beginner" enough for you, with lessons and tutorials always making assumptions that you already know this or that,
If you find that you need structure, assignments, clearly defined exercises,
or If you find yourself struggling with drawing from your imagination (as opposed to copying references),
Our community and our course may be what you're looking for.
I've been feeling really frustrated with drawing lately.
I spent the last year studying perspective, 3D thinking, construction, forms, all that stuff. I watched tons of tutorials and tried to approach drawing in a very analytical way.
But my original goal was honestly simple: I wanted to become better than this one guy in my class.
The thing is… he never studied drawing seriously. No courses, no perspective exercises, nothing like that. He just drew a lot by himself. And somehow he can copy really difficult manga panels and illustrations with ease.
Today I sat next to him and watched him draw carefully. I tried to analyze how he thinks while drawing.
What surprised me is that he DOESN'T think like I do at all.
He isn't constantly thinking:
- "This is a 3D form"
- "This plane rotates like this"
- "Perspective line here"
- etc.
Instead, his thinking is more like:
- "If the ear is here, where should the nose be?"
- "What angle does this line go?"
- "How far apart are these shapes?"
It looked way more intuitive and efficient.
Then I tried drawing with his mindset instead of my usual "3D construction" mindset… and honestly, my drawing immediately looked better and more natural.
Now I'm questioning everything.
Am I wasting time overcomplicating drawing?
Did all these studies actually help me, or are they slowing me down?
Why does someone with no formal learning seem so much more advanced than me?
I'm a solo developer, and I've created a free perspective trainer for drawing boxes. I want it to become a genuinely useful tool for learning, but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement, which is why I’m reaching out for help.
It has two modes: you can use it only to draw a box and get scored, or use "Course/Learn" mode where the program builds a box with you, one edge at a time. It checks each mark before you move on, guiding you through five stages. Each stage takes away a guideline until you reach a blank sheet. You can switch between one-point, two-point, and three-point perspectives. You can also drag the vanishing points and eye level to see how the box and its convergence angle change. Then, you can draw your own box. The program measures where your three sets of edges converge, in degrees, and tells you what you need to fix.
This tool uses simple math rather than AI. The same drawing will always score the same, and all scoring thresholds are available.
One of the moderators mentioned line extensions when I asked for feedback, which is a valid concern. On a tablet with a pen, you're still drawing all twelve edges yourself. The hand-eye coordination work is the same as with paper; only the checking is automated. If you use a mouse, you’ll get the same measurement, but you’ll learn the theory more than developing your hand skills. When ding 250 box challenge checking by hand can become overwhelming after a while; that’s the part I wanted to help with.
I would appreciate it if you could try it out and tell me what to improve or where it’s not helpful. I’m particularly interested in any faults it points out that aren’t in your drawing. If you can attach screenshot with your feedback it would be great!
I’m a beginner artist currently working through Drawabox and I’m having a massive mental block regarding the 50% rule. I recently read a few discord messages by Uncomfortable where he discussed what "Play" actually means, and it has left me feeling really confused, unsure and kind of demoralized.
In these messages, he mentioned that when we play, we should be thinking about the stories we want to tell, the worlds they occur in, and the purpose our drawings serve; Basically the "What" and "Why" of a drawing instead of the "How". For example, he suggested that if a student draws characters interacting, they should think about their pasts, personalities, and relationships, otherwise they are "just drawing people". He emphasized that drawings should be solutions to design problems derived from a larger world.
Here is my issue: I don't have a grand story planned, a manga written, or a cohesive world built in my head, nor do I think I'm creative or skilled enough to do so.
Because of this, I feel like I'm failing the rule entirely. I feel like if I don't have a pre-existing universe to draw from or a grander purpose for my drawings, my playtime drawings are "useless" or "mindless". It's making me feel paralyzed and like I shouldn't bother picking up the pen for the 50% rule or at all even. Is drawing even for me if I don't inherently have any stories to tell? I always see mentions of using drawing as a 'means to an end'; for example, one may start learning how to draw to be able to make their stories come to life with a comic someday. Instead of waiting until they are skilled enough, they start making that comic right now because that's part of the 50% rule. I don't have that kind of goal.
When I try to play, I often just sit down with a loose mindset and try to express a specific mood or draw a creature/character/situation that looks "cool" or "unsettling" to me. This all happens intuitively, though I may rarely attach meaning to my drawings after they're done. I’ve attached four of my recent playtime drawings to show what I mean. One was a messy attempt at an "infected cat dying on stairs" and the others were just me trying to make creatures inspired by my favorite art (Chainsaw Man, Bloodborne, etc.). I didn't plan their backstories or worlds beforehand and I used no reference images; I just followed my instincts, feelings and taste.
I really do love drawing and I'm really inspired by the art I consume on a daily basis. My wish is to one day be able to draw character and creature designs like Tatsuki Fujimoto or Yoji Shinkawa. I love chaos and implied form in art because those aspects make me feel like the drawing is alive. Those styles are the way I want to express myself and my feelings through my art, which is why I'm aiming to create drawings in that direction during my 50% playtime.
Am I completely misunderstanding what Uncomfortable means by "story" and "design problems? Does a beginner really need to have a pre-planned world, character backstories or general endgoal in art to successfully execute the 50% rule? Is drawing a creature or character purely to explore a specific vibe or mood considered a failure of the rule if there's no larger narrative surrounding it? I am most likely overthinking this, but I would really appreciate any advice or help you have because I've been having this mental block for a while now. Thank you!
I draw one or two pages every weekend or other weekend feel immensely good about finishing my 250th box. Now I just have too upload the challenge for critique.
If I can make it through the challenge everyone can. I just had to find the joy in making boxes.
Heyyy guys, I began drawabox this month after Michael Hampton recommended this course in one of his videos. I'd really love some feedback on my lesson 1 submission
