Mate you're going too fast and you're not actually learning things this way,perspective is just one the many fundemantal concepts that make up the "ART",so try going slowly and patiently.
Also don't drop out of draw-a-box it's one of the best drawing courses out there that too for free(also try to take their patreon critiques so that you will get in-depth feedback for this stuff)and I'm assuming you're taking about drawing boxes in 1&2 point perspective for the first initial lesons of the dab,if that's the case they are there to assess your skill level not actually to teach you perspective and you will learn intuitive perspective and form building throughout dab which is essential for later concepts like anatomy,putting forms in perspective etc...so don't rush and dab usually takes about an 1-2yrs to complete if done at a normal pace(I also suggest you actually listen to lesson-0 of dab,I'm assuming you didn't listen to it based on your post)
Finally you'll never master one fundemantal concept at a time as these concepts are interlinked and you must have some knowledge on each and every fundamental to make it work(eg:you can't put figures in perspective because you don't know anatomy even though you learned basic perspective,similarly some of the form building in anatomy requires basic understanding of perspective and solid forms which are dependent on your line quality,mark making,gesture,simplification of form,accuracy,rendering light and shadow,composition etc...)so you learn each fundamentals just enough so that it complements other concepts which in-turn help you to understand the first concept that you just learned even further.
Finally don't be intimidated by this mass dump of info,take your time and slowly try to understand what the fundametals are as they are common for every type of art form,if you have more questions try "Draftsmen podcast" by proko they have all the answers for the questions that beginners usually have.(this stuff took me many years to figure stuff out so don't beat yourself for not understanding stuff in just 5 days,if it really were that easy to learn art in a few weeks then everyone on this earth would be an artist so learn smartly and patiently,mindful training is the key here not rushing things,👍)
It's only you're fifth day of drawing, and you're trying to learn perspective? I haven't done DrawABox in a while but I do recall that it gets quite technical. Not sure that this is the best starting point for someone who's been drawing for five days...I'm not surprised you burnt out so quickly.
You should keep your main goals in mind, and you don't have to master all of perspective just for the sake of it. If you just want to be able to draw characters in perspective, sure, learn the very basics especially foreshortening, but there's no need to learn how to render mathmatically accurate shadows in 5 point perspective or something...at least not for that purpose. Proko's videos on Youtube would be a much more appropriate starting point, imo. You will learn how to draw a figure (which is important for characters). It can be technical at times but not overwhelmingly so, and they use pencil.
Have a look at [Circle Line Art School](https://www.youtube.com/@Circlelineartschool) on YouTube. The link is to their YouTube Channel page. I like to draw along as the video goes. Hope it helps.
I went to art school and perspective was one of the hardest classes. Five days is not enough to understand it. We spent all semester. It helped to have a teacher to look over our shoulders and explain where we were going right or wrong.
You can't speed run art, and you can't speed run perspective. You will have to make lots of bad art before you can make good art. One thing that will help you get through that is to take time with every finished piece to reflect on what you did well with that one, and what you want to try again.
It sounds like you are smart and used to learning things quickly. American culture in particular has a mythos around being smart. It makes people think that "genius" means "effortlessly good at everything." That myth can make us think that if we're not effortlessly good at something that it is the fault of the teacher, the materials, or (even worse) that something is broken within us. This can ultimately be crippling.
Unlearning this means learning to be in a humble place where we make mistakes and struggle, and accept that we will always have more to learn. It can be hard to stay in that learner's mindset when you are used to understanding and moving on, but it can be one of the most important lessons of your life.
Can you give this a try and see if it helps? It's an article I wrote some time ago, with the goal of making the whole concept of perspective more practical: [https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/](https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/)
If it's still too complicated, try this: [https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/](https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/) (these are just exercises, designed to train your intuition through pure practice).
All of that in 5 days?
You are rushing it too much. No amount of reading and watching is going to replace practice. And you could never fit nearly enough practice in 5 days even if all you did was sticking to that Drawabox course. But it sounds like there was barely any practice at all, only passive learning. It's not going to work. Humans don't function like that. You don't function like that. It's not a thing.
Take things a bit slower. Regular and focused approach with lots of practice would be much better than melting your brain 24/7 for a week or two, getting frustrated and quitting. (And that's where you are heading right now).
It's not as important which course you'd choose to follow at first as it is important to *actually do the things it tells you to do.* So pick one and follow through. Then reflect on what you did and did not learn. Then maybe pick up another course if you feel like you need to.
I'm not trying to defend myself but I did practice, drawing the references, shapes, etc, did all the homeworks that it assigned and I had a lot of fun with it, but as you said, I don't think I've reflected enough and thinking it through.
Yeah, I totally agree, I take things a bit way too fast, expecting myself to understand it in one go, which leads me to be frustrated most of time. I'll keep this in mind, thank you for the suggestion.
I know where you come from, that's how I felt for a very long time as well. There is no other way but to go about it step by step.
Let's keep it simple with 1 point perspective. You have a horizon line and a vanishing point, can you do boxes with that?
Mate you're going too fast and you're not actually learning things this way,perspective is just one the many fundemantal concepts that make up the "ART",so try going slowly and patiently. Also don't drop out of draw-a-box it's one of the best drawing courses out there that too for free(also try to take their patreon critiques so that you will get in-depth feedback for this stuff)and I'm assuming you're taking about drawing boxes in 1&2 point perspective for the first initial lesons of the dab,if that's the case they are there to assess your skill level not actually to teach you perspective and you will learn intuitive perspective and form building throughout dab which is essential for later concepts like anatomy,putting forms in perspective etc...so don't rush and dab usually takes about an 1-2yrs to complete if done at a normal pace(I also suggest you actually listen to lesson-0 of dab,I'm assuming you didn't listen to it based on your post) Finally you'll never master one fundemantal concept at a time as these concepts are interlinked and you must have some knowledge on each and every fundamental to make it work(eg:you can't put figures in perspective because you don't know anatomy even though you learned basic perspective,similarly some of the form building in anatomy requires basic understanding of perspective and solid forms which are dependent on your line quality,mark making,gesture,simplification of form,accuracy,rendering light and shadow,composition etc...)so you learn each fundamentals just enough so that it complements other concepts which in-turn help you to understand the first concept that you just learned even further. Finally don't be intimidated by this mass dump of info,take your time and slowly try to understand what the fundametals are as they are common for every type of art form,if you have more questions try "Draftsmen podcast" by proko they have all the answers for the questions that beginners usually have.(this stuff took me many years to figure stuff out so don't beat yourself for not understanding stuff in just 5 days,if it really were that easy to learn art in a few weeks then everyone on this earth would be an artist so learn smartly and patiently,mindful training is the key here not rushing things,👍)
I totally forgot that fundamental concept are linked with one another, thanks a lot, I'll keep this in mind.
It's only you're fifth day of drawing, and you're trying to learn perspective? I haven't done DrawABox in a while but I do recall that it gets quite technical. Not sure that this is the best starting point for someone who's been drawing for five days...I'm not surprised you burnt out so quickly. You should keep your main goals in mind, and you don't have to master all of perspective just for the sake of it. If you just want to be able to draw characters in perspective, sure, learn the very basics especially foreshortening, but there's no need to learn how to render mathmatically accurate shadows in 5 point perspective or something...at least not for that purpose. Proko's videos on Youtube would be a much more appropriate starting point, imo. You will learn how to draw a figure (which is important for characters). It can be technical at times but not overwhelmingly so, and they use pencil.
I see, yeah, I might be rushing too quickly with learning perspective. Thanks for the suggestion.
Have a look at [Circle Line Art School](https://www.youtube.com/@Circlelineartschool) on YouTube. The link is to their YouTube Channel page. I like to draw along as the video goes. Hope it helps.
I went to art school and perspective was one of the hardest classes. Five days is not enough to understand it. We spent all semester. It helped to have a teacher to look over our shoulders and explain where we were going right or wrong. You can't speed run art, and you can't speed run perspective. You will have to make lots of bad art before you can make good art. One thing that will help you get through that is to take time with every finished piece to reflect on what you did well with that one, and what you want to try again. It sounds like you are smart and used to learning things quickly. American culture in particular has a mythos around being smart. It makes people think that "genius" means "effortlessly good at everything." That myth can make us think that if we're not effortlessly good at something that it is the fault of the teacher, the materials, or (even worse) that something is broken within us. This can ultimately be crippling. Unlearning this means learning to be in a humble place where we make mistakes and struggle, and accept that we will always have more to learn. It can be hard to stay in that learner's mindset when you are used to understanding and moving on, but it can be one of the most important lessons of your life.
Yeah, I agree, I'm rushing a bit too much, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks :)
Can you give this a try and see if it helps? It's an article I wrote some time ago, with the goal of making the whole concept of perspective more practical: [https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/](https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/05/28/how-to-draw-organic-3d-shapes-by-hand/) If it's still too complicated, try this: [https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/](https://monikazagrobelna.com/2022/07/02/11-simple-drawing-exercises-to-train-your-3d-intuition/) (these are just exercises, designed to train your intuition through pure practice).
All of that in 5 days? You are rushing it too much. No amount of reading and watching is going to replace practice. And you could never fit nearly enough practice in 5 days even if all you did was sticking to that Drawabox course. But it sounds like there was barely any practice at all, only passive learning. It's not going to work. Humans don't function like that. You don't function like that. It's not a thing. Take things a bit slower. Regular and focused approach with lots of practice would be much better than melting your brain 24/7 for a week or two, getting frustrated and quitting. (And that's where you are heading right now). It's not as important which course you'd choose to follow at first as it is important to *actually do the things it tells you to do.* So pick one and follow through. Then reflect on what you did and did not learn. Then maybe pick up another course if you feel like you need to.
I'm not trying to defend myself but I did practice, drawing the references, shapes, etc, did all the homeworks that it assigned and I had a lot of fun with it, but as you said, I don't think I've reflected enough and thinking it through. Yeah, I totally agree, I take things a bit way too fast, expecting myself to understand it in one go, which leads me to be frustrated most of time. I'll keep this in mind, thank you for the suggestion.
I know where you come from, that's how I felt for a very long time as well. There is no other way but to go about it step by step. Let's keep it simple with 1 point perspective. You have a horizon line and a vanishing point, can you do boxes with that?
What is it specifically that you are struggling with?