MagneticScrolls Sketchbook - Starting from the beginning again

[Tygerson]

So "How to Draw" wasn't the first perspective book I've looked at, but I still hit a brick wall where it really got into ellipses. I beat my head over it so hard, not letting myself do much else until I got through it, and was so miserable that I gave up drawing for a while!

I wouldn't recommend that approach!

Sometimes if something is a brick wall, try changing tack. This is what I did when I came back to art.
Try the free lessons on drawabox for a while (more perspective), or ctrlpaint (the traditional drawing lessons are awesome), or proko (for figure or anatomy), or loomis, or whatever.

Once you've had some space and different practice, come back to the thing that was vexing you. A lot of the perspective stuff from How to Draw actually started making more sense to me when I took a break from it and started studying anatomy and drawing still lifes!

On using a ruler: I would use a ruler if a perspective exercise was giving me problems. Once I understood the exercise, I'd switch back to freehand.

In any case, keep it up. It does get easier. Or rather, you will get better!