Critique - Learning to Sketch from Observation
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lesson video
Critique - Learning to Sketch from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (181 lessons)
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squeen
A morning quick-sketch using a still from the movie The Banshees of Inisherin as a references (great film). I was attracted to the darkness of the the character's dress and the donkey. I need to do more of this. I've fallen out of the daily habit of pencil sketching since trying to learn how to ink better (which is S-L-O-W!). As you can probably tell, once I get going, I don't look back at the reference enough and just start to rely on constructive techniques (and other hackery).
LESSON NOTES

Don’t miss out on valuable feedback! Get the full critique in the premium course!

The assignment for this project was to pick from one of the 3 cleaned up outlined drawings and do a loose sketch of them. The goal with doing these was to improve your line quality. During this level 1 critique I did one of the drawings and then realized that I didn’t capture the pose. You’ll see me revisit the sketch and exaggerate it. Remember, these assignments are meant to be challenging, but also fun and I hope you’re able to keep that in mind as we progress further in the basics course. 

If you want to attempt this assignment you can download the reference images and submit your work in here!

RELATED LINKS:
Intro to Drawing Basics
13 Types of Lines and How to Use Them
How to Draw Confident Lines - The Tapered Stroke

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COMMENTS
Stan Prokopenko
Its time for critiques again! In this lesson, I’ll look over your sketches from observation and address the common mistakes. These two critique episodes took a bit longer to edit, so Level 2 critique coming out next week.
Vika Pika
27d
Well, I still can't get the sketches look sketchy enough but I'm definitely feeling more loose with the marks I make. VR girl didn't fit and I was too focused on the details. Single page frog and penguin are from the imagination even though I'm so lvl1. I love the process of sketching and will continue on working like the lvl2 task (several studies + drawing from imagination).
@vanus
1mo
I feel like im still really shaky on the lines.
Vika Pika
27d
Interesting, I don't find them to be shaky at all. They look like they were done in one sweeping motion, they don't wobble and taper nicely.
Roger Tinch
Having a blast so far. Thanks for reawakening my love of drawing, Stan!
Miguel Fernández
Would love some feedback to improve! Happy new year!
Bubbles
1mo
I wanted to practice another hand sketch and this had a bird so it's like a 2x1 for practice (this is my second time drawing a hand, the first one was the Proko assignment. This is just a sketch but I know this would become hard once I enter the anatomy territory, I'm not ready.)
S JAMI
1mo
Lucas Brigger
it not me pot them on here
@meddd12
2mo
I decided to re do the exercice pushing myself to not dive in the details at least to early and start with some flowing, energetic lines, and focusing on starting light too
Vika Pika
27d
I love your sketches! They inspired me to redo the exercise too (:
@noakartsy
2mo
Knew that lesson not learned, so tried again. I feel that my searching lines not loose enough and drawings too clean. A bit better with the hand's second attempt. Would appreciate some tips.
Shohei Yoshida
I misunderstood the purpose of the exercise. This isn’t CSI practice—it’s practice for expressing the subject’s center of mass, movement, and energy through sketching, right? So as long as the proportions aren’t wildly off, it’s okay to ignore them a little, correct? In other words, it’s sketching practice, isn’t it!?
@wsa
3mo
I added a cape and a space blaster
Eiko Fazio
3mo
After the critique video, I want to practice more looser lines. Tried with my stuffed animals. Because it's night time here, it's hard to see the face of the black bear...
Slava Fast
3mo
Watched critique and I think now I moved closer to "desired" lines for this exercise (left - old one, right -new one)
Slava Fast
3mo
Probably small correction for 10 seconds :D
@starlingwarlock
Here are my post-demo post-critique project drawings, definitely tried to stay a lot more loose and the red pencil does help loosen up and stay sharp. Vr girl was actually very pleasant to draw with the revelations of new advice. Critiques welcome.
@starlingwarlock
(yes I ran out of space for the vr girl)
@maresanna
3mo
I used the Line of Action website with a 10-minute timer. I’m struggling a lot to avoid doing a CSI drawing — I even placed a line in the right spot and then added some light lines just to pretend I was exploring more. I also tried using those weird lines from the critique video on the feathers. I feel lost, like I’m not really doing what was asked.
@moon_flower
Melanie Scearce
Ooh! Your lines look effortless and they flow nicely. Great work!
@yearly7777
So after watching Critique I decided give this one another go with images of my choice (I might have chosen a little to simple images for this exercise). Feedback welcome!!!!
Nico Grab
7mo
I tried digitally and on paper and found myself lost into details sometimes. What do you think ? Critiques, good or bad, are more than welcomed. Thanks !
@ason
8mo
Did these ones after the demo, huge improvement! Also took me longer to do, but definitely helped me in getting into understanding the sketching mentality.
Geo Lovinaria
Totally misunderstood the project at my first go at it. And re-did them after watching the demo and critiquing videos. So this time I went for sketching over trying to be accurate!
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