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About instructor
Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
comments 140
After completing the official assignment, I decided to tackle another portrait because I really wanted to understand this concept of shape simplification way more. I did not do this in 1 sitting. It took me a couple of days because I tried to do it digitally first, but I wasn’t happy with the progress. I decided to do it traditionally because the feeling of pencil on paper is just unbeatable. There a lot of things I would change and I still wanted to do to this, but I’m training myself to stop working on a drawing endlessly. I feel I could’ve pushed the values even more. There is a ton I still need to learn, and this assignment is really challenging! But I kinda feel I can move on to the next lesson…. (?) I doubt myself a lot so I’m working on that as well…. So, jumping to the next lesson isn’t easy 😮💨
LESSON NOTES
Here’s a critique clip from the level 2 drawing basics project on simplifying portraits using shapes, values, and edges.
I chose this critique because it emphasizes the significance of considering the value range when drawing anything. This student's example shows the loss of visual information when extreme values are used without halftones. Get more tips and the full critique by checking out the premium course.
Related Links:
Improve Shape Design by Simplifying
Top 5 Shading Mistakes
DOWNLOADS
critique-simplify-portrait-from-observation.mp4
2 GB
critique-simplify-portrait-from-observation-transcript-english.txt
51 kB
critique-simplify-portrait-from-observation-transcript-spanish.txt
52 kB
critique-simplify-portrait-from-observation-captions-english.srt
90 kB
critique-simplify-portrait-from-observation-captions-spanish.srt
92 kB
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It’s time for level 2 critiques…portraits!
I’ll be looking through your portrait submissions and giving advice and tips on how to improve on common mistakes.
I'm trying to improve my skills and would be happy to receive constructive criticism.
The combination of pencil, hatching and patience is my nemesis. I hope I one day will crack the graphite code and feel that hatching every plane change is just natural (for now I'm still confused how I should organize my planes effectively). I sat down after the demo and critique video and tried my best to not tame my impatience and just keep going, carefully this time. Middle image took me an hour. Leftmost two hours.
I still like the values of my first try (middle) more. I use a lead holder and the difference between HB and 2B I felt was too small. Nex time I'll try 2H or H, 2B, 4B and 6B.
Here are three different examples of Portraits I drew like 11 or 12 days ago (and the third one has the reference I used). I did what Stan Prokopenko proposed on this first project, and then I wanted to do a couple more. Feel free to tell me your thoughts ^_^
You are on the correct path regarding simplification and likeness, but I wonder why you stopped halfway - don’t hesitate! Finish the rendering according to the assignment and I think you will be surprised at how well it can read with only five values.
Another attempt at the portrait after watching the critiques, using a different technique this time.
Using just a bigger hard brush made me really focus on the shapes and values so I think it was great for this exercise, as I'm more confident in my line/structure work than my shapes and values.
First image is the second attempt, second image was my first attempt using a pencil brush.
Fun to compare both, I lost some of my structure work from my first attempt and even though I improved some decisions, I also made some worse ones.
Both read very well with the way you have organised your values, and both are clean. If anything, your first attempt has better proportions (except for the neck, which is too long), but the digital and second attempt has better likeness. Are you more comfortable with traditional or digital? Good job!
I'm have been ill and have gotten behind with my lessons. would you critique my pear?
Value training from project 1. I found hard creating the sense of depth with the values, specially with the dog that have black and white hair.
Hi, i'm very much a starter, but i'm going to try. 😬
It looks brilliant, but the 1 thing that shouts at me is the jaw line and the neck, esp. in the cast shadow on the side where the ear is visible. If you darken that area, including most of the neck, peoples eyes will be drawn to the face more.
Hoping that makes sense? 🌟
After watching the video, I tried again. Since I lowered the brightness of the black too much, even with five tones, the separation looks overly strong. Next time, I’d like to try using brightness levels of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100. Also, it might be better not to use pencil-type brushes too much in digital work—the lines tend to look messy.
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so I started this course about a year ago and then stopped pretty soon after the line chapter started.
Here’s me starting the course from the beginning about a year after I stopped.
the pear and the portrait I completed before watching any demos or critiques and then instead of repeating the same reference images I searched for my own references (on upsplash - Pinterest has way too much AI generated content nowdays) and took the information I learned from the demos and critiques. A massive improvement with the portrait in my opinion, still lots of room for growth, but the concepts are clicking into place.
lets hope I can finish the course this time!
tried drawing another one with a new reference and focused mainly on the 5 values.
critique & tips are very welcome.
Intermediate Values Study Exercise, left pic is before tutorial, right pic is after watching. Very humbling.
Wow some amazing submissions here! So inspiring :) I had another go after this critique with a different portrait photo. Felt good to apply the techniques onto a new subject.
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4mo
I think you did great capturing the likeness. I like the full size drawing but one thing I really liked in the thumbnails was keep the side of her face by her lips all in shadow. When simplifying values, especially the face, sometimes it's better to leave it all in shadow like you did there. It helps push the light values forward and give the illusion of depth. Good work!
1st attempt. struggled a lot with the lips and the nose. Any suggestions and critiques always welcome.
