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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 130 submissions
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.
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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2mo
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.
Not sure it looks quite like the model, but tried to focus on the values. Definitely had to step away from my drawing several times as my brain got confused about which values to capture. I'll try another image after watching your observation video. Whatever input you give me would be appreciated. Also, I tried not to outline at all given what I did with the pear.
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4mo
Likeness is difficult to capture, don't worry too much about that at this point. I think you did a great job simplifying. The only shape I don't agree with is the light value shape in the shadow area under the eye on the right. I see why you decided to made that shape lighter because there is a subtle value shift there, so If you were using more values than just 5, I think that would make sense. But Because we are using such a limited value scale here, I think it looks a bit too stark. Hope that is helpful to you :)
i watched the demo and critique videos and redid… I like the proportions a lot better on the second try
I've been working on my mistakes. Tried to simplify the shapes as much as possible in my mind. Of course, for me, “simplifying” is very difficult, I'm tired of this portrait, haha (no offense to the model). In the last version I used a different paper, and its surface is different from the previous version.
#1 was before the demo, #2 after, and them #3 after the critique. I definitely had trouble simplifying in the first 1 but improved in the next 2. These took much longer than the pears for sure. Open to any critique
i’m lingering here a lot, sorry for that,
this is 3.5 months progress when i started, not a big jump, but i do think it improved. i understand planes now, but my hand eye coordination still sucks, and i dont know which to blend in, which to leave with hard edges, but better than nothing
doesnt look like him much, but you know what this looks like human so ill take it as a win
credit left pic https://this-is-not-a-slow-burn.tumblr.com/post/781109093029019648
hey so i used stylization using a picture from the 1991 film thelma and louise and wanted to try a polygonal view but i did use tracing as a base so any tips or any feedback would be helpful. thanks!
the one on the left was before demo, the one on the right is after. And oh my gosh, there was a huge difference. I'm not used to doing portraits, but I did consider myself ready for level two, and I'm glad I did it. Did take awhile and almost gave up while doing the pre-demo sketch, but I would say I did enjoy the process a bit more. :)
