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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.
LESSON NOTES
What's in Premium?
Drawing with Confident, Expressive Lines
This lesson teaches you how to replace "hairy lines" (multiple hesitant strokes) with confident, expressive lines that improve your drawings. You'll learn why this skill is crucial for drawing from imagination, animation, and even mechanical subjects.
The premium lesson covers:
- Drawing with your whole arm - techniques for creating larger, more dynamic strokes with less fatigue
- The ghosting method - a step-by-step approach to rehearsing lines before committing to paper
- Understanding curve varieties - how to use C-curves, S-curves, and straight lines with intention rather than creating the "snowman effect"
- Common mistakes including not simplifying enough, over-simplifying, and line quality issues
- Form and structure considerations to balance flowing curves with structural straight lines
You'll gain practical techniques to immediately improve your line confidence, a fundamental skill that affects every aspect of your drawing practice.
Get the full lesson in the premium course.
DOWNLOADS
critique-simplify-to-csi.mp4
2 GB
critique-simplify-to-csi-transcript-english.txt
49 kB
critique-simplify-to-csi-captions-english.srt
81 kB
critique-simplify-to-csi-transcript-spanish.txt
50 kB
critique-simplify-to-csi-captions-spanish.srt
82 kB
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Let's take a look at your "Simplify to CSI" submissions! I decided to combine both level 1 & 2 students for this critique since I saw very similar mistakes at both levels.
Second attempt after teacher's demo, Still struggling with CSI, keep working on it. I actually released that I have improved on proportion wise.
After a long break from the course (due to academic reasons, I took off from CSI lesson and this is my attempt.
I loved the rythms of the boots, but it was also very challenging for me get clear shapes and lines here. In particular the shoelaces got a bit messy. I will remind myself to think first of the line to draw, imagine it and than put it down confidently. Happy to receive any feedback!
This is what I’ve done . Im gonna try the level 2 stuff . Wow I really thought the boots were hard. I am enjoying this but I think I’m rushing a bit. Also I’m drawing so lightly that I’m going back over it and it’s making it harder to see what’s good or badly done .
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2mo
You’re doing great! Move along at whatever pace is sustainable for you. The assignments shouldn’t feel too easy or too difficult.
It looks like you’re right where you should be. The simplification of the snail and the boots looks really good.
The pear is perfect. The shading is even and the values are easy to read.
On the portrait… not so much. Things seemed to get a bit muddy there and I think I know why.
You got confused when trying to draw the features instead of focusing on the shapes.
It’s ok to get more abstract with this one.
Here’s my example:
Hope this is helpful! Excited to see more!
For the contour ones, boots and the snail, I think you perhaps went a bit too slow on the lines and they ended up wobbly, more noticeable on the boots.
Though I do think you did a good job on the boots, those laces as many have said were difficult.
Really like your pear, shape shape and good shading though think your highlight value is far too similar to the next value, doesn't make it pop.
Portrait I think you needed to work on separating the values a bit better, they seem a little inconsistent, also don't get confused by relative lightness, your highlight on the right cheek (from our perspective) isn't really there, it's just lighter than the hair which is very dark, but the shadow is still quite dark, if we had more than 5 values it might be a different value to the one next to it.
All good stuff, keep it up.
Nice skele, I like it. I think like Proko talks about to many in his critique don't get too lost in the details, there are some nice curves in there, but hard to see some of them as lost amongst details, could have simplified a bit more.
I also not sure if you're going over your lines too much, like the brim of the hat, looks a little wobbly but I'm not sure if that's because you drew slow or tried to darken your initial line.
Still struggling with line quality, but I guess that's why I am taking this course.
What is the size of your paper? By the texture I feel its somewhat smaller. If you try larger paper / canvas you can do longer and more confident lines by using more range of motion.
Well, I do the exercise before seen the demo and when I saw it I realize there was practically no simplification, so I did it again focusing in simplification and confident lines, I don´t know if it's because I'm not familiar whit digital media but It was really difficult to achieve those confident lines. Anyway I attach both tries in the exercise.
Any commentary is welcome and appreciated :v
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5mo
The 2nd attempts have some great improvement in simplification. Your thoughtfulness and self-correction definitely shows. Great work overall!
Also, if you're new to digital media, these types of exercises are perfect to help you get comfortable with your tools. Practicing the basics is always a good way to familiarize yourself with any new medium. Keep going :)
Does Stan updates his critics? How would I know if he critics me?
I think he doesn't @mordu he only did when he launched the course! I was in the begining some years ago, but still I didn't catch up to it so, no critics for me personally. Still! I'm glad he critics others because I can see myself in them a lot! XD
Happy practice! Remember to have fun :)
Camel & Nike Collab / Captain Skull
Did this after doing the level 1 drawings and watching the critique video of those. Tried to draw my lines more confidently, focusing on longer and nicer strokes, not copying the contours, but instead trying to simplify them and to put lines more gracefully.
After finishing the level 2 drawings, I watched the previous lesson with level 2 demonstration and found out I could have spent like 10 times less time on them, not concentrating on vertebrae (compared to which the shoelaces of the boots were actually a breeze).
Loved how easy Stan is with his mistakes and doesn't pay much attention to anything but the core task of the lesson. Great inspiration to counter my perfectionism and focus on the task instead, will keep it in mind for the next lessons. Thanks, Stan!
Attempt 2 after watching the demo, and attempt 3 after watching the critique. I think there's clear improvement in the snails, but not so much the boots. Things I took away from the critique were:
1. Visualise the line on the page. Don't focus on your pencil.
2. DON'T just copy. Choose lines based on their effect, as well as how closely they match the reference.
3. Think about the specific type of curve. Where is it more/less active.
4. Draw envelopes to help with placement.
