Course In Progress
Course In Progress
It’s time for another demo! Come check out my process for simplifying animal portraits into basic shapes.
Newest
Jake Guillereault
1mo
After watching the demo I had to try again
@gecko_cs
1mo
I took a longer than expected break, but I'm back with a retry of the simple animal portaits, after watching the demo. I prefer these much more than my last ones. Will be moving onto level 2 next.
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1mo
Nice, you did well using more closed shapes this go around 👍
Rafael Rangel
3mo
I try again! :)
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3mo
All the well designed, overlapping shapes on that hippo give you drawing so much dimension!
Philippe
3mo
Tried a bunch. Had some extra fun with some.
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3mo
These look awesome! You kept your animals simple yet characteristic. The page with the rabbit and bird are my favorite.
You could apply the same logic to the long hair of the smaller dog. Keep the lines long and simple. You can use the hair to frame the face.
Hair isn’t a solid form, its got more flow to it, but it can still be simplified to simple shapes.

@mangosandtangos
3mo
Noah Murray
4mo
Just a clarifying question. I did the exercise and saw as i made more attempts at the same simplification they improved but simplifying was really a struggle in general. Should I stay on this lesson and really drill it until I'm comfortable or move on to other lessons and just practice this in the background. Really appreciate any advice!
Andrew Kovachik
26d
I also struggled with this one a lot. I've been just trying to fit them in as a type of warmup now. Like I'll just pull up an image do a little thumbnail sketch and if it interests me then I do a larger scale one.
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4mo
I wouldn't push it too far that you feel burnt out. You could keep practicing for a while if you'd like but if it gets to the point you're not having fun with it, I suggest you keep moving and come back to it after you've explored some other ideas. It's really cool to be able to come back to these lessons just like that 😁 good luck!

@bigaids
4mo
Here are my current attempts with the lion being after watching the demo
Kristen Budovski
4mo
The demo really helped me to better understand how to break things down into simpler shapes. The first four images are before watching the demo. I found using a piece of vellum paper first helped me to explore what shapes where hidden in the image. Then I have the two reference images I used for supplemental practice. And the last images are after watching the demo. This was a very challenging yet fun project for me.
@bovine_designs
4mo
This really helped, I didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to NOT think in 3D space for this which made it hard to simplify with simple shapes. Also doing shapes that aren’t just triangles, circles, and squares, like with the horns on the buffalo. I was trying waaaaay too hard to simplify with one stroke in my first go. This was good!

@osrour
5mo
Using only 10 shapes was a bit of a puzzle, but I figured it out
J M
5mo
These are all after watching the demo
One major difference between these and my initial attempt was to try to make the shape look "fun" while keeping the essence of the reference subjects
Someone in the previous discussion suggested drawing thumbnails - that really helped. Funny enough, the drawing that I like the most is the rooster thumbnail. I don't know why - it just looks more...."fun" /"crisp" (?) - no idea what the right word might be
Tommy Pinedo
6mo
Interesting but fun exercise simplifying animals to shapes.
Left: First attempt before watching demo.
Right: Second attempt and after watching demo.
Tommy Pinedo
5mo
5 more animals. Monkey, bunny, lion, frenchie and Yoshi!
I still think I am too stiff and geometric with my design. lol

@fraxls
6mo
Here are my before and afters. The wolf is worse somehow. It was the last one I did anyway. I guess I got sloppy. I labeled them before and after to make it easier.
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6mo
Nice improvements!

@rakeshuniyal
6mo
I tired to apply what I learned from the demo any critiques are welcome

@goobish
8mo
sketches made during demo any critiques are welcomed
Chauncey Holder
9mo
I tired to apply what I learned from the demo
Tony Zhang
9mo
Again, these are fun! Trying to pick my shape design skills back up.

@arthiecio
9mo
A good exercise made me understand how to see and minimize shapes a keeping them simple
Daniel Rodriguez
9mo
I tried my best to follow Stan's demonstration. How did I do? @Martha Muniz

JK
10mo
Hello everyone! Got a quick question: anyone has an idea on how to draw a sheep so it doesnt look like a dog? ( I’m straggling going through this assignment :(
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10mo
Looking good!
We can look to the skulls to see the big differences between these two animals. Dogs and sheep are designed for different things.
Dogs are built to run, hunt and, bite.
Sheep graze in fields all day.
Understanding the subtle difference in their bone structure will help you out. Also, adding some wool might help too :P
Hope this is useful. Keep it up!
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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.