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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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project-learning-to-sketch-from-observation.mp4
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Sinister]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Sinister]()
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![@dougwt]()
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![Sinister]()
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![@sophialia]()
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![Guilherme Ferreira]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Fabio Bompani]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Val]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Evgeniya]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Cody Allan]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![@skibidivan]()
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![Quincy Cooke]()
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![@birdartist]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![@an345]()
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![Alvi Anowar]()
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![Thom]()
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![Charlotte]()
Use the three reference images of clean line drawings and sketch them using simple loose lines. Don't try to match the cleanliness of these drawings. Instead, sketch them out with energetic, tapered strokes. Don't hesitate. Just practice moving your arm with confidence. If you draw some lines and then you realize that, Oh, shoot, I need to curve that more. Go ahead and just draw the new curve right over it. As you get more confident that you've found the shape, you can darken those lines and the lighter lines start to disappear. Focus on the big idea and the shapes the lines represent, rather than on each individual line.
For you, Level 2 monster trucks, I want you to start with this Level 1 project as a warmup, and then head over to the Learning to Sketch from Imagination project page for your instructions.
If you'd like to have a chance to be included in the upcoming critique videos, you must submit your drawings below by March 9th 2023.
Good luck and please have some fun!
This is how the rest turned out!
The VR girl is fine, I guess. The head differs from the reference, and the right arm doesn't match the perspective, but I think I did a decent job with the gestural lines.
I actually like the penguin a lot. It's simple, but it feels nice.
Feedback appreciated of course!
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54m
I agree, the gestural lines are great. When you have difficulties with perspective, it can help to hold up your pen/pencil and use it to measure the line angle of a part and quickly (so you don't alter too much the angle you found) bring it down to your drawing to match the angle. I attached a photo of what I mean. This becomes especially helpful with weird foreshortened angles that can be confusing. You don't have to put it right up against your screen, I just held it closer for the sake of the photo. You can also use your pen/pencil to measure where things should located by holding it and seeing what part lines up with the part you're drawing. For example, the end of the thumb would line up with the first quarter of her eye, but in your drawing it is lined up nearly with the end of her eye or "glasses". Give it a try!
This is how the rest turned out!
The VR girl is fine, I guess. The head differs from the reference, and the right arm doesn't match the perspective, but I think I did a decent job with the gestural lines.
I actually like the penguin a lot. It's simple, but it feels nice.
Feedback appreciated of course!
Here is my first attempt at the VR Girl. I'm happy enough with the outcome, but I think I got a little too into the details around the hands and other areas. I seem to struggle with limiting myself to pure CSI lines. Maybe I need to be more intentful about each stroke and plan it ahead of time instead of just letting myself go loose on autopilot in "draw mode"?
Here's my work for tonight.
A lot of the scratchy lines you see are because I began drawing the details onto the hand, and then remembered to not overcomplicate things, and I stopped midway in. I don't know if you are suppposed to draw or not draw the details with 100% confidence, but my assumption would be no.
I tried to focus on making everything look super gestural, really curved, even if it differs from the original reference, and I tried to simplify a lot whilst not losing any major detail.
Feedback accepted! I drew this on a whim honestly, for the next time I'll take my time more.
These are my attempts for all references, I think I was trying to get it to neat and clean. I appreciate any feedback!
Happy with my drawings overall, but I should try to not pay too much attention on the details next time. I feel like I took more time then I should on them and ended up losing a bit of the "sketching" purpose of the exercise.
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2d
These look great, I agree that you seem to have paid attention to details! It can be so difficult sometimes to ignore them, I am a victim of that myself lol. Nonetheless you still did a great job! On your next attempt try to focus on drawing from your shoulder and elbow to keep things loose and flowy, and you could always establish rough shapes first so that you don't get stuck on details.
It is not easy to focus on the forms and not get lost in the details, outlines, and proportions....
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2d
You did a good job though, especially on the hand! Smart thinking on marking joint locations and measuring the angles.
This is my first attempt at the penguin that I started a little over a week ago. I went back over the initial sketch with a 4B pencil to darken it, so I might have lost a bit of my original line design. It is what it is! x) I really struggled to capture the angle it was facing. I tried quite a bit with the original sketch, but couldn't quite solve that puzzle. Advice on that would be especially appreciated before I tackle a second go at it. :) Thank you!
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3d
Hi Val, I see what you mean with the angle, it seems you have turned the penguin more to the left. To combat this, something that might help is to shorten the beak. At the angle in the reference, the penguin is not completely profile, so naturally you won't see the full length of the beak like you've drawn here. You've also drawn its posture more upright, where in the reference it is a little more left-leaning. That will give you the space to see where the other parts should go, like the wings and the lines on the chest, which should be a little more "towards us". Another suggestion- keep your lines energetic and simple! It looks like you focused on getting the lines similar to the reference, so they are more rigid. If you loosen them up a bit it may help with the angle too.
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3d
These look great! You really nailed the penguin. Looking at the line quality of all your sketches, that one is a good standard. Your lines in the drawings on the next spread with the hand get a bit 'hairy,' which means you're using a bunch of shorter lines to piece together a longer line. Try to pull longer strokes with your pencil to avoid hairy lines. Focusing on making longer strokes with your pencil also encourages more gestural lines, which will keep your drawing from becoming stiff. Keep up the sketching, you're on the right track!
Sorry if these are hard to see. I drew each of these several times. My first attempts were more accurate and detailed because I kept falling into the trap of focusing on accuracy and detail. I watched the demos, and realized that I wasn't honoring the assignment. I think after a few tries I am starting to get the point. Obviously I need more practice, so I will try to do this with reference photos and objects in real life as much as possible.
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4d
These are looking great, Cody. I feel you on falling into that trap of focusing on details too much, I get frustrated with that constantly! It can be quite the challenge to simplify things and make your eyes see in shapes. Keep up the good work!
I got bored so the hand is low effort and proportions are off. Feedback is really appreciated 🙏
Quick sketch. Need to get to these before the sun goes down and I lose the light! XD
Still trying to get into the flow but the project needed being fun, had a good amount of Trouble with the hand though
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10d
That's okay! Hands are hard in the first place. The main thing to focus on is making energetic, tapered strokes. I think you're doing a good job of that here. The next thing to work on is to use less pressure when making your lines, so they come out a bit lighter. That way, if you lay in a line that isn't quite right, you can go ahead and draw a new one right on top of it without having to erase. The goal with this is to keep all lines light until they're final and in the right place, then you can darken them. Keep up the sketching!
Attempted the Level 1. I am afraid I got into too many details and forgot to use more bold and 'shoulder' movement when making my lines. Thus I'm afraid my drawings seem chicken-scratched and timid(?) 😭
Any additional critiques and comments would be highly appreciated! 🙇♂️
Another attempt of me trying to searching lines. I followed a tutorial on howto draw a cat. Right now I'm studying line weight. Now looking at my lineart it makes sense why line weight is very important.
I've already posted these penguins a few days ago but here are all my attempts. I really struggled with the figure, and again, I can't seem to sketch and always end up line drawing.
The proportions, placement, and details took me a lot of time. I also find it much harder to make searching lines when drawing digitally.
The sketch in the third image is really messy, and I’m not even sure if these count as “searching lines” . But sketching this way took a lot of pressure off when I was trying to figure out the proportions and placement.
