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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-lost-and-found-edges.mp4
262 MB
project-lost-and-found-edges-transcript-english.txt
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project-lost-and-found-edges-transcript-spanish.txt
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project-lost-and-found-edges-captions-english.srt
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project-lost-and-found-edges-captions-spanish.srt
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
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![Tim]()
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As you decide where to place lost edges, consider these specific areas:
- Shadows merging into dark backgrounds: This is a natural place to lose an edge to create depth.
- Lights merging into light backgrounds: This can make highlights appear to glow.
- Core shadows: You can remove a core shadow if the dark stripe between light and shadow provides too much volume or information for a specific area.
- Distracting details: Remove information completely when small details, such as the sharp edges between teeth, distract from the main focal point.
For this project, you will be drawing a skull using the reference images provided.
Level 1
You will create a fully shaded drawing with a focus on deciding where to lose and find edges. Some reference photos have two light sources. This gives you opportunities to play with losing parts of the skull into a light background.
Don't be afraid to lose edges, find them again, and lose them again. This back-and-forth experimentation is how you discover what works.
Level 2
For a harder challenge, use the out-of-focus reference photos. Because the photos are blurry, you cannot simply copy the edges. You must interpret them to refocus attention on the center of the face. You are inventing the relationship between sharp, firm, and lost edges.
Recommended Materials
I recommend a pencil that allows you to utilize the side of the lead. You want to be able to quickly fill in areas and play with the edge freely. A sharp tip takes too long for this type of experimentation.
- Graphite Pencil: Sharpen it longer so more lead is exposed.
- Clutch Pencil: A 5mm lead works great.
- Charcoal Pencil: This is often the best option because it allows for easy smudging.
Deadline - submit by February 05, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!
Level 1: 9x12 Bristol vellum with 3h, hb and 2b graphite pencils. This project took roughly 10 days because of the layout process and I’m fairly new to drawing skulls. Every project is like a roller coaster and this one had it’s ups and downs but the thumbnail held all the answers. After I took around 2 days for the Lay in; I knew to take my time or everything would be off. The shading was pretty fun after doing the hard part. I had in mind to make another skull project but after I finished this project I wasn’t motivated to and felt I should probably do a personal project next! This was a nice blend of a task I’m given to do and some freedom to make anything fit into the context of this project as long as it’s dynamic and has lost edges! I probably could’ve lost more edges but I’m coming back for level 2 woohoooo!!! I really did have fun I just think I need to find my flow where after every project I finished I feel washed up on a shore clueless. I think I’m gonna take some time to do personal projects! I’ll be back, I had fun with everyone seeing all the awesome assignments along the way!!! i acknowledge this feels like a parasocial relationship with the community but it’s the closest thing as if this was a physical classroom!
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1d
Heck yeah! This came out great! I love the simplified shapes, and your mix of edges. Really great work!! Looking forward to seeing your Level 2 posts!
After putting in my lay-in, which I wasn’t completely happy with, but judged to be about as good as I was going to get, I started trying to map some shadows and quickly realized I was lost. So I stopped, encouraged by the dog, who decided it was time to go for a walk anyway. Sometimes, stepping away for a while and having a little reset helps a lot.
Coming back, I was still lost but decided to just plough on and trust the process. About 80% of the way through, I noticed the ferrule of my 2mm mechanical pencil was scratching the paper because I was holding it at too shallow an angle, which wasn’t optimal - but a lesson well learned. This was caused by me completing the whole drawing using an overhand grip for the first time, which I’m quite pleased about.
It’s far from perfect, and I could probably have done more work on some shadows, but I felt like doing so wouldn’t necessarily lose or find more edges and one has to stop somewhere - knowing when is a skill I have yet to figure out.
Now, I’m just trying to process that this course is over, that I’ve finished my first art course. I dug out first skull I drew back in those Simplify to CSI days (6th January) and compared it to this - I can’t believe how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve progressed. Thanks, Stan, for this amazing course. Thanks to all the Proko feedback gurus for your advice and encouragement, and thanks to everyone else who’s been on this journey. I look forward to seeing you in other courses soon!
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1h
Fantastic job! Congrats on finishing your first course!
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1d
awesome work Tim! :)
This one was pretty fun, its kind of crazy that its already the last project and overall I felt that this course was pretty helpful! I'll definitely be coming back around for the level 2 stuff
Looks great, but I barely found any lost edges. Since this was a project on making lost edges you should make as many as you can.
Took a stab at it, I struggle a lot with shading but I'm still pleased a lot by the overall effect
Proportions look off. But other than that it looks insane. You lost the right edges and found the right ones. The shading looks flawless and really 3d
Here goes my level one atempt before watching the demo.... still with some rendering issues but overall Im really happy with my development during the course.
Lost & Found Edges
I tried out a funky composition. I'm not entirely sure if I like it, but that's probably because I've been staring at it for too long. Any critiques or insights are appreciated.
This was a wonderful course. Congratulations to everyone who made it all the way through!
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8d
Fantastic job! I love the thumbnails, great exploration. Your final composition came out beautifully! The shadow design is almost like an inverted lens flare, really cool!
I was surprised by the number of downloads. I’m also wondering if I should draw one of these images of Stan.
This is my level 1 submission. I haven't watched the demo yet, so I'm looking forward to that and learning about how to improve. Thanks so much, Stan, I have really enjoyed the course.
After watching the demo I made some changes and I think this looks better. I plan to do many more though over time.
The demo really gave me some valuable insights, so I gave it another try and managed to improve thanks to it.
My attempt at lvl2 and the corresponding thumbnail drawing.
Done after checking the demo videos.
Blurry photos are a really good puzzle for trying to figure out edges.
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14d
Really nice work! I love the variety of edges in the jaw, and tooth cylinder, beautiful mix of accents. Great thumbnail too!
My first - and certainly not the last - attempt at this assignment. I wish I wasn't late for a critique, but anyway I'm very happy that I managed to go through the whole course. Now I'm going to do a second round, completing some Level 2 projects I skipped before and repeating the ones I wasn't happy with. For me, the most difficult part of the course is designing values; I still feel confused when making decisions.
Well the shadow mapping may not be the best but I lost the edges with value and payed attention to the hard edges
This feels like way too many lost edges and what’s the found edge just looks like you drew a line. The shading might not be the smoothest which does distract me a bit.
This course has been amazing. I'm actually looking forward to going back on a few videos. For this project, I should have done a few notan compositional thumbnails, but I was too excited and dove in. The nose bone goes much too long, and I only saw that the next day. But all in all I'm quite happy with it. Again, this course has been AWESOME! You and the community have helped me fulfill a lifelong dream that I'm stoked to push even further. THANK YOU ALL! <3 <3 <3 =')
It’s very clean and neat the one thing that I would say if you watch the critique, you’ll notice that there are a lot of drawings like this that Stan says that have very good edge work. He still says that they need to lose more edges because this is a project on losing edges
Skulls skulls skulls!
In my first image, I was really just thinking of this as another shadow mapping exercise, so the drawings aren't fully rendered - just lights, darks, and a core shadow. I also wasn't thinking much about composition, so in the first drawing the cast shadow is the only dark element in the background,
After watching the first half of Stan's demo, I decided to try again with some thumbnails and settled on the diagonal composition you see in the final. I'm generally pleased with it, though there are some parts of it I like (the lower-right portion of the jaw) more than others (the left portion of the jaw and the teeth).
The teeth were hard. The teeth defeated me. Also, I think the drawing is overworked - I missed out on some of the simplicity and intention of design that the first two had, so ironically, even though I spent a lot more time on it I think the design is not as strong as the first 2.
Finally, in the second image, I decided to include the very first drawing I ever submitted to Proko just for fun - the pear!!! Needless to say, I think I've improved.
This course has been a blast, and I've learned so much. I'm a little scared to go on now that it's over. What the heck am I supposed to draw!?
Anyway, I'm not completely done yet. I have to finish Stan's demos and critique, then maybe do another attempt.
I finally watched demo 2 and wanted to post one more sketch, informed. by that demo. I feel like my forms are still pretty flat but I’ll keep working on it. Professor P, thank you again for this marvelous course. I will be revisiting these lessons again and again.
Thinking about where to find or lose edges was a fun exercise. I had difficulty determining where the good places are to lose edges in light.
