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You’ll learn the most important foundational concepts for drawing anything and soon you’ll be drawing pictures out of your imagination or from reference.
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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
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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![]()
![Ian S]()
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![@nschafer]()
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![blendraw]()
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![Bag of Snakes]()
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![@aichameck]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![Wieke Pierhagen]()
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![Wieke Pierhagen]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Juan Andres Gonzalez Trejo]()
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![Juan Andres Gonzalez Trejo]()
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![Wieke Pierhagen]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![Aubrey Hannah]()
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![Christopher Corbell]()
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!
I like how the top half of it turned out. I had trouble with proportions in the lower jaw, and thought I fixed it during my lay-in but I guess not. Still an enjoyable project. Any feedback is appreciated.
Here is my lost edges assignment! I'd love advice on this. I liked the rim light on the right and wanted to make it pop with the dark background. I have trouble usually with thin rim light and wanted to practice that. I let the cheekbone get lost into that dark background and then I lost most of the left side into the background as well. I wanted to add a light area in the background on the top left to make sense of the rim light and lose another edge there, but the graphite stick I was using for that wouldn't fully erase so I couldn't fully get that the way I wanted. I know there is a lot I can improve here and would love any comments about that as I had to make a lot of changes and was struggling with some of the decisions I made. Thanks!
My assignment for Level 1 (first two images) and Level 2 (third image), before watching the demo: I used a graphite pencil and a blending stump. Feedback is welcome :)
Hey All. Here is my Level 1 Assignment. Yet again a fantastic project. Really made me use all the skills we've developed in the course and extended me enough to be challenging and achievable.
All feedback welcome.
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1mo
Nice work. You did a good job of capturing the form. For drawings like this that are really all about the tone, one thing I'd look out for is trying to go lighter on the lines. Let the edges between light and dark do the heavy lifting. This will result in a more natural feeling image. Keep up the good work!
Level 2, photo 5.
After taking the picture I saw that my eyes weren't accurate, something to remember.
It wasn't that hard in the beginning because then I'm focused on the large shapes anyway, but when going into details I had a few problems. Especially with the teeth because there the values are pretty close. I am happy that the right side with the strong contrast really works but I'm still figuring out how / where to put the background shadows. I did make a few thumbnails to explore my options. I used the thumbnail I chose but when making pictures for posting my drawing, it seemed off.
After watching the demo I did the level 1 assignment again with a different photo (nr 4). It was a more complicated angle and I used a stump blender (In Dutch it is a doezelaar) for the first time. It made such a difference! The demo and the blender! If I compare this drawing with the first one I submitted, this one really showed improvement. I was not only focused on the lost edges but also on the variety of edges. I'm amazed what this topic of edges has done for the quality of my drawing!
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2mo
Great improvement! How did you like using the blending stump?
Hi, I did the exercise using the Level 1 images, but halfway through I realized the sheet I was drawing on had a flaw, and it ended up with a slightly odd effect.
Now I'm going to check out the demos to see other ways of doing it. Since I did the exercise without looking at them, it was more of a challenge. I'm definitely going to redo the exercise using more shades because this one was done with an HB pencil.
did a 2nd iteration and i feel more accomplish now but also want to try other poses :D
My level 1 assignment with graphite pencil. I love what I am learning! Too late I saw that I was drawing from the wrong angle, so it looks a bit off because of that.
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2mo
Looks great Wieke! I think you nailed the transitions from light to the forehead and likewise from the back of the skull to the cast shadow.
All done with my final project! From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank everyone on Proko.com for their contributions to teaching art. Because of this course and a couple others, I have a far better grasp on the fundamentals of art than I ever have.
At any rate, my two drawings of the skulls came out looking very nice. I believe an understanding of edge has significantly helped my skills with value. The work on my edges (lost and found) blew my mind as I implemented it in my first pic. The second came out even better, since I had more of a comprehension on what to add and what to leave out.
Here's my level 1 attempt. It was fun & I think the result is pretty creepy! I'd like to try a light-background portrait with lost edges soon as well.
I did the drawing with stick charcoal on Strathmore 300 paper. (Lay-in with H vine charcoal, rendering with General's 6B jumbo stick, blending stump, fingers, kneaded eraser).
