Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

3.8K

Assignments 532

Downloads 8

Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

3.8K

Assignments 532

Downloads 8

Deadline: Submit your assignments by 06/15/2023 for a chance to be featured in the next critique video!

Level 1:
Create animal portraits using basic shapes. Try to simplify the animal using 10 shapes or less. Keep your shapes organic and simple. Simple shapes could be stretched, bloated, indented, or curved to capture personality. Don't worry about perfect proportions. Instead, focus on creating cool, simple designs. No details or shading! Use the three reference photos I provided and find 5 to 10 more.

Level 2:
Take Level 1 assignment and push them further. Play with your basic shapes and size relationships to give the animals different personalities. Don't hesitate to experiment and look for additional references to understand your subject better. Now, go have fun!

Tony Zhang

Somehow I feel like I’m still doing CSI. Don’t really know how to design interesting shapes (maybe scared I’ll screw up and make things look ugly?) will keep trying!

Bryce Gay

Piggyback a lil bit from the level 2 demo but I'm am starting to get the hang of this exercise!

Guillermo R

This one was fun

Martha Muniz

Wow, these have so much personality! I can already see them bantering in an animated movie XD

Ash

hahaha I love that you named them!!

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Geoffrey Galatioto

trying different shape and style on this. I'm going to take a look at the demo and redo other animals because the exercise is really fun

Attempt…

It's hard to see :(

I can barely see

My attempts

Another attempt at the level 2 Exercise after watching Stan's Demo. All critiques are welcome

Martha Muniz

Awesome work! I love the experimentation with stylization, very well executed and very fun to look at :D

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Noe Luis

Drawings looks so good to look at. My favorite is at the bottom left where the horse seem to be in a mood.

Show all replies (3)

Luke Ng

10d

Another attempt at the level 2 Exercise. Koala portraits. All critiques are welcome

Eddie Blake

11d

Chicken

Eddie Blake

I put a really bad tangent in the last chicken. I didn’t see it until I looked at it so small in the thumbnail. To fix it I think I’d redraw the line pointing toward the chicken’s eye, for a compositional bonus. More like the other head I drew in the first picture.

Luke Ng

14d

Here's my first attempt at the level 2 exercise. All critiques are welcome!

aakerhus

15d

Partial submission from me for now, these are the 3 references from the submission. Gonna continue to work on some of my own references from now on. I'd love to have some feedback on my simplification off forms (well, that's pretty much what this project is about, isn't it? Duh) Am I simplifying too much, too little? Have I found the sweet spot for as far as simplifying goes?

Martha Muniz

Hello! I like the simple shapes you started off with in red--they're good construction lines to use for detailed drawings like the ones in pencil. I don't think you need to go that detailed just yet, more specifically for the chicken, as right now it'd be a bit closer to what's in red. I think finding a balance between the two would be a good spot, continuing to think of the "main idea" of the object's shapes.

lazy0

15d

When I look at everyone else’s assignments post, I think I didn’t follow what Proko was saying about simplifying. But I had fun, also could someone tell me if I did the assignment right or not and what I need to fix if I did thanks.

Matija Vuk

those are actualy looking really amazing, I dunno if they need more simplification if it reduces their amazing design. Oh and your lineart is really nice as well !

Patrick Bosworth

14d

I see no wrong answers here! Awesome designs, especially on the rooster iterations! You're pushing shapes, exploring ideas, and having fun, that's all at the core of this assignment. Nice work!

Lolo

16d

I did this assignment again and it’s starting to click. I was having trouble starting with light and loose lines and breaking them down into simple shapes really helped. I then sort of piggy backed this assignment with the last with the master study and copied some work from Mitch Leeuwe used this technique and I’m noticing my line quality improving. Very fun! Critiques always appreciated!

Luke Ng

17d

Here's my submission for the Level 1 Animal portraits. All critiques are welcome

Osman Perez

19d

Peter Bajzek

20d

Bernt Bigton

20d

This is my giraffe version of the project

Jack Martin

22d

Hi guys! First time submitting a project for critique and planing to continue to do so in the future. It felt like there was two main issues i was running into on this project; -Focusing on maintaining line quality (CSI, tapered strokes ect...) -Finding the simple shapes themselves. After seeing demos it seemed clear and simple, but when I attempted to simplify animals myself I found myself second guessing and struggling. I only attempted the Level 1 project

Martha Muniz

21d

I think you did a nice job overall, you seem to be quite mindful of the different structural components while still being able to simplify down into basic shapes. I also appreciate the good attention to line quality. I think it's the strongest with the 2nd chicken practice, as well as the page with the two birds. This is where you have fluid yet loose and searching lines combined with a variation of line weight, so these two elements work very well together. One thing I would note would be the use of straight edges, as I think incorporating more of these can help balance some of your drawings, especially the chameleons and flamingo. For the chameleons too, I think you can further break down some of the shapes, thinking about the structural layout--head, arms, body, crest, etc. I realize this is kind of a tricky animal given their blobby nature, but searching for those straight lines can also help pinpoint some of their underlying structure. Well done overall, and I hope this is of some help to you for future practice :)

Luke Ng

23d

Here's my first submission for the Level 1 project using the references Stan provided. All critiques are welcome

Nikita

25d

Hello, would love to see critiques, thanks in advance. I kind feel that lost focus on parrot and started to do contours

Gift Cards

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About instructor

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.