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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.
DOWNLOADS
project-simple-animal-portraits.mp4
183 MB
project-simple-animal-portraits-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
project-simple-animal-portraits-transcript-spanish.txt
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project-simple-animal-portraits-captions-english.srt
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project-simple-animal-portraits-captions-spanish.srt
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![joseph henry]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Marco Uggè]()
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![joseph henry]()
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![@julietalima]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Sebastian Rivera]()
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![Misa]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Liel Attias]()
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![Sally]()
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![Vanessa White]()
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![Byron Chikukwa]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Mariah]()
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![@allegiant336]()
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![@pedros]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![@rustle]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Krock]()
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![Dallyn Siegrist]()
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![Cameron R]()
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![@kurodore]()
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![Ben Kraske]()
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!
I didn't really simplify using shapes. I just outlined the main contours in the end...oh well !
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8h
Hey Joseph, still a good job on your first attempt! On your next try, really break down each part into shapes. It can be as simple as a bunch of blobs to mark out the "main" shapes. Once you have those primary shapes put down, it will be easier to draw how they connect, and define them a little more accurately.
Here's my assignment, both Level 1 and 2!
One thing I have to mention is that I did Level 2 after watching the Level 1 demo. I know it's kind of cheating 😅, but I wanted to have a better version of the base shapes before exaggerating and distorting them.
Nice job. I am struggling with this assignment but will post something this afternoon i hope!
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8h
I love how you gave the 2nd alpaca character with the even floofier hair and skinny neck, haha! Overall these are great, good job using shapes :)
My assignment submissions I think the squid turned out better than the rest, I found it very difficult to keep it to ten shapes but I feel that I’m getting much better at simplifying.
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4d
I think you got it! Your 'simplify' example with the hippo hits it right on the dot -- simplification into basic shapes helps understand the building blocks of any subject, so we can later build on top of that, whether it be more detailed realism or more playful exaggeration. So good work, you're on the right track!
I spend most of the time on the buffalo (I think it shows). Attempted level 2 with a french bulldog but I don't love how it turned out haha
I really enjoyed this one. I'm starting to think in simple shapes as well as utilize CSI. And I really like the Prismacolor Col-Erase pencils Stan suggested. They are so smooth! All additional images came from pexels.com.
Looking at everyone’s submissions makes me wonder if I misunderstood the assignment 😂
But I tried my very best to break the items into shapes before outlining, tho I’m not sure how much details I should or shouldn’t add, cause I kept thinking to keep everything within 10 shapes.
some other animals I sketched as well. I think the red panda was the most ridiculous one 😂 and the dolphin is my proudest one.
i also attached the shape sketches so i can get some useful and insightful feedback, if possible. Is it too simplified? Or should it be even more simplified? I understand Stan said the shapes can be organic, but I wasn’t sure to what extent.
Appreciate any comments that can help me improve. Thank you so much!
Was fighting my brain the whole way and the buffalo beat me into submission, I was struggling to look past the details and simplify
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15d
It's a lot easier to use closed, simple shapes! Look for parts you can contain in one relatively simple shape. In the buffalo example, the cranium, snout and muzzle are a good place to start. Overlapping those shapes already starts to create the illusion of a 3D form. Remember to use your CSI lines to design your shapes!
I drew the 3 attached in the assignment prior to watching the demos. After watching the demo, it helped me understand the importance of simplifying the shapes as much as possible, so it’s definitely something I’ll practice more. It’s a lot harder than it looks! But I took what I learned and simplified 3 more animals from reference. Critiques welcome 😊
First part of my attempt at this assignment, it's been a while since I have drawn - I found this exercise to be abit challenging trying to break the animals down into different shapes but I'm pretty happy with how some of them turned out - my favourite is the baby cow :) Any feedback would be great!
This was fun! I tried to study the shapes of a zebra and rhino after the "mandatory" ones ahah. Hard to stick to shapes! I tried working on line quality as well..
Thoughts??
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22d
I love these! What energy. It is clear you had fun doing them. If you can have fun drawing, all the doors will open for you!
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19d
That's definitely good practice! The angularity of your dog's shapes definitely lends itself well to boxes :D Don't be afraid to mix more shapes up too though as extra practice, like using round shapes even within an overall angular design. The curve of the dog's chest and his legs could be an interesting place to have a more curved shape that acts as nice contrast to the rest of the boxes. It's good to try both ways, one challenging yourself to go fully one way (e.g. angular) and another time to try more variety. It's all about experimenting!
I drew the buffalo's head and breaked it down into shapes, which I found it easier than drawing the rooster. I'm not sure if I was supposed to split the horns into two, and to draw the nostrils.
I did it again, and I believe that I did a better job the second time can't wait to here your guys thoughts on on my drawings.
Ps. I had a lot of fun drawing the goat (obvious I know)
For me this was the hardest project so far, but I think I'm at least getting there and will improve as I proceed through the course (I hope!).
Still some ways to go.
I did a Pokemon spin on this challenge and drew Kakuna, Parasect, and Alakazam. Couldn't really stick to just ten shapes with Parasect and Alakazam since they were a bit more complicated.
@Ben Kraske
@Patrick Bosworth
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1mo
Nice! Using Pokemon for this project is a cool approach, especially since a lot of the designs are usually simpler shapes than real animals, it can definitely help understand how to simplify them even further. Cool work, they look good! The Parasect is my favorite one.
