Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

12K

Course In Progress

Assignments 1.6K

Downloads 8

Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

12K

Course In Progress

Assignments 1.6K

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!

Cíntia Bloom

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Let me know how I am doing. These were fun. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before. I didn’t save the horse picture.

@pug

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I think this is my final try for this assignment, definitely feel less stiff while drawing!

Melanie Scearce

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23h

I like the little round fluffy guy! Nice contrast with the long thin guy. Cool to see that you’re exploring different shapes here.

CooperLooper

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Laika

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I feel like I may have oversimplified after watching the demo

Chuck Ludwig Reina

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23h

These look fun. I think you may have leaned a little more into abstract representation for this exercise though. Stay mindful of the shape and volume of those shapes that you're simplifying. Remember simple doesn't mean easy. Far from it. Simplification is actually one of the most sophisticated skills you can develop, and I think you have a natural eye for it judging from these drawings. Keep it up!

Nick

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Here’s my initial three. Felt like I was being too sloppy with the lines.

Nick

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Played around with the chicken and the hippo a bit.

@justjen

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I had fun with this, but I did not always use curved shapes when drawing curved parts. I decided to go ultra simple to start with the hippo-making his head a rectangle to start. I did not know if my shapes for the cocks combs were simple enough for this project. My 3rd rooster also looks like one of those images that are made of two things--a fish and bird, in this case. :) [I'm a science teacher, so this is basically how I draw things--using basic shapes to make things somewhat resemble what they are supposed to be. (the kids tease, but it becomes a part of the memory of learning 😋)]

Chuck Ludwig Reina

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Nice work. I find many artists fall into the "all my curves are actually lines" or "all my lines are actually curves" camp. Nothing wrong with that! But it is good to train yourself to get the most out of them. Blending curves and straights adds a lot of variety and visual interest to your drawings. Try staying a little looser with your pencil lines. Developing a good habit of (clean!) ghosted lines will let you find and develop your shapes without having to nail it on the first stroke. Keep it up!

@justjen

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one more attempt. `

@pug

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Another try! Still struggling and staying more in the safer zone, but a bit better overall

Marisa Del Campo

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Love these!

Ash

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cute!

@pug

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one more xD

Marisa Del Campo

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More practice. This seems like its getting harder the more I do. Must be time for a break.

@pug

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This is cool!

Marisa Del Campo

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Simple animal potraits with tge provided references. I found this exercise really useful. Its something I have to force myself to do but it helps. Excited to try on more references now.

@pug

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This is very difficult, I just can’t see shapes :c

Marisa Del Campo

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I think this is super good

mark bonaccorso

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12d

This was the hardest assignment so far I think. Didn't do the extra 5, think I will watch the demo first

Rachel Dawn Owens

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12d

Woah. Some of the chickens are wild. Great job pushing the designs. Looks like you had fun with it.

Mila Ivanova

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19d

This is my second try at sketching the hippo (turned out trickier than I thought, and it still looks a bit… inappropriate 😅). The others are my first tries.

Chuck Ludwig Reina

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17d

These look great! One fun thing to play with is to bloat out some of the shapes to give the animals an even more characteristic look, while still throwing in the nice straight lines you've added. Go wild with it, and have fun.

zeynep sezgin

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20d

Level 2

zeynep sezgin

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20d

Level 1

@jonliebers

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21d

Not sure if this is the idea?

Rachel Dawn Owens

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18d

Yeah, it looks like you’re starting to get the idea. Especially on the bear. Keep drawing more of these. Your shapes are simple and easy to read. Maybe add more straight lines to give your drawing more structure. You have a lot of circle shapes on the bear. Try balancing it out with some straight too. I added a couple straight lines to the bears arms just the show you what I mean. You can push the shapes way more.

Catssius

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21d

Initially started mostly with closer to observation for the provided portraits... buuuuut since I've always been horrible at keeping it simple I tried with the later portraits to get something better to... some avail. All I know is that I see Aaron Blaise in future lessons so "Mr. Blaise... save me" Small thing, if anyone has an answer to save me from overthinking myself. What exactly is the differences between "Shape" and "Form"? I feel like I've heard them be used to refer to 2D and 3D respectively but at times there is a lot of overlap when I hear those terms that's making me overthink things

@justjen

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That is one bad-a** rooster! These are great!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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18d

Wow, these are really lovely drawings! I can tell you’re thinking about 3d form a lot. These drawings have a lot of depth. You gave these animals a lot of character too. If you wanted to simplify things more, try counting your shapes. No details, no fur, no feathers. Just simple shapes. Form is more of a 3d idea and shape is more of a flat idea. Both words can be used interchangeably at times. Try not to overthink it too much. I like your drawings. Keep it up!

Lily A

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24d

This was a new experience for me—trying to draw animals! I struggled a bit with the hippo, but overall it was a really fun assignment.

Alison Shelton

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24d

You did a really good job picking out the core shapes. I like how you used a different color for the basic shapes and your simplified drawing.

Alison Shelton

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25d

I’m not sure l did this right. Also my hippo looks like a tiger. Off to watch the demo.

Alison Shelton

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24d

I learned a lot from this assignment. I borrowed a picture of my friend’s cat so I made her a chat sticker to use in her game as a thank you.

Alison Shelton

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24d

I think I finally have the hang of this. .

Alison Shelton

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24d

Post demo in procreate. Trying to keep it to 10 shapes while looking like a red panda was challenging.

Jonathan Fisk

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25d

This was fun! The buffalo and hippo were definitely more difficult for me conceptually for reducing complexity into simple shapes. I think it's partly because I get too hung up on the underlying structure (like the jaw and nasal cavity of the buffalo) rather than just letting myself see it as a tapered rectangular prism. This is definitely something I want to practice regularly, especially to eventually move to level 2 and work on expressive shape language.