Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation

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Project - Simplify from Observation

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Mark as Completed
Course In Progress

Project - Simplify from Observation

10K
Mark as Completed
Course In Progress

Use the reference photos in the downloads tab or go find your own reference and start drawing! Remember, this project is all about simplifying to clarify.

Make sure to keep these 3 things in mind:

Shapes - Draw your shapes with straight lines
Values - Use only 5 values. 2 in the shadow and 3 in the lights
Edges - Make every single edge sharp!

I'll publish my drawing demos of both levels next Tuesday so you can watch me go through the problem solving process. For a chance to be included in the critique videos, you must submit your drawing to the community by January 26th, so I can begin filming and producing the critique video.

Post assignments to get feedback from the community
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cprimm35
Any suggestions for improvement?
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Memori 0
hi, I would say the values are pretty good, but it comes pretty close together between the lights and the shadows. Try to make the seperation in shadow/light values a bit more noticeable. The values you put down are not consistent, for the halftone for example. Try to make it one consistent value, where you fill up the shape evenly and with one tone. Also I noticed that maybe your proportions are a bit off, but it doesn't matter, because this still reads like a pear. The shadow on the other hand, is facing the wrong direction. If you used the reference photo from the project, the shadow should be going to the top left instead of the bottom left. Based on the highlights you put, this should be the case.
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brandogriank
I did a mango but I don’t get the shadowing part
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Tuija Kuismin
Your shadows are very smooth. Everything in this drawing is soft and drawn with curved lines, save for the hard, dark outlines covering a major part of the fruit and at the edge of the shadow under it. There's a thin stripe of light between the fruit and the shadow under it, and this makes it kind of look like the mango is floating in the air. You could try this again so that you only use straight lines for every shape. Imagine every shadow shape as a block, and don't smudge the edge between different values. My first experience with this assignment was that I was unbelieving I could draw a round object with straight lines, and that having a big contrast between values without smoothing any edges would end up looking like some odd, abstract puddle. But I tried it, and it worked. I recommend you try it, too, use only straight lines and only sharp edges, as it might be helpful. Have fun and enjoy exploring. And by the way, I think your smooth shading style looks absolutely beautiful :).
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Daniel
Just realized there's an assignmets tab.
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Audrey S
This is not a bad start. If you were to focus on one thing to improve, I would say you should work on distinguishing your values a little more. On the face, it's hard to distinguish lighter shadow values from darkest half tone from lightest halftone. I would split the drawing into light and shadow first and then find darker areas in each, taking care to keep the lightest shadow darker than the darkest light.
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florianp
I tried the level 2. I find it harder to identify the correct light values compared to the shadow values.
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Audrey S
Great job with the blocks of shading. You've also managed to keep your edges simple. Like you mentioned, I would make sure that you halftones are lighter than your shadow family. In a lot of other videos, Stan mentions "Your darkest lights are lighter than your lightest shadows". It may help for you to start with two tones -> what is in light and what is in shadow, and then in each family try to find the darker and lighter areas.
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Łukasz Głaz
My frist attempts
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Wade Barry
I’m a bit behind, haha, but thought I’d post anyway. Most done before the demo video. First pear was a bit quick; still getting used to “shading” with a pencil digitally, hence the “smudging” in the other two. Better in the portrait, but the first was still a bit quicker/cross-hatchy, and there is probably an extra value so could have been a bit more simplified as I got a bit carried away with marking out the shapes too, but which also made me realize some proportions were off. Second was reshaded after the demo video, which took more time to try make smooth. Changed some of the shapes in the cheek that were kind of missing (?) from the first in trying to keep subtle differences simplified. All Done in Procreate. Want to do in pencil and paper too, so will post those soon. Thanks for looking!
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Audrey S
These are pretty nice! In digital, you may be able to use just a hard edge brush to get around the shading portion of digital. I've found that with digital, it's not very translatable from a mechanics perspective to pencil and paper, which is why I prefer to use a hard brush on digital and a pencil and paper when I want to do more shading stuff Keep at it!
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Eric Navarrette
Here is my pear!
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Eric Navarrette
Just meant to post this first demo. Didn't mean to mark it for help!
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noproblemnigel2
Came back to this to try the level 2. Haven't watched the demo yet.
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pasha
My attempt of level 2 portrait before seeing demo. I wanted really badly to use more values :) I wasn't sure where to place some planes, also ear and eyes are challenging. I could go little bit darker because the highlights are berely visible. Feel free to leave some critique. Looking forward to see demo.
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Hilde
How do we avoid overlapping when filling in the value shape?
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Ray Zamora
Finally got around to finishing my pear. Been adulting and have not been prioritizing my classes, but alas I have finished my pear. Please I am so willing to hear criticism and use it to improve!
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Ray Zamora
After watching the demo I was able to see that some of my values are too similar. I could have benefited from using different softness pencils to easily get my darker tones. Some of my shadow form lines are darker than the shadow they encompass. Using a kneaded eraser in the future to pull back unwanted dark areas.
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Francesca Puccio
Playing catch up on assignments since I recently signed up.
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janoot
Hey all! So I've done a couple of pears. I did the levels 1, 2 and 3 pears before the demo. Another level 1 pear during the demo, a level 2 pear after the demo and a level 3 pear after the critique video. I think the last level 3 pear is the culmination of the progress I've made so far. I'd love to know what you guys think and any feedback you may have! I'll post pears of each level side by side for comparison. Thank you!
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Ivan Dagès
Hello, here are my attempts for level 1 & 2
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lstone23
Here is my attempt at the pear. Any feedback is helpful
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George Rabbitearl
Here are my attemps with the pear. I make different iterations to learn more of the object details
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Britini Robinson
Hello Everyone! Attached below I did a sketch of the pears 1 & 2 image. I have thick straight lines from trying to hold my pencil overhand, and then I went in with the tripod way of holding the pencil to define my straight lines. I tried to follow the directions by keeping it as simple as possible and really break down the shape of the pear. It was challenging to try and not just copy the image, and I'm pretty stoked about the results. I'm a beginner in drawing and I would really appreciate any feedback. Thank You so Much in Advance!
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confidentlines
Tried Level 2 for the first time and Level 1 after 3 tries and watching the critique. Would appreciate any feedback
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Peter Bessman
My level one exercise
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confidentlines
looks solid, but i would avoid outlining the shapes
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pasha
Pears before seeing demo.
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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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