Project - Simplify from Observation

38K
Course In Progress

Project - Simplify from Observation

38K
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, 2023, so I can begin filming and producing the critique video.

Newest
Lee Roach
First stab at the opening project. Would love some critique.
@andresarte2025
Hi. I know that I made some errors, but i’m really happy that I can finally start the course.
Marcus Kruse
And it looks like a good start.
Danny
1d
Ive been drawing for a year and a half. Ive almost only used a .5 mechanical pencil and pens. Shading with wood pencils is emotionally painful to me. Lol. So I guess I know what I need to work on.
Nicholas Oshiotse
Here is my second attempt at simplifying the pear! - I feel I could have done a better job with my lighter tone shading to really emphasize the highlight, so I think I'll try the practice Proko recommended - I also don't feel confident in how I portrayed the pear's shape. It doesn't have that "round" feeling or satisfying depth - Sadly, I also ran out of time to add my third light tone :/ Critiques are appreciated!
Dan Lee
1d
I think you did a great job at capturing the overall shape of the pear and you also noticed that it didn't have the "curve/roundness" which was great! My suggestion is to make it even more diverse in terms of shading by adding more mid-tone into it (on your pearl I can only see 2-3 values, which isn't ideal enough to express the desired result). You can try to darken the border between the light and dark, but not as dark as the shadow on the pear. Hope this help
Alain Martens
Here's my first attempt to the portrait. I appreciate any feedback.
Tony Reza
I did project 1 and 2 again to see difference. I shouldn’t have too much details on the first one which I forgot about :/ any thoughts?
@soulfulyeet
I did the pear thingy! Shading values definitely give it a lot more dimension but I definitely need some practice with getting more defined values I think. Used an HB pencil.
@xolotl1973
Slightly confused in a couple places about whether a dark splotch was shadow or texture. Fun to do!
Chance Hilton
First attempt level 1 pear. Had fun. Critiques are very welcome.
Rachel Dawn Owens
The style is really cool and I like the sketchiness! Solidify your shading more. Maybe use a wider pencil stroke. This will make your drawing even better.
@mantra02228
This is my First Attempt level-1
Jhamb
3d
Level 2 - Attempt 1 & 2. Refined proportions and cleaner shapes in v2. Let me know what you think.
Rachel Dawn Owens
The second one is perfect! Strong graphic design work there.
@flebeux
3d
Hello, after the pear, here is my first two portraits of my life XD, hard ! With only 5 values: 2 in the shadow and 3 in the lights. I'm going to watch demos now.
Rachel Dawn Owens
Thanks for sharing! A bunch of improvement already. Here’s a demo I made for other students that might be helpful here too. I like how you concentrated the darks on the second attempt. Making the eye the darkest element, while everything else is light around it, makes it way more interesting than what I did. Keep making interesting choices like that! Good stuff 👍
mugen
4d
I had a hard time seeing different values within the dark side and the light side of the pear, so I decided to just come up with what parts were darker. critiques are welcome
Melanie Scearce
You did a good job designing your shapes here even though you struggled 👍 The only thing I would advise is to be careful about outlining the highlight shapes. You want to try to use the edge of the darker value to define the shape instead of a dark line. It's good practice in pencil dexterity. Otherwise, looks great!
@rhyme
4d
Been feeling stuck with my art so I decided to go back to the fundamentals. As someone that uses pens mostly this was a challenge using pencils. Please let me know what you think I can improve on. :)
Jeffrey Cahhal
Until now I have mostly been learning Pen and Ink, so trying to change from pen hatching and other stroke types to pencil shading is a challenge for me. I hope this course will help me overcome that and become a better all around sketcher regardless of the medium and tools.
Alain Martens
Hi all! Alain here from the Netherlands. Just finished the pear assignment which I thought was a great first exercise. The one with the darker outline is before Stan's demo. (The other one is after). Applying the values was harder than I thought. Personally I like the shape of the 'before demo' one better. Curious about your thoughts. Thx
Jeremy Fernando
Here is my pear. I have a long way to go but if i have to identify my mistakes or things i could improve on, i would say identifying the edges more and shapes i think and the values.
Evander G.
honestly I often have difficulty getting the exact facial proportions from the reference right when drawing traditionally ^^;
@wes
7d
I’m not convinced by this second darkest value, it’s almost ended up as a 4 values drawing.
Martha Muniz
I think you can incorporate the 2nd darkest value, and even the darkest value, into the pear itself rather than containing them to the cast shadow. If you use those values for the dark side of the pear, the remaining three light values can be used to add more information and dimension to the light side of the pear. Also, try starting your grey values even lighter, as it seems like the value scale skews dark pretty quickly, compressing the range you are working in, which can give the effect that there are less values than you actually have. Otherwise, I think you did a great job simplifying the shapes and keeping accurate proportions. Keep going!
Emm Rdgz
7d
Martha Muniz
I would recommend starting your 2nd lightest value even lighter, so there's more of a gradual progression in the value scale and it doesn't get too dark too quickly. Also, I like that you have the line separating the areas of shadow and light on the pear as this is an important division, though keep in mind that this is still a real plane on the pear so it will show up like a thicker value group shape rather than just a thin line. I think you definitely succeeded in adding dimension with the portrait, so really nice job, keep going! :)
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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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