Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
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Vance Viggiano
When you can't decide on Level 1 or Level 2. I thought it might be fun to try it on gray paper. Everyone's work is inspiring! Happy to be learning with you all!
LESSON NOTES

Alright guys, let's jump into the deep end and see how you do! I feel like we've been talking a lot and not drawing enough. So, before we move on to learning about Lines, I want to give you an opportunity to spend some time doing a simplified drawing. You’re going to draw a pear or portrait if you’re doing the level 2 project. I know… A fruit isn’t the most exciting thing to draw, but it’s going to allow you to focus on the process I’m going to show you, instead of being distracted by a difficult subject matter.

This will let us see where you're at with your skills. It’s totally fine if you're at zero. Kind of expected actually. But, you'll identify right away what you struggle with. And you’ll be introduced to a lot of the skills that you’ll be working on improving in this course.

You can draw from the photos I provided in the downloads tab, or find your own fruit and draw from life. Pick a fruit that has an interesting shape you like. Put the fruit on your desk and shine a light on it. Move the light around until you like the balance of light and dark shapes. 

If you don’t want to draw the photo I provided, or you want to do more than one, feel free to find your own photo. Just make sure you choose a photo with a strong single light source that creates a clear separation of lights and shadows. Many moons ago I wrote a blog post about good photo reference.

Make sure you take a photo of it from your point of view, so you can include it when posting your drawing in the community. If you want to be critiqued by me or others in the community, we'll need to see what you were drawing. 

Join us in the premium course to get access to this lesson, full lesson notes, assignments, demonstrations and critiques!

DOWNLOADS
jpeg
level-1-pear-1.jpg
2 MB
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level-1-pear-2.jpg
2 MB
jpeg
level-1-pear-3.jpg
2 MB
jpeg
level-2-portrait.jpg
1 MB
mp4
project-simplify-from-observation.mp4
183 MB
txt
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
txt
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-spanish.txt
6 kB
file
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-english.srt
9 kB
file
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-spanish.srt
8 kB
ASSIGNMENTS

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
@confusedscribbler326
This is my first attempt before the demo video. I am a beginner and am looking for any and all feedback. This was done with a mechanical pencil. Thank you !
@duaje
3h
Was having trouble getting as dark as I wanted with my pencil and tried some ink - not my favorite. Was way outside my comfort zone but thought I’d give it a try
@duaje
2h
Post demo
@ecksno
7h
Here is my first attempt. Sorry I slightly broke the rules and used 3 shades in the shadow. I don't understand what the dark ring around the border is (between the light and shadow on the pear)...
Melanie Scearce
That dark shape represents the part of the pear that receives the least amount of light. The technical term is core shadow. If you study the shadow in the reference image, you'll see that on the edge of the left contour of the pear, there's an illumination -- this is from the reflected light bouncing off of the ground behind the pear. The core shadow doesn't receive any reflected light, or any direct light, making it the darkest value on the pear. Your pear looks great, nice work!
@duaje
8h
Attempt number 2! :)
@duaje
8h
After watching the problem solving video
@cjroka
9h
The left one was my first attempt before watching the video, and the right one is my second attempt a couple days later after watching it
Melanie Scearce
Nice improvement, you did a great job organizing your light and dark values to indicate the light source in your second drawing!
@accipio
10h
First attempt as a complete beginner, all tips are very welcome. Only used a basic HB.
@tnhnyg
16h
First attempt. This sketch book's texture was rough for me to make the contrast more visible but it was fun. I will try it on a print paper next time with improvements.
@goncalves
16h
Hello, this is my first attempt at drawing
@sasha_washa_25
So I tried to do pears. I did all three of them, but croissant was the first drawing( I found reference online) I am still going to do portrait just because I want to try it, I just kept forgetting to do it, so submitting these for now for the feedback. I looked over others’ work and critics of them, and I feel like I didn’t do it quite correctly, but anyway I’m open for feedback. Thank youuuuu, and I appreciate anyone who has something to say about it! Also others’ work is so good, good job everyone(whoever will see this lmao)
@sasha_washa_25
AAAAAAAA I FORGOT THE CROISSANT ITSELF, anyhow here it is. Also, I’d like to post in my profile, my gesture drawings I did today, and if someone ever sees them, please give a good feedback, I beg you stranger(: anyhow, anyhow, take care everyone!
Henar PS
1d
Here is my pear after many years without drawing, during which connecting with my creativity caused me a lot of anxiety :) I’m open to any suggestions for improvement. Thank you, and good night from Spain :)
@fiftysento
Had a go at the portrait after completing the pear.
Melanie Scearce
Very nice! You organized your values well 👍
Vincent GIL
Hi everybody ! First drawing since 25 years. What's make me happy it's that i have a lot to learn.
Panga Moise
First attempt, I tried to finish asap since we don't have to bring maximum glaze for today lol
@beezyo
2d
Third and final pear. Feels like out of the three, this came out as the worst one especially for proportion and shading.
@fiftysento
My attempt at pear 2.
Elena Didenko
Attempt on paper. So hard to keep the tones even!!!
@elizaqp
3d
Primeros intentos :D
@bmurphy
3d
My first attempt! I know it is rough, but honestly, I am pretty proud of it.
Rachel Dawn Owens
You should be proud of it! This is a fine drawing! Thanks for sharing!
@beezyo
3d
Here's Pear #2 after watching the demo. Compared to the first one I think it's proportioned better. I think I messed up some if not all the values again. Another thing, I think I could've also rounded up some parts. But I am liking this one more than the first pear
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Looks pretty good! Don't get too hard on yourself. One thing I find really helps is to draw my little 5 value scale next to the drawing and use that as a value reference. Another thing is to keep it simple! You have a few small little changes in value. Don't be afraid to groups those together. Again, looking good. Keep it up!
@underthecarpet
Tried to do in Procreate on a midlevel canvas. I struggled with the lighter tones, I’m more used to darken a white canvas. The values are a bit off as well and could have used more time, but here we go :)
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