Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

38K

Course In Progress

Assignments 6.6KLesson NotesDownloads 9

Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

38K

Course In Progress

Assignments 6.6KLesson NotesDownloads 9

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.

Percy Silva

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This is my second attempt at this drawing. I’d really appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improvement.

Lukas

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My attempt at simplifying the pear. I should probably not have used the side of my pencils so much, seeing as to how rough the paper appears to be. I also must admit that I forgot about the shadow on the table(?) and added it in after watching the demo because not having it there was really bugging me. I realized that I didn’t do the “core shadow” thing, but looking at the third reference I am really struggling to see it, even after being told about it. Maybe someone can tell me if I’m just not seeing it or if it doesn't exist in this image? All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated! 😊

@dustyp

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Finally finished the first assignment.The 1st photo was before watching the demo video.The 2nd photo was after watching the demo. My pencil sharpener wasn’t working so well. So I kinda struggled with shading here. The 3rd & 4th photo was after watching the critique video. I think that helped me click certain concepts together.

@0rchard

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Definitely struggled with the values but overall pretty happy with how it turned out! Would love feedback if anyone has any thoughts

@doramarin

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Did the portrait two times, first with pencil, totally forgot to simplify and use hard edges. Also i am not used to shading with pencil so i kept getting frustrated at my sloppy shading. I had to do it again and get it right, so i just traced my original drawing and i did the second one in clip studio paint

Robert Starr

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I've got thick skin and just want to improve. Any and all feedback is welcome. Drawn using Procreate on my iPad

Robert Starr

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Picked up some pencils and tried again after watching the demo (also realized I accidentally used 6 values in the digital version --- oops!)

Percy Silva

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I recently completed this drawing from the Proko Drawing Basics course. I’m open to any feedback or critique — feel free to be honest, I’m here to learn.

Rachel Dawn Owens

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You did great! The drawing is solid and the shading is smooth. You could push the darker values further. Don’t be afraid to add a big shadow shape. This will make the pear stand out from the background more. Excited to see more. Keep it up!

Paul Meier

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Here’s mine and my son’s sketches! We had fun making them!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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I love this! Keep drawing with your kid!!

Carlos Javier Roo Soto

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Finally!!! Here's my first try to the 1st assignment along side a drawing that I would redo when I reach the end of my sketchbook to see how much progress I made. Based on the drawing and the my assignment work, what do you see needs work? Do you think I should not use the grayscale filter for my drawings?

Melanie Scearce

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I love your idea to make a splash page for this course and to redraw it at the end! That's awesome. Great first assignment 👍 Good luck with the rest of the course. The greyscale filter is fine as long at it's not changing the values. I'm wondering if it's lightening the darker values? If not, you could work on increasing your value range by making those darker values a bit darker, closer to black for your darkest value. Overall awesome work!

@pink_mamba_vip

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Picking the values for the pear was a bit difficult, but I'm happy on how it turned out. Any advice would be appreciated.

Matt Tillett

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Just had a go at the pear

JoshuaZXL

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Tried to do it during lunch break

@couyboy

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A little late to the party but here is my initial pear and one done while Stan was doing his, definitely have some things to work on!

Melanie Scearce

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Nice improvement between your two pears, and great notes! You're on the right track 👍

@bw10

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I accidentally forgot to use 5 values and ended up using 4, but I think the result looks alright. Good luck everyone!

@chloethefaye

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Hello! Just started the course last week. I did the pear, then attempted another subject to solidify the concept. Any feedback is greatly appreciated :)

Milica Gavrić

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Nice work! It looks really great!

Paul Akande

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Looks great

Adam Casadevall

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Kind of struggled to keep it just to 5 values. I think the point on my pencils were a bit too sharp so the shading seems a bit choppy in some spots. It's been a while since ive done any drawing. Looking forward to more lessons!

@gabominable

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Trying digital.

Milica Gavrić

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Hello everyone! I'm new to the community and recently started the Drawing Basics course. I have to say the course is amazing, and this community is a real treasure. In this post, I'm sharing my first three attempts at drawing a pear based on the reference material provided, as well as three more attempts and a portrait. Any feedback is welcome and would mean a lot to me. Thank you all in advance! :)

Clément Depature Lançon

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Hi ! I finaly decied to start this course. Here are my work on the two level projetcs. Please feel free to comment or advice :) Personally, I think I didn't manage to simplify as much as was required in the exercise.

Clément Depature Lançon

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Here's my second try :) I think I did a better job of following the exercise. I can't wait to continue!

Andrew Kovachik

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These look very very nice! You seem like you're starting with a lot of good skills already! :). But I would agree that I think you probably could have simplified the edges of the value group a bit more. There's a quote Stan says in one of his demo videos that I will plagiarize here that for a lot of the projects "we're not trying to draw a beautiful [pear], we're trying to practice skills so you can draw a beautiful anything." The quote sometimes helps to keep me focused on the purpose of the project. In this case I think you drew a very beautiful pear and very good man but failed to simplify the regions of different values. These drawings are probably "better looking" because you didn't simplify them as much but the goal for these isn't make a good looking drawing. It will probably be good to watch Stan's demo and critique video and then give these another try.

@kierasketches

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Firs attempt at the pear yesterday, haven’t watched the demo yet, but did this in a HB pencil, I need to find my other pencils but just wanted to get stuck in and have ago , will try again once I find my pencils so that I can get a better range of values. will watch the demo and draw again to see what I’ve learned. feedback is appreciated !

@kierasketches

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Second attempt, still haven’t seen the demo yet but found the correct pencils ! I need to get better at adding highlights though but looking forward to watching the demo and seeing where I can improve!

Andrew Kovachik

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This seems like a great first attempt! I can see quite well where you are trying to define the different borders of value. I think you're getting a very good dark range of values but are maybe under-utilizing the lighter end of values? For youre lightest value you could even pick using no added value and just using the white of the page. It would probably be good to see also what is the lightest value you can make with the HB pencil, currently you're lightest pencil marks on the highlights of the pear are pretty close to some of the lightest spots on the shadow of the pear. Good idea to try another after you watch the demo, that's been my strategy through the whole course as well. Give you a lot of course correction as you go!

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.