Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

43K

Course In Progress

Assignments 7KLesson NotesDownloads 9

Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

43K

Course In Progress

Assignments 7KLesson 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.

@odditymachine

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22h

My two tries at this. I know I have issues with values. But I'll keep working at it.

Martha Muniz

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12h

Looks pretty good overall! I like the value groups and shapes you've simplified down to and the shading itself looks consistent, so great work! The only thing I would suggest is to darken the 2nd darkest value just a little bit, as there seems to be a larger difference from that step to the darkest value, so adding some quick shading will even it out.

Jay Heich

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My first pear :) i had trouble getting the mid tones right.

@amberstarr

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First attempt- pre-demo. I am going to watch demo and attempt again tomorrow, but I am pretty happy with my first attempt considering. Any feedback or recommendations before jumping into the demo and 2nd attempt is welcome :-)

David Blundred

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Had a go at using the five values on this sculpture picture, think my darks needed to be darker though and it was a complicated image to do.

Chuck Ludwig Reina

•

A really nice drawing! This is a tricky references. I think a lot more of it is in shadow than one immediately realizes.. It can also be hard when using pencil to get SUPER darks like this. That is where charcoal starts to shine. I think you'd be safe to make the whole back of the head pretty darn dark, where it is almost blending into the background. But again, nice drawing! Keep it up.

@lukem

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Attempt#1 at simplification.

Noah

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Little ones were before watching the example, big one during. Any tips or help would be awesome!

Chuck Ludwig Reina

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Nice pears Noah. On think that I really find helpful in these exercises is to go a little slower, and really map out the shapes I'm going to use. Their edges should be clear. Then I will draw a value scale. In the case of these pears, I would probably have 2 shadow values, and 3 lit/halftone values. Once that is done, It's almost a paint by numbers, and I go and fill in the shapes i made in the mapping phase. As you get more advanced, having that backbone of value will let you play with edge and render really easily. Hope that helps. Keep it up!

@aymyrat

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Here is my attempt

Noah

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I believe you can use up to 5 values, that will help it look more 3D, good shape!

Cody Johnson

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I went back and cleaned up my original pear drawing in photoshop after watching the demo and critique and I'm pretty happy with how it came out

Martha Muniz

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12h

Great job diving into it and then revising your work! You definitely learn a lot more that way, and it puts into practice the ability to correct yourself which is invaluable as an artist. The final drawing looks great!

@shady_greyhound

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Absolute beginner here. I tried my luck with pear 3 to not accidentally start copying the instructors work. Before and after demo. After the demo I tried to go a little darker in the shadows. Did struggle quite a bit with the proportions and angles (still looks off to me).

Chuck Ludwig Reina

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Good work with these. I see a big improvement on your after demo pear. It's an important lesson. We often are hesitant to go dark, but it really makes it pop.

Wieke Pierhagen

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These were done with the demo, quite a difference!!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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Wow! These are flawless

Wieke Pierhagen

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And the pear assignment. Both are done before watching the demo (going to do that after posting these), so I am very curious what I will learn and how the assignments would be after watching the demo's!

Wieke Pierhagen

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My first assignment, done with 2B pencil. My focus was on the sharp edges and values; I tend to make soft edges and use way more values, so this was new! Critiques are welcome ;-) PS: Seriously happy that I found Proko!!!! I don't have good drawing classes where I live, so this is really helpful!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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You’ve got the right idea. You’re doing a good job shaping the values around the forms. Avoid to avoid the spotty shadow shapes. Find way to design the shadow shapes to fit together more. You want all the shape to fit together like a puzzle. Overall, it looks great. Excited to see more!

@ikaykov88

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First attempt at the pear

Rachel Dawn Owens

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It’s a lovely pear drawing. Don’t be afraid to go darker on the shadow values.

@jackctater01

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My Pear

Rachel Dawn Owens

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Watch out for the spotty values. Ignore the surface detail and design the shapes of value around the light source. Planes facing away from the light, get darker. That’s it. This is a great start. Your shading across the larger shapes looks very smooth.

Yan Grd

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This is my 4th attempt. I try to draw bigger (on a bigger paper) and i think is little bit better now. I can go deeper in the detail and design the shape with more precision. I tend to want to go too far into realism. I still need to work on that for this exercise.

Laika

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Here is my second attempt with pear 2 after watching the demo

Rachel Dawn Owens

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This is a great start! Thanks for sharing. Watch out placing spotty midtones. The highlights are ok where they are, but the darker midtone would be more useful if you shaped it differently. You followed the rule of the assignment perfectly. There’s a clear hierarchy of 5 values here and only straight line here. Here’s a draw over to help further explain. As well was some other various demos Ive made regarding this assignment for other students.

@hichem

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Hi there , here is my first attempt after watching the demo. Your feedback is more than welcome 😀

Rachel Dawn Owens

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This is a very good pear. Your shapes are so clear and evenly shaded. The middle value is pretty close to the shadow value. I might lighten it up to match the light values more. Its only a slight adjustment. You did great!

Alannah Howlett

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These are my attempts at simplifying from observation in chronological order. Critique is welcomed.

David Blundred

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Pear pose number 3 😀

Melanie Scearce

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Looking good!

Amatullah Jamali

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So here i have tried sketching the portrait version before watching the demo , have tried to apply the principles learned from watching the demo of pear observation , i am not that affluent with portatits so have given my best shot. Would appreciate feedback on how i can improve myself .

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About instructor

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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.