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
jpeg
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
Carolyn Keough
attempt 1 is before watching demo, and attempt 2 is after. improvement in making the 5 tones distinct. Had fun watching it come together.
Melanie Scearce
Great work! :)
@mr_rain
9h
Hi I'm a beginner, I've done both pear 1 and pear 3 with slightly different styles. I'm finding the different values thing pretty tough. It's like I draw then notice later that a shadow shouldn't have been as dark. If it's okay, may I have some advice?
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Hi there! I think you did pretty well actually. Learning to eyeball values is hard, and takes time, but you will for sure get better as you go. I honestly think if anything, don't be afraid to go darker on the shadow side! You can always try squinting your eyes when you look at the pear. That will help you see the differences more easily because it will kind of blur everything together. Keep it up!
Carolyn Keough
made an attempt at another image. trying to restart the lessons
Martha Muniz
Nicely done, great control over the values!
Yoram van Leeuwen
Lucie S
1d
Here goes!
@lwm5
1d
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Looks good! You could probably simplify those shapes a little more to get a stronger read on the shape. Nice work!
@licht24
1d
Hey guys i just started learning how to draw if any of you has any advices or just anything that can help me improve just say.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
These look terrific. One thing I would say, is to not be afraid to go darker. It's the shadow side that really makes your drawings pop off the page. But even the light side of your drawings could use a little more tone. And then the only other piece of advice is: draw lots and have fun!
Holly
1d
First attempt at the pear. I found that trying to simplify it and draw straight lines instead of curves was hard as I kept trying to copy exactly what I saw.
Charlie Forray
I did the Level 1 Pear twice and then took a long crack at the level 2. I don’t know if I’ve ever drawn a portrait I’m more proud of than this☺️
Nilas Gällström
Any feedback would be appreciated here :) Felt kinda scary to post anything like this, wanna make it a habit so that I can improve as fast as possible.
Valeria
3d
I’m a compete beginner, and I’ve always wanted to to draw faces but it always sucked, everything would be off. First time I made something that resemblance the original person
Chuck Ludwig Reina
These look great. One thing to watch when using colors for your value range (instead of just black and white), is we can often let the chroma distract us from the actual value. Good work!
@karl2019
did the three pairs. feel like they did not come out too good. any feedback would be appreciated. going to see his demo in a bit then maybe redo them. Feel like I did not capture the values correctly on the body of the pair when it came to the light values.
Roger Tinch
This is my first attempt on the portrait
Daniel Garcia
Hi, these are my two attempts, one before the review and the other after. Do you think it's possible for me to continue with the course now?
Chuck Ludwig Reina
For sure! These are looking good. One thing to watch out for is making sure to get the core shadow. It is the darker area between the shadow and light side of the form. But these are skills you will continue to develop in the course. Keep it up!
Nate Diaz
Hello! This is my first attempt at the pear. It doesn't look right to me but I'm not sure what about it is triggering that in my brain. Any advice is appreciated, thank you!
Martha Muniz
Hi there! I think you have some good proportions and shape breakdowns, so it's a great foundation. The thing I would recommend is getting darker in value quicker, so you can get more definition and range within the pear, which helps render the look of 3-dimensionality. So in the areas you have the two brightest values, try utilizing the 3 lightest values instead, and the shadows (including the shadow side on the pear instead) can be rendered with the two darkest values instead. Hope this helps :)
@ladybeth
I think I missed the point for this one. Simplifying is harder than I thought!! Gah!
Martha Muniz
Hi there! I think you picked a good reference, and captured the key areas of separation for the value shapes. I think it's a bit more difficult to tell the shades of the values apart, so focusing on the clarity can help showcase your choices better. Try pushing your range even darker for the two darkest values by adding more layers with your pencil. I would also try to keep a cleaner texture on the page, so if you find that you tend to smudge, try using a napkin or paper underneath your hand when you draw. I'm not quite sure what paper and size you are using, but it seems to add some texture as well, which could be either because you are drawing really small on the page or your paper has more grain/tooth to it, so either drawing larger or using smoother paper can help too.
Juan Campos
Hi all! I tried pear 1 a couple times before watching the demo and one last try after it. Feel free to give feedback! :)
Philip
5d
Hi all, this is already my second attempt of the pear. First time i did not follow the rules properly , so I did a second try.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Looks good! I like how you rally make the light side pop off the shadow side. Good work.
Charlie Forray
Pear 2. I almost didn’t upload it but this is where I’m at. That's not true. But thats how THIS FEEEELS. Learning to draw is Aggressively Humbling. I am very exciting to be on this journey with y'all. Finally picking up the pencil is dope.
Melanie Scearce
Nice! Thanks for sharing your drawing with us. Learning to draw is just as rewarding as it is humbling, and you're starting off strong! 💪
Keith Harrison
I've done my first straight line pear plus squares example of various pencils. Added a picture of a the pair as practice of where i am at.
Patrick Bosworth
Nice work on both pears! I like that you really simplified the straight line version as well as tried a more organic approach, it's great to see!
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