Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8670 submissions
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.

@gavinotheelf
Trying the Drawing Basics course without premium
@ducaboy
1h
First assignment.
@smmathew
11h
First assignment before I've watched the demo. I appreciate your feedback!
Matt Wilding
I just watched the demo and it looks like you and I made similar errors regarding the outer edges being too dark. Good job, though! You might want to consider letting your straight lines go a little longer in some places, particularly in the top half, where it looks a little curvy because your straight lines are so short.
Matt Wilding
First assignment, I did pear #3. Would love feedback. I used 4H, HB, 2B and 4B mechanicals, a clutch with 4B for some of the shading, an eraser, and a Canson XL 9x12 sketchpad.
Sebastian Rivera
First assignment done, I really liked the approach where you use straight lines when deconstructing the figure I feel like I got the form somewhat accurate shading could use some work though looking forward to seeing the breakdown video to learn more.
@costa
17h
This is my 2nd attempt of the pear with revisions following the demo and critique video. The portrait is the 1st attempt, after the pear but prior to watching the related demo/critique. Any thoughts on what works or doesn’t work? Thanks!
Hong Jiang
Abraham Barrera Torres
Hello ! Yes, it seems your values are organized, but maybe you can improve the design of the shapes for example in the strands of hair. Also, you can improve your use of the pencil, there are some areas that don't seem uniform. Good job !
Melanie Scearce
Your values are organized so well! Great work 👍
Hong Jiang
This was done before watching the demo. I used 3 values in the shadow, so there are only two for the light :-(
Wumi Ojo
1d
My submission for this lesson before watching the demo video is the pear sketched with a 2b pencil. The practice sketches were done with coloured pencils. Feedback is very welcome. Thank you.
@samuels
1d
I think the pears might be passable but don't think I'm ready for Level 2!
Ayu_33
2d
Before watching and after watching Please critique my drawing.
Feil Re
2d
wow that jump is insane keep it up!
Diane Scrivener
OK… Last one. Pear #3. This time, I used a variety of pencils, I turned up the brightness on my iPad, and I tried to concentrate on form by using directional lines (to the best of my ability anyway). I also tried to show form by changing the angles of the edges of my highlights so they didn’t look so flat. The values were hard. 2B and 4B felt like the same pencil, and HB felt really dark. I don’t know if this is cheating or not, but I dabbed at the HB with my kneaded eraser because it was so dark. The main color of the pear was so light that it almost blended in with my paper so this time I put a background up against it. I like the way it looks, but I wasn’t really sure where to start it and where to end it… how far down the pear to go. I do like the shadows on Pear #2 and Pear #3 the best. The shadow on Pear #1 is really high. The shadow looks like it’s trying to high-five the pear, or like it’s sliding downhill. Good practice. I enjoyed these. I think I’m going to try the portrait… LoL, yikes
Chuck Ludwig Reina
I quite like pear #3! The bold use of darks looks awesome. I also love that you drew a little guide on your sheet. That is REALLY helpful I find. One thing to train your eye for in these exercises is finding the core shadow. If you squint your eyes a little, you will see that the shadow on the pear is actually the darkest in the transition from the shadow side to the light side. Including this in your drawings and value studies will go a long way towards helping tell our eyes that something is 3d. Again, great work! Cheers.
@francescovittone
Here level 1 exercise from the photo of the video
Ash
3d
what a lovely & delicate pear!
Naseah Daniel
This is my Level 1 Submission :) The Pear on the left was before the Demo and the one on the right was after the Demo. Again I appreciate if anyone has anything to help me grow as an artist whether it’s critique , tips , tricks or notes. Thank you!
Naseah Daniel
Hellooo :) I've never taken an art class, so Proko is the first course I've ever taken. The first picture w the laptop next to it was before the Demo and the second one was after. I personally think the demo made me more anxious or maybe I didn’t completely understand so it turned out not as good as my first attempt. So I’d appreciate if anybody can critique me. Thank you!
@atlas_gladwyn
So I went back and retouched up my original attempt after getting some feedback as well as some better pencils. I also did a whole new attempt with one of the pear photos since I'd kinda fallen off and wanted to restart again from fresh.
Ben Kraske
Nice work, I hope this was a good refresh for you! You're doing a good job identifying the shapes of values, I would recommend making sure the outlines, like the highlights for example, are as light/dark as the value that surrounds them to avoid having a hard line breaking up the shapes. On your pear I also see 2 different values in the shadow which is great, but if you were to do it again, I'd suggest making sure the edges of each value are hard edges, so they are clean and distinct. Nicely done, and welcome back :)
Vic Guzman
I don’t think I did great and already see things I would change but my first attempt. One with the flash and one without.
Ben Kraske
First attempts are never perfect, but you did a great job! All I'd suggest for now is making sure the halftones on the face have sharper edges, they look a bit fuzzy here. Every new attempt will be more successful than the last as you learn what does and doesn't work. Keep it up!
@magnumexpress
First attempt at Level 2, let me know your thoughts!
Ben Kraske
Very cleanly designed value shapes, nice work!
@batmandraws
This was my first attempt ever drawing anything in my life. I did the one on the left first and then the other one. Both before watching the demo video. Let me know on what I can improve so far. Thanks!
Ash
3d
Very good, Batman! Keep drawing more stuff :)
@theartisticrock
Here's my attempt before watching the demo.
Diane Scrivener
That’s really good. Even without directional lines I can tell it has a round belly. Mine looked flat. Love it!
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