Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8933 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.

Sarah
3h
Hello. I am excited to learn about the technical aspects of drawing. I took all the art classes when I was in high school, decades ago, but have not done much since. I chose the pear option 3 to make sure that I was not just doing exactly as he said in his demo. I did attempt the project once before the demo and once after. Overall I struggled with shading the correct values and drawing what my eye saw.
Will B
8h
First submission: A Group of Pears. My first attempt (by itself) done prior to the demo, and my 2nd, 3rd and 4th attempts (grouped together) after watching the demo. 1, 2 & 3 are in pencil and 4 is in markers, just to give them a try. What I learned: 1) My tendency is to go very light in saturation (or whatever the pencil version of saturation is.) I really had to push in the 2nd and 3rd to get the dark-darks, which really helped get a nice contrast across the image. 2) It's really hard to to decide where the splits between each section would be. I found myself disregarding the reference, and just going with my gut. Not sure if that's better or worse, but I did clock it. 3) The practice was worth it. I wasn't super excited to keep drawing pears, but I can say I feel the most satisfied with the 3rd pencil version. 4) Working with the markers was fine. It was nice to not have to shade over and over again like with the pencils, but I was working with a pretty limited set of pens that didn't really match the gradations of the reference where I was choosing the value splits. Also, not really the right paper.
Ejiro Montoya
Sekar Bhavani
Hi All, here is my first attempt at drawing a pear and the Level 2 Portrair. Would appreciate any feedback. Thx Sekar
Camille Varner Kolafa
Hey Sekar, great job on your pear, it is clear you were prioritizing the shapes and edges! I think you lost that a bit in the portrait. It looks like you were keeping straight lines for the edges in mind for the major outer edges of the person, like with their hair, face, and shirt. But your values lose the edge definition, particularly in the face. On your next attempt, try really focusing on finding the edges of your different values before you fill them in! It might also help to make a key of each of your 5 values. Don't be afraid to get darker with your darkest value! They are close together so really push the darkest!
Alberto
1d
After the pear, I have tried with the portrait. If you want, give me your feedback, I really appreciate It! Thanks
@kimzu
1d
This took a while, I got fairly sloppy towards the end. Definitely botched up the ear. Also I struggle with the shadows - dark and light, gets difficult to discern at times. Can't wait to see the demo now.
Camille Varner Kolafa
Good work so far! To help you with discerning the values, I highly recommend trying out Proko's value study tool! I would suggest bringing the darkest value you have there in the face also into the hair, neck, and a bit of the shirt! https://www.proko.com/values
Motor Celery
pear 1 attempt
@frat14
1d
Hi, i join today. This Is my First attempt of the pear
Andrew Renick
Excited to be drawing again!
Maddie Gray
Here is my pear attempt!
mashid m
2d
hey, here's my first attempt of the pear!
Camille Varner Kolafa
Hi Mashid, great job on your first attempt! Here's what I would suggest to improve on your next attempt: You did a good job with the proportion and values, but you didn't seem to prioritize shapes and edges. When you start your drawing, just use straight lines. Don't jump into shading just yet, instead draw the edges of the values you see with straight lines too. Once you've established all the shapes you see, it will be easier to lay your values where they go. I might even suggest using Proko's Value Study tool as well!
Kellie Thompson
This is my first attempt of the pear. It's not blocky like the instructers-I may attempt this again.
Camille Varner Kolafa
Your pear looks great! I think you still did a good job of focusing on shapes and edges. On your next attempt, try to keep aalll of your edges straight and sharp! Your lines on the outer edge of the pear, stem and some values have some curves going on :)
@helenadraws
Hello everyone, I joined yesterday, so I am building a momentum. I'd appreciate any feedback. Also looking for a fellow student for mutual support on our way. Now, I didn't mean for the drawing to be so polygonal, but I kinda love it (despite all the mistakes lol). Etchings are coming from my practice of Guptill's Rendering in Pen and Ink (that's how I relized that I could reinforce my drawing before inking, and that's why I am here) Looking forawrd to hearing from you!
Siobhan
2d
This is great! Nice work. I joined a few days ago. Feeling like crap, especially seeing everyone else’s work. But I am here, to give myself permission to be bad, so that I can get better :)
Omar Williams
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to upload these, but in the spirit of this being a "class", I'm going to anyway. Here are my attempts at pear 1 (2nd image) and pear 2 (1st image).
@wbjoseph
Pear 1 and 2 before watching demo
Seb
4d
Pear 1 without watching demo and critique, pear 2 having watched them. I think I have to work on differentiating dark and light half tones, plus sharpening my pencils! Any critique is welcome
Martha Muniz
Hey there! This is a great start -- I would recommend starting out a bit more on the lighter side when adding in grey tones. Try what is currently your 2nd lightest value as the middle value instead, replacing the 2nd lightest value with a tone that is about halfway between the current tone and pure white. That will help spread your values more evenly, let me know if you have any questions :)
Misa
4d
Here's my attempt to shading the Pear. Any feedback is welcome thank you.
@kimzu
4d
My first attempt at the Pear...
Martha Muniz
Pretty good! It's good to sketch out the borders for your value groups, though I would recommend to do so with lighter pressure, so they don't appear visible after you place in your shading. I would also recommend darkening your 2nd darkest grey just a touch, so it's more evenly distributed between its neighboring tones and not too similar to the middle grey. But good job overall, keep up the good work :)
Nathan Renard
Went for the third pear on my attempt, had an issue figuring out how dark or light some of the pens could go while shading, but for a first attempt ever at drawing with a pencil, I think it turned out okay?
jay c
5d
i made an earlier post for the level 2 assignment with the provided image. this time i used my own reference. any feedback is appreciated
Patrick Bosworth
Very cool reference, and I like your study, graet shape design! I think you can be a more even even with your values, especially in the dark frame around the face. Some of the darkest dark framing the face is uneven. If you take another pass to darken your darkest value a bit more the overall frame of black around the face will focus the attention toward the features.
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