Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8989 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.

Precious
10h
attempted level 2 this was rough but i think i did okay wont keep trying to fix it
@noahmoss
22h
First one was too small, second one was bigger but less clear shapes. Lots to learn...
Precious
23h
My attempt at the pear without looking at the demo moving on to the portrait ill try to attempt that but i think ill work on that tomorrow
@tinellie
Smaller one was before demo. Bigger one was after the demo and more simplified
Isaiah Ross
Tried two attempts. Didn't have very good edges in the left one, I think the right one is better
David Gits
Didn't use straight lines in the first one, so I tried again.
Camille Varner Kolafa
Definitely seeing some improvement in the 2nd attempt! I only see about 3 values in your drawing, though. Try to get 5 in there! Putting a value scale somewhere on your page will help a lot. I also suggest trying to break down the different values you see into shapes (with sharp straight edges only) a bit more in the darkest areas!
@rods2292
My attempted. Used pencils for it. Any feedback?
Melanie Scearce
This is a great pear shape! Your darker value shapes are well designed. Not sure if it's the lighting in the image, but the lighter value shapes are a bit difficult to make out, a little on the light side. It's more difficult to control those lighter values, but maybe darkening them just a touch might help with legibility. Overall, really nice job!
Jay Grant
Before demo.
Charlie Wong
Before and after demo 🫰
Ben Kraske
Nice work on these, the shapes are fantastic! I'd see if you could build up those shadows so they're just a bit darker! Shade in light layers to build up the pigment on your page and see how that contrast builds between the light and shadow! :)
Charlie Wong
Pear-2 & pear-3, pear-2 drawing in office so HB only
Jerome Tan
Added on the background after going through the critique video.
@frat14
6d
I also tried level 2.
@juliapicturebooks
I decided to try level 2 as well. thanks again :)
Camille Varner Kolafa
It looks like you lost a little bit of what you had going on in your pear, which had really strong shapes! Make sure you're keeping those shapes solid in the portrait too! In your portrait, some areas of value are without solid shapes, like the left side collar for example. I think most of your values here are also too similar. The hair is the darkest value in the photo, but that doesn't translate as well in your drawing. I would suggest keeping your shading lines closer together to help with that. It also can help to start with breaking down the darkest value shapes, and from there finding the next values, eventually making your way to the lightest.
@juliapicturebooks
Hi :) I'm not sure I used three values in the light. I'll check out the demo now. Thanks for having a look :)
Camille Varner Kolafa
I see what you mean, I think your values could use one more shade, something in between the 2nd lightest and the 1st dark, a midtone. Try making a light-to-dark scale if you haven't already, it will help establish what your 5 values will be and you can refer back to it. It might help if you go darker with the darkest, and a little darker with the 1st dark. That should help your eyes to see how dark/light the midtone you're missing needs to be.
@creachur1
i've moved on from it now but figured i would post my few attempts... i feel like it was a bit tricky for me to try and have decent outlines for the lighter values, but am mostly happy :) it was easier with more pencils for sure...
Melanie Scearce
The lighter values are more difficult to control for sure. It helps to do a little 5 value scale in the corner somewhere on the page to get a bit of practice in, and that serves as a palette to 'color' pick from when you do the exercise. These are great pears!
Camille Varner Kolafa
Decided to try my hand at this. I work so detailed and rarely simplify things, so it was a challenge. I found myself wanting to break down every single plane and value I could see, but I tried not to go overboard with too many!
Hareesh Gounder
The three pears before and after watching the demo and critique video. Its insane how much of a difference it makes but i think i still struggled with even shading especially of the shadows
Yasmeen Nabeel
i think im a level 1 but i attempted 2 but the values got a bit lost this is before the demo
@owo
7d
First attempt.
Ash
4d
Nice!
Camille Varner Kolafa
This is a lovely first attempt, I think you nailed it!
Rhett Dantzler
newbie. This was fun
@drawmeabathpls
square pear
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