Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
This lesson is premium only. Join us in the full course!
05:36
47K views
lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 3809 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
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.

@ordukwu
8h
Just began the course my first assignment.What could improve?
@lalove
11h
Hello i just started the course, I only have HB pencil i just wanted to try with only one pencil, i struggled a bit to make faint lines so i almost skipped them up in the lighter areas i was not able to get easily 4 colors, ill try again when i have a pencil kit.
Kelly
16h
Here are my first attempts. First attachment is my first attempt at pear 1, while the second pear is my second attempt at pear 1. The third attachment are my attempts at pears 2 and 3. I think I'm having issues with clearly defining a difference between my value levels, and keeping my edges sharp enough.
@lalove
11h
hmm i had difficulty too for the medium light part, yours are pretty good though
Kelly
11h
I watched the demo, and tried pears 2 and 3 again, and I think they came out better this time!
Yevgeniy
22h
Pear and an attempt at the portrait
Xzaneious
Got frustrated halfway through and this is the result. Will try again when i am not frustrated.
Deryck Singh
Tried lvl 2 for fun. Any critique appreciated.
Libbi Art
Here's my attempt. The 1st one was a fail because I didn't know which values to choose. The 2nd and 3rd one are better but i feel like something is missing. Is it because they are too blended? I can't seem to figure it out.
Melanie Scearce
There's already improvement here! Nice work. I would agree with you, your edges are more firm bordering on soft, instead of sharp. That makes it difficult to identify how many values you're using and the design of your shapes as they're concealed by the gradient of halftones. Try to stick with only sharp edges, and be very intentional about how each shape is designed, using CSI lines.
Bryan
2d
Going through again
Mohamed Hammoud
Please let me know what you think. It was hard to keep it sharp.
Melanie Scearce
Nice work, Mohamed. You got the right idea! I have a suggestion to help you keep your edges sharp and increase the clarity of your shapes: lightly sketch your value shapes as one of your first steps to approaching this project. After you draw the contour, make a plan for how your value shapes will fit together. Think of it kind of like putting puzzle pieces together. Small adjustments can be made as you work, so keep your lines light until the very end. I included a sequence of how I would tackle this project. I hope that helps!
@phosphate
Would love some critique and feedback! The order of the images is the order I did them in. If for some reason things get messed up the order is pear 1, portrait, pear 2, pear 3 (the pears' numbers following how their files are numbered, so pear 1 = level 1 pear 1)
@ruoyi105
this is hard but I will keep practicing
@pkosea20
Well, I drew a thing.... I am going to try and be positive in that I am a beginner and things will get better :/
Linn
4d
Greetings everyone! I misunderstood the assignment on the first attempt, so her are both of my drawings 🍐
@sakproko
Here is my second attempt of pear1. Please let me know your feedback. Thanks
Daniel Cho
Justin Anderson
Here is my second attempt at Pear 1 (my first attempt failed lol)! I used an HB pencil for the outline and midtones, a 3B for shadows, and an 8B for my darkest shadows. This was a lot harder that it looks. I'll give this a few more attempts. If I feel brave, I may try level 2! Please let me know how I can improve.
@phosphate
Love that core shadow! I think some of the value grouping could be improved. For example, your table-shadow could be pushed into the darkest value. The value of the current table-shadow could be the value that begins to distinguish the pear. I think you're already thinking about value grouping because of your core shadow placement, but I think it could be made a bit more clear. Additionally, I think for the highlights, in particular, try not to outline them ahead of time or rather make the outline lighter next time to let the values delineate their shapes instead of the lines. This was solid! Making choices and seeing what works and what doesn't is part of the journey.
Simone Couture
Michael Hsu
I just did pear 2 and 3!! This is my first time doing any shading so it was very hard to get 5 values, it felt like my pencil can only go so dark. Feedback would be appreciated 🙂
@lalove
11h
I felt the same i had to go real soft, too much pressure and i faced a smudge of dark, good job btw
@jsdv
5d
I’m excited to start this course, I’ve wanted to learn to draw for 24 years! This is my pre-demo pear.
Brendan Davis
Heck yeah. Keep up the great work! I don't have any critique to offer, as I'm still just a beginner myself. I just did my pear two days ago, I'm really enjoying the course so far! I suppose I should start posting my assignments.. Excited to follow your journey!
Sir Catpie
Hi everyone! This is my attempt at the pear project from the basics course. I struggled a little with the shading to get the values as consistent as possible. Also some of the shapes were harder to simplify along the border between the lights and the shadows and the core shadow wasn't as clear on this as it was on the image used in the video (but maybe that's just me). any critique is welcomed
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!