Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8730 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.

@rustle
3h
the 3 pears
@ndeboar
3h
Behold, pear
William Berganzo
This was a fun, challenging initial exercise. This is my first attempt, prior to watching the demo video. Squinting was very helpful. Avoiding streaks was hard as the graphite would sharpen near the edges of the tip from shading with a tilt. I'd appreciate a critique if anyone is willing to type one out. Thank you! Happy drawing!
Jason H
7h
The nerves are real. My attempt in procreate.
@einsikaldi
I had done this before but I didn't go further than the first lesson. So here is my second take on this assignment💪.
Arash Nouri
Here's what I drew for the first time. I still need to practice more, but I'm happy that I finally started drawing.
Lara Morgan
After a few goes I started using the shading to help me create the shape of the pear - I did it along with the longer demonstration after doing it with the shorter exercise
@minmax
2d
First drawing in many years! it was challenging to get 5 distinct levels of value, as well as getting those rough shapes to be right...
Silk Weaver
Can someone critique my drawing? I’m unsure whether or not I got the values correct. (I wanted to focus on the bigger shapes so i left the ears out if that was ok…) Also I’m terrible at Proportions…
Melanie Scearce
You did a great job overall! The proportions aren't bad. There's some areas that you could adjust, but that's not the main focus of this assignment so don't sweat it. Value: I like shadow shapes you designed; I do think you can push the darker values a bit more. In my draw-over below, you can see how bringing some of that darkest value into the face bumps the contrast between the light side and the shadow side way up, especially if you squint at the images. Simplification: You took a more painterly approach here, and the edges are kind of blurred, particularly among the lighter values. To get the most out of this assignment you could maybe try a version where you only use hard edges and focus on designing the shapes. Be careful of being too literal with facial features like the eyes. You want to design shapes, not icons. The choice to leave the ear out is cool. You're in charge! I hope you found my notes helpful :)
Patricia Wilson
Another attempt
Patricia Wilson
I tried
@tobiasmjm
I tried ! Let's see where we get to by the end of the course !
Ecesu
2d
I think i did it wrong. The edges of the shades shouldnt be drawn i guess.
Melanie Scearce
Ideally yes, the edges should be defined by the solid value of each shape. I can see what you're going for though and the shapes look good!
feeradraws
My pears 😋
Carlos Luna
Hi everyone I'm new here to the site here's my first project of the pear drawn from life I really have trouble with shading, and drawing things identical... any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!
@mirple
3d
Here's my before and after the demo of the portrait! The portrait was significantly harder than the pear, it took me wayyyy longer than i thought it would lol. I fumbled the proportions and definitely could've done better highlight shapes in the hair but i think its better than before watching the demo. Any advice or critiques are appreciated, thank you!
Ash
3d
Nice work!
Lara Morgan
Hi here is my pear from the first assignment, I'm a beginner and all feedback is very welcome Many thanks
Liel Attias
there is my attempt on the portrait :)
Zatriana
3d
hi again! after pear I tried level 2 and it was fun!
@seths_crypt
This is my first time trying out these projects. I know that I have alot to improve, but it was still fun drawing these pieces.
Martha Muniz
Good proportions and placement overall! I think you can push the darkness on the darker end of the value scale -- try adding a layer or two on the 2nd darkest value. You also only need 5 values instead of 6, so removing the 3rd lightest value in both of your scales would be an easy fix to make your value steps more evenly divided :) It's great that you did a value scale for each of the drawings, so those modifications can be easily applied to the scale and then to the drawing itself, making it more approachable to push your drawing to the next level. Keep up the good work :D
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