Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
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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.

Vladimir Chernenko
Hey, i've tried few times and picked best looking option. I noticed it's hard to recognise different shadows depth and darkness, even using the simplified scale. Also the shadows on the borders of the pear makes quite big difference, that's cool. I did it without watching the Demo.
vomchar
•
2h
I also did the Level 2 one. I think I may of taken things too geometric with the planes, but other than that I think I did alright. Observing the solution from the demo afterwards felt like a no-brainer.
vomchar
•
2h
Did all three images. I'm pretty proud of these and slightly adjusted my approach each time. I do think I need to get out of the habit of erasing little mistakes, though, as it left some smudges on the third one.
Anthony Frank
Just completed level 1. Very beginner to drawing, I think I struggled with getting 5 distinct values in my drawing, and especially with the second lightest value. It was tough to get it close to the lightest value that has no lines at all. I also wasn’t sure if I should have had some directionality to my lines. I ended up going horizontal for the pear and diagonal for the shadow, but I didn’t do any cross directional lines for any of the darker values. Should I have been?
Marina
•
7h
Hello! Here are my pears. The first one is before I watched the demo, and the second one is after. For pear #2, I had trouble spotting exactly where each gradation of shadow should be cleanly divided. I’m looking forward to learning more about values in this course. Any critique is welcome!!
@strike15
My pear attempt. Will try the other pears.
@sprakatututz
I tried several times. Could not get a handle on the values and how to apply them.
@lifang
•
14h
Level 2 attempt after watching demo
K S
•
16h
3boodm4
•
18h
I half assed my first go around so im gonna repeat the course
f12
•
1d
I attempted the first and second pear left one is the second one and right the first one, where can I go from here? (These were done a day apart)
Виолетта Хапова
Hi everyone! My first attempt of the pear (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠) Wanna do later 2 level too. Trying to learn digital
Christian R
Hi everyone, here's my first attempt at drawing a pear. I used only the darkest shade to create the cast shadow. I probably should have used two different shadow shades here as well. I'm looking forward to your feedback. Thanks in advance.
@mariana_paiva
I was experimenting with charcoal and normal pencil (2B) and staedtler 0.5mm.. Where and how could I improve, please? Any direction is well appreciated !!
Camille Varner Kolafa
So the biggest suggestion I have for you is to simplify! The goals for this project are to use 5 values, shapes, and straight lines. You've got your 5 values, but didn't break them down into shapes and use only straight lines. The outer contour of your pear has a lot of curving lines right now. When you're finding the values, basically draw the shape the outer edge of it makes, with only straight lines. I also think your 3rd and 4th values are too close, so try to adjust those a bit. You could try going lighter with the 2nd value I think. Great start overall though!
Ember Leigh
I don’t think I got enough distinction between my values. I kept trying to balance my darks being dark enough for my lights to show up.
Camille Varner Kolafa
I agree, when I do a squint test and I can make out only 3-4 values. Try drawing a value box scale to help you figure out how to achieve your values and refer to as a key! I think your darks are okay and you should actually try fitting in another lighter value because the 2nd lightest value you have so far is more of a dark halftone. Great work so far though, and don't forget to break the values down into shapes and use straight lines only to simplify!
@oliv972
•
3d
Hello everyone, first attempt of the first level :)
@oliv972
•
3d
Level 2. the shape of the head, place all the element was a bit tricky. I couldn't manage to simplify all the drawing, my eyes were tired at the end ^^
Tasneem Noor
My attempt at the level 2 assignment
Camille Varner Kolafa
Nice value control!
@lifang
•
4d
Did I get it right?
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice work! While there is no "right" way to do it, as it is just an exercise, I think you got the gist of it. One thing I would say is have a little more variation in the center of the pear. You perhaps could have grouped all your darkest darks together, freeing up another value for the light side of the form. But overall well done. Keep it up!
Artem Bokhulenkov
2 attempts: before and after watching demo. On 1st attempt all the values were made by HB, cause I kind of missed the idea of using different pencils =)
Jack
•
4d
Attempt 1 & 2. I rushed the first one, but focused on starting and building momentum.
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