Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 9023 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.

Алишер Тухтасинов
It was very difficult, I still don’t quite understand how shadows behave. I haven't watched the demo yet.
mashid b
•
9h
hey! I tried to keep the feedback from my last attempt in mind and make a few improvement!
Leah
•
16h
I only have three pencils presently so the mid-tones are too close, but here's my before and after (before on the left). Yes, the proportions are off. It's been quite a while since I've drawn last.
Cyrille Debard
Many attempts at drawing operas of all sorts - ending up with trying aquarelle. I still have to eat one !!
Алишер Тухтасинов
First lesson . Tell me something about my work.I drew it without a demo.
Patrick Bosworth
You did a nice job simplifying this sketch! Your shapes are constructed with straight lines, and your kept your values limited to the 5 which is nice to see. I'd say your #4 Light Shadow is closer in value to your #3 Dark Halftone, than it is to your #5 Dark Shadow. This is very common, and easy to fix! Take another pass shading the Light Shadow areas so it's closer in value to your Dark Shadow you'll see a much greater separation of light and dark, and a more 3D form wrapping around the pear. Check out the Demo/Critique for this one, you'll get a lot out of it! Keep up the good work!
Bernd St
•
1d
My first pear ever. I think my values need work. I added the background value after I watched the demo video.
Jennifer Ewers
Travis Denny
3 tries at the pears. 1 and 2 before watching the demo. Only had a #2 pencil, want to try for some darker darks with a softer pencil
Benedikt Brinkmann
Here is my first attempt on the pear-1 reference image. I did this like Stan suggested before the demo and critique videos. Comments and critique is much appreciated.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Great go at it! Your shapes are looking good and your tones are even. The one thing I would say is you're a bit on the light side, especially around your darks. Take another swing after you watch the demo and really try to layer on those dark tones. That will make the pear jump off the page! Again, nice job!
Christianah Adeyemo
My first drawing. I'd come back after the course to redo this.
Nejc Kravos
There we go, my pear assignment! I have no clue what im doing so any feedback is welcome!
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice work! We're all a little lost when we start so don't worry about it! For this assignment one thing to focus on is thinking about the different value ranges more in terms of shapes. Really squint your eyes to try to separate the light areas from the dark. Again, nice work!
Jose David O
Ursa ₊˚⊹♡⊹˚₊꒰ঌ☆໒꒱ ₊˚⊹♡⊹˚₊
I tried the pear assignment twice. I don't think I understood the values very well because I only saw 4 on both passes. Critiques are very welcome! Some questions: Are my values separated enough? Is my angle strong? Are my shapes interesting? Where are the gaps in my knowledge showing? The image with the clipboard bracket is my first attempt.
Katie Bowers
So I tried level 1 a few weeks ago, pretty fun to be honest. I've tried my hand at level 2, and although I think the proportions are a little off, I did actually really enjoy this lesson. (I didn't really want to put any guidelines in because I tend to make my lines a little too dark and I just wanted to test my eyes to see proportions without guides) I would love some feedback, but I think I can see the problems, feel free to let me know your thoughts if you have time. (Also, forgive my crappy shading, it's not my forte and the pencils I'm using are cheap, and pretty much all give the same shade.) Have fun with yours :)
@bubblegumtunatina
@bismarck
Here is my work, really appreciate any feedback
@bismarck
Also did the pear
@pinkbubbles
Hello thank you for the lesson this is my attempt at drawing this pair I could improve on simplifying it more 😅 (sorry for the scribbles 😓
@dudmanius
Decided to go for level 2 also, this is before demo and critique, any tips and comments are much appreciated
Melanie Scearce
Nice, you did a great job with your shape design! Very even shading as well, good job keeping your value shapes uniform. The one part of this portrait I would flag is that rectangular shape on his forehead that kinda sticks out a bit from the lighter value that surrounds it. It feels like too much of a jump in value, and seems a bit out of place to me. You have options if you choose to tackle it; you could maybe tweak the design of that shape a bit, to follow the form. You could possibly darken that lighter value shape, which would do double duty by helping the lightest value shapes become more visible as well.
Mike Damazo
Camille Varner Kolafa
Don't forget to simplify! On your next attempt, focus on breaking down the values into shapes, and use straight lines only. You've got some curves going on, and you're starting to shade with the values instead of keeping them shapey. Great start!
Adriana
•
6d
Camille Varner Kolafa
Lovely pear!
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