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
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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.

@neanea
6h
my first attempt, not quite satisfied with how it turns out tbh. pls give me advice on how i can improve
Dylan Barr
10h
I bought this course in 2024. Finally picked it up again. After watching the demo, I noticed I didn't spot some of the less obvious value changes. I found getting consistent values tricky. I also noticed I tended to want my pencil strokes to follow the lines when shading in, but I liked the demo result of using shorter, horizontal strokes in "tiles" that seemed to give more shape. Interesting.
@everettl
11h
horrific
@kurodore
22h
Pear
@liarlyre
Pear
Michael Bonifacio
I think I could simplify further but happy with the main values.
Florian Corby
For now I feel like smudging yields better results than hatching for the shading. I am really happy with the result !
@shirabs
2d
Two attempts (one before watching the demo and one after). I think the second one I did a better job with the values. It's still a little hard to differentiate the values when shading - I think my values gravitate towards 2-3 values in the middle and then it looks flat. I had to go back and darken my darks/lighten my lights.
Alireza Heshmati
First attempt with HB pencil.
Artem Odintsov
My first attempt to draw a pear :)
Michael Bonifacio
Next try while looking at Stan's version.
Melanie Scearce
Nice job representing the planes!
@jwoz
4d
I was having a hard time not smudging, making parallel lines, and doing the pupils along with the lips. Any recommendations, or helpful tricks to practice on that I would appreciate. Was trying to use elbow and forearm for the lines and shoulder for the pupils. The forehead was a little large and there was a few other flaws here and there that bug me, but I wanted to finish the project. Thanks,
ebere justin
Attempt 1 before demo and attempt 2 after i did 2 on old newsprint so theres some tone to the paper already
Ty Keating
Humbling. Frustrating. Rewarding. I found it difficult to give in to the experience of sketching without expectation. Lots of eraser marks, redos, and cups of tea. Eventually, I had a bit of a word with myself, and this was the least overly attempted attempt. Struggled with shapes and values the most. Got into a good flow of seeing simple shapes, and then I would almost overdo it and start seeing the subject as a whole again and attempt to copy what I saw instead of drawing what I observed... simply. Pay enough attention to how you do anything, and you can learn a lot about yourself. Pear(l) of wisdom perhaps? Great lesson, thank you!
Nicholas Allott
Post demo and critiques redo. 😎 My aims this time around were to: • Use a range of pencils • Indicate planes with shading angles • Even pencil shading with the tip ◦ One direction per plane ◦ Multi-pass in layers to darken • Consider adding a background tone.
Edwardd
4d
1st attempt of the pear! I'm still finding a way to manage about Values and Edges more. I try to make the shapes sharp, and the edges look sharpy too.
@elenaarmstrong2012
Used mechanical pencil with 2B lead
@everettl
terrible
Lux Lynn
4d
I don't think it's bad at all! You did a good job at capturing the general shapes of the pear. The only thing I would suggest is to push the value of the shadow on your pear to be closer to the nice and dark cast shadow of the pear that you already have there. I'm looking forward to seeing how you improve after watching Stan's demo!~ :D
Michael Bonifacio
Level 1 pear. It's tough keeping sharp edges; I tend to blend the values too much. It's been a bit over a year since I did this the first time so wanted to start from the beginning again.
Jay Man
5d
my simplify from observation, I did pear 3! knocking the rust off!
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