Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8905 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.

@wbjoseph
12h
Pear 1 and 2 before watching demo
Seb
18h
Pear 1 without watching demo and critique, pear 2 having watched them. I think I have to work on differentiating dark and light half tones, plus sharpening my pencils! Any critique is welcome
Misa
20h
Here's my attempt to shading the Pear. Any feedback is welcome thank you.
@kimzu
1d
My first attempt at the Pear...
Nathan Renard
Went for the third pear on my attempt, had an issue figuring out how dark or light some of the pens could go while shading, but for a first attempt ever at drawing with a pencil, I think it turned out okay?
jay c
2d
i made an earlier post for the level 2 assignment with the provided image. this time i used my own reference. any feedback is appreciated
Patrick Bosworth
Very cool reference, and I like your study, graet shape design! I think you can be a more even even with your values, especially in the dark frame around the face. Some of the darkest dark framing the face is uneven. If you take another pass to darken your darkest value a bit more the overall frame of black around the face will focus the attention toward the features.
Sarah Mules
Here goes! My first submission.
Kenglass Enetsutori
My attempt on a pear
Sarah Mules
I really like the clarity of your tones of shading. Well done.
Wendy
2d
@nlindberg
Pear attempt
Andriy Nykolyn
hey my first attempt
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nicely done! You have a good eye for the grouping the tones together. Also the light and dark tones read as very distinct. Good job!
Ash
3d
Nice! This is a great first attempt
Cristian Matias Gómez Jiménez
what should I be doing better ?
Chuck Ludwig Reina
First off, you're doing great! You did a good job of spotting the different values in the fruit. Also I love that you did a little chart at the top. That is SUPER helpful. A few things I am noticing: - The pear seems a little squat. This is just a proportions thing and with practice I think you'll be able to spot it more quickly. I think if you just stretched it, or carved away a little on the right, it would look truer to form. - You really want to make sure your light side values and darks side values have a big jump between them. I think you went a little too dark in the light side, and a little too light in the dark side. - Core shadows are our friend! Don't be afraid to use them. You have a little bit of the core shadow in there, but I think you can go even larger. Core shadows are great in that they signal to us something is 3d, and also the width of them can show how curved something is. I've attached a little draw over illustrating what I'm talking about. And again, nice work on this! You're doing great.
@jackcraic
I had a go at both assignments once before watching the demo and then again afterwards. I think there is pretty clear improvement, but I definitely think I could do better.
Eric E
3d
I started getting self conscious about the shading, but I powered through!
Ben Kraske
Great work! It'll get easier as you practice more! I would recommend trying to use the side of your pencil more to build coverage, and also to take your time to make sure each pencil stroke overlaps so it helps even out the coverage as well! :)
Christopher Lee
i striggled with the pear but that just means i need more practice lol
Ben Kraske
Practice makes perfect! You've done good on these! Remember for this project to make sure you've got clear shapes for your values. This will help you practice your observation skills, by being intentional with designing the shapes of what you're drawing. Keep it up!
@jdawg
4d
Hello this is my second time compeleting this assignment, I am really happy with the progress Ive made since my first attempt. I think in my first attempt I was rushing to get the piece finished, and it definitely shows in my mark making and in the choices I made. In the second attempt I really tried to slow myself down and take moments to closely observe my references and my drawing. It was really exciting to compare the different attempts and see the areas of improvement!
Ben Kraske
Nice work! The difference is visible and great to see! Your shading got a lot neater and looks good, keep it up!
@etangf
4d
This is my pear.
Ash
4d
I like your pear!
Alexander Rojas
First attempt at the Level 1 project. Any feedback would be very much appreciated 😁. Adding the portrait!
Ben Kraske
Good stuff! All I would note is to watch your values on the pear: the light halftone of it should be lightened a bit, and take another look at the shadows. There's a dark and lighter shadow halftone which will give your pear some more dimension. Nice job!
Monica Zavala
Here is my first go!
Sean Yasnogorodski
Generated a pomegranate image with gemini and tried to draw it :)
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