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
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level-1-pear-3.jpg
2 MB
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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
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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.

@mblud
4m
Yikes, this was hard! First attempt. Monty
Charisse Varga
I did the first pear pre-demo, and my second post-demo pear is not really all that different. Simplifying images is why I’m taking this course - I can draw and copy realistic photos but breaking them down and translating them is tough. Can’t wait to see progress down the road, and enjoying the ride of not knowing what I’m doing yet
Chuck Ludwig Reina
These are VERY strong. No notes :) (You even did a value guide which warms my art teach heart) Well done.
Ben Kraske
Nice work, your values look great along with your shapes! Have fun on your journey, excited to see your progress too :)
Rain
8h
2nd attempt at 1st pear.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Really nice! You did a great job of getting the shapes. I think you could perhaps go a little darker on the shadow side, especially where we see the core shadow. (that might just be because of the photo too). Also, consider maybe taking one of your shadow side values away and adding it to the light side. In general, if I only have 5 values to work with, I would put more of them in the light side of things, since this is how our eyes are used to seeing. Again, really nice drawing!
Ben Kraske
Nice! You've got a nice dark cast shadow under your pear, I would try to use some more of that dark value in the shadows on the pear itself and extending the darkest core shadow to match the reference image more.
@ljgrimm
15h
This was outside my comfort zone but I decided to push myself. I really struggled with the lips and nose.
Ben Kraske
Nice clear values. And great work pushing yourself with something unfamiliar!
Oya
18h
This is my pear. Say hello, pear! (Don’t mind my grubby little finger smudges.)
Melanie Scearce
Very nice pear 👏
Nedzad Durakovic
3rd attempt at pear 1 I think is my best attempt. I think I got carried away a little bit with the value scale.
@tilbury
1d
Not sure if anybody will see this. Late to the game by a few years. First photo is my first attempt, and then I watched the long critique video and made the second pear. Any input from the community is welcome.
Melanie Scearce
Very nice pear! There is a big improvement between the first and second attempts, so great job there. Your shading improved a bunch between the two. Your shapes also feel more intentionally designed. It seems like you internalized the advice from the critique video. My suggestion is to try to increase your value range by making the darkest value a little darker. I applied a gaussian blur to your drawing to simulate looking at it with squinted eyes, which is a great way to test your value shapes to see if they hold up to each other or start to blend in together and lose their shape. Your shapes hold up pretty well overall, although the two darkest value shapes start to look a bit blended. Getting that darkest value a step darker will help separate those shapes.
Gregory M
blocky, right? I miss it? I think I made all the edges the same. maybe? Thoughts? I'm going to watch Stan now.
Richard Boyd
Pear in charcoal and second in pencil
Brayden Brigman
Values was my favorite part. Please give feedback! Thanks guys!
@theofficialgio
Hello, I did my drawing for the "Project Simplify from Observation" lesson. Please critique my drawing so that I can make the necessary corrections and improve my skills. Thank you.
Brayden Brigman
I really enjoyed seeing how you determined the value of the different colors!
Zachary
2d
Here is my level 1 assignment based on pair number 1! 3 practice runs and 1 from imagination when I only had a mechanical pencil, and one full one with my whole set. First time really putting some effort into shading. Felt a little let down by my pencil set, as I don't feel like the softness/hardness gave me enough differences. I started to lose my form as different parts of the shadows started blending together. Also could have been how hard I was bearing down, of course, but even testing them out on the side, I wasn't thrilled with the differences. Was happy with how I was able to breakdown everything into straight lines. Was impressed with how I could still capture the form.
Lucas Finney
I did pear #2. I have some confidence with blocking and basic line work having been sketching in ink for a couple years now, but working with pencils is quite new to me. After watching the demo, some areas for improvement I should consider are: - Being more mindful about the sharpness of my pencil - Trying to add shading along contours to help build the shape of the object - Layering value on with multiple pencil weights (i.e. a 6B on top of a 4B) Feels good to get a drawing down on paper to start the course!
Jens Rotter
well... here is my take...
Brayden Brigman
Love it!
Cesar Espinoza
Hi, it's me again! I've just finished Level 2 of the assignment. I did this drawing without watching Proko's demo first. I'm curious to see how it compares after I watch the video. Thanks, and greetings!
Rachel Witenhafer
first and foremost I have a confession: I HATE line work. I learned art through watercolor which is why I am starting with this course. Please critique(: I probably could’ve taken more time on analyzing. The second picture I made myself focus on straighter lines and more defined edges.
Charlotte Graham
Hello! I'm someone who has been drawing for a while now, but I have never really studied the fundamentals in depth. My passion is portraiture so I had a lot of fun simplifying the face reference. I did, however, find it difficult to stick to five values and straight lines, especially with the pear drawing. Admittedly, I had to redraw the pear several times because I kept falling into the trap of detailed shading. I'm still not too happy with it, but I figure it's best to move on rather than get stuck in a loop of perfectionism. I might revisit this exercise later on. Feedback welcome :)
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Really well done Charlotte. You did a great job of capturing the essence in both while still sticking to strong shape decisions. As far as criticism, I don't have much, but I do think you could go a fuzz darker with the darker values on the pair. There should be a fairly large jump between your values in shadow, and the values in half-tone/light. This will help pop out the form. But again, really nice work!
Rachel Witenhafer
i know this is not criticism but I love the portrait. The only criticism I have is for the pair, your highlights have a very clear border around them.
@acaporrini
Just started the course and never draw anything before, lot to learn but also lot of fun
Martha Muniz
Welcome to the course and great start! You got down a good breakdown of the values and have pretty consistent shading within each group, so nice job! I would recommend practicing using lighter pressure when shading in the lightest grey value. It can help to use more of the side of the pencil tip to get a softer/lighter effect, so give it a try and let me know if you have any questions :)
Cesar Espinoza
Hi! Here are my two attempts at the pear. The first one is the one I did entirely on my own, and the second one is after learning from my mistakes. I'm really happy with this course because I honestly feel like I'm actually learning something.
Martha Muniz
Great improvement and great job self-assessing, too! That's a trait of a greater learner and a great artist, so keep up the good work :)
Larry
4d
I like your attitude. I agree your 2nd drawing is much better than your 1st; that’s progress! I’m also enjoying the course and on 29/185. Keep drawing and follow the process. I look forward to seeing more post. I like that you captured the planes and values. keep Drawing
Destiny Daniel
I ended up doing both levels to see where I stood and I’m quite proud of them! The pear a little more than the portrait - some of my proportions seem a bit off.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nicely done. You did a good job of finding shapes, which is the important part of the exercise. You also did a good job of drawing what you were actually seeing, and not what you think you're seeing. The proportions and face anatomy will come in time! Keep at it.
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