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.

@onsugarhigh228
Hereby my attempt at the pear.
Bell
9h
Absolute begginer here Here is my pear
Sophia Chen
david burrell
Hi, here's my first attempt. I struggled to keep geometrical lines.
José Ramon
Hi from Spain, new here. This is my attempt before watch the demo video. Thanks a lot.
@lonegamemaster
Here is my attempt. I struggled to get distinct separation between my values.
@coaly_
2d
The portrait was done with markers and the tomato with pencil. I tried to draw something different than a pear but the drawing of the tomato ended up being kind of confusing.
@hirosashii
This is my attempt at drawing Pear 1. I tried drawing with sharp straight lines, as instructed. I'm learning this digital software (Clip Studio Paint) while also learning drawing from scratch, so I'm sure there will be some growing pains. Getting different values was pretty hard, and wasn't sure which direction to draw the lines for shading. Also I definitely started guessing when it came to where the planes were on the front of the pear; I feel like I didn't have enough rhyme or reason to my decisions of where the planes shifted. Things to work on for sure.
Muffin
3d
First attempt greyscale filter next to it for values, I drew it without checking the greyscale though.
Harold
3d
Before and after watching the demo
@wonkbunny
Here is my pear before watching the demo and critiques.
@bogart55
@naynieto03
One belongs to my brother and the other is mine.
Sarah
6d
Edit: I guess I should have waited to submit since you can't edit a comment so much later. I did the black version after I watched the demo. It's maybe better... I have such a hard time shading evenly, especially at edges and borders. But I do feel like the highlights are easier to see this time. Original comment: I think you can tell it's a pear so that's good! I had a lot of difficulty picking where the planes should be and I think I ended up kind of straying from the chiseled carving feel.
Larry
5d
Im new to drawing and have submitted my 1st couple of drawings. Working on the penguin now. It’s good to see others trying to do the same work. im enjoying the course. i like your drawings they both seem to have good proportion and shape. The shading looks good also. keep working on these skills in the course.
Gabriel
6d
Here's mine, happy its recognizable as a pear at least
Dudts Draws
I did this one before watching demos and critiques. I would appreciate it if someone can give a critique on this sketch. I struggled to chose correct values so i kept darkening to make sure shadow family is darker than light family. I also found it challenging to decide on shapes in general and especially shapes of dark shadows and dark halftones.
@jdawg
3d
Looks really good! The shape and proportions are spot on, I think you could definitely push the values darker. A technique that works for me is switching between the darkest and lightest areas, and making them as close to black and white as I can. One example you can see in the reference image, the shadow is basically black, so that value in your drawing should reflect that- that will make it pop off the page and look more realistic -if that is what you are going for/your style. Keep up the great work!
Bryan Reed
I did 2 pears, one before watching the demo and one after. This is the second
Balázs Tápai
I think I ended up with more than 5 volumes at the end. I tried using 2B,4B,6B,8B pencils and I started the linework with a mechanical pencil.
Balázs Tápai
Tried a second time based on the the level-1-pear-3.jpg
Rob Simmons
Did it mostly with an HB pencil, then realized my dark mid-tone was pretty much the same as my shadow. Went back over the shadows with a 2B. It was hard for me to see the 2 tones in the cast shadow -- it all just looks black to me, so I kind of made it up.
Rob Simmons
And here's another after watching the demo and critique video. I used more pencils, got the contour a little more accurately, and got rid of obvious outlines that didn't match (e.g. around the highlights).
Melissa Dunworth
I did it twice, once before watching the demo video and once after. Not sure there is must difference between the two, but I am trying.
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