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
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.

Jiayun Lim
15h
First attempt before watching demo. I tried drawing my own fruit + the pear. I used only a 3B pencil because that's all I have at the moment. I plan to do another one after watching the demo. Any critique will be super helpful for me. Thank you!! :-) (I notice only now after uploading the photos that the apple looks disproportionate to the photo lol)
Gordon
21h
I did 1 digital 1 traditional, not sure if i am better off sticking to one or the other but i figured it was worth a try both ways. Pretty sure i under-utilized the dark halftones here.
Anastasiya
I decided to try both level 1 and 2 here Level 2 was really challenging for me: I was sweating and almost ugly crying :D Any critique would be helpful, thank you!
Molly
1d
i avoided using any construction lines or specific method for this portrait as i wanted to stay true to the project and focus solely on the shapes and values
Genevieve Kelley
I found it difficult to get proportions while simplifying. So I ended up un-simplifying before I could re-simplify at the end. I think next time I’ll try to stick with simple the whole time so that I can get to the core of what this lesson is about.
Genevieve Kelley
First assignment. Probably going to attempt the Level 2 next.
Amileaminute
My first and second attempt. I don't know why it's coming up faded and grayed. Please try opening the original image if you give critique. Thank you!
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice work. Both attempts have a lot going for them. I think overall attempt 2 is cleaner, but you lost your variety in shapes of the darker shadows from attempt 1 that I think added a lot of character and better described the pear. The thickness of the core shadow, for example, is one of our great tools for describing the roundness of an object. The rounder the form, the wider the core shadow gets (I'm generalizing, but you get the idea). So in this pear, in the bottom bulbous half of the fruit, we will get a bit of a broader core shadow, while towards the stem it will be thinner. This is important information for our viewer. Learning to control that shadow terminator is a great skill to develop. Again, both these look great. Keep at it!
Nikolai
3d
I like the aesthetic of ink/fineliners more but I guess a pencil is better for practicing
Anna Gooch
My attempt before the demo, I found the lighter areas to be much more difficult than the shadows.
Melanie Scearce
That is a common sentiment! It's more difficult to determine where the planes are in that illuminated half of the pear, and even tougher evenly shade those lighter value shapes. Nice job!
@razara
4d
Here's the attempt I made before watching the demo. I can already see some areas with mine that I could improve, like the shadow definition and values. And my lines aren't too sharp. I'm hoping some more eyes on it could see things I can't, if possible?
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice work. One thing to look out for, and you'll see in the demo, is the concept of the core shadow. The area where it transitions from light to dark, and is often the darkest part of the shadow on a form because it is not getting any reflected light. This is a great tool in our tool belts for making a flat drawing look 3d. Check out the demo video and it will show the idea in a little more detail. Also, I find it really helpful to draw a little value guide on the page when I do these, so I have something to work against. But be mindful, the steps shouldn't be even between them! When we are limited to 5 values we need to decide which gets more tones to work with, the shadows, or the lights? In the case of our pear, I suggest using 3 values for the light, and only 2 for the shadows. But again, good stuff, and keep at it!
@fabian87
Something went wrong as concerning the view point when I started drawing the stem..
Nikolai
5d
Melanie Scearce
You did a good job keeping the value shapes distinct with the textures. Nice job!
Turbo Fish
First attempt, used a .5 mechanical pencil
@veren_villegas
Me and my little sister's first attempt for this assignment. Thanks for viewing!
@faaraway
Kind of fell apart from the nose down but I don’t hate the top half.
@fabian87
@faaraway
George Dramalis
@almrugby8
Very much a beginner but here's the 1st pear assignment
@myzhou
8d
level 1 pear 3! had some issues making the different values in the middle very distinct.
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