Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
This lesson is premium only. Join us in the full course!
05:36
52K views
lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 8686 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
jpeg
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.

@johannahwilhelmina
My first real drawing, any feedback is most appreciated!
@vizkro
2h
Well I think this assignment definitely pushed me as a beginner. I was definitely scared to start because I knew it would be bad. But any constructive feedback or encouragement would be great!
Diane Scrivener
Aww… he looks sad to be my drawing LoL I seem to have somehow managed to change his ethnicity. The eyes? The skin tone? The chin? Values are hard… and wrinkles. And form. And drawing LoL. Also, I got very precious with this. Spent WAY too much time mapping it out. It’s amazing how the shadows changed the drawing. I wish I had taken a picture before adding the shadow blocks.
Byron Chikukwa
did the pears had fun with them but I couldn’t properly seperate the values
Veronica Scaglia
Hi everyone! I’ve just started. I’m not entirely happy with the result, but it was fun trying out the different pencils. I tried drawing other subjects in my sketchbook that I’m more pleased with. I had some trouble finishing the project; the further I got, the more errors I noticed, and I started to feel overwhelmed.
@lzrmr
1d
Before and after the demo.
Patrick Bosworth
Nice work! Really solid before attempt, and you addressed the values in the second. Keep it up!
@ltzkoko
1d
First two images are my first attempt at this the last two are attempts after the demos I’ve been drawing on and off for years but I decided to follow this course fully digitally to gain experience in this format
Paul Buteau
First shot. Seventh attempt of the pear along with the corresponding photo taken from the lessons. My second submission is a peach along with the photo that I took of its model. Paul
Cameron R
I think the highlights aren't very visible, hope digital is okay. Would love feedback. :)
Kolton White
Here’s my first attempt: im waiting for my pencils and sketchpad to come in, so I attempted digitally in Procreate for now. I know we were supposed to keep things sharp, but it was difficult with the procreate brush to get a width in between the super fine detail line or a full on side pencil width that was super soft. One thing to note about the limitations of digital. I’m sure there’s slightly better brushes but didn’t spend a lot of time trying them out.
Melanie Scearce
Yeah, that's a pretty tricky aspect of digital. I recommend students use the round or flat brush, or whatever brush they're comfortable with that's fully opaque. Example below in a demo that I made. That way you can really focus on the value shapes rather than fighting with the brush. It removes the pencil dexterity aspect of this assignment that you would be able to explore with traditional, but focusing on the shape design without worrying about smooth shading is a plus of working digitally.
@gavinotheelf
Trying the Drawing Basics course without premium
Melanie Scearce
Awesome work! These pears feel very three-dimensional.
@ducaboy
3d
First assignment.
Martha Muniz
You're off to a great start! I would suggest thinking about your values in two categories: light and shadow. The light range will have the lightest 3 values, while the shadows will have the darker two. The proportions and shapes you have down are great, but to really emphasize and make clear the area of light and the area of shadow, try shading in the shadow side on the pear using both of the darker two values, and save that middle value for the light side instead.
@smmathew
First assignment before I've watched the demo. I appreciate your feedback!
Matt W
3d
I just watched the demo and it looks like you and I made similar errors regarding the outer edges being too dark. Good job, though! You might want to consider letting your straight lines go a little longer in some places, particularly in the top half, where it looks a little curvy because your straight lines are so short.
Matt W
3d
First assignment, I did pear #3. Would love feedback. I used 4H, HB, 2B and 4B mechanicals, a clutch with 4B for some of the shading, an eraser, and a Canson XL 9x12 sketchpad.
Sebastian Rivera
First assignment done, I really liked the approach where you use straight lines when deconstructing the figure I feel like I got the form somewhat accurate shading could use some work though looking forward to seeing the breakdown video to learn more.
@costa
3d
This is my 2nd attempt of the pear with revisions following the demo and critique video. The portrait is the 1st attempt, after the pear but prior to watching the related demo/critique. Any thoughts on what works or doesn’t work? Thanks!
Hong Jiang
Abraham Barrera Torres
Hello ! Yes, it seems your values are organized, but maybe you can improve the design of the shapes for example in the strands of hair. Also, you can improve your use of the pencil, there are some areas that don't seem uniform. Good job !
Melanie Scearce
Your values are organized so well! Great work 👍
Hong Jiang
This was done before watching the demo. I used 3 values in the shadow, so there are only two for the light :-(
Wumi Ojo
4d
My submission for this lesson before watching the demo video is the pear sketched with a 2b pencil. The practice sketches were done with coloured pencils. Feedback is very welcome. Thank you.
@samuels
4d
I think the pears might be passable but don't think I'm ready for Level 2!
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!