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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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
project-simplify-from-observation.mp4
183 MB
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-spanish.txt
6 kB
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-english.srt
9 kB
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-spanish.srt
8 kB
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Jeff Koon]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Jarron O'Neal]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Joe]()
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![Fiona Parker]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![B]()
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![Daw]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Sérgio S. Filho]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Benedikt Brinkmann]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Zaki Al-Hanbali]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Алишер Тухтасинов]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![mashid b]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Leah]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Cyrille Debard]()
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![Алишер Тухтасинов]()
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![Patrick Bosworth]()
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![Bernd St]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Travis Denny]()
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![Benedikt Brinkmann]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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.
I believe I have lost some of the sharpness in my edges as I shaded in the shadows and lights. I can see this proportioning is going to be a bit challenging for a bit. :)
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1h
Hey there! I think what would help with the sharpness of your edges is practicing a value scale (an example is attached, so you can try recreating it with pencil), so you can hone in on shading a consistent value for each step on the scale. Especially focus that it's an even tone for the entirety of the square from edge to edge, so that you can see a clear distinction between each value. It may seem subtle, but it's the small variations in tone as you reach the edges that can make the borders feel fuzzy or unclear, so refining this will help a lot when you go for a full drawing like the pear.
I also think some of it be due to accidental smudging, so something that helps is using a napkin or sheet of paper under your hand as you draw.
Otherwise, I think your value progression and placement is pretty good and on the right track, so just making the values more refined by practicing the scale will make it much more clear. Hope this helps! :)
Probably one of the best drawings I've done since I started drawing a year ago. Getting the right pressure on the pencil was difficult so I had to switch from a 2B to a 3H to get the lighter tones, I would absolutely love any and all criticism, please let me know if there's anything I can improve on.
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1h
Hey there! Great start :D I think you made a good choice making the most of your pencils, since the lighter tones are very well done.
For some points of refinement to push it to the next level, I would recommend drawing in your guidelines for the value shapes lighter, so that they're not visible (specifically for the light section, where they're darker than the values themselves and can stick out as a harsh outline). We want the values themselves to be consistently rendered, so that the change from value group to value group is clear enough without needing an outline. What would also help in the darker section, to keep the values consistently rendered, is going back to fill in the gaps of white. It may seem like a small change, but just that detail can make it feel much more consistent, clear, and polished as a whole. I hope this helps, and I look forward to seeing your work as you go through your art journey! :)
First time I’ve shaded digitally, but had hard time seeing all 3 light values i think i got it somewhat right but some criticism would be helpful. - Before Demo
This is my third attempt at this one, I struggled to keep it to just 5 values!! Finding perfect shape was tricky too any criticism is very welcome!
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22h
Values are looking great! My main critique would be that you used more curves than straight lines, so try to stick to straight on your next attempt! I also think your background is distracting from the values, it's too close to the light shadow. If you want to keep some of the background, I would suggest drawing it in a box (it won't look too "weird" since this assignment focuses on using shapes to build your values!) coming from behind the right side of the pear since that side is lighter.
First post. I did this one digitally, and had the reference image under what I was drawing. Shaded in with solid fills.
First time doing this...havent watched the demo yet, just tried to do it from the project vid. Had a hard time with controlling how much pressure I put on the page. And getting straight lines lol
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2d
Good start though! Doing straight lines on a round object can definitely be tough, sometimes it helps just to do short lines on the curves. It might help if you make a value box scale somewhere on your page with your 5 values as a key so that you can refer to it. You could definitely go darker on your darkest value and then adjust the next lightest accordingly, and I think you should also let some of the page show through in the lightest spots :)
I didn't have any pears at home, so I drew a banana instead. I think it would have been easier to start with the pear. 😅
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2d
Hey at least you got practice drawing from life! It looks great. You did a good job using just shapes and straight lines! Definitely give the pear a shot too!
I've watched the demo and made some notes. Then I gave the pear another go. For the new approach I used the pear-2 image so that I can make sure I don't try to copy what Stan is showing in the video.
My new approach is way better in terms of clear value separation. I'm particular proud of the stomp. Proportions and line length and placement where the hardest parts for me. The background (I used the light shadow) as Stan shows in the video definitely makes a big difference for the halftones and highlights.
I would really appreciate some thoughts and critique on this. Especially in comparison to the first try.
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2d
Your 2nd attempt definitely shows a lot of improvement :) My biggest critique would be to try and get darker with the darkest value (and adjust the next lightest accordingly), because I feel like those 2 values are a bit too close and it can be hard to distinguish them in some spots. Otherwise, great work!
I would sincerely love to hear the feedback on this trial of mine. It is the my first trial, and I can already say, I either need to take a better photo, or have a better variety of pencil shades at hand.
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2d
You've got a great start! I might even suggest drawing it straight from life since you have your own pear instead of taking a photo (unless you already ate it, lol!). I think your values have a good start, but I'm really only seeing 3 when you should have 5 for this assignment. You've got the darkest, the midtone, and the highlight. It helps to start by making a value box scale somewhere on your page so you can use it as a key to refer to. Also, make sure you're breaking down the values into shapes, and use straight lines for all your edges! The surface shadow doesn't have any straight lines/edges. Also, if you're having trouble seeing the values on your pear, try squinting at it! If you want to use the photo, Proko has a helpful tool for finding values :) https://www.proko.com/values
It was very difficult, I still don’t quite understand how shadows behave. I haven't watched the demo yet.
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2d
I think you've almost got it! Looks like you were focused on "shading" though, so I would suggest simplifying your values by drawing their shapes, making sure to keep the straight line edges in. I think you could also get darker on the darkest value! Especially in the eye sockets, right side of the face, and the hair.
hey! I tried to keep the feedback from my last attempt in mind and make a few improvement!
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2d
Awesome improvement, I love your mark-making and agree with Melanie that your values read very clearly. Good job utilizing the shapes and straight lines :) The bounce light within the darkest side of the pear looks so nice!
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3d
Really nice! Your values read very clearly!
I only have three pencils presently so the mid-tones are too close, but here's my before and after (before on the left). Yes, the proportions are off. It's been quite a while since I've drawn last.
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40m
Lovely improvement! I think you picked up a lot from the demo and really nailed it with a consistent value progression and clear rendering. Keep up the good work :)
Many attempts at drawing operas of all sorts - ending up with trying aquarelle. I still have to eat one !!
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4d
You did a nice job simplifying this sketch! Your shapes are constructed with straight lines, and your kept your values limited to the 5 which is nice to see. I'd say your #4 Light Shadow is closer in value to your #3 Dark Halftone, than it is to your #5 Dark Shadow. This is very common, and easy to fix! Take another pass shading the Light Shadow areas so it's closer in value to your Dark Shadow you'll see a much greater separation of light and dark, and a more 3D form wrapping around the pear. Check out the Demo/Critique for this one, you'll get a lot out of it! Keep up the good work!
My first pear ever. I think my values need work. I added the background value after I watched the demo video.
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36m
Hey there! Good start, great proportions and it's good that you are noticing a distinction between the light side and the shadow side. When it comes to the values, the middle values seem quite similar to each other, but this can be fixed by darkening the 2nd darkest value so it's definitely closer to the shadow range. You can also darken the middle value (3rd lightest value) just a touch, since it is quite close to the other light value. These fixes should give your pear more three-dimensionality while keeping the light and shadow sides distinct. Let me know how it goes! :)
3 tries at the pears. 1 and 2 before watching the demo. Only had a #2 pencil, want to try for some darker darks with a softer pencil
Here is my first attempt on the pear-1 reference image. I did this like Stan suggested before the demo and critique videos. Comments and critique is much appreciated.
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6d
Great go at it! Your shapes are looking good and your tones are even. The one thing I would say is you're a bit on the light side, especially around your darks. Take another swing after you watch the demo and really try to layer on those dark tones. That will make the pear jump off the page! Again, nice job!
