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
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.

@virus_kid
First attempt without watching the demo. Struggled with differentiating values, proper pencil control and applying weight is something I need to work on, ended up just using four different pencils.
Jess West
@oliv3984
10h
This is the first time I’m showing a drawing to strangers, and I can tell I’m a bit self-conscious about it, but I’m looking forward to the feedback.
@greenmint
17h
Couldn't find a pear so I used an apple. What do you think? I usually draw digital but thought it'd be worth trying traditional with this one, I did notice myself struggling keeping the different values consistent.
Elle S
1d
Attempt at pear 3!
Charisse Varga
I tried drawing Pear #2 this time, digitally. I really hope this process gets easier, it’s just as taxing for me as taking the SATs! Took me 2 hours of problem solving to complete it. What I came against is: when there is a value in between the ones we’re working with, what makes you decide which one to classify it with? Could it be either or? I went back and forth, drew this several different ways but finally decided on the one below. Hopefully the lessons coming up will help with the decision making process
Melanie Scearce
Yes, it's up to you to decide what the threshold is for your value groupings. As long as you justify it with the rest of the value shapes in your drawing, it's the right answer! And yes, it will get easier the more you practice. You'll develop an eye for it. It will take some dedicated effort, but you're on the right track! Technically for this project you want to focus on the 3D form so your value shapes representing the skin blemishes are a bit too much of a tertiary detail for this project, but that's very nit-picky. This is a great pear, nice job!
Coinintact
Just tried the pear demo for the first time, I used an hb and a 2b pencil for the shade, and a white colored pencil for the highlights. I look forward to your critique!
Dawn Skinner
Assignment 1 - Drawing the pear in this manner was difficult but fun. I know I have a lot of work to do, and I look forward to your critique.
Melanie Scearce
This is an excellent pear! You did a great job with this project. I really like the shapes you designed here. The only thing I would point out is how close the second and third lightest values are to each other. When you squint at the drawing, they blend together into one shape. The squint test is a good way to check if your value shapes stand up to each other. Other than that, I think you nailed it!
Je_suis Ju
This was harder then i thought. Not very satisfied with the result but oh well! It means i have a lot of work to do. (Level 1 - pear 1)
Rheannon
2d
My attempt before following Proko's tutorial. Early days but learning lots
Arca Ludo
Level 1 - Pear 2 I used the Jaeger Brush from the Procreate Library. I wonder if I should have used a charcoal brush instead.
@bradleys
First try at this! Top pear was my first attempt and bottom is after watching the demo and attempting to correct the mistakes I recognized. Feel like I got the focus of the exercise better on the second try: simplifying shapes with hard edges and such. Also seemed like I could "feel" the shape I was working with better on that one? Felt less flat than the first. Proportions are off on the second compared to the first though, and my shading got sloppy in parts.
Umbre on
2d
Did it 2 days ago (I reworked it after watching the demo), I decided to post it because it's part of the process I guess?
Lucas Finney
After watching the demo and critique video I did a second attempt to try and apply some lessons learned. The first drawing is my second attempt, while the second drawing is my first. In the second attempt I... - did some thumbnailing to better understand the shape of the pear and slow down my process overall. - simplified my shadow shapes and so as to not get lost in some of the smaller shapes that looked like they were floating in my first attempt. - decided on a value scale before starting. - shaded along contour lines to help give my pear more of shape instead of flattening it out with longer, broader lines. Working with pencils is hard for me. I can see I still have a lot to learn about pencil control overall. Overall, I am happy with my small improvements in this second attempt.
@gibble
3d
level 1 pear 1 and level 2 portrait.
@izz6
3d
Here's my first attempt before watching the demo.
@izz6
3d
forgot to attach the reference pic
@mblud
3d
Yikes, this was hard! First attempt. Monty
Ben Kraske
It'll only get easier from here! Remember to take your time and design the shapes of the different values, and keep them distinct! Be purposeful with your 5 values and you'll see the dimensionality grow. Keep it up!
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 Kipper
2nd attempt at 1st pear.
Victoria Guzman
Wow! This looks really great in my opinion. Fantastic job!
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
4d
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!
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