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
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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.

@fredkar
•
4h
Gave it three attempts. Once before watching the demo, once before watching the critique and once again after that. Find shading in the right values to be very difficult.
@asonyx
•
16h
I tried to do the portrait too. I noticed while doing (and I didn't doing the pear) that with my current set of pencils (2h to 2b) that it is a bit hard to get dark tones. There is also (for me) not enough differences between light and dark halftones. But I'm quite satisfied with the result.
@torridas
My first take at the assignment. I didn’t draw something since high school. It’s been a while. It was quite challenging for me. Looking forward to the next lessons. My pencil is not that great. I wasn’t able to stick to the 5 values.
Martha Muniz
It's a great start and a solid submission! I do notice you may have struggled with smudging, for that I recommend using a piece of paper or napkin under your hand to avoid it happening in the future. Or you can keep experimenting with other grips like the overhand grip, too How to Hold and Control Your Pencil if you would prefer to start practicing it early on. But overall good work, it's feeling very volumetric and solid. Keep it up, looking forward to seeing your work :)!
Tasneem Noor
I used the 2nd and 3rd reference photos of the pear for this assignment
Vincent Versaw
Did the pear one. I think it was pretty good aside from a few things. Why did I light the part thats shaded as a midtone? It doesn't look fitting despite me trying to replicate the light thats sort of placed on the shadow of the pear. Maybe I should have used a darker value? P.S. I am using clip studio paint so brush recommendations for sketching and painting this would be greatly appriecated!
Martha Muniz
Hey there! I like how your pear is turning out, the brushes and values you're using give it a painterly quality :) I would suggest though to break down the values using straighter and slightly smaller brush strokes, since right now the value groups can be a bit oversimplified (especially around the top left part of the pear). Especially if you use smaller strokes in that area, it will help avoid those value groups from appearing very uniform/equal and instead give it a touch more nuance for the transition from light to dark.
Chris McGill
Attempted the face as well.
Chris McGill
Well that was incredibly humbling. Second attempt was on the white paper after watching the example.
Martha Muniz
Very nice improvement and application of technique after watching the demo! You really nailed the value distribution, simplification, and keeping the volumetric structure of the pear.
@molenkof
I tried, ok 😭. This is my 2nd attempt. I'm just gonna move on now. The other lessons look interesting.
Michael Bednařík
Good morning, here are my attempts. Sometimes it was fun but in portrait I got lost in edges and values complexity 😵‍💫
Camille Varner Kolafa
You nailed these! Good job sticking to the goals of the project with 5 values, shapes, and straight lines. Totally understand getting lost on the portrait, it has a lot going on! I think you still did really good though. The values are balanced and you broke things down into shapes to the best of your ability. keep up the good work!
@beyondfire94
The pear was on easier side, so I decided to try level 2 and it was insanely hard. I would really appreciate a feedback on how I could improve. After watching demo and critique videos, I fixed a few things: my nose proportions were way off and some half-shadows were missing. I also tried to make edges harder. The B6 turned out to be super soft, I'm struggling to cover the paper's structure. I still feel like the proportions a bit off
Camille Varner Kolafa
Don't sweat it too much about the proportions, that isn't a huge focus for this project :) I think this is great, you really made sure everything was broken down into shapes with straight edges. My main critique is that some areas I think you went too dark and some too light. For example, on the left side of his mouth (our left) your value appears a bit too dark, as well as the value that branches out from that down to the jaw and the cheekbone value. Those could definitely be lightened up a bit! I think the triangle of light on the right side cheek could be darkened some, because when we look at the photo, while it is light compared to the shadows around it, it is not as light as the left side of his face. As for your comment about struggling to cover the paper's surface, try sharpening your pencil after you fill in your shape and go back in to the areas where you're not happy with the paper texture showing through your stroke marks. The sharpened pencil will help you get into the tooth of the paper a bit better for more even coverage (assuming that's what you meant!). Again you did a great job, try those value adjustments and see what you think!
@pushchair180
I did most of Drawabox but tired of it and decided to try this course. I did some projects without an account at a very slow pace earlier this year, now that I've bought access I'll post what I have done and (try to) do it more consistently. I drew both during this July before watching the demo. My scanner seems to have lightened them a bit and cut off some of the page edges - I used an HB pencil for the lighter values and a 6B for the darker ones.
Jasmine B.i
this looks really good!!
@molenkof
Nice work. Good idea drawing the color scale before
@molenkof
Did I completely miss the point of this exercise? Yes. But I invite you to consider the possibility that I am NOT a clever man.
Camille Varner Kolafa
Great first attempt though! On your next attempt, just make sure you break values down into shapes, and use straight lines only on the shapes as well as the pear's contour. Try to get 5 values that read clearly; drawing a value box scale will help you establish those values!
Jenny Flannery
Pears! The first was completely on my own and I tried again after watching the demo.
@asonyx
•
4d
Did the first pear
Camille Varner Kolafa
You nailed it, keep up the good work :)
Jon Wong
•
4d
Was fun, had some issues with the sharp edges in the shadow.
Camille Varner Kolafa
This looks great! My biggest note for you would be to not forget about breaking all of the values down into simpler shapes with each shape being one of your 5 values! The way you have them right now is more like blended shading. Nice job on using straight lines though!
@jlcawrence
Third pear
Kevin Moore
The circles were very hard and I could have done better on the distinct shades. But I am happy with it for my skill level.
Tomas Gallant
This is my first attempt at the assignment! I have some ideas of what went wrong here. Hopefully my next attempt I can start to correct some of these! Any feedback would be appreciated, let me know if I missed anything! I feel that - My stronger shadows on the body of the pear are too dark. - I got overwhelmed when it came to shading the bright, main body of the pear. The shading looks disorganized. - I think the shading in general could use consistency all across the object. Especially the direction that I am moving the pencil. - I don’t think I have 5 distinct values, only 4. - The shadowing for the edge of the pear looks too light, the floor shadow’s edge looks too dark (?). I sort of screwed up the bottom of the pear’s shading 😅 - also the general shape of the pear relative to the reference is quite different. Thanks!
Camille Varner Kolafa
Good job critiquing yourself, definitely some valid notes there! On your first note however, I would say it's the opposite. Your darkest value is okay, it's the other values that are too light. When I look at the thumbnail of your photo, I really only see 3 values: the highlight, the light halftone, and dark shadow. You're missing a clear dark halftone and light shadow. I suggest adjusting those and you might actually even be able to darken the dark shadow. Great job breaking the values down into shapes and using straight lines though!
@jlcawrence
2nd work
ayan Maji
I mess the edge and value bot got angle and proportion my first try so be little less harsh on me . I will be practicing make value scale and nailing the shape more and more visible .
Yeabsira Digafe
Hi Ayan! To preface I am new to this platform and would consider myself a beginner so take my advice with a grain of salt! It sounds like you already know what areas you think you should work on and I definitely agree that practicing your values and shapes would help your growth! Just a quick tip for values I think he covers it in his video for sharpening the different kinds of pencils. If your able to shave off the wood from your pencil so about an inch of the graphite is exposed you can get more tonal strokes out and less lines! (you might already be doing it but I noticed the lines in the light side of the pear) Aside from that I think that you did a good job focusing on shape, proportion and capturing the composition of the pear. Great job!
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