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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
This exercise will help you avoid chicken scratch. Instead of uncertain pecking at the paper. We're going to draw each line with a focused and intentional path. Remember to draw from your shoulder, elbow and wrist. Avoid the fingers. When I tell you guys to simplify your lines, I'm usually referring to three types of lines, two curves and one straight.
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DOWNLOADS
project-simplify-to-csi.mp4
147 MB
project-simplify-to-csi-transcript-english.txt
4 kB
project-simplify-to-csi-transcript-spanish.txt
5 kB
project-simplify-to-csi-captions-english.srt
7 kB
project-simplify-to-csi-captions-spanish.srt
7 kB
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Andriy Nykolyn]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Johannah Howell]()
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![Johannah Howell]()
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![Will B]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![@creachur1]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![@sophialia]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Maddie Gray]()
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![Leoni Bomfim]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Geir Jåsund]()
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![Alexander Rojas]()
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![Omar Williams]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![Abraham]()
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![Boris]()
Download the photo reference images and try to simplify them using CSI lines. Draw each line with a focused and intentional path.
Your pace should be quick, but not rushed.
For this exercise, we will just consider the individual segments of the contour of a shape.
Same instructions for level one and two. Just a difference in difficulty of reference. The level two photos have more fun little tidbits to tempt you to get into the details, but fight the urge and simplify.
Also, no shading in these please. This is not meant to be a portfolio piece.
CSI
C = C Curves
S = S Curves
I = Straights
If you'd like to have a chance to be included in the upcoming critique videos, you must submit your drawings below by February 16th.
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4h
Good job on this! Careful not to focus on shading or detail yet (notably in the snail), just prioritize those CSI lines!
I reworked the laces. I need to learn to simplify. I feel so compelled to put in as many details as I can and that gets in the way of simplifying. I do think that being able to successfully simplify a scene is a critical skill to develop.
It’s amazing to me how much more I got to know what a snail and its shell really look like by studying the photograph. The latest Smithsonian Magazine edition has a great article on how mollusks build their shells. Fascinating.
I welcome any comments/ critiques.
This was good practice. S-curves don't come very naturally, but I will work on them. I still find myself sketching very lightly. The results are darker in person than in the photo.
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5h
Good work! I find the S-curves tricky too, but I think you nailed it :)
i found it SUPER useful to break stuff down from boxes -> straight lines -> curves for proportions but my brain just kinda breaks whenever it comes to a lot of perspective stuff, especially anything rounded... my hand just can't do it!!
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18h
That's okay! The course has a lot of things to teach you before you really get into perspective. Don't sweat it at this point. The main thing to focus on right now is intentionally simplify each line as a C curve, S curve, or straight line. You did a good job of this overall- there's a few areas like the one you marked as not confident on the camel where it's a bit complex and could be simplified a bit more, but it seems like you've already identified that! Keep that up as a good habit as you continue on.
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23h
You did a great job of really focusing on the usage of the CSI! It looks like you didn't get caught up too much in details which can be hard to avoid, especially with the boots. Next time maybe you could try loosening up a little bit more, trying to draw with your shoulder and elbow instead of just your wrist. It'll help get some flow in there :)
Found this to be really tricky, particularly the boots and the footbed part of the them. Open to any and all feedback
I realized that in a small sketchbook it's really hard to use big motions with elbows and shoulders, so most of my lines were drawn with my wrist and fingers..
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4d
I think these still look great even if you were restricted! Good job utilizing the CSI :)
Not easy… the right boot (left in the drawing) is too wide, so didn’t get the dimensions right. Also hard to draw the laces and eylets.
The snail nothin crazy, pretty straight forward, but the boots, that was a challenge, mostly because of the laces.
I really appreciate any feedback.
Here is my attempt at the picture of the snail and the picture of the boots. With the snail, I noticed issues with the size of the page and where I started out, which is largely why the back of the snail is so off proportionally.
The boots is where I had the most issues. I did it as instructed, but I feel like I was very much underprepared for actually undertaking that drawing. I'm not disappointed or angry or anything because I'm a beginner, and as with anything it's important to understand that you'll have to be bad at first to get better. However, I do feel like I was vastly under-prepared for this project, and I don't understand why I was told to do it.
When drawing the boots, I observed many issues, including proportion issues due to the size of the page, issues with myself getting lost in the ridiculous amount of lines in the laces, proportion issues that made some of the form make no sense. It got to the point where I abandoned the notion of CSI and just tried to draw what I saw. This would be fine, but I had no instruction on how to break this down. Without that knowledge, I was just shooting in the dark. I would appreciate better instruction next time, especially because this will likely never be critiqued and I won't get any real feedback. With better instruction, at least I can better evaluate myself and keep in mind what I am supposed to do.
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6d
Hi Omar! I understand you had difficulty with this assignment, but I think your drawings still align with the goals! To help with your drawing size to page size ratio, I would suggest trying to loosely block in an area of the page to contain your drawing in. You might go a little bit outside of the area, but that's okay as long as it helps keep most of your drawing where you want it. I think you did a great job on the snail, prioritizing the C and S curves! I definitely see how the boots can get overwhelming. It seems like you got a little too rigid with your lines, not picking them up very much or letting them flow. As mentioned in the video, there are too many parts to complex/organic lines, making it difficult to draw with a single stroke--so break it up into smaller parts! Draw with your wrist and loosen your lines up a bit to really take advantage of the CSI. When it comes to the laces, they appear to consist mostly of "I" straight lines, with a bit of "C" here and there. try focusing on just one part of the lace at a time and use the straight lines to follow the direction they go in, so as not to let your eyes jumble them up. I hope this helps a little bit, good job on your first attempt!
It's been so long since the last assignment I submitted, but here's my submission for this one. I think I spent a lot of time on the boots, and it was spread across multiple short drawing sessions. All critique is much appreciated, thank you!
Was challenging, but I've learned some things. Need to fix my "heavy hand", making things simple is more complex then it sounds, the difference a clean fluid line makes over a scratchy one is amazing and not easy to achieve. Now to see demo, sometimes I wonder should I watch those first to get the idea how to go about the task, but than again, drawing first makes you brainstorm more.
