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You’ll learn the most important foundational concepts for drawing anything and soon you’ll be drawing pictures out of your imagination or from reference.
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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![]()
![@shdshadow]()
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![Veronica Scaglia]()
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![@jose7c]()
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![@francescovittone]()
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![Elizabeth Lhotak]()
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![Alvi Anowar]()
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![Bruno Villarrreal]()
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![Ratthew Rattington]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![@samuels]()
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![@matt22german]()
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![Clue]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![Sven]()
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![Patrick Bosworth]()
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![Yves]()
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![@richalynn]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Nikolai]()
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![Ben Kraske]()
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![Daan Van Cauteren]()
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.
My attempt at drawing the boots and the turtle (with a little help from the demos). I had fun, although I probably messed up the proportions a bit. I can definitely say that the "envelope method" suggested in the demo was really helpful for me in overcoming my fear of the blank page and becoming more confident with my lines. Tips are always welcome!
Hi everyone,
I really enjoyed drawing the snail and am quite pleased with it.
I also tried drawing boots, I know they're not the best, but I’m very proud of having overcome "the fear" and given it a go.
These are my first try of those drawings!! I had so many problems in proportions but trying to solve them!
Here my attempts for level 1. I felt I was lost too much in the details when drawing the boots
Here are my attempts for level 1 and level 2 assigments. I drew them before watching the demo and critique videos. Some of them were more challanging than others - the shoelaces in particular were confusing to me.
I feel like it's sometimes hard for me to draw in simple lines because I'm not a complete beginner, but I still find things I can improve in my drawings.
This is my work before I watch the demo and do them again. Might upload after work. Please let me know if you have suggestions. I think I am blind when it comes to like figure out the way thing looks or the perspective of a subject . I have tried that left boot so many freaking time. It still looks bad and wrong . I tried doing box and see if I can figure it out but no luck. I think the laces was the easy part at this point. The images are uploaded in the order I have finished so I think my lines look a bit more confident than the first ones. But feel free to critique.
Here my first and second attempt, I feel proud of myself for now, I always have troubles drawing clothes specially booths lol.
Simplifying lines is very helpful to understand the position of things, let you focus in what is importan 🧐
Pre demo / critique, excited to watch those as I'm sure there's a lot to learn there. I was seriously doubting myself going in, though I'm glad I pushed myself to see it through as it turned out way better than I thought I was capable of doing.
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4d
Very nicely done! Glad to hear that you surprised yourself. That's a great feeling 🙌 You made great CSI choices in both of these drawings. I think you got a little too detailed with the contour of the shell in the snail drawing, but that's a small critique. Overall this is a perfect level of simplification.
I found the boot very challenging - particularly the laces. I haven't watched the demo yet, but this was my attempt pre-demo.
I found myself forgetting to think about CSI.
My first attempt at the shoes and the snail before watching the demo. Please leave comments
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4d
Nice work! The object is to get some pencil miles in, so that eventually the art flows out of you without thinking. Doing these exercises can be tough because it seems like work, but I promise it is worth it in the long run! As you do them, make sure you are getting straights and curves in there. The blend of the two will help you control the feeling of solidness in your drawings. Again, nice work, and keep at it!
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5d
Nice work, and welcome back!
My try at the level 1 assignments - to be completely honest I can't STAND drawing shoes/boots 😖 those laces drive me crazy. Also couldn't resist a little bit of shadowing 😬
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1d
Very nice overall! You've got good proportions and a good balance of simplification vs detail. I would just recommend trying to find more straight lines to incorporate into the drawing, as having a variety of each kind of line adds visual interest and helps reinforce that balance of simplification. See if any areas can be further reduced to just a straight line. But solid work already! :)
I tried to use CSI but felt that I needed „searching lines“. The exercise felt useful nonetheless! Looking back at the pictures I notice that I did quite a bit of chicken scratching!
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7d
Utilize those techniques!! These are just sketches, and absolutely don't have to be single, clean linework only! If you look at how Stan's drawing in the demos, he uses searching lines! It's an important and valuable tool! If I could say one thing, is I'd see about getting your searching lines lighter so they don't overpower the lines you choose to define. Maybe tweaking the opacity/pressure for your brush? Nice work on these, keep it up!
Did the snail today, interested in what the demos are pointing out. Very fun drawing to do!
