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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
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![@gtcooke94]()
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![@davidem]()
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![@zeichnenveraendert]()
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![@zeichnenveraendert]()
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![@marciahasslocher]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Leonardo Valdes]()
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![@adventeurs]()
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![@gtcooke94]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![Fraser McCormick]()
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![Patrick Bosworth]()
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![@umurgdk]()
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![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
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![@umurgdk]()
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![@dabbo]()
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![Mariya Lilith]()
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![@gtcooke94]()
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![@pedroalves13]()
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![@dabbo]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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.
Did the left boot after watching the demo and some critiques - I tried to let the laces be quicker and less exact but with more confident feeling lines
Attempt at the snail and skull before watching the guided lesson. Found both tricky. The skull very tricky, found myself lost when it came to the neck. Looking forward trying again after watching the lesson.
I felt comfortable with the snail.
When looking at the boots, my mind wasn’t yet able to reduce the “noise” in the photo to decisive lines (there’s an awful lot going on in there…).
I ended up using more straight lines, and I’m not too happy with my use of C and S shapes (they’re still unclear).
The critique video to this assignment helped a lot.
I am happy with my result on the level 2-References.
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1d
Great simplification! These look great, and it's good to hear that you're enjoying the course :)
Here’s my attempt! For the snail and right boot I drew solid lines but had trouble with determining how the lines for the boot reconnect after all those laces…for the left boot I drew a light outline for the boot that I think helped but it was still pretty tough!
That was harder than I was expecting haha also trying to learn how to draw on a tablet
Tried the boot as well - the laces especially were hard, had to add some squiggles just to help my brain make sense of what I'm looking at.
Going to go for the left boot after watching the demo and looking through some critique :)
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2d
You handled them quite well! Great simplification. Keep pushing for good line quality when you move on to the next boot. You want to avoid, as much as possible, 'hairy' lines that are made up of a bunch of smaller strokes. Challenge yourself to make longer strokes, and use your arm to draw rather than your wrist!
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3d
I think you did a great job here! Clean simplified lines, those S and C curves are looking really nice, and you have pretty good looking proportions! I think you could hunt for a few more opportunities to use a straight here and there to balance all of the curves, but this is looking good! The tail is REALLY close to the edge of the page, which is very common when sketching from observation. When you jump into a drawing without planning the boundaries the sketch can quickly expand off the page. Before you begin a sketch, it helps to quickly establish it's placement. Imagine the object wrapped in gift wrap, or an envelope, and estimate where the top, bottom, left, and right most edges will be, and make sure those edges have enough breathing room around them for your sketch to potentially expand into without touching the edge. A light line, or tick mark to estimate the outer most edges of the thing we plan to draw can help keep your sketch fully on the page. These marks don't have to be strictly adhered to, you can always push past them, or adjust them, but it gives you a good idea of placement before your run out of room. Hope this helps, keep up the good work!
I tried the boots reference. I think it took around 3 hours. Although right boot took around an hour.
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4d
Wow these look stellar, good job! Since this project is meant to practice on simplifying, I think 3 hours may have been a little long, haha! You should try setting a timer to draw the boots more quickly. You could try different times, like 10-15 minutes or less, 20-30 mins, 1 hr. This may help you to think more simple instead of hyper-focusing on the detail and proportions. Remember, just consider the individual segments of the contour of the shapes, prioritizing the CSI lines. I think you were successful with that in the snail :)
After watching the demo and critique videos I've decided to take on the snail and be aware of my lines to be relaxed and one of CSI.
Definitely easier than the boots but is still quite a challenge. Tried to do the "envelope method" on this one. Would say it went well. Still trying my best to stop "patting" the lines, and having a confident long line. Im open to any critique, thanks!
The mushroom exercise really made it clear to me how much I need to work mind - had coordination :) I think I'll be practicing this for a while.
I started the exercise with the boots - figuring I'd focus on CSI - but I really felt like I was missing something. So, I switched to the snail. I drew the mushrooms & snail in ink to practicing committing to lines with erasing.
Then I watched the demo for the snail & tried the boots. I blocked in (realized later that I should have draw the outer frame for both boots at the same time}. Then I drew the 2nd boot & had to adjust the size of the 2nd & then the 1st boot. I watched the demo to see how to tackle the laces and then attempted that too. I can see that my drawings are still too light.
Just watched the assignment video and attempted. Looking at some other posts here it looks like I have some similar issues. Seeing and translating proportions is hard, and it makes me less confident on the lines. Looking forward to watching the demos and seeing how a second try goes
Well, I tried making the snail twice, but I'm not really sure if I'm designing it the right way. I tried simplifying the shape with CSI lines, but I'm not very confident that I did it right.
Well, the boots were the hardest part for me.
I'd appreciate it if you could give me your opinion.
Tried my hand at the boots. Did the left boot first and admittedly deleted a lot, because I wasn't "ghosting" enough. The boot on the right came out far better in my opinion. As I was more patient and did some proper "ghosting". Please do critique me in what I can improve, thanks!
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8d
Nicely done! You have a good balance of CSI in there. Ghosting is indeed a good way to "find" your line, and it can really add a lot of character to the drawing too. One thing to look out for is petting your lines, i.e. making lots of small lines to make a larger one. Try, even when ghosting, to get long, light lines. As you progress, you can start to think about the line weight, and character of the line as you go. I think you're really going to enjoy that!
Again, nicely done. You nailed it!
