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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.
assignments 459 submissions
This was as fun as it was challenging! I really tried to focus on simplification with the markers. Working through multiple iterations of the comp really reinforced shapes and designs so moving on to the larger thumb I felt more confident about the start of the sketch. Going to keep 3 value markers handy from here on out!
DOWNLOADS
project-value-composition-thumbnails.mp4
224 MB
project-value-composition-thumbnails-transcript-english.txt
6 kB
project-value-composition-thumbnails-transcript-spanish.txt
6 kB
project-value-composition-thumbnails-captions-english.srt
9 kB
project-value-composition-thumbnails-captions-spanish.srt
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![K. Williams]()
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![@na_talie]()
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![@pablo_dispatch]()
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![Hernan Rueda]()
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![Emily]()
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![@chrisdzy]()
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![@kotka]()
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![@notapirate]()
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![@sniggy]()
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![J M]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![gunk]()
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![Benjamin Gustafsson]()
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![Bag of Snakes]()
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![Clément Douziech]()
Level 1
Let's practice what we've learned about value composition by creating exploring several thumbnail sketches from the provided reference photos. Simplify each image into just three values in small thumbnails (between the size of your thumbnail and palm). Create at least five variations for each photo.
Some tips:
- Keep It Simple: Start small, capture the main big shapes and avoid adding details. If you overcomplicate, try again and simplify.
- Explore Multiple Ideas: Experiment by modifying value groupings and rearranging value shapes. Don't settle on your first idea. Often, initial concepts aren't the best.
- Ask "What If?": Experiment with backgrounds, clothing values, and cropping. You have the freedom to adjust these elements.
You can use pencils or markers. Choose whichever tool you're comfortable with, or try both for their unique benefits.
Pencils
- Use a dull pencil to draw larger value masses and avoid details.
- Pencils allow erasing and adjusting shapes and values.
Markers
- Markers are faster allowing you to do more quick variations.
- Markers provide predefined values for easy value separation.
- They encourage simplification due to their thick tips.
Level 2
After warming up with the first photos, move on to the Level 2 images. These are more complex and offer more exploration and room for error.
After several iterations, select a favorite thumbnail to refine. Create a slightly larger sketch with a little more details and up to five values.
Remember:
- Prioritize Simplicity and Clarity: Don't worry about perfect proportions or details.
- Focus on Values: Make deliberate decisions about value groups and execute them confidently.
- Guide the Viewer: Simplify, control your value range, and create a clear hierarchy.
Deadline - submit by Jan 31, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!
My house is kind of dark so I tried to take some photos outside. Not really the best solution!
I found the Roman portrait harder to play with for some reason... maybe because the brightness of the tunic draws the eye more than the face? Ah well. More to practice!
Also, how detailed should we be aiming for with things like facial features/planes of the face and clothing folds? I know the answer is partially "not too detailed," but should we be aiming to include certain things? Like eye sockets, cheekbones, shadow vs light sides? Just wondering...
I think, that depends on the goal of your thumbnail. If you do it for a scene, like the ones in the assignment, I would not include too much details in the face. If you are thumbnailing for a portrait, I would definitely plan some key features of the face.
Very educational! When I was working on the thumbnails for the mystical lady something just clicked in my brain and freed me from the need to blindly follow the source values and composition 🤯
Hello everyone! These are my first tries for level 1 and 2. i'm pretty satisfied with the results indeed, but I think I need to play more with my values. Any advice is welcome!
Level 1. I spent too much time on each one even though i know these are supposed to be quick. And in the bigger potrait i feel like i should have kept the hair lightest and the white background a little darker.
For my level 2 attempt I liked versions 3 and 4 and tried to implement both of them into the bigger thumbnail.
I think it's very interesting that some elements reappear among different submissions - a moon behind the priest/Greek man, an archway behind the woman. At first, it was hard for me to iterate between different elements, but at the end of the last image I decided to let myself go for a bit with the markers. I now realize my knowledge about where to put shadows and highlights is quite shaky, everything is guesstimated.
So, I was really trying to focus on the amount of time I was using when I was doing the Thumbnails because I'm not really fast when drawing, so I decided to keep everything simple so I could go fast, and avoid the pitfall of adding too much detail into my small thumbnails ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
(Now, did I oversimplify my thumbnails? I probably did, but it did give me a chance to easily experiment and change stuff around to see what I like, but next time, when I'm doing a value study, I'll definitely do more detail ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Hey guys! Any tips on how to design hair and eyes without getting lost in too many lines and details? I’ve tried simplifying them as much as possible and really focusing on the shapes, but I still haven’t found a result I’m happy with yet (I felt hatred)!!
The level 1 guy with white hair has been haunting me for days 😭 and it stopped me from being creative with the actual assignment: value composition
I felt like I spent too much time in the previous assignments, the thumbnails were meant to be relatively quick but I ended up spending waaay to much time on each one. For this one, I tried to keep it simple and simplified.
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2mo
Nice! It looks like that is paying off. The faster you can thumbnail and do initial lay ins, the more drawings you will be able to do. The more drawings you do the better you will get! Keep at it.
My pre-demo attempts and demo follow-alongs of L1 and L2. It was hard at first to force myself to come up with something different from what I see in the reference photo, but after a few attempts it became a lot easier (and fun!)
The most I've struggled with was what to do with the 4th and 5th values in the L2 assignments. Planning them out beforehand as tiny thumbnails made things more manageable, though.
Compared to Stan's thumbnails, I think I used a lot more graphic background elements rather than realistic/subtle approaches. I think I'll try to tone things down a little in that regard.
Overall, this was a very helpful and fun assignment, I'll definitely use the process I've learned from this assignment to plan out my own drawings from now on.
Realized I prefer the low key values so I ended up just doing one version of the level 2 since I felt like they conveyed my vision and interpretation of the photos.
Level 1. Really enjoyable study. Really helped enforce how much autonomy we have when working from a reference.
First attempts at level one. I wanted to do as many as a page could contain of only one of the picture, it don't looks good but I'm happy with all the ideas that came in mind. This was fun
