course

Form From Imagination

Course by Steven Zapata

Full course

$240

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Full course

You will be given unexpiring access to watch the videos online .

$240

Lessons

Duration

12h 45m

Skill Level

Beg. & Int.

Views

388

overview

Access The Power of Form

An intuitive understanding of form is the most valuable drawing skill. It informs your choices on all other aspects of drafting - lines, gesture, color, everything! This is true even if you're working from reference. Whether you are designing characters for a game or painting a tree from life, you are always grappling with form in your mind. In this course we will come to understand form from the ground up, allowing us to create it from imagination.

Master The Pencil

You can complete this whole course with the simple, powerful pencil! All assignment demonstrations are done with pencil and this course doubles as a pencil drawing master class. But a mastery of form is applicable in any medium, and if you want to work digitally there are videos explaining how to do so for the assignments, and the assignment book includes adaptations for digital use, noting adjustments to deliverable counts.

Unlock A New State Of Mind

The demonstrations and exercises in this course will help level up your skills and establish a crucial framework for understanding dimensionality in your art. You will grasp form in your mind more vividly than ever before, leading to being "on the form" a state where it feels like you are sculpting a real object on the page with your pencil. When the thing you're drawing feels real to you, nothing can stop you!

About The Instructor

My name is Steven Zapata, I've been a professional entertainment designer, illustrator, and educator for 13 years and am currently based in New York. I've worked in video games, film, book publishing, theme parks, experiential design, and storyboarding. I specialize in design, anatomy, figure drawing, scene composition, and rapid ideation sketching.

I have a YouTube where I explore the spirit of art with over 120k subscribers. I teach classes on foundational drawing and painting skills, design, and storytelling. I've done speaking engagements at major universities including Stanford and UC Berkeley, and radio shows like BBC Radio 4 and NPR, and have been featured in publications like ImagineFX. Here's some of my work:

What you will learn

1The Nature of Light

A multimedia exploration of various types of light. Consider how the illusion of form is created and why things look the way they do. Investigate photons, diffuse and specular reflection, and light falloff.

2Materials Overview

A look at all my drawing materials with links and a demonstration of the basic capabilities of the pencil, from hatching to stumping to veiling.

3The Modeling Factors

Learn the 12 modeling factors and the optical effects that create the impression of three-dimensionality.

4Basic Geometric Forms

Learn how to draw and render basic geometric forms, advancing to introducing texture and secondary shapes to primary geometric forms.

5Combined Geometric Forms & Still Lifes

Learn how to handle complex forms and begin to compose scenes. Design lit scenes with multiple elements using the principles of form.

6Organic Geometry

Apply your knowledge of geometric forms to organic forms and learn to master soft transitions and edges.

7Simplifying Complex Forms

Learn how to simplify even the most complex and subtle of organic forms into manageable structures.

8Understanding Primary Shapes

Deepen your understanding of primary shapes and their applications in character design.

9Local Values on Forms

Learn how to handle local changes of value on complex forms and master one of the challenging tasks in drawing.

10Tips for Designing Form

A large compendium of tips for designing and inventing form is included.

11Creative Demos

Apply your newfound skills and knowledge to creative work from imagination. These videos cover the realistic difficulties, compromises, and joys of free drawing.

12Assignment Book Included

Grab the assignment book included with this course to find 28 assignments designed to increase your understanding and retention of the material.

Premium Benefits

Unexpiring Access

You will be given unexpiring access to this product.

Money Back Guarantee

Contact support@proko.com within 30 days. We usually don't ask questions, but a request is subject to review if over 25% of content was downloaded. This is to protect our instructors from dishonest wardrobing and ensure a happy and thriving community.

Exclusive Content

Only premium students get to watch the majority of instruction contained in this course. Little to no free content is provided.

Assignments

A variety of exercises to help you practice what you've learned. After you do the assignments, you can post them in the community for feedback and see what other students are posting.

Assignment Demonstrations

The instructor includes demonstrations that show how to do an assignment or how to use the information taught in the lessons. Most of us are visual learners (we’re artists!), so hearing it explained is not enough. We have to see it many times.

What others are saying

Mel Wells

Form From Imagination is less of a course you momentarily take, and more-so a drawing manual you can keep with you throughout your entire art practice. It’s been deeply invaluable and has managed to help me gauge my ability, yet simultaneously fuel my aspiration.

Nicolás Marsá

The best resource I’ve ever found to learn how light works and apply it to any medium while mastering one of the simplest and most effective tools: graphite. With the beginner-friendly exercises and detailed explanations from Steven, I've quickly acquired knowledge that can be applied instinctively to any design. I feel that from now on, I can experiment with a lot of different techniques and just have to master the medium itself because the general knowledge of light and shadow is deeply rooted in my brain, allowing me to play with it instinctively. I love the course’s emphasis on using knowledge to play and be creative as soon as possible. One of my best investments as a professional artist.

Álvaro Cordeiro

As a primarily self-taught artist, doing Form From Imagination earnestly and taking my time with the material and exercises presented taught me foundational understanding I was missing on some of the elements of art. Knowledge I find myself using constantly even if I'm not trying to make something that's fully "rendered". Additionally, I learned two very important skills by following the course, patience, to not rush the process and the importance of tailoring whatever you're doing in the practice into something you enjoy and are excited about.

F.A.Q.

Is the course good for beginners?

The course begins with the foundations of drawing. These include the nature of light, and constructing and rendering simple forms like spheres and cubes. These are subjects completely appropriate for beginners, but I should warn you that I teach them at a "professional" level of detail. In terms of sophistication, vocabulary, and work load, the course is similar to what you would find on the college level. If this sounds a bit advanced for you, I would recommend spending more time happily drawing in your sketchbook to build your raw creativity and comfort with your materials until you are ready to take on more structured learning. In terms of materials, the course can be completed with tools available to beginners- a couple of pencils, cheap erasers and blending stumps, and some good drawing paper.

Does the course content apply to digital art?

You bet. We are learning the foundations of drawing here and your digital work will improve immensely when you understand these concepts. You can complete the course in its entirety with the software of your choosing. The assignment book includes adaptations for digital use, noting adjustments to processes and deliverable counts.

How was the course designed?

It was designed to address the hundreds of questions I've fielded from students over the years. The course emphasizes sequential learning, guiding students, step-by-step, through basic concepts about form and light, with the eventual goal of addressing complex organic forms. These early fundamentals contain time-tested drawing knowledge that will help to strengthen your personal work. The earlier parts of the course are considerably technical, but this knowledge will give you confidence as you graduate to more freeform assignments.

How long does it take to complete this course?

I think six months is a reasonable time frame for getting through these assignments. If your schedule is very aggressive, I think you could do them in three months, but anything less than that probably means that you are not taking your time, which means you are cheating yourself out of understanding form.

If I bought this course on www.formfromimagination.com, will I have access to it here?

Unfortunately no, Proko is a completely different platform and cannot transfer your purchase over.

Are these the same videos you have on www.formfromimagination.com?

Yes the course videos are the same. If Form From Imagination is ever expanded with more videos, those videos will be added to the Proko version as well.

Lessons

Form From Imagination (61 lessons)

Course Introduction