Drawing Basics
Getting Started
Lines
Shapes
How Perspective Works
Intuitive Perspective
Values
Bonus Content
Let’s take a look at your “Dynamic Shapes” project submissions.
Because the project for level 1 and level 2 were essentially the same, just a different path to get there, I’ll be combining both levels into one critique.
I’ll go over some of the more common mistakes and give some demos covering ways to get your shapes looking more dynamic, interesting, and gestural.
Newest
@luiscubal
10d
Tried to make some more seals, this time with a greater focus on the stretching and wrinkling.
@writedrawface
24d
A few I made from imagination for fun
Jack H
1mo
My last set of 10 before moving on to the next lesson. 5 were from reference, 5 were from imagination. I think my shapes definitely have improved compared the the first few seals I drew. It is tough to figure out the right shape to use, but once you get it, its quite fun.
•
1mo
Really nice work!
@faegbc
2mo
Post critique/demo attempts, I tried to be sketchier and focus less on drawing "seals." I can definitely feel how important this is and I wanna get it down, any feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Tony Zhang
3mo
I am done with this project and can draw some interesting shapes!!
Stefan Sharkov
3mo
The first two images are my observational sketches, while the last three are my sketches from imagination. I had a lot of fun with this assignment; I feel as though it really helped me understand proper shape design. Critiques would be appreciated.
@onedoddlyboi345
4mo
These were fun I feel like my line quality needs to get better. Looking at some of the ones that other people posted I think helped out a lot with level 1 bout to move on to level 2 soon
@optix
6mo
I did the first three before watching the demo, and then the last three after watching the demo. I really enjoyed the exercise. One thing I'm concerned about is if I am losing the gesture with details. I can figure out the gesture line, but I don't know if my shapes look dynamic enough.
Alex G.
7mo
After a loooong break I finally built up the courage to come back to the course. It is still the most entertaining way of learning how to draw ;) thanks Stan and the whole team!
In the first image i tried to cover as many of the reference pictures as i could on one page, and the other image shows my own creations. I try to catch up with the course and the other lessons. And thanks for any helpfull advice.
cheers !
Anna
7mo
oh my good are this ones cute <3
Alex G.
7mo
*i did the ones on the second picture after Stans advice-video, so its a little bit of cheating there :D
May Berry
8mo
Here's the retry. I did some of them by memory.
Ihori Kobayashi
8mo
I enjoyed practicing gestures by drawing those seals so much that I drew all 40 references. These are the last batch of practices. I need to continue to work on the line quality. But through this practice, I got a little better at drawing using the entire arm rather than just the hand.
Lisanne
8mo
All 40, well done! They look really good. I love how expressive you’ve made their faces. I plan on doing bigger drawings (A3) the upcoming week to practice using the whole arm. Have you tried that?
Eruera Hohaia-Turuwhenua
1yr
Hi!!
My goals are;
1. To draw a few different types of seals and draw them the same way a few times to get close to accurate gestural poses.
2.The ones with EX next to the gestures are exaggerated a little but still retaining a general accuracy.
3. The last 2 pages are from Imagination. Very loose and sketchy mess, trying hard to tune the brain in capturing and remembering what was there. Hard Work!
This was paying attention to the critique section and trying to do it the right way. But only feedback will truly tell me otherwise
Thank you all
@jasonj33
1yr
I'm using the techniques as I'm learning them, I just have more than one course I'm taking. It's always good to brush up though.
@jasonj33
1yr
Pedro Branco
1yr
Just came back from a vacation. Happy to see some of my stuff was featured. I've a bit of a hard time putting the folds and tension points on paper to be honest, it's really not obvious to me what I'm looking for and what I'm trying to draw.
And yeah I agree the imagination seals were meant to look like numbers so I did exaggerate them a bit more than I should've.
Zach Pipher
1yr
so watching Stan show students what they could of done instead has brought a question to my mind, when we do break from the reference versus when do we stick to the reference? There was times he would sort of bend and spaghetti the reference just a little bit, then other times he would say how there was a bump or something that needed to be shown otherwise it was over simplifying the reference.
@bert2
1yr
Its always tools not rules. You do what appeals to you and your decisions can be guided by what Stan is teaching us.
Ralph
1yr
So for the earlier lessons we got warmup exercises for every concept. While I get that it is difficult to keep calling it "warm up" the more these basic exercises are combined to arrive at more complex concepts like gesture, I was wondering if there still were good warm up exercises focused on gesture? Or is that too advanced already and we should just stick to the simpler line and circle exercises for warm-ups?
•
1yr
Hey, @Ralph! For me, a warmup is any exercise that gets us started, physically and mentally. Personally, I like simple lines and circles because they’re quick and don’t demand much mental effort, but feel effective enough to get my hand and arm ready, and they also put me into the “I’m-gonna-draw” mindset. But the possibilities for warmups are various. Some artists like to use gesture itself as a warmup for a longer drawing or painting. And, in one of Proko’s livestreams, I’ve seen @Sinix warm up on a Cintiq by drawing and undoing just a simple spiral several times.
For a gesture assignment, I think a good warmup could be to draw C-S-I lines using shoulder movements and an overhand grip (as shown by Stan in this video: How to Hold and Control Your Pencil).
But this is just a suggestion, of course. Ultimately, I’d say it’s up to each artist to decide what warmup will work best for them each time.
Hope this answers your questions!
@johananvogelenzang
1yr
Sorry I’m a little late with posting my seals but here they are. Feedback would be very much appreciated :)
@akzafeld
1yr
Ahoy there , is it supposed to be more like this? :
Zach Pipher
1yr
sort of looks like what he was saying, although the shape of the flipper does seem to be flattened a little bit. There is a pretty sharp downturn to the body at the bottom of the flipper.
Amy
1yr
I would like to ask a beginner level question about line quality. I have been practicing the tapered line and line weight. I need help applying it to gesture. I don’t have the fancy drawing programs. Just me and a pencil and paper. Stupid question about pencil, if there are programs with different ‘brush packs’ should I be handling the sharpness/lead softness- hardness/lead length of my pencil differently to produce a cleaner line? I feel mine just get messy, and hence I erase and my output isn’t clean. Any and all suggestions welcome.
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About instructor
Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
