$127.20
$159
You save $31.8
Bundle discount Each additional course part in your cart adds 3% off all courses, up to 15% off.
Full course
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.
$127.20
$159
Give a gift
Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.
Or gift this course:
Our best value of the year.
Deal good through December 6th.
Through Dec 6
Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
DOWNLOADS
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![@rods2292]()
![]()
![Noah Myburgh]()
![]()
![Ty Merkens]()
![]()
![Melanie Scearce]()
![]()
![Krock]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![@davidem]()
![]()
![Krock]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![Ry]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![@jt0610]()
![]()
![Marcelo Alonso]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![Jerome Tan]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![@marciahasslocher]()
![]()
![Camille Varner Kolafa]()
![]()
![Manavi Prabha]()
![]()
![@kuscheldrache]()
![]()
![@kuscheldrache]()
![]()
![Melanie Scearce]()
![]()
![Alekai]()
![]()
![Alekai]()
![]()
![@ctellez]()
Download the photo reference images of seals and sea lions.
Level 1 - Draw from Reference
Draw their gesture and design dynamic shapes using the concepts from this lesson and the previous lesson.
Remember that gesture is not the contour, so don't just copy the outlines. Look for the movement and energy throughout the shapes. Use your whole arm and use the looser sketch line that we learned about.
Level 2 - Draw from Memory or Imagination
Start with the level 1 project and after 5 to 10 poses, turn the page, put away all the reference photos and do more drawings from imagination or from memory.
You can try to invent your own poses and design those shapes to be dynamic. Or you can try to remember the poses you already drew and use those as inspiration. Try to push and design with a focus on drawing dynamic shapes. It doesn't matter how accurate you get to the original photo, it's more about designing the shapes to look dynamic and interesting.
---
Deadline for submissions to be included in the video critique is next Thursday (8/24/23)
* Because of the large amount of reference images, it would help a lot of you include the reference you used for each drawing. I'm more likely to select your submission for the critique. Thank you!
That's my attempt. I don't know why but I have the impression that I was not able to transmit the sense of movement. Feedback appreciated
Hello, haven’t uploaded for a while so I guess let’s start here.
I tried applying the principles of interesting form language to these seals bye focusing on asymmetries to create flow, detailed vs rather simplified areas, straight vs curved. please let me know if I’m missing any that’s all I could think of.
I think my drawings could have been more expressive, I feel like i stayed too clean and did not explore enough.
Funnily enough this is the exact problem I keep bumping into with my figure drawings.
Also 2 or 3 of these were draw alongs of one of Stans demos.
Critiques are more than welcome.
I'm a noob and haven't gotten to this assignment yet but you have really beautiful lines. What kind of paper are these on?
•
2d
This is beautiful work, Noah! I can see that you were thinking about everything you mentioned above. I really like the rhythms you made with your line weight as well, where your lines fade from thin to thick. That creates a really nice dynamic effect apart from the shapes you've designed, which are also well-designed.
When it comes to that feeling that your drawings could have been more expressive, you may have to take it too far in terms of exaggeration to see what that outer limit is, and then bring it back from there. It might take a few iterations to get to a good place with it. You could experiment if you wanted, by picking out a few drawings from this group to see how far you can push the exaggeration.
Drew another seal, but with a reference that has the seal being more dynamic.
I think this looks pretty good, I think I'll practice more to understand gesture. I would also need to improve on proportions as well.
•
6d
I agree, you did a good job! More practice is always good, you'll really start to develop a flow and understand gesture more. One tip I have is don't be afraid to get loose with it. Some things can be a little exaggerated in order to make the pose feel more "lively". For example, you could make the line of action a lot more curvy where it bends, and kinda think in blob shapes for the main body masses!
First versions of this exercise. Again really struggling with line quality. Seems to have gotten worse this week, unsure as to why but will keep practicing.
Hi, I need help on drawing dynamics because I'm not sure on how would i apply this in practice. I picked the seal lying down because I thought it would be interesting to show dynamism like the koi fish exercise, but i don't think i captured it well.
Maybe I should pick other seal poses that are actually moving?
•
12d
This is a good one to start with, but I do recommend poses with more movement! You'll be able to get a more interesting line of action in, and more variation to the shapes that make up the gesture :) Good job so far, though!
•
15d
I think you've got a good start! Make sure instead of copying the contour, you're thinking in shapes again. It's just that the final shape is more dynamic than blobs. If you're having trouble, you could try starting to build up their bodies using the simpler shapes you see, and then finalize it after you think you've got the pose! Keep things loose and energetic (which you're already doing!) Keep up the good work!
Could someone explain to me how to proceed after establishing the line of action? I’m not sure how exactly to use the reference image afterwards, or rather in combination with the line of action. For example, if I have an S-curve, the convex part is stretched and the concave part is squashed but if the figure is lying on the ground, it’s still straight, should I still squash? After multiple attempts at gesture drawing, I tried for some of my drwaings to break the body down into basic shapes (head, chest, etc.) after drawing the line of action, and then tried to connect them in relation to it. However, I don’t know to what extent I should adapt the body to the line of action, and how much I should take the contours of the reference into account. I'm also not sure to what extent I should manipulate the body or how much it is allowed to differ from the reference.
Those are my attemps (level 1) before watching the demo and critique videos, I'd love any critiques on them, especially the fatty boy on the first page. I can't quite figure out why it is a little off for me. :)
•
24d
If you're talking about the one where he's in the grassy environment, I think it may just be the foreshortened angle and the fact that this project doesn't involve adding dimension with values yet. I think maybe his head/face could be slightly bigger, but not by much. You could try adding some line weight variation maybe, heavier/thicker where his body meets the ground to try and show the weight of his blobby shape 🤔 I think you did a great job though!
•
25d
It looks like you focused too much on drawing the contour. Make sure you loosen up your sketch lines and draw with your whole arm to capture the energy and shapes of the pose. If it helps at all, I would start by drawing the line of action, which is essentially a line that follows the spine from the head to the tail fins. This gets the main movement down and you can build your shapes from there :)
I loved this approach to drawing! It’s completely new to me, and I really enjoyed trying it out. Here are my attempts:
•
27d
Nice work! Your seals are so flowy and energetic :)
I found myself first noticing the large, rounded mass of each seal’s head. From there, I began to see the connecting shapes, line of action, and overall direction of the pose.
I don’t think I have exaggerated the gestures very much yet, but this exercise helped me begin to see the movement and energy of the subject rather than only its outline. I found it very useful. I would appreciate feedback on what I should focus on to make the gesture and energy clearer.
Here some more from while watching the demo (paused the video before each example was demoed):
•
1mo
Really nice! There's a lot of energy in these, especially the two on the 3rd page.
After watching the critique videos I tried to make the rest of the seals! there are some of them I completely disliked and some of them that I found better under my eyes, but it was an interesting project indeed!
And I repeated the first photo to compare progression and well, I see a bit of progression but it is clear I must keep repeating this exercise :)
I really had a lot of fun with this one. I really love the look of the little wrinkles and folds in their neck, makes the shapes interesting one might say! At first I really didn't understand what would make a shape interesting, but now I think I get it. I started with a gesture line and drew the seal around it.
