Project - Learning to Sketch from Observation

14K
Course In Progress

Project - Learning to Sketch from Observation

14K
Course In Progress

Use the three reference images of clean line drawings and sketch them using simple loose lines. Don't try to match the cleanliness of these drawings. Instead, sketch them out with energetic, tapered strokes. Don't hesitate. Just practice moving your arm with confidence. If you draw some lines and then you realize that, Oh, shoot, I need to curve that more. Go ahead and just draw the new curve right over it. As you get more confident that you've found the shape, you can darken those lines and the lighter lines start to disappear. Focus on the big idea and the shapes the lines represent, rather than on each individual line. 

For you, Level 2 monster trucks, I want you to start with this Level 1 project as a warmup, and then head over to the Learning to Sketch from Imagination project page for your instructions.

If you'd like to have a chance to be included in the upcoming critique videos, you must submit your drawings below by March 9th 2023

Good luck and please have some fun!

Newest
Caden Young
any feedback is welcome as always
Rachel Dawn Owens
Woah cool style! Nice lines!
Apollo
12h
I left the construction lines in, and simplified the details, so I wouldn't trap myself into focusing on contours vs shapes and volumes, plus construction lines prevent me from becoming confused. My biggest barrier right now is drawing shapes in a notebook or on my desk where my arm or sleeve gets caught on the spirals, paper, or edge of the desk and I have to redraw something 30 times :(
Apollo
9h
I also still struggle with pencil pressure as most of my art career i've drawn digitally and pressed really hard
@621
16h
Melanie Scearce
Looks great! Good job with your proportions.
@flash1337
Very challenging exercise for me. It also makes me quite uncomfortable…. I will continue to work on my proportions…
Melanie Scearce
That's wonderful that you are outside of your comfort zone for this assignment -- that is the space where the most learning happens! It might help with your proportions to lightly mark an "envelope" on your page that indicates where the important shapes are. For example, the envelope I'd draw for the hand looks sort of like the shape of the Big Dipper Constellation. Use the envelope as a parameter to help place the more specific shapes, and continue working general to complex. Keep your lines very light until you are sure about them. Hope that helps :)
@piba
2d
Fun exercise Only thought of changing pencils on the hand and girl so they look clearer Prob messed proportions but Im happy with my line result
@dukal
2d
Good job 👍
Blex
4d
i had zero hopes with this one, but i feel it dident go as bad as i thought it would, but not sure what to think about the final result.
Gwen Post
Here are my attempts, the one of the girl is a bit wonky, any tips are appreciated:)
@bluemight
I'm pretty satisfied with the result, it was funnier than expected. I was thinking "the character is gonna be a mess" but it went really well.
Rachel Dawn Owens
I might use a sharper digital brush. You want to avoid too much of that airbrush look. Overall, it looks like your getting it. Good job.
@nateageek
This assignment was oddly hard for me... I think because I had to generalize the shapes first then go into the details. Oddly the last few were more tracing almost...
Christian Peitler
Infelt the first one was not sketchy, so I made another one, I notice its really hard for me to stay sketchy and not clean up lines, I need to practice this more!
Nitzani
6d
You can do it!
Kris A
7d
After watching the demos, I felt a lot more confident. I’m traveling so had to work on the iPad this round which definitely feels different from the pencil and paper at home. But I think the concepts are there. Tried to keep my lines lighter as I explored the major shapes and flow of this guy. Didn’t want to get too detailed and keep my mind in the open exploration mode. Feedback welcome!
Rachel Dawn Owens
It looks like you got the concept. Your lines are long and light and simple. The eye got a little scratchy. I know this lesson is far from an anatomy one. But I think this little tip could help out your drawing. Keep at it and keep drawing
Mandy Howell
Ignore the previous assignments up top lol. This wasn't as scary as I thought would be, although the girls was tricky. The arm was fun! I couldn't figure out where my #2 pencil went, but I glanced over and my cup full of teacher's grading pencils was there, one end blue, one end red, and I thought... hey... why not? lol. I look forward to seeing how he did this though, so I can improve on this... I'm LOVING this course.
Christian Peitler
This arm was vers hard, had to draw like 4 times, and still not so good 😅, its hard for me to draw small curves with loose
Christian Peitler
I really tried to focus this time not about how it looks, I really tried just to make the lines loose and tapered feedback is welcome :)
Rachel Dawn Owens
He’s got a little extra swagger. I dig it 👍 Nice long, light and loose lines!
@elihachu
10d
Controversial but.. I hated doing the penguin!!! I could not get the beak at all. However, loved doing the hand! Was such a challenge and they took awhile but I love them. The simpler hand was actually done after the demo as I feel I was too heavy on detail before the demo. I also drew this horse this morning so I'm not relying on the demos:) Really happy with them!
@tattoo3543
I've realized how much I have to work on proportions. Just like the other exercises, I am trying to do it in the shortest time possible, in this case the one that has taken me the longest is the girl, which was 15 minutes. 
Neo Diamond
Tried to be a lot looser with the vr girl after I watched the start of the demo. Proportions are a bit off but it was fun to do!
Rafael Rangel
@turncoda
13d
Retried the penguin because I realized way too late that the proportions were way off. Retried the hand because I feel like I didn't capture the energy of the pose and it just felt flat. Second try has more confident lines I feel. Don't know how I feel about the robot girl.
@turncoda
12d
watched the demo and critiques and now I think I wasn't exploring with my lines enough. Here's another try.
Ary 27 P
15d
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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.
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