Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

8.3K

Assignments 1K

Downloads 8

Project - Simple Animal Portraits

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

8.3K

Assignments 1K

Downloads 8

Deadline: Submit your assignments by 06/15/2023 for a chance to be featured in the next critique video!

Level 1:
Create animal portraits using basic shapes. Try to simplify the animal using 10 shapes or less. Keep your shapes organic and simple. Simple shapes could be stretched, bloated, indented, or curved to capture personality. Don't worry about perfect proportions. Instead, focus on creating cool, simple designs. No details or shading! Use the three reference photos I provided and find 5 to 10 more.

Level 2:
Take Level 1 assignment and push them further. Play with your basic shapes and size relationships to give the animals different personalities. Don't hesitate to experiment and look for additional references to understand your subject better. Now, go have fun!

Arthur Nesbitt

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Took a lot longer between this and the line section than I had planned, but it's good to post in these classes again! I attempted level 2 with a couple of them but it was tougher than j expected lol

Monika Tafelska

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Hi! This is my second attempt. I challenged myself to limit the drawing to just 5 shapes. It was really hard, but I think I did a good job, and I'm happy with the results. The colored versions are my way of breaking down the drawing into separate figures. At the same time, I wanted to study line quality (I know a chicken isn’t the best example, haha). I hope you like it! Any feedback is appreciated. ❤️

@stitch_

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@silver847

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I think this went pretty well!

Aimee

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I feel like I did an okayish job at this. Some are before watching the demo and some after. I have some weak attempts but also some that I feel are a bit better. Would love any feedback if anyone has any thoughts!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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I love the toucans!

@lucagray

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11d

This was quite a fun exercise!

@lucagray

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11d

Ok so after watching the critique video I decided to try again and also to give level 2 a try because I thought it might help me understand what the key shapes were. Sorry I know the photos of the drawings aren't good and I ran out of steam to darken the lines 😖 I really think this is a worthwhile exercise but I think I need to try and study what other people have done because it just doesn't feel like I'm quite getting it. Like the tiger looks like a bear or a dog no matter what I do 😅

Janou Baarda

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13d

This was great. Decided to finish the banana monkey in the left under. Thnx for the inspiration and good lesson Stan!

Agnieszka

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12d

Love it

Jim H

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12d

Those are really cool!

Melanie Scearce

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13d

Awesome characters. I really love the banana monkey and the chunky monkey.

Luis Ángel Ruiz de Gopegui Rando

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14d

There go the level two... quite an intellectual challenge!

Luis Ángel Ruiz de Gopegui Rando

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14d

And here are the proposed exercises. I have to admit that they have been difficult for me to execute.

Luis Ángel Ruiz de Gopegui Rando

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14d

Hello, here are my first sketches

Rachel Dawn Owens

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14d

Nice! You did a really great job keeping the lines loose. I really like the turtle. He’s got the most character I think.

Andrea Anaya

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18d

I tried to keep it simple. I haven't watched any of the demos yet, so probably I will try more of these after I do. Maybe I could exaggerate some of the shapes more?

Andrea Anaya

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After watching the critique, I realized I went way too 3d with my first attempts. I gave it another go. I think I could have varied some of the shapes more. For example with the rooster I could have changed the shape of the beak more. They kind of all have the same-ish beak.

Rachel Dawn Owens

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16d

Haha that little dog looks great! Lots of character.

@sirmightymike

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19d

This is my first attempt. I found this really difficult to simplify the animals into shapes in my head. I think I had too much focus on accuracy of proportions which made me very hesitant. I am going to review some of the other submissions and then do some more drawings!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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16d

Looks like you’re getting it with the hippo!

Lost 247365

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22d

I know I went over limit on some of these but I couldn’t bring myself to leave them less finished than this. I even turned the gecko’s feet into circles to lower my shape count in exchange to listening to him telling me how he could save me money on my car insurance. For level 2 I did the roadrunner and couldn’t help but see him as some snooty aristocrat with his nose/beak high into the air. It was very hard to make him look blocky as opposed to triangular.

Rachel Dawn Owens

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21d

These are so great! Your drawings have a lot of character to them. It looks like you had fun with these. I really liked your roadrunner reference, so I tried my own hand it. I went about it a little differently than Proko, but I find that starting with the longest line helps measure the proportions before I get into the shapes. You did great! Keep it up!

Bee Murray

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22d

Here is my first attempt!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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21d

It’s great! I love it!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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24d

These are fun!

@joel2311

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24d

I've made some Level 1 and level 2 drawings after watching th livestream and both demos. Would love some feedback :)

Rachel Dawn Owens

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24d

These are so good! They have so much character. Keep making more! I especially love this guy.

@joel2311

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24d

Sorry for the first two picture, here are better ones (hopefully)

Alekai

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24d

Well, it was definitely fun to draw, I want to keep doing them! It is more challenging than I expected, and I think that they aren't shapes as simple as I expected. I want to repeat it, or the same animals, after the criquique video. There are a lot of pictures!

Rachel Dawn Owens

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24d

Nice! These look great so far. Try pushing the shapes further. Make it weird. Get creative. Heres a little demo I made last week. Maybe it can help you out. I love the waterbear! Keep it up

Alekai

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24d

@thenotsogrim

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27d

Tried to do a good number of pictures. My application of the concepts until now is spotty, but at least now I'm conscious about trying to include them!

@thenotsogrim

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27d

Well... looking at the demonstration now I can see that I totally didn't simplify enough. :D

Monika Tafelska

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1mo

Hi ! Due to the fact that these exercises stress me out a lot, for the first attempt I didn’t set any limits for myself. In future attempts, I would like to limit the number of shapes. I started with a chicken and ended with a hippo, and I think it shows, haha. All feedback is appreciated <3

Melanie Scearce

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1mo

Hello! These are lovely drawings. I think if you challenge yourself to find a small amount of simple shapes, it will be very helpful to you. Think of it in terms of constructing a house. You don't immediately start designing the fancy ceiling trim. You start with the framing. Everything else you add is supported by the framing. Try to find a simple shape that supports the overall form and build from there. Oftentimes we can simplify that shape into a circle, triangle, or square. After we have designed the base shapes, then we can go in an add details. Hope this helps :)