Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 3843 submissions
Vance Viggiano
When you can't decide on Level 1 or Level 2. I thought it might be fun to try it on gray paper. Everyone's work is inspiring! Happy to be learning with you all!
LESSON NOTES

Alright guys, let's jump into the deep end and see how you do! I feel like we've been talking a lot and not drawing enough. So, before we move on to learning about Lines, I want to give you an opportunity to spend some time doing a simplified drawing. You’re going to draw a pear or portrait if you’re doing the level 2 project. I know… A fruit isn’t the most exciting thing to draw, but it’s going to allow you to focus on the process I’m going to show you, instead of being distracted by a difficult subject matter.

This will let us see where you're at with your skills. It’s totally fine if you're at zero. Kind of expected actually. But, you'll identify right away what you struggle with. And you’ll be introduced to a lot of the skills that you’ll be working on improving in this course.

You can draw from the photos I provided in the downloads tab, or find your own fruit and draw from life. Pick a fruit that has an interesting shape you like. Put the fruit on your desk and shine a light on it. Move the light around until you like the balance of light and dark shapes. 

If you don’t want to draw the photo I provided, or you want to do more than one, feel free to find your own photo. Just make sure you choose a photo with a strong single light source that creates a clear separation of lights and shadows. Many moons ago I wrote a blog post about good photo reference.

Make sure you take a photo of it from your point of view, so you can include it when posting your drawing in the community. If you want to be critiqued by me or others in the community, we'll need to see what you were drawing. 

Join us in the premium course to get access to this lesson, full lesson notes, assignments, demonstrations and critiques!

DOWNLOADS
jpeg
level-1-pear-1.jpg
2 MB
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level-1-pear-2.jpg
2 MB
jpeg
level-1-pear-3.jpg
2 MB
jpeg
level-2-portrait.jpg
1 MB
mp4
project-simplify-from-observation.mp4
183 MB
txt
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
txt
project-simplify-from-observation-transcript-spanish.txt
6 kB
file
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-english.srt
9 kB
file
project-simplify-from-observation-captions-spanish.srt
8 kB
ASSIGNMENTS

Use the reference photos in the downloads tab or go find your own reference and start drawing! Remember, this project is all about simplifying to clarify.

Make sure to keep these 3 things in mind:

Shapes - Draw your shapes with straight lines
Values - Use only 5 values. 2 in the shadow and 3 in the lights
Edges - Make every single edge sharp!

I'll publish my drawing demos of both levels next Tuesday so you can watch me go through the problem solving process. For a chance to be included in the critique videos, you must submit your drawing to the community by January 26th, 2023, so I can begin filming and producing the critique video.

@mithridatium
Second crack at the pear
Karthik Kaipa
Best i could do right now. In retrospect, should have made the third and fourth values more distinct
Michael Rivera
So much to be improved on…
Brad
19h
I attempted pear-1 and I thought I really didn't follow the instructions, so I did pear-2 trying to be more mindful about following the instructions. I haven't watched the demos yet. But I've experienced on both after I've done the outlines when doing edges I seemed to always lose the outlines because of drawing over them. It was fun! I'll attempt the level 2 tomorrow. I'm taking some rest now. I am glad I stumbled upon this beginner course. I am hoping to do more of it.
Chris Coker
Here is my first attempt at pear example #3.
Benjamin Gustafsson
Now I'm done with this part. Still a lot(!) to practice on but now I'm ready for a new challenge. Ended with a little value study of a picture of my son!
@georgiarose
It's been a while to draw, needed time to understand how to draw this pearl, any pointers? I know its not perfect haha.
@seeecret
pear and guy. it was fun!
@marcuskcampbell
I am very new to this, but please give strong feedback on what is needed to improve. I know it is probably a lot, but still. Thank you!
Me Ch
3d
I did photo reference three! Please help me in what I need to focus on more and what i have a good fundamental in :)
Ricky Teter
Pear-1
Dominique
Azan Alim
I drew the first sand-which.
Ashira Tokiyama
Zach McCoy
From watching the video, I realized I needed to be more careful with outline value, but also to consider interesting shape design over a more precise (attempt to) match to reference. Excited to keep learning!
@abracadabs
Ooh I love the shapes you found in this. Especially those highlights.
Ashira Tokiyama
@sekun
5d
My first attempt at this project. Any advice?. I'm trying to learn digital art and all. Any tips and criticisms are appreciated.
Chris Horne
My pear attempts!
Denice Gray
I know it’s terrible…. But, I’m not giving up….I will try and try and try again…..bring on the tenacity (what was I expecting since I have been sketching now for like 3 weeks 😅😅) Additionally, I don’t believe I exactly followed the instructions….🤔🤔 I will review that.
Benjamin Gustafsson
Finally a version of this pear. It's so hard to simplify but redoing over and over gave some results. Will continue practising. Feel free to critique!
@abracadabs
Tiny detail but wow, i love how you did the stem and where the stem comes out of the pear.
Scott Mooers
I've never given critique, but I can try! So from what I am seeing, it looks like you only used 4 values in your drawing, you definitely had room to add a 5th one. It looks like you also exaggerated highlight in your drawing. The shapes overall look good, but what you can do is squint at the picture to get a better look at the values. If you were to give this drawing another go, you could make the highlights two small shapes instead of one big one. I would also darken your second shadow value to really compliment your darkest one and then use the value you originally had as your second shadow value as a dark half tone. Doing this will allow you to show plane changes more effectively. I would keep the value you had for the light half tone, that one is good. Other than that, your shading looks really good! The shapes are also well defined. I will say your proportions were off but that really wasn't the focus of the exercise. Anyway, keep up the good work!
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