Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (182 lessons)
$159
assignments 3704 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.

Ralee
18m
My final exercise on simplifying before moving on to the next lesson. The full body image was the last one I did, and I think I got impatient and antsy to finish so it wasn't as good of a rendering. It was harder to break down the values into 5 as well. Regardless, a very educational experience and accurate enough to feel good about moving on to the next section.
@4grounds
Hey everyone, name is Ian and I'm taking this class to build better fundamentals so I'm trying my hand at the pear. I feel like the some of the mid tones could be better but let me know what your think.
Dummy Inc.
Turned out pretty well in my opinion. In hindsight I think I should make my darkest darks darker and my light values could be a bit darker too, to make the highlights "pop" more.
@justjen
13h
I'm going thru the lessons again. I'm still at level 1, but will be attempting the level 2 assignments. Still struggle with proportions (the laying is usually the most time-consuming part). As always, I am open to critiques and feedback. 😊
Melanie Scearce
Very nice! The pear is perfect, I like the design of the smaller shapes that make sharp plane changes. Both of these drawings show that you have good control over your values and good pencil dexterity to get a smooth shading effect. The portrait for me feels a bit flat, and I think it's because it's missing the darker values on the left side of his face that show the planes moving away from the light source. My suggestion would be to bring in some more of those darker values into that side of the face that's in shadow.
@tayaflocke
Here is my first pear I struggle with the clear seperation of the shapes, because I wanted to add too much shapes or too blend the shapes. Because of this I started over, finaly I am happy with the fourth try. Pear two is the image with color written down beside the colorchart, there I am not really sure if is the darkerst tone in the pear or not. Because of this I tried both of it. Would appreciate some feedback.
@theguitarlos
I procrastinated a little on this because I was nervous on how this would turn out but I’m glad I did it, and it turned out better than I thought
Richard van Oosten
Hi always nice te see that you like it especially after delaying it. It looks nice. What I miss are the straight contourlines that was part of the assignment. I am about the same level as you, so I hope I can follow your progress as we move on.
@trenton
1d
I’m going to complete this course using ink drawings. I’ve heard Stan say that he discourages beginners from focusing on style too early, but pencil drawing just doesn’t interest me as much for some reason. For this picture, one thing I would have done differently is vary the direction of the lines to make the faces feel more defined. They effectly disapeared when I shaded it.
@justjen
13h
My jaw is hanging open. I love this style.
Richard van Oosten
Love this one! Very interesting to look at.
@rsarkar1
Richard van Oosten
I liked the result of your assignment. It seems to me that you ticket all the boxes. You made It really 3d
@oliveoil
I did two attempts, but I have not watched the demo yet. I'm not sure how well I did. Would appreciate some feedback.
Richard van Oosten
I would say more straight lines and more differentiation in values. It looks good to me.
Devon D. Yeider
Okay I found my rhythm for how I plan to approach this practice. Mondays I watch the videos I draw the first project attempting to spend not much more than 30 minutes on the actual project itself. And everyday I either work on project or at the very least warm up as I am a comic book maker I make flyers and I do public illustrations but I found every other day setting aside 30 minutes to work on the project has done well so far
Richard van Oosten
Smart schedule. I am so glad I can draw everyday and every time I want. I like your values. Smooth!
Imani Brown
tried my best with this one, any advice/critique is welcomed!
@jonahj
2d
Tried doing this one digital, as I'm still trying to decide which to take this class with, though I am more versed with digital. Did attempt one after the project video, then watched the demo and critique and did attempt 2 after. Any feedback and critiques are welcome, I wanna improve as much as I can
Richard van Oosten
I like the complexity of your shapes in the first one. By the way; I do not think you have to decide digitally or not. Use both!
Imani Brown
Attempted two pears, any feedback is welcomed!!
Melanie Scearce
These are really cool, I like that you gave them a funky personality while still supporting the 3D form of the pear with your shapes. Nice work 👍
@bgbrown17
Second pear of the three pear images. Any feedback welcome!
Richard van Oosten
Nicely done. I miss the really sharp edges, but it looks accurate. In the castshadow you only used one tone. I saw two in mine.
Stig Johannson
This is my first attempt. It looks OK from a distance, but now that its uploaded, I'm seeing how messy the shading is. So I guess I already have something to work on.
@falloutkb
Time to watch Stan's demo and see what I can improve on!
@falloutkb
First attempt I rushed, 2nd attempt turned out better.
Aleksander Siwek
Hi everyone! I have just finished the pears from the first assignment. To be honest, I am surprised that they turned out pretty OK, but I really struggled to get 5 distinct values with pencils, which felt a bit silly. Anyways, I would really appreciate some feedback!
Hannah Nasby
Hey everyone! Finally finished the first assignment, have yet to find a daily drawing study rhythm. I am doing this course in CSP (as I'm new and learning it) so it was a technical and artistic challenge. Definitely learned that 1. I struggle to see midtones and 2. My observation needs work with proportions. Any feedback is appreciated. Onto the next assignment!
Melanie Scearce
Nice work! I think it's a good call you lightened the darkest value a touch. 100% black can look stark in digital work because we don't often see it in the natural world.
Márta Kovács
I think you did a great job, especially on second try
Andrea Sisniega Otero Alburez
Hi!! This is my first assignment. I did what I could with a 2B and an H pencil because I still don't have a variety of pencils. Please help me if you see any ways for improvement.
Richard van Oosten
My first attempt on the pear. Not bad for a newbie. Used 3 different pencils on three types of paper.
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