Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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05:36
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 9211 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
jpeg
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.

@georgeg
•
59m
I dont have the right pencils but thought id give it a go anyway. Unsure if I have done this one right
@boondra
•
3h
First try not great but a start😊
Vincent C
•
15h
My attempt for the level 2 portrait assignment, the values on my level 1 assignment were not clearly distinguishable so I tried doing this one digitally. The initial sketch was made on paper over which I added the values on my Ipad. Any advice or feedback would be much appreciated!
William Jeggo
My second attempt. I still think I need to work on the shading a little more
miguel hernandez
Honestly, first try... i don't think it looks great.
@beyondfire94
Hi! I've been visiting an art school as a kid looooong time ago, I have given up because I was a teenager with no responsibility and lost my passion. I tried to pick it back up a few times, but felt like I've lost all the joy from drawing. I kept approaching it not like fun, but a grind to a future artist profession or something. So I'm not a complete beginner. I really hope to stick to the course and finish it. I started to pay more attention to the process than the results and don't hope to get any money from it, only joy. Here's my pearl😄
@space_ace
My first assignment of the course, and I'm not super proud of this one. I ended up ironically using pen to shade the darker parts as I did not have the correct pencils, but thankfully that will no longer be an issue, and tried my best to finish despite my earlier stupid mistake.
@zoexxiv
•
2d
Hello everyone! I've never really studied drawing/fundamentals before, so I am hoping to learn a lot through the course! My previous experience was all self taught, which resulted in me hitting a wall due to not having enough technical knowledge to execute the ideas I had in mind, which ultimately led to me for quitting drawing entirely for 7 years! But I am back now, and ready to learn. Any advice or critique is appreciated! I hope to learn and grow, and hopefully become good enough so that in time I can offer advice and encouragement to those that are in a similar position to myself! :)
Camille Varner Kolafa
Welcome, I'm happy to hear you've decided to return to drawing! This course will definitely help you learn and improve a lot :) Your pear is looking great, you've got the straight lines, shapes, and 5 values down! My notes on this for you would be try to simplify and shape the values you see even more, and try to find more spots to include the darkest value on the pear. Some of your values are really small and almost just lines instead of defining shapes. Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing your practice along the course!
Sheyla Rocha
I just started the Drawing Basics course and completed the first project. I've been drawing on and off (mostly off) for the past almost 7 years. I used to draw very often before that but I guess I've been having severe artist block. I'm hoping this course can help me out. Any advice is appreciated. :)
Camille Varner Kolafa
Welcome, always glad to see someone aiming to improve their skills! I think this course will certainly help you get out of that art block. You've got a great start on this project! I would suggest breaking down those values a little more--I see 5 values, but for the most part there is only 4 in the pear. Try to get that darkest one in more areas. It helps to draw a value box scale somewhere on your page so you can see what technique helps you get the different values. I also think some of your values lose their shapeliness and come across more as "shading", like those close to the middle of your pear. Make sure you break the values down into shapes with straight lines and you're golden! Great work again :)
dohgameman676
Some various attempts. I think I have the most trouble getting the proportions of the pear itself correct, which then extends to trouble matching the positions of the shadows.
Camille Varner Kolafa
It might help to try and mark the most "important" points of the pear! Putting tic marks at the highest point of the stem, highest point of the pear, outermost point of each side, and bottom of the pear. Give it a shot if you haven't already! Your current attempts are looking good though, just be sure you're getting those 5 values in :)
@withflyingcolors_art
With my first attempt I struggled greatly with differentiating the values, also with the readability of the shadow zones. With the second one, I focused first on the value scale, and made sure the 5 zones were correctly readable. I forgot the names, but zone 2B and 4B could still use some more difference in value, also some outlines show a bit through. but, onwards to the next!
Camille Varner Kolafa
Honestly I think your values read really well on your first try! That being said, your coverage is a lot more even on your 2nd attempt so that definitely helped. Really nice job!
Vincent C
Hey everyone! This is my submission for the Level - 1 assignment, please critique it and give me some feedback.
Camille Varner Kolafa
You've got a great start! My biggest note is that not all of your values are clearly readable, and it is hard to determine if there are 5 values. You did a good job focusing on shapes and straight lines though! I would suggest to try drawing a value box scale somewhere on the page. It will help you establish your 5 values and get used to the technique needed to achieve your values (like the pencil pressure and stroke direction, etc.). Don't be afraid to put lines around all the shapes you see too, like I think I see the light value next to the darker shadow could have a bit of an outline to help simplify it. That value in particular I also think could be a little darker because it is very close to the light one to the right of it (the 2nd lightest, from white of the paper). Great job again, though!
Dudts Draws
Hello everyone ! I'm looking for critiques , thank you ! =)
@chasingleo
Jay C
•
7d
This is my first attempt without watching the demo. I kinda enjoy it a lot.
Thejas G R
Starting over after being not able to continue. I feel like I have lost a bit of touch from first go around. Hopefully I can follow theough this time 🤞
@xavierriverin
Here's my first attempt at simplifying a pear! Drawing digitally. I first used an HB pen brush to do the contour. Then used a red one to mark the difference between the values. As for the values (filling), i went with a full color. I know I want to try with a brush that shows grain for my second attempt. If any advice comes to mind upon seeing my drawing, thank you for sharing!
@artsyantics
This is my second attempt at drawing the pear while watching the demo compared to my first attempt. I think I improved a lot and also think the value scale helped out as well.
Melissa Gordon
Wow, this is much worse than I thought it would be :D Glad I'm here, I have a lot to learn!
Camille Varner Kolafa
Don't sweat it! I think your pear looks great, and you definitely met the goals of the project :)
Luke Rankin
Hello everyone, I'm a screenwriter who just realized last year how much I loved comics. I'm taking the Drawing Basics and the Marvel course to hopefully one day be able to write and draw my own comics as well as storyboard for films that I write! All attempts were in Procreate with the HB pencil brush, and the Technical Pen for outlining on the first two. I'd love to hear what y'all think, I've got a long way to go but I'd love to get some wisdom and make friends on my journey!
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