Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

33K

Assignments 5.8KLesson NotesDownloads 9

Project - Simplify from Observation

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

33K

Assignments 5.8KLesson NotesDownloads 9

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.

@flash1337

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feel like the proportions are way off, and the shading is obviously also quite bad, but I tried.

crime index

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Hello! Trying my hand at drawing while I started attending a oil painting class. I wanted to practicing while going to university and work, so I got myself a toned sketchbook and i love it! Here is my first attempt, I had to switch around the values and use a white pastel for the highlights. I might try again using the normal values without the white highlights

Ben Johnston

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Hey hey. This is my first proko assignment. Took a few tries but I think they turned out ok. Pls excuse some of the left handed smudges in the background. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Melanie Scearce

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Hello! Nice work with these. You did a great job using hard edges to show the shifts in value. One thing I would point out to keep mindful of is the effect of the placement of the light values and the core shadow value. Typically when a darkest value is adjacent to a light value, it represents a sharper edge, which is why you use half tones to show a gradual shift or roundness. Even though we are only using straight lines for this exercise, we can still show a gradual plane shift by using the darker half tone to separate the light halftone from the darkest value. It will require some invention to design good shapes for this exercise, so thinking about the pear as if it was built by rectangular planes is a helpful.

Aubrey Hannah

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This is my first time following along with a Proko assignment, and I think I did pretty well. I've had a bit of practice before starting this course, but I do think I could use a little more work in the area of value and shading.

@minman

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@harrow

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I decided to go back and give the Level 2 assignment a shot as well. I'm not super happy with it but at least my phone ne camera recognizes it as a face :)

@drcsprinz

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I could not make it into rough shapes and my shading is underdeveloped. I was unable to follow directions and separate each stroke. this is my first ever sketch. I hope I improve soon. :(

@piba

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21h

I think you got the right direction, the values are there and you can always try again if you are not satisfied ~~~( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

@piba

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Post demo drawing that I wasnt planning to do but my dad asked me to draw his pumpkin he harvested from the garden Didnt have any good light to make it bold but I tryed

@dukal

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I think it look pretty good too!

Aubrey Hannah

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I think that looks really good, actually! You did a great job differentiating the values!

J B

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Getting two light shades was a bit difficult for me. It was a fun exercise.

@aus

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It was difficult for me to gravitate away from rounding things to doing sharp edges. It was also difficult for me to see the difference between highlights and shadows and the different values inbetween. Would love feedback on errors and areas for improvement.

@toph

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This looks good! The only thing is that you made the upper part of the apple all one value (the lightest) when that isn’t the case. There is only a small portion of the apple that is reflecting the light that’s being shined on it. Hope this makes sense/helps!

James Delacroix

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I messed up :( I’ll go watch the demo and try to visualize and see shapes better

Melanie Scearce

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You gave it a great try! The shape of the pear looks great. I agree that you can design the value shapes a bit better. Remember the structure of shadows when you're designing -- the core shadow will be the darkest value because it receives the least amount of light. The far edge in shadow will in general receive a bit of bounce light from the light source.

@piba

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Second drawing seesion, this time with faces Did the same time as fruits (1h) but only got 2 drawings this time First one came out very small and scratchy because I was very scared to draw faces (and I think it shows) Second went smoother and I got to try the tips from @dukal and @Melanie Scearce that helped to leave the tones more uniform (THANKYOU) taking a break and gonna draw some more faces after (prob will put in the Reply)

@dukal

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@piba I'm glad that my tips help you. We can already see an improvement ! Can I steal one of you pictures ? I think I will try and I really like one of you pictures!

@piba

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PT 2

Luca Vigani

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I made my first attempt about 20 days ago and it was made before watching the critique video. After that, I started to understand better the assignment and I tried a new approach, these time with the pear/image number 2. In digital, with Procreate, I've made a study of the different planes that defines the volume of the pear. It isn't a real drawing because it was made tracing the real image put on a layer below. I don't know if it is cheating but it helped my eye to analyze the planes defined by the different tones and gave me a way to define my own interpretation (by the way, following these steps on my own I've reached almost the same result suggested by this tool: https://www.proko.com/values). Then, I've drown the pencil version, that is a further interpretation based on the digital one. The posted images show the entire process. I hope this time the result is more aligned with the purpose of the project. As always, any critique/feedback is welcome. Thanks to everyone.

Melanie Scearce

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Really cool to see your process here! Nice work.

@toph

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i think these came out good? I’m not great at values so I normally skip them (a truly terrible loop) but I feel like it isn’t too bad. I’d really appreciate any critiques though!

Melanie Scearce

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Your value range is great! These feel a bit painterly in places and less like shapes. Think about it like puzzle pieces, and how to design by combining similar values into interesting shapes.

Matthew Olivares

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Here are three attempts at this assignment. Shading (and controlling the pencil) have always been challenging for me, so this was exciting to practice. The first image is my third attempt (after watching the video several more times). The last two images are much less accurate but were included for posterity. I look forward to contributing to the community!

@dukal

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Just finished the first assignment! Had a lot of fun 😊

@piba

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Really good! ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

Remi

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Second attempt at the pear. Hoping there is some improvement. Surprisingly hard to get the shade I want for the lighter sections. [First attempt is on the left for comparison. Pear 1 and pear 2 reference respectively.]

@henryirving

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Pear #3

Melanie Scearce

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Your pears have been looking great @henryirving! Keep it up :) You can be a bit more bold with your darker values to give that pear more volume. When you're analyzing the image, you can keep it really simple with two labels "dark" and "light." Once you have that hierarchy, it gets a bit easier to make decisions.

@eiren

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Melanie Scearce

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Looking good! You really nailed it with the hard edges on your first pear drawing. The other two start to get a bit blended. Try to keep those values contained in a shape with those hard edges. Really nice work over all!

@dropbearhunter

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been drawing for a long while now but try to learn the basics

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.