Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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lesson video
Project - Simplify from Observation
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (183 lessons)
$159
assignments 3739 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.

@princerobot
John Thompson
Some attempts at fruit. Thanks for looking!
Street Bum
14h
I'm not sure what level I'm on so I did both.
@peter_g
18h
Well those are my tries I think I will watch the demo an redraw it a few more times
@suhuyini1
im a begginer i started today hi
@anagaiao99
I’m having such a great time with this value exercise! Love it, it’s really showing me I can draw better than I thought, just need to focus a bit more on simplifying and getting proportions right eheheh Hope everyone is having a great time too!
alex sutter
@ruomyes
2d
been awhile but wanted to finally take it seriously, life is short!
Dennis Leyton
Alright here we go! Feel free to roast me
Aaron Clark
The "simplify" thing broke my brain.
@virgilo
3d
Here's the pear after the demo
Simon McCaffery
Done a few before moving on, hoping these are adequate to continue. Did have a bit of trouble trying to place the mid level shadows on the lighter areas.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice stuff. I think you're getting the exercise for sure. One thing that I found really helps me is to think which side do I want more values? Generally it's best to leave either the the light side, or the dark side with the majority of values. So for these, I will generally have two darks, and then 3 lights, and I make sure that my lightest dark is still much darker than my darkest light. This ensures the form reads to us. Hope that helps! Cheers.
Khaled M
4d
I want to try it again but a first attempt at drawing.
Max
4d
Here are my attempts at the pear and the portrait! Getting a consistent tone with pencil is challenging, especially with the portrait... Note: I am actually restarting the course and taking it a bit more seriously (taking notes, now starting to post and engage here, etc.) after purchasing it more than a year ago and being away on a long hiatus due to work and school. I think it's fair to share my first attempts from more than a year ago!
Elizabeth Steele
I did both of the references to see where I am! I've still got a long way to go!
@izzybloop
First time drawing in a very long time and going through the basics properly! the first and second photos are the after and before seeing the demo. I challenged myself with the portrait and noticed my proportions were pretty off after I was done but I would love more feedback :)
@virgilo
5d
First assignment, i used blending stumps for testing (pic. 2). I would love to have feedbacks :). I haven't watched Stan's demo yet, but will draw another pear after I do.
Jason Wall
Did a pear a month ago once and finally back to practicing. Here's an attempt. Any and all criticism welcome!
Norah
6d
Hello the pear is my first attempt for the assignment while the orange is my second , note : after the pear I did watch the demo but I didn’t understand , but second attempt is long after months of the pear so it did help a little but not much because i didn’t understand and don’t remember , my question how to see the half tones ( values other that light and shadow) ? and I notice the the lines of shading has direction , how to do that? And is there anything else need working please let me know!:)
@oliveoil
Attempting level 2 before watching the demo :) do I have hope?
Melanie Scearce
There's always hope :) You got a great range of values here. My piece of advice would be that instead of drawing symbols of an eye or a mouth, draw the shapes that create the illusion of an eye or mouth. You're simplifying similar values while still expressing the idea that there is an eye or mouth there. This will help you simplify not just the eyes and mouth, but all parts of this portrait. See how much you can condense into one shape while still leaving the essential information. If you lose the information you need, reel it back a bit. Experiment and have fun!
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