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 3796 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.

@sakproko
Here is my second attempt of pear1. Please let me know your feedback. Thanks
Daniel Cho
17h
Justin Anderson
Here is my second attempt at Pear 1 (my first attempt failed lol)! I used an HB pencil for the outline and midtones, a 3B for shadows, and an 8B for my darkest shadows. This was a lot harder that it looks. I'll give this a few more attempts. If I feel brave, I may try level 2! Please let me know how I can improve.
Simone Couture
Michael Hsu
I just did pear 2 and 3!! This is my first time doing any shading so it was very hard to get 5 values, it felt like my pencil can only go so dark. Feedback would be appreciated 🙂
@jsdv
1d
I’m excited to start this course, I’ve wanted to learn to draw for 24 years! This is my pre-demo pear.
Brendan Davis
Heck yeah. Keep up the great work! I don't have any critique to offer, as I'm still just a beginner myself. I just did my pear two days ago, I'm really enjoying the course so far! I suppose I should start posting my assignments.. Excited to follow your journey!
Sir Catpie
Hi everyone! This is my attempt at the pear project from the basics course. I struggled a little with the shading to get the values as consistent as possible. Also some of the shapes were harder to simplify along the border between the lights and the shadows and the core shadow wasn't as clear on this as it was on the image used in the video (but maybe that's just me). any critique is welcomed
@sharone
3d
Did pear below too. Beginner and thought it would be good to challenge myself with the portrait.
@sharone
3d
Done before the demo. Needs blending.
Mike Thompson
I think it looks ok?
@sharone
3d
Yes. It does :)
@sgtp
4d
Feedback would be greatly appreciated:)
@jwing
6d
Returning to drawing after basically 20 years... used to draw all the time as a kid and took an art class in college and the professor was the worst, which ngl kinda killed my joy for it... that and life/career got in the way. Anyway I'm super rusty but it's been fun to get back into drawing. Been doing it mainly for my mental health, to feel more calm, and I love it! Not worried about perfection, just here to enjoy the journey.
@elderem
6d
3rd and final attempt of the pear project. I feel like my structure improved but my shading is dookie. Please critique I desperately need to improve... https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QHmvZqKSCwbqucOqUrm0PmNow4kqNn7k
@mbreck
7d
Helloooo! Here to post my progress as I learn to draw with my left! Any critiques would be much appreciated! Many thanks and good luck with your art learning!
@sharone
3d
Nicely done. Good job with the portrait.
Rafael Gonzales
Getting started into my art journey. I'm excited to learn a lot, so any feedback is appreciated. Thanks a bunch!
Martha Muniz
Welcome to the course! I already see great progress between your first drawing and the last, and I think you're overall on the right track. I see you gained more of a range of values, getting to the darker range of values too. Try not to lose the distinction between the five values, though, as in Pear 3 it's difficult to tell some of the middle values apart. I would also recommend making the outlines for the shapes light enough where they can just blend into the values, rather than standing out, as well as filling in the small blank gaps between individual strokes as you shade. Those two things will help the drawing feel more polished and controlled, and can make a bigger impact in the dimensionality of your drawing.
Ethan C
7d
Ive been loving the grind but I still feel like I am not where I want to be before moving forward. In particular I struggled with this creature (I have no idea what its called). I was confused by the lack of firm form, theyre just so furry and blobby I had no idea where to start or even where to finish. I am aware of the proportional issues but any advice would be very appreciated, thank you!!
Nicola Novella
At first I didn't noticed the subtle changes in the shadow, by loockong at it while I was drawing i noticed many things. Like the pitch black under the banana, that litle curve that differ from the whole shadow. I will try again in the next days, fun fact this boost my health too, I don't eat many fruits 😅
Luis Gutiérrez
My attempts :) I struggled with keeping the proportions accurate to the reference, and specially getting the 5 values consistent throughout the exercise. Any feedback is highly appreciated :)
Wofard Dunk
i used pear 1 if you need to know.
Wofard Dunk
one thing i learned is that sometimes light reflects off the graphite, making the faint outlines hard to see. i didn't realize this and pressed harder, digging into the paper. if i had changed the angle i was holding the pad at i might've been able to see those first lines and they wouldn't be visible when i finished. not sure it i over used the darkest value or not. or maybe me secondary shadow value is too light? now that I'm looking at it, the secondary shadow value isn't that much darker than my darkest light value. maybe my light needs to be lighter and my dark needs to be darker? i do know for sure that i got lazy at the very bottom of the pear. instead of carefully plotting out the shadow shapes at the bottom i just sorta scribbled around, hoping to find them by chance. i don't know if it's clear in the photo, but looking at the drawing itself, the lines i drew for the shape of the highlights are very visible. i can be very heavy handed.
@faitharts
Please critique
Martha Muniz
I like the control and consistency of your rendering! It's also good that you mapped out the shapes of the value groups before filling them in with value. I would just recommend making those outlines much lighter, light enough where they blend into the value and are not seen anymore in the final version. So without harsh line interruptions that flatten out the drawing, it will allow the values themselves to show the dimensionality of your work :)
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