Project - Simplify from Observation
Project - Simplify from Observation
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Project - Simplify from Observation
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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.

Mariah Gewin
Did part of this on my commute on a bumpy train. Finished the shading just now. I used an HB for the two lightest shaded values, a 2B for the lighter dark value, and an 8B for the darkest value. How long do you recommend warming up before drawing? I have trouble drawing straight lines, and tend to add a slight curve to longer lines.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Wow this looks great. As someone who learned to draw doing sketches on the NYC subway I know how hard it can be to draw on a moving train. Your tone is really even and the shapes read really well! One trick I learned for drawing straight lines that has really helped me, is to put a small dot where i want to finish the line, then put my pencil where I want to start. Looking at the dot, and not my pencil draw the line in one stroke using your arm. It took a little practice but my straight line quality has gotten WAY better. Maybe it will be helpful for you! And again, really nice work. Some of the cleanest tone I've seen in this exercise.
@cybiedeemun
Wanted to try both. I'm still not accustomed to CSP's pen options so I tried to do harsh and scratchy like I used to do before I quit ~5 years ago. Trying desperately to get addicted to drawing like I was in high school. Thanks for the lessons!
@newbie43
•
20h
I used 5 different types of pencils from 2H to 6B but noticed it was very easy to press too hard with a lighter pencil and end up getting the darker pencil’s results. So I had to be careful to be consistent with the pressure I used. I struggle with perspective and I maybe overdid the sharp edges part by drawing strong lines between transitions, oh well. Overall this was a very useful exercise especially helping me see values in an object.
Vladimir Chernenko
Hey, i've tried few times and picked best looking option. I noticed it's hard to recognise different shadows depth and darkness, even using the simplified scale. Also the shadows on the borders of the pear makes quite big difference, that's cool. I did it without watching the Demo.
vomchar
•
1d
I also did the Level 2 one. I think I may of taken things too geometric with the planes, but other than that I think I did alright. Observing the solution from the demo afterwards felt like a no-brainer.
vomchar
•
1d
Did all three images. I'm pretty proud of these and slightly adjusted my approach each time. I do think I need to get out of the habit of erasing little mistakes, though, as it left some smudges on the third one.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
These look wonderful. Great consistency in your tone. And I feel you about the eraser! it can become too easy to try to make things "perfect" but I've learned over the years, that often it is the little mistakes that give sketches their charm and human feeling. That's a feeling we need more of every day! Good work. Cheers!
Anthony Frank
Just completed level 1. Very beginner to drawing, I think I struggled with getting 5 distinct values in my drawing, and especially with the second lightest value. It was tough to get it close to the lightest value that has no lines at all. I also wasn’t sure if I should have had some directionality to my lines. I ended up going horizontal for the pear and diagonal for the shadow, but I didn’t do any cross directional lines for any of the darker values. Should I have been?
Marina
•
1d
Hello! Here are my pears. The first one is before I watched the demo, and the second one is after. For pear #2, I had trouble spotting exactly where each gradation of shadow should be cleanly divided. I’m looking forward to learning more about values in this course. Any critique is welcome!!
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Great work on these! Really excellent rendering of your tone. That second pear IS really tough because it is hard to see where the core shadow is but I think you made exactly the right choice in adding it even if the photo was slightly unclear. These are the kinds of decisions we need to make as artists, and you nailed it. Well done!
Robin
•
1d
My pear attempt. Will try the other pears.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Nice work. I love that you drew your tone scale at the top of the page, I find it really helps. Two things I find really helpful for this exercise is to really focus on getting the shapes of the different tones right, drawing their outlines in very lightly. The other thing that really helps is consistency within a single tone. What I find helps me for that is to draw just lots of lines all in one direction lightly, building up the tone slowly and filling in any inconsistencies in the area. Again, nice work, and keep at it! Cheers.
Robin
•
5h
Level 2 attempt
Robin
•
5h
Pear 1 & 3
@sprakatututz
I tried several times. Could not get a handle on the values and how to apply them.
@lifang
•
1d
Level 2 attempt after watching demo
K S
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2d
3boodm4
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2d
I half assed my first go around so im gonna repeat the course
f12
•
2d
I attempted the first and second pear left one is the second one and right the first one, where can I go from here? (These were done a day apart)
Vi Kh
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2d
Hi everyone! My first attempt of the pear (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠) Wanna do later 2 level too. Trying to learn digital
Christian R
Hi everyone, here's my first attempt at drawing a pear. I used only the darkest shade to create the cast shadow. I probably should have used two different shadow shades here as well. I'm looking forward to your feedback. Thanks in advance.
@mariana_paiva
I was experimenting with charcoal and normal pencil (2B) and staedtler 0.5mm.. Where and how could I improve, please? Any direction is well appreciated !!
Camille Varner Kolafa
So the biggest suggestion I have for you is to simplify! The goals for this project are to use 5 values, shapes, and straight lines. You've got your 5 values, but didn't break them down into shapes and use only straight lines. The outer contour of your pear has a lot of curving lines right now. When you're finding the values, basically draw the shape the outer edge of it makes, with only straight lines. I also think your 3rd and 4th values are too close, so try to adjust those a bit. You could try going lighter with the 2nd value I think. Great start overall though!
Ember Leigh
I don’t think I got enough distinction between my values. I kept trying to balance my darks being dark enough for my lights to show up.
Camille Varner Kolafa
I agree, when I do a squint test and I can make out only 3-4 values. Try drawing a value box scale to help you figure out how to achieve your values and refer to as a key! I think your darks are okay and you should actually try fitting in another lighter value because the 2nd lightest value you have so far is more of a dark halftone. Great work so far though, and don't forget to break the values down into shapes and use straight lines only to simplify!
@oliv972
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4d
Hello everyone, first attempt of the first level :)
@oliv972
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4d
Level 2. the shape of the head, place all the element was a bit tricky. I couldn't manage to simplify all the drawing, my eyes were tired at the end ^^
Tasneem Noor
My attempt at the level 2 assignment
Camille Varner Kolafa
Nice value control!
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