Hey, everybody.
Are you ready to shape up?
Yeah.
Well, if you said yes, and that's good, because in this lesson,
you're going to learn all about shapes.
So what's a shape?
Well, it's hard to define shape without using the word shape.
You know, it's a
it's a shape.
You start drawing a line and then when you enclose it,
the area inside
that's a shape.
It's a fundamental element of the visual language.
It's impossible to draw something without using shapes.
We already learned that even lines have a shape to them.
This line or shape is thick
at the bottom and long and tapering at the top.
So we've already been using shapes in this whole course.
Now we're going to focus on it.
I think that learning about shape can be broken up into two focuses.
Shape accuracy and shape design.
Shape accuracy is training your eyes to see accurate proportions.
You have a reference whether it's something right in front of you
or a photo, and you focus on capturing what you're seeing.
Shape design is about making shapes
look interesting or awesome looking.
Doesn’t matter if it's true to reality or not?
As long as it looks awesome.
Most of the time artists are balancing both of these concepts,
and the way you balance them really depends on what you're doing.
Your style might lean towards one of the two.
But also the industry you work in might dictate the requirements of the job.
If you're early on in your journey to art mastery, you probably don't
know what your style is going to be or what job you're going to have.
And actually it doesn't matter because we should practice both.
We should train our eyes to see accurately
and we should be able to break from reality,
to draw our own shapes that we see with their head, not our eyes.
This is a good time for me to tell you about my drawing basics course.
We're now starting the shape section of the course.
We'll have a bunch of lessons covering both accuracy and design
so that you can speak with shapes in the visual language.
The premium course has extended lessons projects to help you practice
the concepts.
I demonstrate all the projects and I have critique videos
reviewing student submissions to help you fix your mistakes.
And that's just a shape section of the course.
We just finished the line section that has 30 videos
just helping you get better at lines and after shapes.
We're going to focus on perspective, intuitive perspective, values and edges.
So by the end of the course, we'll be shading and drawing in 3D.
So if you want to jump in and join the class, it's never too late.
It also helps to support our free content here on YouTube.
That's over a proko.com/drawing.
Okay, back to the lesson.
So coming up, we're going to have some lessons that focus on accuracy
and some that focus on design.
In this lesson, we're going to learn about simplifying shapes
and constructing complex shapes out of simple shapes,
because that's an important skill to have for both accuracy and design.
Shape Language.
We learned how lines have emotions and can communicate ideas.
Shapes are the same, but on steroids,
the shapes are the primary way that we communicate with pictures.
People can have an emotional response just looking at some shapes.
The basic shapes that are traditionally taught in shape
language are circles, squares and triangles, of course.
That in itself is a simplification.
But let's just stick to that.
Each of these shapes has a personality.
Circles are soft, safe, friendly and cute.
Squares are stable, reliable, strong, and stubborn.
Triangles are energetic, dangerous and aggressive.
Triangles are directional, so the way they point has an effect.
Look at how this shape language can be applied to a character.
The character inherits the personality of shape.
Which one looks the most friendly?
Strong. How about aggressive?
This bunny is cute.
It's round and soft.
And that's psychologically and scientifically guaranteed to be cute.
Now what's the opposite of a round shape containing the mass?
I think of an explosion of triangles.
Well, that kind of reminds me of bugs.
The scary types of bugs. Stan? Yeah.
I got this for you. Ahhh!
Most people have an instinctual reaction
to the shape of a bug, even if they know it's harmless.
So using shape language to our advantage when we're drawing can be very powerful.
Start simple.
Now, keeping things simple is not easy.
It's actually really difficult.
You have to learn how to simplify a complex object into a simple shape.
When we're drawing from reference,
simplifying means we can't just copy what we're seeing.
We have to process it and make a bunch of decisions.
What's important about this thing?
What can we remove?
What would it look like if we remove a bunch of stuff drawing from imagination?
Usually involves learning about the world and breaking it down.
So don't go into it thinking that simplifying is the easy route.
Getting good at breaking things down takes practice and constant observation.
There's actually a lot of reasons
why it's useful to start a drawing with simple shapes.
My animation teacher in high school had a sign up on the wall that said “Kiss”.
Keep it simple, stupid.
And he would constantly remind us of it when we complicated things.
We have a tendency to overcomplicate
and that can make it harder to get a good drawing.
Simplifying makes it easier to judge proportions.
If we're drawing from reference, breaking down your subject into simple shapes
makes it easier to judge proportions leading to better accuracy.
A really common way to start a drawing is with an envelope,
a big shape that contains everything.
This hand has so many small shapes that it would be difficult
to just jump right in.
Imagine it gift wrapped.
By doing this,
I can look at the big angle changes and rhythms where things line up.
I can measure the width to height relationship of this big shape.
Once I'm confident that it's accurate,
it's much easier to break it up into smaller shapes.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Simplifying makes it easier to fix mistakes.
When we're starting our drawings,
the main things that we're focused on are proportions.
Composition on the page, the gesture, interesting shape, design.
It's pretty common to make a mistake and have to move something.
It's a lot easier to move a simple shape than a complicated shape.
And usually what happens when you complicate too early
is you convince yourself that it's good enough.
It's not fun having to redo something.
You end up not fixing mistakes that take too much effort,
and that makes your drawing worse.
So keep it simple, stupid.
Simplifying allows us to focus on one thing at a time.
In those early stages, ignoring the details, all the bumps of secondary forms.
Let us focus on those important things that we're trying to achieve
in the early stages, like proportions, and we get through the first stage faster.
Afterwards, we can focus on designing all those smaller shapes.
It's good to build your drawing in stages.
You end up doing a better job than if you try to do everything at the same time.
Simplifying allows quick iteration,
simplifying allows for quick concepts to explore ideas.
A big rule for concept designers is not to fall in love with your first ideas.
It's good to spend a lot of time exploring, iterating
and trying things when you have no idea if they'll work.
If you're going to do 100 concepts for a character lineup,
you want to keep it simple.
And again, you're a lot more likely to stick to your first idea.
If you put a lot of time and effort into adding detail.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Simplifying makes it easier to understand and remember
If you'll be drawing something many times like a character
for your comic or graphic novel or animation, especially animation.
Then you need to seriously understand the shapes
of that character so you can remember them.
It's a lot easier to keep your characters consistent if you can simplify them.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Simplifying makes it easier to invent different angles and poses.
So you have your character.
You understand the big, simple shapes.
You remember them.
Now it becomes easier to pose them, move and deform all the parts.
It's much easier to draw something from a different angle.
If it's simple, keep it simple, stupid.
Simple shapes are iconic instantly recognizable and clear.
We can simplify the shape of something, and if we keep the important parts
that make that thing unique, it's still very recognizable.
It becomes an icon.
A bell is this oval on top,
transitioning to this flat triangle on bottom in a small circle underneath.
This communicates the idea of a bell or Darth Vader.
The most famous
logos usually have simple shapes at the heart of their design.
You know, in a heartbeat what each of these logos represents.
And they read from a mile away.
We start simple so that we can design the major elements first.
Big shapes are easier to exaggerate and stylize
and easier to work with to determine the shape language.
We start with simple shapes
and we try to maintain them as we add detail throughout the drawing.
Build complexity.
All right.
So we got our simple shapes.
We've determined our main actors.
When you're writing a story, those big acts are like your simple shapes
and you have your main characters.
Now, as we add details, as we add more complexity,
we should try to make those details, support the main ideas.
They're like supporting characters,
but those details should be interesting on their own too.
It's a balancing act of making things interesting, but part of the whole.
The viewer sees an image from a distance.
It all works together, capturing their attention.
They walk up to it to get a closer look
and the details are exciting and keep the viewer engaged.
Everywhere they look, they discover something new, super inspiring.
That's the goal.
But let's get back to the basics.
Combining and deforming, we build complexity by combining simple shapes,
by adding and subtracting shapes from other shapes.
We can build complexity one step at a time and ease into it.
Build a star by adding a bunch of triangles.
Subtract the circle from another circle and you get a crescent moon or a banana.
This is kind of geometric getting into math territory. Eww!
Now when you apply that same concept to shapes that are more organic,
shapes that are bloated or stretched or punched?
Now the game changes.
Here's a bunch of simple organic shapes.
Now, look.
Recognize this guy?
What about now?
Change up the proportions a little bit or a lot of bit,
and you get a totally different, very recognizable character.
With simple shapes, we can build a framework for any body
type, for any character or any thing.
It's the way in which we combine the shapes that really matters.
When I go out to plein air painting, I always start with a small thumbnail
exploring the major elements that make up the composition.
Individually, these shapes don't mean much,
but together they're an afternoon in Malibu.
You don't have to draw
complicated details to have a complex message.
You just have to combine simple shapes in meaningful ways.
Try to keep your simple shapes strong and solid,
not messy, scribbly shapes.
Don't think of mashed potatoes.
Just think of potatoes.
At this point, you might be thinking, but how do I know
how to put the shapes together?
Well, that's the hard part.
Many concepts influence how you decide to put shapes together
composition, anatomy, perspective, design, gesture.
There's a lot.
There's a lot of concepts that drive your shape decisions.
That's why art can look so different.
There can be so many different styles, even more styles we haven't seen yet.
Perhaps yours.
This can be intimidating, especially if you think that you need
to learn and master all these things now.
Maybe eventually you will be a master of all these concepts.
But right now it's about prioritizing.
In this course, I'll introduce and guide you through the things
that I think are important as a good base for all visual artists.
But after that, it's up to you.
If you love learning,
then it can be kind of exciting to know that there's so much waiting for us.
If you love this video, you're going to love the videos in the premium section.
Not only does the premium section have more demonstrations
and extended lessons, it also has projects and critique videos.
If you don't want your drawings to look like this, go to proko.com/drawing.
If you're enjoying this course not be selfish.
Tell your friends about it.
All right, guys, thanks for watching.
I'll see you next time.