Observation to Imagination worksheet #1 (form)

It's not a secret that I'm big fan of Matt Kohr and ctrl+paint. I don't usually purchase the special series, but the new Observation to Imagination falls so perfectly in line with what I'm trying to do, I gave in and bought both the videos and worksheets.

The videos are good, as always, though they're essentially long reviews of the stuff Matt's already covered in his weekly videos. I'm not complaining- redundancy is a good thing when you're learning- but you're not missing anything if you don't get these. The worksheets are the meat of the bundle. There's 40 of them, designed to put into practice the principles of the series and, importantly, give you a fixed goal to work towards. I'm going to attempt to get through all of these, interspersing them with my usual doodles and studies.

So without further ado, worksheet 1: practice drawing though simple objects.

Objects are from deviantart's ~1989juni.

I should say that the topics covered in ctrl+paint usually aren't that advanced. "Learn to see form instead of shapes" isn't breaking news to me, nor will it be to anyone who's gone through a drawing class or read a few books. Yet, there's a big difference between knowing something in your head and knowing it in your hands, and nothing short of deliberate practice will get you to that second stage. That's why I do so many "boring" exercises: gestures, still lifes, form construction... it's stuff I feel like I ought to have outgrown by now, but the reality is I didn't do it enough at the time I learned it, and now when my drawings come out stiff or imprecise I know why. In truth, I don't think you ever outgrow the basics, and so I don't let myself feel embarrassed or lazy when I get stuck on something ambitious and need to take a break to draw some floating cubes.