Art Instruction for Beginners and Professionals
I’m not a big fan of “laws” in drawing and painting. There’s an exception to every rule, so it seems that whenever I tell a student that x is “always true”, there ends up being some damn reason why it’s actually not true in the particular case at hand – and then I have to backpedal. But […]
I love drawing with graphite. Nothing beats the control and precision offered by a sharp graphite pencil. But there’s one thing I hate about graphite: it gets “shiny” if you’re not really careful, and shiny drawings are ugly. If you don’t know what I mean by “shiny”, grab a soft graphite pencil and a piece […]
I’m currently working on a portrait drawing of my niece Frances. Actually, she’s not my niece. She’s my wife’s cousin’s daughter, which I think makes her my first-cousin-once-removed… But I’m not sure. In any case, I decided to draw her for a few reasons: because I thought it would be a nice thing to do […]
In my last post on perspective, I distinguished between linear and atmospheric (or aerial) perspective. Linear perspective is concerned with the geometry of parallel lines or edges as they recede in space, while atmospheric perspective is all about how colors shift as they travel through the air. What both types of perspective have in common […]
The basic principles of perspective are a cornerstone of representational art and must be understood if we are to make convincing drawings and paintings. Yet many artists will confess to a grasp of perspective that is shaky at best. It’s a big topic and worthy of deep study; however, there are a few broad and […]
We get a lot of students asking us about oils… and what are the differences between all those golden bottles that are neatly lined up on the shelves of the art supply stores. I was given only a finite amount of information by my professors who usually had us use what they used for their […]
In the last couple of drawing tutorials I described how Comparisons of Size can help us work out the proportions of the figure – the size of each part relative to the whole. Equally important, however, is positioning – the alignment of any given part of the figure relative to the rest. It’s important to get […]
Comparisons of Size Next in our series of drawing tutorials is a discussion of size. Getting proportion right is really all about size relationships and the important question is this: How large is any given part of the figure relative to the rest? Let’s take the size of the head as an example. Conventionally, on […]
In this and the next two drawing tutorials I plan to discuss measurement and its applications in drawing. One of the best drawing teachers I ever had was the late Deane G. Keller. He was passionate about drawing – a true romantic – but also had an analytical mind. He argued that drawing is a […]
