My classes are the best.....

.......but the students last class let me know that they know and that they are humble anyway.

This makes me laugh so hard. Sometimes my students think I'm being hard on them for trying to get them to push further in their skills and development. Did somebody say Art was going to be easy because I don't remember then bit. It can be a real grind and the only way to improve is constant practice and study no matter how you look at it.

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In my figure drawing class we did a long lit detail study for the last half of the class and the pieces really began turning out. More time would be better for most drawings but lets not overlook the value of way less time too.

Persistence is key, so keep it up and keep practicing guys and girls you are doing great.
In the words of Mark Kistler "Draw. Draw. Draw."

Tonal skulls = Darkess and Light

My latest episode is up on my Youtube channel.

In this episode (#7) I host from the studio rafters and show further progress on my charcoal Laocoon study.
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One of my classes has been making large strides in their improvement on a whole. Here are some studies done using dark and light tones in charcoal as discussed in my recent videos. The students lit bleached bones and worked them out on toned paper. Some are mid process and as you scroll down you can see how they developed further. Some erased a lot, others added more material, all turned out =:D

These works give a great example of what one can accomplish and become capable of after just a few of classes.

Drawing 1 class at ACAD - Value studies

My drawing class this semester is fantastic!  We have been studying the FUNdamentals such as values, tone and proportion as well as how to set up the drawing space and see a little bit differently.

I love this picture, its Philips back and the classroom set up, it has a certain melancholic quiet, at the top of his paper is his value chart and he studies the subject matter, my plaster shapes. This would make a great image for the back of a business card in my opinion.

Here they are all on their own. Of course, once the lights go out the artists need to adjust their eyes in a way that this camera has not to really see the variation of lights and darks and translate those with their pencils onto paper.

Here a student is getting shaded tones including reflected light one of the platonic solids. Nice work.

I start with values to help my sutdents visualize how light and dark, even in the absence of colour, plays a huge role in describing three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface(the paper). To me this is one of the hurdles and challenges of good representational drawing skills.

The following session we work on toned paper and focus on getting proper relative proportions before we begin shading from light to dark. I think their works were very successful and will miss not having class next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Acrylic Studio course at ACAD

I was asked to teach a week long acrylic studio course at ACAD.
What an exciting way to spend a week in the summer!!!

 I bring in new samples and examples with each lecture and demo every mroning and start of the afternoon.

We start in a blank room, as fitting as our black canvases.

The majority of the students have never painted before so we start with handling and mixing basics.

Light to dark, the values in paint. Then simple shading of a sphere to show the highlights, core, cast and reflected shadows in straight forward vlaues.

We then begin mixing the colours of acrylic paint. There is a strong air flow quickly drying the pigments, another challenge for the participants to face early in their studio experience.

The challenge is to use only the three primary colours to make the remaining colours on their colour wheel sampler for practice and future reference.

They then discover what adding complementary colours can do around their wheel.

The students gather their reference materials and rub in their supports in order to make a practical colour study for future reference to create a larger finished painting.

Each student transfers their image in a different way, some are doing portraits, others landscape....

 Some are gridding and painting busses or gem stones.....

Others have fun getting abstract!

The study allows them time to experiment and practice their strokes, values, mixing and application.

 First timers face challenges with a smile and plenty of support.

Their skills quickly improving with each lesson and minute put into studio practice.

I look forward to seeing how their pieces continue to develop during the week long course.

Values, light and Dark

I began teaching my Drawing 1 course at ACAD again . This post is for the students who missed last class in order to help them catch up on anything they may have missed out on and for any followers and readers who find this stuff as fascinating as I do!   =:D

Last week we began in the realm of imagination and using line. Line is very powerful, as you draw it is like you are cutting through light. A drawing can be made with a line which separates dark and light.  But line only describes a form but does not give mass and body to it. We need to learn to describe three dimensionality with shading. In order to accomplish this we need to develop our value scale.

Using the tools of drawing each student completed a value scale by utilizing the variety of pencils H - HB - B - F, charcoal or pen and crosshatching. In this way we have a base line to compare the values in  the drawing.  In the above image of the value scale the lower strip has the middle grey value added as a comparison. This is incredibly useful information especially if you are using a neutral ground as your starting point.

The next step is understanding how to see how these things play out in reality on any given object. For this I brought out SHAPES!!!! Some people dread the shapes, I remember the groans at art school for spending days at this. I think they are a valuable tool for understanding drawing. It is such a powerful way to understand what you see and I still practice it from time to time.

We used white painted plaster and wooden shapes under a single light source to create very defined shadows. If you are working from home, find white stuff around the house, you can make shaped out of white paper, paint stuff yourself, use what you have, or buy these at art supply stores. The goal is to use the value chart as a comparison in order to  create drawings of the simple shapes defined in space by lights and darks. Below is an example as to how the values relate on the drawing surface.

At this point it isn't as important to me that you have the proportions absolutely correct, as we will be working on that tons later, what we are really after is the ability to blend the values to create smooth transitions of shadow. Hard edged shapes tend to not have blended shadows. This exercise is to draw what we see! To understand the core and cast shadows and to have the relationship between the light and the dark on these shapes relate properly to create a realistic drawing.  Remember: Draw what you see!

I have included some snap shots taken on my iPhone so they are not "superfantastique" by any means but they were from the class set up for those who missed and would like an idea what we worked on.  It is helpful to work with white painted shapes as they are less confusing to break down. It is also better to try this from life rather than photo as the camera does change the way we look.

There was no homework as we used the 3 hr class for demos and exercises and finished off by looking at what we created in the class. Next class we add to this by working on still life using what we learned with values and we will begin our pursuit of proportions. Ciao for now. Have a great week-end and CANADA DAY!