Go figure!!!

I teach figure drawing at ACAD. This week my lectures and demos centered around  proportion, proper measuring methods as well looking at idealized references like Hale and Loomis. These are some of the drawings at the end of class.

If you are interested in learning how to figure draw better, I will be opening up figure drawing sessions and long poses at my Atelier. It is instructed and It's a great opportunity to put in the necessary time and practice to get good it'll be cheap!

Go to my new website and join the emailing list on the contact form at the bottom to keep updated!

Atelierartista.com

PS: new episode is up on my you tube below:

still life with comparative measured proportions

I taught a class Saturday morning on training the eye to see and the hand for drawing a still life by measuring proportions.

Back in the swing of things

Well I've been back at it, teaching and chores but before all of this I managed to squeak off a squeaky clean episode from my Japanese hotel bathtub. Watch below if this sort of thing seems interesting.

More to come from the far east in my you tube episodes.
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My summer courses at ACAD are underway and my students so far are doing great.  In my drawing 1 we have already begun our studies of line, followed by shape, tone and form. Here are some of the exercises form the previous weeks class.  We worked in graphite, with lit painted white shapes in order to help with understanding how to see and apply tone on paper to create a believable illusion.

The following weeks class we focused on how to construct objects in proper proportion with still life items brought in by each student in class.

We began with simple shapes as we did in the previous week, this time as f they were invisible crystal to help get their size, shape and form correctly placed in the visual space.

Even without the information of shading we can tell clearly where objects are because of their placement as well as proportion to other objects in the picture.

 They are progressing well through the steps and I'm sure if classes were more than 3 hrs long each they could bring these to proper completion. However, the lessons were learned and we can move onto the next step in progressing their drawing skills.

Life does not sit still

This Drawing 1 course, I taught the students about observation and proportion. We first used our eyes then skewers for measuring the still lives we set up. I  demonstrated finding relationships, using an imaginary horizontal and vertical axis to begin the composition.

I st up my hat and orange and showed the sight size method, and also how to use it to double the size of measurements to enlarge the picture. These were done very quickly to give the students an idea of the objective and lots of time to tackle their assignment.

Here is Daisy's initial set up before corrections and further development. This is a very rational and exacting method to develop a realistic representational still life drawing.

 The students made me very proud as they all did very well finding and observing those things in the drawings that help them to become more skilled at the craft. I am certain the majority have never worked in this way before and that this new knowledge will be extremely valuable in their artistic practice.

Once the proportions are set and the objects drawn in, they can begin working with their value and shading which wee will go into more depth with during next weeks class. After class i rushed over to the Forest Lawn Library where I taught a 2 hr. flip book making workshop to kids.

The day after a late night of hockey and fun with the boys, I taught an oil painting sampler at Swinton's. We did a colour wheel and I did a quick demo on this piece of palette paper, how to do a variety of things with the tools and materials.

I then quickly blocked in this painting to demonstrate the laying down of oil colour.  The paint that represents the trunk was put on thickly, all with the same large brushes. I moved around the classroom as they began their first paintings.

I revisited it with a smaller round 0 brush, wet in wet to add some more detailed branches and leaves.  Every time I paint I am reminded about the incredible happiness the challenge of applying sticky goop with a stick that has hairs on the end of it to a piece of primed canvas, brings me. That my friends is in essence what I love most about painting, its simplicity brings infinite challenges and possibilities. 

Drawing 1 - whiteboard notes

We are nearing the end of our drawing 1 course at ACAD this summer. It is sad, however I have witnessed the students improvements by leaps and bounds during the duration of study. They have been given their final assignment for next week and we covered some points that were missed from previous perspective class and some stuff to help them work on their final self portraits.

We covered ellipses and circles in perspective as well as how to construct cartoon hands based on the Preston Blair method as a gateway to more easily construct realistic ones. We also looked briefly at difficulties drawing the feet as well as a bit on foreshortening as these tend to be difficult when drawing from life.

To accompany the note packets I handed out, I gave a lecture on constructing the head in profile and facing forward and some of the rules to know and pitfalls to avoid.  Most people put the eyes too far up and don't give enough space for the skull and brain. Really the eyes sit halfway down the head, though it is the tendency when starting out to have them too high, which makes the face look neanderthal.

I think it was the hair, that caused me to add the moustache while keeping the mood of the class on the humorous side, after all, Hitler was an artist, right?!

I also did a demo on how to draw and eye properly and all the little tricks to move them away from drawing almonds or ovals and what to look for in shadows and how to create sparkle and depth in this most important but inset part of the face. The eyes are the window to the soul so it is very practical to focus on representing the eye effectively.

I did a quick demo before introducing the exercise of how to plan out and tackle a portrait.  I am really starting to notice how the traditional techniques are prevalent in all forms of drawing. Establish the limits of the page and plan the composition. Find a strong vertical, whether it is for perspective, life drawing or anything else, we are prisoners of gravity after all. Then find some horizontals then work with proportions, the second most important lesson for drawing realistically. The first rule is: draw, draw, draw or practice, practice practice. The students tackled the assignment extremely well in the time given and I am very happy with their progress and look forward to next weeks critiques.