Copying The Old Masters by The Masters

Obviously one does not acquire a unique style of art by copying or by emulating a master. The beginners' target in copying the masters is to grasp the understanding behind the old masters' technique.

Hopefully this will help the student develop his or her own handwriting in drawing forms. Constable did copy a landscape by Ruisdael whom he admired but made copius notes in his sketches and with all the subtle nuances and the overall design of Ruisdael's landscape. It is worth comparing the two together.

A pen and ink study by Delacroix copied an etching by Goya but Delacroix changes the momentum and pace giving a vibrancy which takes the copy far apart from Goya.

The bright student in copying others' work does not enjoy an intimacy than a professional layman might. The copycat can grasp the positioning and how the forms protrudes in space, meanwhile the complexity in the original is often lost, even by the layman.

The old practice of using triangle, circles, rectangles, and s-curves over a great work of art is really silly. What does one gain by over-analysing a famous piece of art? Most of the old masters had a sixth sense about form and structure as it related to a spiritual awareness NOT a physical one! This is the primary downfall of the student.

If you can climb out of this physical universe (and remain exterior to it) you will become aware of energy flows and how even physical forms (not humans) put out and pull in vibrations. Ever watched a solar flare? It's a little like that.

John Constable Landscape

What Are The Functions of Line in Drawing?

We all know there is an endless variety of lines in drawing, some expressive others boring. I do not know of many artists who practice on a conscious level the quality of their lines.

What is line quality? Well, there are meandering lines, curved ones, emphatic and flowing, ziz-zag and other infinite possibilities.

The image here is Vincent van Gogh's The Bridge at L'Anglots completed in China ink. Notice the varying line characteristics from bold to meandering and how his lines indicated the forms almost in 3D.

Try this exercise: copy small sections of this drawing and "feel" the contours of the forms. Do not slavishly copy unless you want your drawing to become "wooden."

When you start your drawing, think of the type of line you think is most suited to your work. Work freely without too much thought and if impulse takes over your drawing should be quite creative and part of YOU!

Drawing implies lines thick or thin, strong or not, suggesting direction, volume and form. It also has width and texture. As lines change direction, new dynamics come into play as the line curves around which begins to describe the form.

The beginning student cognites he or she has a powerful tool in their hands. A simple drawing can express feelings and emotions that words cannot—even Shakespeare would not be able to find the words!

Every line or scribble or doodle reflects something of the person holding the pencil. An experienced artist know most if not all the emotions in human nature and can use this to great effect in his drawings. The purpose of the drawing should be to create an effect of one sort or another on the viewer.

The effect could be political, humorous, apathy about the economy, the poor people of Africa's plight and a myriad of other things. Words can be spun and become meaningless or outright lies but a drawing can create quite an impact from a professional's pencil.

Drawing by Willem de Kooning

Drawings of Flowers
Here is a video clip test on how to draw flowers. There will be other clips within a week or two aimed at beginners on how to draw specific things. They will be very short clips of about a minute or so.

Artwork Inspired By What?

I see plenty of well executed drawings on DeviantArt but they are not truly original. If it is an original or pure creation and not been seen anywhere before then it could be quite inspirational.

My muse has not been visiting me for some time now and so I have to think outside the proverbial, see if there is anything at all which will give me some direction towards originality.

Sure, it is easy to get ideas from images that have been manipulated with p/shop but there is that p/shop style that smacks you in the face and you think "Yeah, just another one - didn't we see that last week?" And more of this stuff creeps in on Pinterest and other social media website.

Is it possible to be truly creative with your artwork with something that has never been seen or done before? I don't know the answer to this question so I'll just have to hang in until my muse shows up.

Drawing Pencil Sketches

Just released a trial video clip on YouTube all about Drawings of Flowers. This is clip #1 in this series and being a trial run I have not yet put in voice-over. But check it out and let me have feedback. There is a link here to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6e2pmFUrQ&feature=g-upl

Drawing Pencil Sketches

Drawing Lines of Length, Width and Direction

Drawing lines can be complex or simple. Line divides space and form and may describe contours of the form. As your line moves over the surface of the paper, has a rough or smooth edge, has a light or dark tone, it starts to describe an image.

These lines can then begin to describe your experiences, your thoughts. Your drawing then takes on an emotional quality and therefore conveys a message to the viewer. I've heard it said many times that art represents "the quality of communication."

You have to ask yourself first "What is art?" The bumper dictionaries do not define this too well and many of these definitions give the idea they are groping around in the dark for something more concise.

Here is a recent definition "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles." What does that tell you? What are aesthetic principles? Does this mean that a work of art is good only if it is beautiful? I don't think so. Anything that is beautiful or ugly is only in the eyes of the beholder. Right? And that depends on education, experiences and emotional feelings towards the subject matter, the painting itself.

Watercolor Fast and Loose

This is one of the more difficult mediums to use with many beginning artists giving up almost after their first try!

With watercolor, you must plan your painting first; you cannot erase your mistakes with white opaque paint. So you paint the correct colors (in value and hue) first. If you try to paint over an area again, it will look a mess. This takes practice—a lot of practice.

Watercolor paintings must look fresh and spontaneous, not muddy and overworked. My advice is to start with a LARGE brush about 1 inch wide, preferably a Purdy from Home Depot as they are a lot cheaper than the art store brushes.

Get a fair amount of paint (say blue for the sky) and mix it with water so your brush is loaded with paint. Before you put paint to paper, wet the watercolor paper with a damp sponge, then take your loaded brush and make a sweeping stroke at the top from left to right (if you are right-handed) and run your brush down the paper as you blend it into the white areas with more water on your brush.

In one or two attempts at this you should have a nice even and blended blue background from your dark blue color at the top fading into a white (your white paper) at the bottom. You work fast and loose with NO fiddling.

Are Your Drawings Expressive Enough?

There are many drawings by famous artists, living and dead, on display in the top museums here in the USA. Many of these are expressionless and rather boring.

Because a drawing has been created by a famous artist does not make it expressive at all or even good...you will find many sketches in this category that are taking up real estate in the museums!

How DO you make your drawings more expressive? That is a good question as there are gazillions of ways to make a drawing expressive: here are a few; your line quality, thick or thin, light or dark, length of line, short or long or variable? All lines can be bold or slender, curved or jagged, strong or weak...the varieties are endless.

Beginners have timid lines, and the best way to overcome timidness is to start gesture drawing—quick bold strokes giving vitality and strength.

Go here for an e-book on "Beginners Guide To Drawing" which will not cost you a cent...you have to sign up for the monthly newsletter on Drawing and Sketching.