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Attitude by Patricia Hannaway, 2006, pastel sketch drawing, 21 x 12. Human figure sketching, especially learning how to sketch from a model, is one of the most rewarding ways of practicing art because it can enhance your abilities in ways that are both practical and inspirational. It's practical...
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Seeing a painting or figure drawing progress from beginning to end allows the finished artwork to be understood as a series of discrete steps leading to a virtuosic whole. During a recent tour of the Grand Central Academy (GCA), in New York City, I observed instructor Joshua LaRock developing a drawing...
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Sounds mysterious and threatening, right? No worries! It's just that when Liz Haywood-Sullivan began to create pastel drawings, she was dismayed with the range of dark colors available. "Rich, dark pastels were hard to find," she says. "Most of the time the darks just weren't dark...
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Can you imagine figuring out how to draw a face—the same face—350 times or more, and making each portrait drawing different and as compositionally sound and interesting as if you had made only one? Quite a task, yet Italian designer, sculptor, and painter Piero Fornasetti did just that. Fornasetti...
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Drawing is a fundamental skill for artists, emphasis on "skill." That means there are basic drawing rules and approaches that work, including these six tips on how to draw anything accurately. Delmonico Building by Charles Sheeler, 1926, lithograph drawing. Adapted from an article by M. Stephen...
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I am usually heartened when I hear disagreements about matters of art and technique. Maybe I'm just combative that way, but more likely, I think I take such debates as a sign that there are more artists coming to the table, that the field is growing and evolving, and that there's no end in sight...
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When I say "the perfect blend," I feel a little bit like I am describing a gourmet coffee flavor, but there really is a perfect blend that exists in pastel painting. For me, the crème de la crème of pastel drawings combines a certain level of literal representation with a modern...
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I don't think the failure or success of a drawing has to do with the drawing ideas that the artist starts with. He or she could choose pretty much anything and make a go of it, don't you think? It also doesn't depend on whether the artist chooses to create easy drawings or ones that are more...
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Sometimes I can forget how good it feels just practicing drawing techniques. Simple things, like working on proportion and scale and line weight can feel so rewarding if you give yourself the time to really savor them when learning to draw. Mostly this is because all great drawings are built on these...
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I'll admit that in the past I have been guilty of thinking of colored pencil art as colorful and bright and not necessarily able to be coupled with serious subjects or moody narratives. But that was my own bias. As I've spent time looking at sketchbooks of draftsmen creating colored pencil art...
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I love stumbling upon facts about artists that make me rediscover them and consider their process in a whole new light. That's the kind of moment I had when I discovered that Roy Lichtenstein, the king of Benday dots and comic-book narratives, loved sketching. He started almost every day drawing...
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With so much interest in plein air painting these days, it's easy to overlook how important drawing skills can be to the landscape painting artist. Fundamentally, drawing is both a way of seeing and a way of knowing a subject. If you can draw it, then you own it. It is in your visual library and...
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I recently had an Emeril Lagasse moment--and it happened when I mixed pastels with water for the first time. Three Sunflowers on Blue by Jimmy Wright, pastel painting, 30 x 41. A while back, I confided that I wanted to start an earnest study and exploration of pastel painting . That resulted in me mucking...
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I was recently on the train with a friend who caught the attention of an artist sitting across from us. She started drawing my pal. We were thrilled! It was an exciting moment as we watched my friend's face appear on the paper in front of us. As the artist went about her work, I observed her in action...
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I'm an artistic omnivore to be sure, but there is really nothing I love more and respond to more than pencil drawings. I know, the humble pencil and paper seems so simple, so basic. But what some forego and forget as too elementary, I see as essential. Yes, starting with beginner pencil drawing lessons...