-
Structural drawing by Dan Thompson, mixed media, 15 x 25, 2010. Self-Portrait After Palmer by Dan Thompson, mixed media, 19 x 25, 2003. I've taken notes from a lot of art instructors and sat in or participated in plenty of drawing classes, but when I heard Dan Thompson talk about the "great...
-
Pages from Sabin Howard's drawing sketchbook and a finished sculpture. We just put a wrap on the winter issue of Drawing —you'll be seeing it in your mailboxes and on newsstands in February, and can order it in the Artist Daily Store as well. The cover of the new issue is something of a...
-
Eva Mullarky by Kristin Künc, oil on linen, 9 x 13, 2011. I can be a really hard sell when it comes to portraiture because from a beginner painter's perspective, I'm not always sure how to get the most out of a portrait painting session. So I wanted to talk to a close friend and amazing...
-
Slumber at Chuckwalla Valley (detail) by Sharon Allicotti, drawing. If art were a banquet, I would constantly be going back for more helpings of life drawing. It is a consistently rewarding artistic experience because I've never met a more inspiring—and challenging—exercise than drawing...
-
Back II (Joshua) by Martha Mayer Erlebacher, 2003, oil on canvas, 42 x 42. The human body is beautiful—as a whole and in its parts. Body drawings that accentuate the sensuous lines of the body and the power of the human form are steeped in a knowledge of anatomy. But the body is a complex machine...
-
There are so many significant milestones that an artist can mark his or her career by, but the one that is most exciting for me is the possibility of drawing people and capturing their likeness, whether it is a certain gesture they have or just the interesting planes of a model's face. But this is...
-
The Honorable Clarence Harmon, Mayor of St. Louis by Patricia Watwood, oil on canvas, 24 x 18, oval, 2002. Collection of St. Louis City Hall. Someone recently asked me what I did to get recognized and become part of the art scene in my hometown of St. Louis, and how those connections led to my having...
-
When I think about how to draw the sights around me, my mind immediately starts envisioning line. For me, it is foundational for any good drawing. And I'm not alone. When I first saw artist Steven Ketchum's work I was amazed by all the ways he used line--and line alone--to make so many interesting...
-
Drawing of a nose by Darren Kingsley with graphite pencil. The fall session at Studio Incamminati has begun, and I am taking classes with Darren Kingsley. One is in charcoal, and the other in graphite pencil . Last year as a new student, I was introduced to doing charcoal drawings in, for example, 60...
-
This is a blog about drawing people from one of my favorite co-workers, Cate, the online editor of Cloth Paper Scissors . Enjoy! Proportion is key to life drawing. When I was a kid growing up in Michigan, I was privileged to take classes at Cranbrook Institute of Art. I have two memories of this experience...
-
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard (attributed), 1585. I can only imagine the excitement and thrill of sitting for any one of the great portrait painters in history such as Bronzino, Velazquez, and Sargent. But then my mind goes directly to the most pressing question, what to wear?! What...
-
Drawing by Edward Schmidt. When I was the one in charge of my infant cousin, I would always scramble frantically for ways to keep him entertained. Toys, sounds, and funny faces—I tried everything. But the most memorable way I kept him happy was by plopping him in front of a mirror. He'd move...
-
Click on any of the above images to see David Kassan's Drawing the Eyes . That is no small task, no doubt about it. Yet hundreds of thousands of us search every year online about how to draw eyes. Mostly, I think, because we take drawing eyes for granted. All you need is an oval, a circle, and a...
-
Female Nude by Thomas Eakins, oil painting, c. 1881. The Thinker by Thomas Eakins, oil painting, 1900. Thomas Eakins earned himself quite a reputation during his lifetime. He didn't suffer fools gladly, he didn't hold his tongue, and he didn't paint lies. The latter got him into a bit of...
-
This is a long pose drawing that made it into my "evaluate" pile. Part of the artistic learning process for me is learning how to evaluate my work, not on a piece by piece basis, but collectively. This summer I am looking at my drawing art works for progress— looking for plateaus in how...