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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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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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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...
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I've been told by more than one person that I try to see both sides of any issue. And my personal life aside, I can attest that I also do the same for art--I like to see it from all sides, materially speaking. That makes me a perfect match for mixed media art because you can combine so many different...
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I find that being an artist or art student is a bit like being a parent. The phrase: "Do what I say, not what I do" is too often applicable. For example, as I have expressed before, my goal is sketching something every day. The sketch drawings might take one minute, such as a pencil sketch...
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It's strange how sketching and drawing are such old and established practices—pen and ink drawing has been around since ancient Egyptian times!—and yet no two draftsmen are ever really the same, and each one's pursuit can lead to very different results. Perhaps that comes from how...
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Straight from the master's mouth, er, hand. Study Rembrandt's drawing techniques and you'll find short strokes and quick crosshatching that the artist used to get to the heart of every visual impression he wanted to depict. The Three Trees by Rembrandt, 1643, etching with burin drypoint in...
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I've always thought of a painter's drawings or pencil sketches as his or her diary. A finished painting is the confident, public face shown to the world, but sketch drawings read like journal entries, where you can see an artist's preoccupations, struggles, moments of exploration, and sense...
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Today was a day spent asking myself questions about my art. Two of the questions I have focused on are: "Why do I draw?", and "Why do I draw what I draw?" The copy of a Prud'hon drawing that I did in Natalie Italiano's drawing class. I believe drawing is a foundation to realistic...
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I love that my job allows me to learn something new every day—and the fact that the majority of those discoveries are art-related make them all the more inspiring. Lately I've been in art-historian mode, and I've have been trying to better understand the various art movements throughout...
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Two Women with Still Life by Willem de Kooning, pastel and charcoal on paper, 22 1/4 x 18 3/4 in., 1952. The artifice of line is one of the aspects of drawing that I am most in love with. The fact that we can take line—which doesn't exist in the natural world—and create works of art that...
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Taking just a few minutes to survey a scene and sketch it can help work out any challenges you might come across with the orientation of objects, color, and more. Okay, it isn't a he or a she, but an 'it': composition! I know, not the handsome hunk you were hoping for, but composition is...
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Kinder Love by Jason Bard Yarmosky, 2011, pencil drawing, 18 x 24. Frontal Study of Naked Man by Leonardo, 1503- 09, pen and ink drawing, 9 1/4 x 5 3/4. Looking East by Kerry Brooks, colored pencil drawing. I'm excited to report that the fall issue of Drawing is here—it hits newsstands November...