Currently Browsing: drawing practice 25 articles

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Three Views of Actor Michael Sheen

Actors can be mercurial, artists can change the way they want to see things just as quickly. In the span of an evening last February I tried out three ways to look at actor Michael Sheen on paper. (When I drew these sketches I was watching an episode of “Prodigal Son,” which I enjoyed and […]

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Why Keep Sketching the Same Subject?

A friend of mine once said he couldn’t understand how I could draw the same subject over and over. I do that a lot. Most notably daily drawings for 4 and a half years of my dog Dottie.  But my life is full of drawing the same subject over and over. Life drawing models I […]

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Tools Really Do Change the Way You Draw

I’ve met students who come to my classes who are totally frustrated with their materials and tools. They keep doing the same thing with their tools, using those tools, usually because an “expert” told them they were the best tools. Unfortunately the best tool for one artist might not be the best tool for another. […]

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Quick Studies

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you’ve got time for a quick study. Focus on the details that matter the most to you. On somedays it might be a nose, a forehead, a hand, some shoes, or a color scheme. Often it’s little bits of light. Overtime, if you look back at your quick […]

Detail of the painting so you can see the brush pen sketch lines and the thickness of the watercolor I was using in an opaque manner.

Sketching on Any Old Paper You Have At Hand

Sometimes we can get into our heads. We can spend time telling ourselves all the reasons we can’t take time right now and paint.  As a teacher for over 30 years I think I’ve heard every excuse there is: no space to set up, don’t have the materials I want to work with; I don’t […]

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Let Yourself Push Your Sketch Marks Now and Then

OK, we can’t get the whites of the paper back when we are working in pen and ink (unless we resort to the X-acto blade, or ProWhite gouache), but it’s still a useful endeavor to keep pushing with the lines. I find that working with a dried out pen pushes me to be a little […]

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The Journal as Workbook

Below is a video which explains my view of the journal, and how I use my journal in my daily practice. Students in my “Drawing Practice: Drawing Live Subjects in Public” class asked me to share it publicly when I shut down my on-line teaching platform at the end of last year. They wanted to […]

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Different Drawing Approaches for the Same Subject

Just this week I was asked by nine people how I start my drawings. I use different approaches to start my drawings depending on what pen I’m using, the paper size, and even just how I feel my eyes are doing on any given day. For a more detailed response I explain that I have […]

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The Final Lectures Series: Which Question

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Detail from this post's image. Pen and ink wash in a Hahnemühle Travel Journal (which contains drawing paper.)

Finding An Art Buddy Might Be Detrimental to Your Drawing Practice

      Yes, I said it. I called out one of the elephants in the room. Finding a sketching/art buddy to go sketching with might just turn out to be detrimental to your drawing practice. This is difficult for people to digest, especially during the pandemic when most are craving more contact with people. […]

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