Currently Browsing: internal critic 17 articles
Physical Therapy for Your Art Practice
I suggest to my Drawing Practice students that they do a six-week plan and goal setting session at the end of class; and that they repeat that every six weeks for the rest of their lives. Knowing what our goals are, and seeing how we executed our plans, helps us realign our strategy for going […]
Limited Choices Lead to Successful Projects
After my post last week about doing creative projects many people wrote in to tell me that they were inspired to start a project. One accomplished artist wrote in to ask advice: Just looking for advice. After listening to the podcast on projects I’ve decided to take up the challenge. Over the years I’ve […]
Just Try It: Pushing a Drawing Beyond Finished
How do we make decisions, fast decisions, when sketching out in the field? By making decisions during practice, and comparing results. Some people can hold two versions of a piece in their mind and weigh what the future work will look like. For artists just starting out there might seem to be too many possibilities. […]
When Do You Stop? When Is A Drawing Finished
I think the number one question I get from students is: “When do I know my drawing is finished?” Most people aren’t going to like the answer. You’ll know after you’ve taken a ton of sketches past the point of no return. Here’s the thing, you’re asking a question that involves choices both stylistic choices […]
Happy New Year—Make 2017 A Year of Sketching
Left: Pentel Brush Pen and light washes of gouache on a Canson watercolor board (9 x 6 inches) with Montana Marker background. Reginald D. Hunter is a comedian/entertainer. I cut one finger pulling boxes down (paper cuts!!!) and cut another picking up something sharp. Typing slowly. But that’s OK because all I wanted to […]
If You Love A Paper—Draw More, Not Less—Don’t Save It for Another Day
Above: Quick pear sketches using the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (PPBP) in a handmade journal made with defunct printmaking paper that I'm totally besotted with. Slowly, inevitably, I am working my way through this journal I made in the early 2000s with the last of a now defunct printmaking paper. It is so fabulous not […]
Teaching Drawing: Why Demonstrate Different Media?
Above: Sakura Pigma BB (Bold Brush) Pen sketch of Dick sitting in the TV room, with purple washes of watercolor. (Orange is a Montana Marker—I didn’t put it together properly after refilling it, so it leaked.) In a 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia journal. The Sakura Pigma BB is a felt-tipped brush pen, so […]
Overcoming Resistance in Your Creative Life
Above: Selfie made looking in the bathroom mirror, sketching with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, on Nideggen (in a handmade journal that's about 7 1/2 inches square). (Text obscured for privacy.) Vertigo or not, I'm going to sketch every day. It keeps me tuned up for those days when I can really pull out all […]
Which Dog Are You Feeding?
Above: Sketch made with the Pentel brush pen with pigmented ink and color added with various acrylic markers. (Japanese Lined Journal, slightly grey paper, approx. 8.75 x 11 inches.) I used this sketch from my journal to day because it shows my Editing Eye in action, not content to stop at a really bad drawing, […]
The Importance of Regular Self Evaluations in Our Creative Lives
Above: One of my goals this year has been to draw as many interesting noses, ears, and beards as I can. Even on days when I can't get out and draw people from life, I might stay up late and get some practice in, sketching from TV or from old photographs I've collected. (Sketch in […]