Hi, and welcome to Learning2draw.com's newsletter. This issue includes:

1) Our Q&A Answer Session, where you will learn exciting secrets
   of the artworld exposed through answers to your questions.

2) Send us Your Success STories- we'd love to hear from you!
   May 5th is approaching, Send Stories for Chance at Drawing!


3) Da Vinci's secrets to the human figure. What was the Mona Lisa
   really smiling about or not? Proportions Part 3

4) Tip of the Month-  This month's tip is two quotes by
   Roberty Henri, inspiration pieces to help.
   You will not want to miss this!

5) Learning2draw.com Announcements, upcoming changes to site!


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Feel Free to Pass This Newsletter On to Anyone Interested!

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1) Question and Answer Session with Todd

  
 
  QUESTION: from Chad

Hello, I am 18 and soon to enter art collage. I was wondering
if you have any tips on what I could draw to help me
with my understanding of drawing so that I can advance and
develop a career. I want to be the best I can, but I don't
have any prior art training other than high school.
I find the hardest thing is proportion and observation. Any
tips, information, or advice would be helpful.

   ANSWER: from Todd

Hi, let me start by saying the old addage, Practice, Practice,
Practice.  Oh yeah, did I say Practice?  That sounds really
cliche' but there isn't anything that is going to give you a
better understanding to your art than practicing. 

Much to my wife's dismay, I carry my sketchbook everywhere. If
we are going out to dinner, to my child's soccer game, where-
ever...I always have my sketchbook with me!

My next advice would be for you to really hone your drawing
skills by getting a good strong working knowledge of the human
figure and proportions and perspective.  No matter what kind of
artist you are going to be, these skills will take you to the
kind of career in art that you want to be.  You can be a 3D
modeler, animator, traditional artist, etc. or whatever, but
without these skills you aren't going to be going anywhere too
fast.

Take a digital camera with you and take pictures of people and
places and use them for reference. 

Proportion and observation can be tricky but with a lot of
practice, it can be accomplished.  I wrote a little article on
it at www.learning2draw.com/how.htm, you can check it out.  Also,
there's a lot information at the libraries, internet, (ezine
articles) etc. out there. 

You can read about my training on the Art Careers 101 download,
like I say all the time, it's passion not talent that will get
you where you need to go.  It will develop your skills more than
anything.

Thanks for your question, please let me know if you need any
other questions answered.

Please, if you  have a question you would like answered by Todd,
email him at info@learning2draw.com.


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2) Send Us Your Success Stories!

We would love to hear from you on how our site and ebook have
helped your art!  So much so, that we will enter your name in a
quarterly drawing for an art supply starter kit.  Just email us
your story to info@learning2draw.com with the subject line
Success in Art Stories, and we will enter your name for a chance
to win pencils, paper, kneaded erasers, and more.  Please email
your story by May 5th for our first drawing.



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3) Da Vinci's Secrets!  Proportions...Part 3

So what was Mona Lisa really smiling about?  Find out in our
series on proportions by Da Vinci.  Learning from the masters
is a privileged step in being successful and mastering skills
that will transform your figures into masterpieces.


Proportions of the Head and Face Cont.  By Leonardo Da Vinci

Proportions of the Head seen in Front


20) The distance between the centres of the pupils of the eyes
is 1/3 of the face. The space between the outer corners of the
eyes, that is where the eye ends in the eye socket which contains
it, thus the outer corners, is half the face.

21)The greatest width of the face at the line of the eyes is
equal to the distance from the roots of the hair in front to the
parting of the lips.

22)The nose will make a double square; that is the width of the
nose at the nostrils goes twice into the length from the tip of
the nose to the eyebrows. And, in the same way, in profile the
distance from the extreme side of the nostril where it joins the
cheek to the tip of the nose is equal to the width of the nose in
front from one nostril to the other. If you divide the whole length
of the nose--that is from the tip to the insertion of the eyebrows,
into 4 equal parts,you will find that one of these parts extends
from the tip of the nostrils to the base of the nose, and the upper
division lies between the inner corner of the eye and the insertion
of the eyebrows; and the two middle parts [together] are equal to
the length of the eye from the inner to the outer corner.

 
23)From the eyebrow to the junction of the lip with the chin,
and the angle of the jaw and the upper angle where the ear joins
the temple will be a perfect square. And each side by itself is
half the head.



So what is the Mona Lisa smiling about?  I dare say that she
is smiling about her creator and his musings and formulas of
art.  The master has created a mystery that we as artists can
only fathom. It may be that she is smiling about her masters
formulas and thinking about how 21st century artists take a
deep breath and sigh when thinking about them. I hope that you
have learned something from his formulas on proportion and stay
tuned for Part 4, where we will learn like Da Vinci, how to draw
like the masters and have our human figures come alive. We'll
discover his secrets to the hidden parts of the Mona Lisa
in our next issue.  You can always check out our page at
www.learning2draw.com for more info on how to draw faces and
the human form. 

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4) Tip of the Month

   Inspirational Quotes by Robert Henri

Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures,
but do not fall into the conventions they established. These
conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made
their language. You make yours. All the past can help you.

When the artist is alive in any person... he becomes an inventive,
searching, daring, self-expressing creature. He becomes interesting to
other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and he opens ways for
better understanding.

* I chose these two quotes from Henri because they went along well
with the Q&A section with Chad.  It give us great advice on becoming
better artists and advice on better understanding!



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5) Upcoming changes to site!

We are excited about the upcoming changes to our site.  We are
in the process of adding more illustrations to the site. Check out
the new 30 minute sketch of Natalie Portman at
www.learning2draw.com.  More are on the way!


Peace and Have a Great Weekend!
Todd Harris Learning2draw.com

If you like this newsletter and would like to share it with
a friend, have them send an email to newsletter@learning2draw.com


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