Issue 10
July 28, 2006
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) Video Game Artist Description for 3D Cutscene or Cinematic Artists
3) Send us Your Success STories- August 5th is approaching
4) Life Sketch of Michelangelo- Part 2 of 4 A Sculptor and a Painter
5) Never Give Up- 5 Tips to Help You Stay Motivated and Avoid the
Procrastination Bug
6) Tip of the Month- Light in Figure Drawings By Butch Kreiger
7) This month's quotes by:
Tolstoy, Reynolds, and Kermit the Frog!
inspiration pieces to help.
You will not want to miss this!
8) Learning2draw.com Announcements, upcoming changes to site!
Spotlight on an artist, new site announcement,
Natalie Portman, super bonus,
back issues of newsletters,additional articles and more!
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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 Devony M.
Hi, I want to know what I should be drawing everyday to become a
great artist. A lot of times I will hear people say draw everything.
I want more specific instruction, like is there some exercises you do
everyday to increase your abilities. I need help!
ANSWER: from Todd
Hi, thanks for your question. Because I don't know your specific goals
I will give you a few exercises generally that I know of. First, when
people say draw everything, they are right. I've said this before but
my wife just knows that even on vacation the sketch pad is right there
with us. I take it with me if we go out to dinner. I am constantly
drawing.
A good thing to focus on learning if you need some direction, is the
Human Form. The reason is the human form is life and vitality and can
lead to several art careers such as painting, video games, portraiture,
photography, pencil drawings, caricature, etc, etc. The list goes on.
Several artists I know get a good anatomy book and draw or copy the book
from start to finish and repeat this step over and over.
If you are running out of ideas on what to draw, here's a tip. You can
go to google and do a search under images and it will bring up more
things for you to draw than you can imagine. I do this quite often. If
you need visual reference such as facial expressions, type it in and then
search.
Some artists choose to do a self portrait or a hand study. Others may work
on line quality by drawing a point A and a point B and try and draw a line
to it without looking.
I hope this helps, if you have a more specific question on what goal you
are trying to accomplish I will be happy to email you some exercises.
The important thing is to remember that you have fun drawing. If it always
feels like a chore you will find it hard for your passion to come through.
Please, if you have a question you would like answered by Todd,
email him at info@learning2draw.com.
Also, if you know of any art topics that you would like to see
addressed on our article page, please email us at
info@learning2draw.com with the subject art article. We would
love to hear your ideas and write about them.
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2) Video Game Artist- How do I get Started?
3D Cutscene Artist
This artist works with the concept artist really closely. As a
cutscene or cinematic artist you will follow a storyboard to create
a cinematic movie sequence (like a trailer to a movie) through
animation or in-game scripted scenes. Camera movement, lighting,
character animation, as well as special effects, and backgrounds,
are all to be considered with the cut scene artist. This part of
video game art is the closest related to film animation, sometimes
companies outsource this work to the film industry because of its
likeness. If film or animation is your interest, this may be the
area you want to focus on.
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3) Send Us Your Success Stories!
Congratulations to Kelly Walters, who received our starter kit
full of strathmore paper, pencils, charcoal and kneaded erasers.
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 Aug 5th for our second drawing.
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4) Life Sketch of Michelangelo-
Michelangelo Buonarroti Part 2 Sculpture
SCULPTURE
First Period
If the years before 1505, that is, before the summons by Julius II,
be taken as Michelangelo's youth, it may be said that, even when a
pupil in Bertoldo's school, he attracted attention not only by his
work in clay and by the head of a faun in marble after a classical
model, but especially by two marble bas-reliefs of his own design.
The "Madonna Seated on a Step", pressing the Child to her breast
under her mantle, shows, it is true, but little individuality,
grace, and tenderness, though perhaps for this very reason all the
more dignity. Michelangelo's later style is more easily recognized
in the "Battle of the Centaurs", which represents a large group of
figures, anatomically well drawn, engaged in a passionate struggle.
It is said that in after years the artist, in referring to this group,
expressed regret that he had not devoted himself exclusively to
sculpture. He appears to have taken the conception for this work from
a bronze relief of Bertoldo and to have imitated the style of Donatello.
Michelangelo's work certainly recalls Donatello in the drapery of
the Madonna above mentioned and in the realistic way in which the
sentiment of this composition is expressed. After Lorenzo's death
Michelangelo produced a marble Hercules of heroic size that was taken to
Fontainebleau and has since disappeared. Thode, however, appears to
have found the Crucifix which Michelangelo carved for the church of
Santo Spirito. The body in this is almost entirely free from the cross;
there is no intense pain expressed on the youthful face, and the hands
and hair are not completely worked out. The "St. John in the Wilderness",
with the honeycomb, now at Berlin, is probably the San Giovannino that
Michelangelo executed in Florence in 1495. The realistic modelling of
the head and the beautiful lines of the body show a study of both classic
and modern models. Shortly after this Michelangelo completed several
figures for the shrine of St. Dominic which Niccolo dell' Arca had left
unfinished. A figure of a pagan deity was the occasion of Michelangelo's
first visit to Rome, and a statue of Bacchus carved by him on that
occasion is extant at Florence. This work, which is the result of study
of the antique, is merely a beautiful and somewhat intoxicated youth.
Far more important is the Pieta executed in 1499 for the French chapel
in St. Peter's. A calm, peaceful expression of grief rests on all the
figures of the group. The face of the mother has youthful beauty; the
head is bowed but slightly, yet expressive of holy sorrow. Her drapery
lies in magnificent folds under the body of the Saviour. The latter is
not yet stiff and reveals but slight traces of the suffering endured,
especially the noble countenance so full of Divine peace. Not the lips
but the hand shows the intensity of the grief into which the mother's
soul is plunged. When sixty years old Michelangelo desired to execute
a Pieta, or, more properly, a "Lamentation of Christ" for his own tomb.
The unfinished group is now in the Cathedral of Florence, and is throughout
less ideally conceived than the Pieta just mentioned. The body of Christ is
too limp, and Nicodemus and Mary Magdalen are somewhat hard in modelling.
This Pieta was broken into pieces by the master, but was afterwards put
together by other hands. Two circular reliefs of the "Virgin and Child",
one now in London and one in Florence, belong to the sculptor's youthful
period. In the Florentine relief, especially, intensity of feeling is
combined with a graceful charm. Mother and Child are evidently pondering a
passage in Scripture which fills them with sorrow; the arms and head of the
Boy rest on the book. A life-sized group of about the same date in the
church of Our Lady (Eglise Notre-Dame) at Bruges shows the Madonna again,
full of dignity and with lofty seriousness of mien, while the Child,
somewhat larger than the one just mentioned, is absorbed in intense thought.
In contrast to Raphael, Michelangelo sought to express Divine greatness
and exalted grief rather than human charm. He worked entirely according
to his own ideals. His creations recall classical antiquity by a certain
coldness, as well as by the strain of superhuman power that characterizes them.
*this article is part 2 of 4 on the Michelangelo life study it is taken
from the NewAdvent group. IF you wish to see part 1 of this article or
any of the DaVinci and Bougereau series you may check out our
newsletter archives at www.learning2draw.com and look under the news and
tips signup for the article archive section in white.
****Note on Sketch by Todd
I just wanted to mention that art is about devotion and passion and
that Michelangelo is a prime example of this. From sculptor to painter
he was amazing. I put him in this issue because the human form was
central to his studies. I think this is key. To rise so quickly
in the study of the human form takes hard work, dedication, and
great teachers but can be done! He was able to master many
different genres of art. He did art in place of sleep.Don't give up!
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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5) 5 Tips to Help You Stay Motivated and Beating the
Procrastination Bug!
What can you do when you do not feel like getting started? When your art
is beckoning you but so is the TV? Or the family swimming pool?
When procrastination takes over... We all know what that feels like.
You sit there staring at the sketch book in front of you while your
mind screams, This is not what I want to be doing!!!!
I am sure you have tried making a list of things to do but the problem
is the longer the list the harder it is to get started. The more drawings
or exercises you should do, the more discouraged you get.
Well, listen I have a very effective remedy you can use whenever
you feel this way.
Find That One Thing You CAN Do Now.
Now, it does not matter how small a task that one thing is. Select one
thing you feel capable of starting and completing.
Let me give you an example.
Last week I was sitting in my den with total creativity block ready to
get stuck into a new project but I just could not get started and my
mind kept wandering.
Then it hit me...
There were so many other art projects I could work on at the same time,
not to mention all the stuff for learning2draw. These were all building
up and driving me crazy!
I picked up that pile of sketches and deposited them in a different desk.
Notice that I did not sort through the pile and file it away. I did one thing!
Now, at that stage I had started and completed one task that would help me
to make progress on my project. I then picked one other thing I could do NOW.
Little by little I found myself starting and making progress on the project
without giving myself a hard time.
This is easy to do. And it gives you a sense of achievement as you complete tasks.
You Can Use This Simple Motivation to help your Art Today...
1. Pick a task you want completed but do not feel like starting.
2. Ask yourself - what is the one thing I CAN do now?
i.e. you feel capable of doing it and it is effortless for you to do so right now.
3. Do it! Find a Fun project first and then work on the next.
4. Repeat step 2. Ask yourself again - what is the one thing I CAN do now?
This works as long as you use these steps without putting yourself under pressure.
Remember that even a tiny step forward is still a step forward. And each one
builds your confidence.
Keep it fun and build your momentum! You can do it! When this
does not work, try it again. Just keep drawing!
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6) Tip of the Month
Meet a Drawing Challenge -- Light It Up
Control the lighting of your subject to better establish form and mood.
By Butch Krieger
You can’t overestimate the importance of lighting in representational art.
Its foremost (and most obvious) purpose is illumination: Light enables you
to see what you’re trying to paint or draw. But this isn’t where the story
ends. Light also performs other essential functions in your artwork, namely
setting a mood.
Set up your model with a light shining from the upper right, then try these
variations:
Soften your subject with a secondary fill light in the lower left.
Removed that secondary light, creating stronger contrasts.
Move the primary light closer to the figure, leaving most of the face in shadow.
Now, put the primary light below the model's chin and try these variations:
Place a secondary light coming in from the left.
Take away the secondary light source. This could create a somewhat sinister
appearance. Finally, move the light farther away from the model’s chin,
creating a softer, more romantic glow.
Butch Krieger is a contributing editor to The Artist’s Magazine.
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7) Inspirational Quotes
Inspirational Quotes by Tolstoy, Reynolds, and Kermit the Frog
The task of art is enormous. Through the influence of real art,
aided by science, guided by religion, that peaceful co-operation
of man is now obtained by external means-by law courts, police,
charitable institutions, factory inspection, etc.-should be
obtained by man's free and joyous activity. Art should cause violence
to be set aside. And it is only art that can accomplish this.
--Leo N. Tolstoy
A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.
--Sir Joshua Reynolds (side note Sir Joshua Reynold's book on
figure drawing is one of our bonuses found at www.learning2draw.com)
How important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that
the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I
could be prejudiced. I am a visual art.
--Kermit the Frog, muppet
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8) Upcoming changes to site!
New changes coming up include, more articles added to our how-to
section. We will be adding new images to the site as well. We've
added a huge bonus to our site as well. Also, we are going to have
an art challenge coming up, we'll keep you posted. Check it out!
We have added the newsletters to the archive now and you can check
out back issues by clicking on the article archive button beneath
the newsletter sign up on the left hand column of the site.
By popular request we are starting a new sight for you video game
artists out there. It will be ready soon! Keep your eye open
for the announcement and details.
SPOTLIGHT*** We would like to start spotlighting artists who
subscribe to this newsletter. If you would like to be an artist
who is spotlighted, please send us an email with your name, info
about what kind of art you do, how you got started, etc, etc. and
email it to info@learning2draw.com with the subject line Spotlight.
Also, if you would like back issues of any of our newsletters
or our series on DaVinci's Proportions, please email us at
info@learning2draw.com with the subject title newsletters followed
by which issue you would like or have not received.
Thank you everyone for your comments on our e-book and for your
support of our site. We've extended our promotion based on your
comments.
Also***Special Announcement Coming Soon!
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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