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Hi,
I think this is a great idea both to motivate all artists of all experiences but also to keep us busy during these times. Thank you!
I’ve just joined NMA after not drawing for over 30 years so my challenge is simple – to just draw something each day, either one of the exercises from the courses or from elsewhere. I’ve started back at the beginning with the A Beginner’s Guide to Drawing and I love it. I think it’s really well put together and low pressure, easy to follow. I’m thinking of buying lifetime access to NMA – I’ve paid for a year so I’ll see now I get on with that first. I was looking for something which went deep into Anatomy and fundamentals. There aren’t many good courses I could find on the Internet. This one seems to be head and shoulders above the rest. I like the formal/traditional approach. I live in the UK and did ‘A’ level art (at age 18) and we did a lot of still life drawing and painting, but I don’t believe we ever really looked at anatomy properly. There’s an awful lot of theory to get one’s head around!
Anyways here’s today’s very quick effort from the beginner’s course:
Best wishes to everyone.
Stay safe,
David.
Today’s drawing from Lesson 7 in Beginners Series 4. I normally try to copy what the tutor is doing and this is my output today (no time for exercises!). I used a brown Conté pencil for this one – I love the way the Conté handles like a pencil but has a crayon type feel to it as well.
Welcome, David! I, too, am in a similar situation…came back to art after a 25+ year hiatus. Last major art piece I worked on was freshman year of college back in ’92. Joined NMA after a new career path ignited the love for art again.
I like your value study and looking forward to seeing more! Enjoy the practice and challenge!
Here’s today’s effort following along with lessons 8,9&10. I like the hammer and the tube of paint best. The cup is kinda sucky.
David. Great idea. Focusing on these fundamentals will pay dividends for your entire career.
Just gave you your 100 Day Challenge badge!
Thank you, Joshua.
Here are today’s efforts, much on the same lines as yesterday’s. I’m a little more pleased with this one, and wish I had more time to fiddle with the fine details. The basic form of the hammer head is a little wrong. I found it difficult to draw as it was pointing towards the viewer for one thing and another is that the claws are not separated which means that where there should be some shapes to draw there is just a patchwork of lights and darks and what should be in shadow appears lighter than what is in the light due to the actual paint on the metal! I’m tempted to rub it out and try again but probably better to begin a new sketch! I can feel myself fighting with those claws. I drew the separation even though it is not visible.
Keep safe
David.
Today I tackled a texture and tone study with Mark Westermoe which I really enjoyed. I broke out my gouache and paintbrushes for the first time which was a change. The splatter one was a bit over-enthusiastic. Mark said you can cover up the surrounding areas with masking tape, AFTER I splattered black gouache over all the page. Oops! This was done on my very upmarket Windsor and Newton 100 lbs / 220 gsm cartridge paper. I was getting a little tired of newsprint. There are a lot of interesting materials that Mark mentions in this lesson I never heard of, like wax pencils (similar to kids crayons I wonder?) and bristol paper. Used: Conté pencils (black and brown), Biro, 2B and 6B graphite pencils (also made by Conté a Paris), Prismacolor Nupastel (black), Windsor and Newton black gouache. I did not have any wax pencils.. looking for those… are there any particular trade names people prefer?
Stay safe,
David.
This is the stuff that makes illusionary art possible. It’s exciting to me at least haha
I went through the beginner drawing course also, great fundamentals to practice! I have that exact page you just did in my notebook haha
Here’s today’s effort. Re-using my self portrait work of this morning, but it’s all part of my draw-something-each-day challenge!
This is worked up from a photo. I’ve got a lot to learn about natural shading of the face – my eyes keep coming out too dark for example. I guess this will come with practice. Also I’m reaching for a 6B to start off with when I should probably work from an HB or 2B. There is something of a likeness there but there’s still a long way to go before I get the feeling I’m looking at myself! I might develop this one further, but actually I’ve lost quite a lot of weight since that photo was taken so will probably choose another. With the head turned slightly this makes angles and facial features a bit more tricky than if it were a head on shot. The nose and the mouth are quite wrong looking and need to be fixed. I’ve learnt that portraiture is HARD!
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