[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Victor,

The stuff you’re doing is really cool. I know I’m chiming in at probably not the best moment as you’re thinking of putting down the pencils on this one, but I did think that I would do a draw over to simplify the values and details a little bit. I think the main issue with this piece right now is that I don’t know where to look as this picture kind of doesn’t come together as a sum of it’s parts just yet. I spend more time looking at the minutants, the rocks, the little patches of light, than I do at either the lone warrior or the big robot. Also the background behind the robot just feels too busy. I tried, without changing the placement of anything or the format to just group some values and accent the important bits. Now this wouldn’t be the only way to do this, of course, that all depends on your intent and pictorial and narrative focus. But here’s one idea.

Keep up the awesome work, I really can’t wait to see your other digital paintings on this site.

Best,

Iliya 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Josseline,

Thank you so much for doing my course! I sketched out some basic corrections to the proportions, axes, and a couple of important plane changes. I think that some of your values are actually a little too subtle. I would try to find the big light and shadow, kind of like what you’re doing in the écorché head. It will remove some of the (for now) unnecessary challenges and allow you to focus on a more obvious depiction of the form.

I hope this helps! Keep up the good work and I’ll be checking in on your posts to comment and add corrections.

Best,

Iliya

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Andres,

I like these Bargue plates you’re working on. I think you are doing an excellent job with the silhouettes, shadows, and (most importantly) edges. I say edges are necessary, only because I believe they are fundamental in the Bargue plates, I don’t think they are objectively the most important thing. I just wanted to clear that up. So I know that I am a bit biased towards a more constructive approach to drawing, so take what I say with that in mind. I do want to mention that I think it would be good to supplement these very observational drawings with some structural and anatomical analysis. The Bargue plates are perfect for learning to see proportions, angles, big 2-dimensional shapes, and all fundamental and necessary stuff. But I feel they can also be limiting. Maybe treat them as a broader assignment. Do the Bargue, but then make copies from someone like Gottfried Bammes, the famous German anatomist and artist. That way, you’ll be killing two birds with one stone, so to say, and the work will be more interesting, as well as figure substantially into your general artistic education.
On top of that, you can write out the anatomy of say, the arm, and even label the Bargue copy. The plates are unbelievably precise when it comes to changes in plane along the contour, and a very informed artist did them. I feel that it makes sense to make the most of the plates and put yourself in the mind of their original creators, rather than practice them the way people draw them a lot of the time, as strictly an observational exercise.
This wasn’t a critique, more a suggestion. Good luck, and keep up the excellent work!

Best,

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Alex,

I really like how you’re approaching figure drawing, and especially like this last light and form study. I did a general anatomical draw-over a fulgure drawing you posted on the 4th of July of the heavier set model. Heavier set models are fantastic to draw due to the plasticity and gestural interactions of all the forms, but it’s also harder to find where all that anatomy is. The way I sketched it, I mainly inserted the rib cage and pelvis (I made the rib cage purposefully larger than it really is to help establish landmarks on the skin) and then sketched in more precise silhouettes in the legs. I’ll definitely be looking in to see more work and comment in the future.

Good luck and keep up the awesome work!

Iliya

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hello Birgith,

I love still-lives and I’m glad you’re so diligently working on conveying these bottles in paint. I did a draw-over, with some things that I would change to further enhance the effect of light on glass and explore the tonal contrasts between foreground and background. I think that by just slightly darkening everything and bringing up the highlights, you can really make some big changes, with fairly minimal means. Plus it’ll unify the whole piece.

Good luck and keep up the great work!

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Beth,

I’m not a sculptor in any traditional sense but I have some experience with it, have taught it, and teach a form of drawing that most sculptors are interested in. Plus I know a lot of them and have a grasp of the theory if not always the practice. So I take it that this is the first time you’re using an armature, and are thinking of removing it. This is interesting because generally, the armature is not removed at all. In some instances I have seen pieces cut apart, the armature removed, and then the clay hollowed out and reassembled, but for this the pieces need to be a bit more “monolithic.” As in, they need to hold together a little more around a central axis, having individual wires for the arms and legs can become problematic, if not impossible.

In most cases when an armature is used, it’s to hold those flailing parts like arms, legs, fingers, cloth, etc. So what happens is this:

1. A mold is made of the finished sculpture in either resin, plaster, or some other material.

2. The mold is removed and the orignal clay sculpture is destroyed.

3. The armature is reused.

4. A plaster, plastic, bronze, etc, sculpture is made by being poured into the mold many times over

 

I hope this helps. But please write any more questions you might have and either I or another New Master’s instructor will help you get everything answered.

 

Best Regards,

Iliya

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Bryan,

Alright, so I think this last portrait is downright awesome! I even downloaded the app immediately after seeing this because if paint can be handled so expressively in a digital medium, I want it! But it’s not the app that took me there, it’s this piece! I think your use of the medium is so clean and precise that I couldn’t resist giving it a show myself.

I honestly think that maybe you should allow some of the cleaner more solid application of colors in this sketch to wander back into your traditional work. I can see the similar paint handling and application but I really think that working in some lighter, cleaner, cooler tones could be good. Also, I would try an even further distribution of edge softness and hardness, sometimes painting them a little more deliberately. Also, that dark burgundy on the left Naso-labial fold (the crease that runs from the nose to the corner of the mouth) might be a little too chromatic and either needs a partner or to be slightly dimmed down.

Also, I don’t know if this is a valid criticism, because it might be completely deliberate, but there is something either mannered or accidental about the consistently large eyes, so it would be nice to maybe get some variation in there, in terms of size, development, polish, etc both within individual pieces as well as between pieces .

 

Keep up the awesome work!

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Tess,

The figures are getting better and better. I did a draw over with some anatomical information and things to watch out for. Try always to find the rib cage and sternum and then follow that vertical axis of the sternum down to the pubic symphysis to establish the center line of the abdomen. In both of these drawings, that line is a little off and it’s throwing the proportions a bit. Also I did a basic schematic of the lower leg for reference.

Good luck!

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Donatella,

I’m really glad you’re posting these legs and feet. They are an extremely important aspect of study that’s often overlooked because, frankly, it’s intimidating. So I definitely applaud you for that. I have done a draw-over of the recent post to try and help with some of the basic structural things that one should keep in mind when drawing feet. I think that you’re definitely seeing them in places and depicting them well. The hard part comes when you can’t really distinguish these things that clearly in life or in the photograph. Then you have to rely more on your understanding of the basic forms of the foot. I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing more!

Best,

Iliya

 

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hey AJ,

 

I’m liking all this figurative work and the delicate tonal schemes you’re working with. Sometimes the shading is just spot on and really creates a feeling of form and atmosphere. I’m did a draw-over of the most recent post to just help push those things even further.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing more work!

Best,

Iliya

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Alon,

I think this is quite an intimiste still life and I like the general value and color control. I think that the red,blue, yellow palette might be a bit obvious and could’ve been obscured or brought together a little bit but that’s not that big a deal, and at then, a personal choice. Regardless, you handled it well. I think the teapot itself is beautifully rendered but because of the large amount and heavily modeled cloth below it, I feel it loses a little bit. I would recommend simplifying the cloth and focusing on just one or two key folds (or fold formations,) I think that where you do the folds, variation is key. Currently the folds are a little equally spread apart. This might have been what it looked like in life, but cloth and backgrounds both need to be invented a bit to fit into the big design. I like the interaction of color between the teapot and the cloth, I think that’s very tasteful. The one thing that I think could have been slightly simplified is the reflection in the highlight on the teapot. It seems a bit overworked and fuzzy. I think it could’ve been cleaner or sharper, or both, and it would’ve conveyed the texture even better. Then in just one or two places you could’ve added a bit of the reflection. Here it seems like it’s almost a main accent and I wonder if it’s adding that much to the painting as a whole. And finally, I think that the amount of cloth (the cloth part to the teapot and background relationship) should either be expanded or shortened dramatically. So when it comes to the format, either elongate the bottom or crop up so that you have maybe 3/4 teapot’s height of cloth left.

 

Keep up the great work, I’ll definitely be checking in to see more of your stuff. I think you have quite a painterly sensibility in this piece.

Best,

Iliya <!–more–>

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi David,

Firstly, let me say that this reminds me of one my favorite artists, Max Beckmann, a German expressionist from the first half of the 20th century. Definitely look at his work, especially the watercolors, etchings, and drawings. Now, I do hope that you will only take this as a compliment, because I can also imagine that someone who is trying for a much more classically realistic approach, when compared to an expressionist painter, might almost be discouraged. But don’t be. This only means, that you need to be aware of certain tendencies that you have that you can either build upon or decide to work against, both directions are good. The more you know about yourself the better, right? At least I think so.

That said, I think that this piece could benefit from more precise proportions and corrections of the outlines (this is of course if we’re pushing this towards the “realism” end of the spectrum). I think the apple is a bit small, and the skull is a little too sharply defined on the upper right edge. I think the background could probably be darker, the vase on the left side also needs to be more defined. You might know some of these things and were planning to get to them, but as I am commenting on the image I have, I’ll just include everything I see that could be adjusted. I also think that you should probably rub or blend the charcoal more to get some flatter tones, on top of which you could then apply charcoal texturally. This would give you more control of your accents and let you just see the page as a unity. Also, check those ellipses, they seem a bit slanted.

Keep up the good work and keep working on that course. It’s a great primer for a lot of the other awesome courses on NMA.

Best,

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Molly,

I really like that you like landscapes, and impressionistic ones at that! I’m an enormous fan I think that Impressionism, along with the Venetian masters a few hundred years before them, were the 2 great explosions of a true understanding of color in the history of painting in the West. So there’s a lot to learn there, and a lot to imitate, and imitate shamelessly I might add. It’s worth it! I’d even do some copies of landscapes you like! I made a draw-over with some corrections on how I would “tighten up” this landscape. I marked up the changes I made but also keep in mind that I cropped the whole piece from the bottom and the right hand side to make it a more balanced and interesting composition.

Keep up the awesome work!

Iliya

 

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Gordan,

I love that you’re doing landscape drawings! I’m including a draw-over where I tried to take your latest piece and simplify the value scheme to create a slightly more dynamic composition, even if it deviates from whatever you were looking at. I think you need to keep doing things exactly as your doing but try to invent a little more and “flatten the tone” a little bit, which basically means to allow shapes to read like shapes and do not allow the mark making to divide them too much. Keep doing what you’re doing, great job!

Iliya

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Dean,

I really like the digital realism you’re after here, and I think you’re doing a really good job. I find that you’re working rather observationally and did a draw-over pointing out some of the more structural things to keep in mind. Keep up the good work.

Iliya

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