Life

Art Posts

Car Posts

Stories

FEATURED POSTS
Read More...

How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?

The old question, “how do you get to Carnegie Hall” always has the same answer: Practice, practice, practice.

I’ve developed reliable studio practices for when I want precision but it can take a very large number of hours. It can take days or weeks or months to get it right.

Meanwhile there are two birds I can nab with one stone to improve both ends of the spectrum: better live sketches and  prettier studio line work.

I have rarely been satisfied with the state of my capabilities doing live work and there is a look that I’ve wanted to perfect since childhood. Recently it  occurred to me that the way to get there is live sketches. The quality is so far behind that I’ve decided to give my self some remedial training to bring myself up to speed using artificial means – a projector. But this is not a tracing exercise.

I cast the image on a white page about ten feet away and sketch that. This is the closest thing to drawing a real person without getting one.

Live sketched faces have turned out well but full human forms took too long and usually failed standards.

The first four or five attempts were terrible but then I started catching on. Out of eight today half were better than most preschoolers do.

Now it’s time to get a live model. Still takes just under of an hour with unsure lines, but the practice is paying dividends.

This is a different manner of precision and I even hold the pencil differently. I also build the image far differently than ever before. This is superior.

Nothing is lost in this quest except ineffective technique.

I started simple. Just head and shoulders.

 

 

This one still took an hour, but I was on an important phone call most of the time. Things are gelling.

 

There were endless temptations to mess this up but I maintained simple lines and believable proportions. I also adlibed by drawing her eyes closed.

Not so long ago, this one would have thrown me for a loop. It’s rough, and yet I am happy. This is how I finished the art workday.

Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Fenimore Central

ADDRESS

dennis_fenimore@hotmail.com

 

Washington, USA

 

Phone No.

Upon Inquiry. Otherwise - spammers

 

 

Hours

24 / 6

 

Contact me

Form submitted successfully, thank you.Error submitting form, please try again.