It´s been a
long time since my last post and a lot of stuff happened. I changed my study
schedule, participated in an online art school and focused generally more on
practicing my base skills.
I kind of
divided the way I learn into a simple approach where you build upon the
foundation of these basic themes:
Lineart – Values – Color
Without
good lineart (by that, I mostly mean
proportion, shape, perspective) a painting will fail, even if values and color
is done right. This is the foundation and starting point for all paintings.
Values are the next important step, as a well done
lineart with well done values can be a finished painting on its own.
Color is the cherry on top of every painting. It
conveys mood and atmosphere and lets a painting really shine when well done
For most of
the time this year, I practiced my basic drawing skill in lineart, although you
should never separately study one subject on its own entirely. You can put your
focus to one aspect to intensify studying.
I also
found that I had troubles to follow any practice schedule with a set amount of
time for any one subject. After trying out various schedules, I found what
works best for me is basing my schedule on workload. With a set time to study a
certain subject, I drifted off and started to draw against time rather than
concentrate on studying. And a 1 hour study isn´t any good when you are not focused
on what you do, but only on how much time has past.
By workload
I mean, I set an amount of work I want finished by the end of the day and stick
to these mini deadlines.
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One
page of gesture drawings from reference
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One
page of gesture drawings from imagination
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One
page of studies of various subjects (at the moment mostly anatomy and some
design studies)
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2-3
quick value studies
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A
double page in my sketchbook (A5 Moleskin) with studies and/or sketches from
imagination (any subject I want, currently focusing on figures)
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-
Part
of a more detailed Master study (old masters and painters still alive, I
consider masters) in color (about ¼ to 1/3, meaning I finish one every 3-4
days)
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The
advantage of this study schedule is that I don´t need to constantly watch the
time and I don´t have to stick to one subject only for a set amount of time. So
I could start with gestures and go to some sketchbook sketches and back to
gestures again followed by a master study and doing some more gestures after
that spread out across the day until the workload is fullfilled.
Another
advantage of this method : it trains one to stick to deadlines!
The funny
thing is, I manage to practice more in hours per day at a higher level of
motivation than I did with a timed schedule.
