1. Realistic drawing
The most essential skill a fine artist must have is the ability
to draw whatever he or she sees, thinks, or imagines in a realistic manner.
Realistic drawing has a profoundly rich history. The first
skillful, realistic art known to man was created more than 32,000 years ago.
These drawings of animals on cave walls in Southern France are breathtaking
examples of realistic art. Not every contemporary living artist can necessarily
portray wild animals from memory with such precision and knowledge.
Realistic drawing has continued to develop through various
periods of history, including Greek and Roman art, Renaissance and Baroque, and
the later art schools in Europe and the rest of the world.
If you want to become a skillful fine artist, then learning how
to draw realistically is indispensable. That is why in the Drawing Academy
course, every lesson teaches you how to draw realistically.
2. Constructive drawing
The principle of constructive drawing is the cornerstone of
drawing. This principle enables artists to draw what they know or whatever they
can imagine. With this skill a fine artist can “build” objects in a work of art
so that they look realistic and believable.
Constructive
drawing has many rules, such as drawing objects as if they were transparent and
using imaginary helping lines (like axes of symmetry, perspective lines, and
proportions lines).
These rules are described in detail in the Drawing Academy video
lessons and can be applied to whatever you draw – portraits and figurative art,
animals, botanical objects, still-lifes, landscapes, and architecture.
3. Ability to draw from life
I have met many artists who admit they can only copy; when it
comes to drawing from life, they are out of their depth. This comes from the
erroneous ways in which students are taught to draw. Many artists just copy
from photos or pictures and never develop the ability to draw from life. I
explain the cognitive process that rewires the brain into copying instead of
drawing in the video presentation “Drawing from Photos vs. Drawing from Life.”
What enables an artist to draw from life? Although I list it as
one skill, in fact it is a combination of various skills. It includes
proficiency in constructive drawing, the ability to judge distances and
proportions, an understanding of perspective, the capability to think
three-dimensionally, and others.
When drawing human figures from life, it also includes knowledge
of human anatomy and the proportions of the human head, face, and body. Some of
these skills are so important that I will spend extra time on them later.
In the Drawing Academy, you will learn how to draw live
portraits and figurative artwork, how to draw from nature, how to depict animals,
botanical objects, and architecture, and more! Although these video lessons
present the complete process from beginning to end, I encourage students not to
copy what they see but instead learn from what is presented and apply that new
knowledge to drawing from life and nature.
4. Drawing from memory and
imagination
I also know of other artists that can draw from life but
struggle when it comes to creating works of art from their memory and
imagination. At first, I was puzzled: how can someone who can draw from life
not draw a simple human figure without a model? The answer lies in their lack
of familiarity with constructive drawing, human anatomy, and drawing in
perspective. These artists can draw from life only by copying what they see,
without a real understanding of what lies beneath the model’s skin.
Proficient artists draw what they know. Learning the fundamental
rules, principles and techniques of drawing will help your ability to draw from
your memory and imagination, which you will find in the Drawing Academy
lessons.
5. Knowledge of art materials and
their skillful use
Know about art supplies and being able to get the most out of
them is definitely a skill a fine artist must have.
Have you ever seen a professional golfer who doesn’t know how to
hold a golf club? I haven’t. Why then are there so many artists who do not know
how to hold a pencil the correct way?
I find it strange that the number of art products constantly
expands while the quality of art goes down.
Have you ever bought art materials in the hope that it would be
the magic ingredient for creating a masterpiece? Was the artwork as good as you
envisioned?
Here’s the secret art manufacturers don’t want you to know: your
skills will make the artwork great, not art supplies.
Of course, it helps to have good pencils, paints, brushes, and
the like. But the magical ingredient is you and your skills. Invest in your art
education first.
6. Knowledge of the rules of
perspective
The rules of perspective are as old as art itself. To become a
masterful artist, you must master the rules of perspective.
In the Drawing Academy video lessons and bonuses, I offer
presentations on one-, two-, three-, and four-point perspective, as well as
explaining aerial perspective, perceptive perspective, and photo perspective.
Depicting three-dimensional reality on a flat surface is
impossible without distortion. Perspective helps to minimize such distortion
and deal with relative proportions and foreshortening, so objects and the
relationships between them look realistic.
7. Knowledge of golden proportions
It is fascinating to consider how everything in the world is
governed by the Golden Ratio. Golden proportions are present in nature, life,
and art. Knowing them enables you to draw not only realistic but also beautiful
artworks.
There are reasons why certain objects, faces, figures, and
pieces of art look beautiful. They all have golden proportions. If your aim is
to create art that is beautiful, well-balanced, and stylish, you have to know
the rules of golden proportions.
In the Drawing Academy, you will learn what those rules are and
how you can use Golden Proportions in your own art and compositions.
8. Composition skills
Composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements in a
work of art; literally, the word means “putting together.”
All artistic elements, such as lines, shapes, tone, form, depth,
color, texture and space, can be arranged in various ways. Visual arrangements
that follow the rules of composition, however, will look better.
In the Drawing Academy course, I offer rules and principles that
you can use to make well-composed works of art.
Some elements of composition which are essential to fine art
include:
·
Shapes and proportions
·
Orientation, balance, and harmony of visual elements
·
Contrast and tonal values
·
Rhythm and gamut
·
Perspective
·
Symmetry
·
Stylization
·
Visual focus
There are certain rules can be used to achieve a good
composition, including:
·
The rule of golden proportions
·
The rule of thirds
·
Rules of rabatment
·
Rules for guiding a viewer’s gaze
·
Rules of symmetry
·
And others
9. Knowledge of the proportions of
the human head, face, and body
It is impossible to create a skillful, figurative work of art
from life or memory without knowledge of the proportions of the human head and
figure.
Every great master knew and used these proportions, so if you
want to create better figurative art, you must learn them as well.
This topic is very important for fine artists; that is why in
every Drawing Academy video lesson dedicated to figurative drawing, you will
receive an in-depth and comprehensive explanation of the proportions of the
human body. These include the proportions of the human head and facial
features, as well as the proportions of the human figure.
10. Knowledge of human anatomy
Another important skill for figurative art is the knowledge of
human anatomy.
Drawing a portrait or human figure requires more than just
copying the exterior form. To make truly realistic figurative art, you need to
know what lies beneath the skin.
Don’t stress about learning this admittedly complicated subject.
You are an artist, not a doctor, so you don’t have to memorize the Latin names
of every bone, muscle, and organ in the human body or know all the workings of
their physiology. You do, however, need to know the structure of the major
bones and muscles that affect human body shape and influence its dynamics.
In the Drawing Academy, you will find comprehensive tutorials on
skeletal and muscular anatomy for artists. The Academy lessons present all you
need to know about human anatomy in a very friendly and easy-to-understand way.
11. Understanding and using the
techniques of rendering tonal value
The magic of portraying three-dimensional nature in a realistic
way happens when tonal values are depicted truthfully and skillfully.
There are right and wrong ways of rendering tonal values in
graphite pencil. Unfortunately, the majority of YouTube “Watch-Me-Draw”
presentations shows how not to do it. There are certain rules you need to know
to avoid such amateurish techniques as smudging graphite for blending, working
with a blunt pencil, relying of five different pencil grades, and rendering in
full strength from the start.
If you want to learn truly professional pencil hatching
techniques, you need to learn from experts. In the Drawing Academy, you will
find full explanation and demonstration of rendering techniques. You will learn
how to rely on your skills rather than depend upon on grayscale values or
combinations of pencil grades.
12. Color theory and techniques for
working with colors
In this presentation, I concentrate primarily on drawing skills.
Working in color, however, is an essential part of your art education.
Color theory and the skillful use of colors is necessary in
multicolored works.
Many great artists will say that a well-painted artwork is
well-drawn. Some put it in other words: “I draw with colors.”
Drawing is the foundation of all visual arts. To become a better
artist, you need to master the essential drawing skills listed above.
No comments:
Post a Comment