In this lesson, we learn to use the "digastric plane" of the under jaw to give our head drawing more structure and solid position in space.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, draw solid constructions of the head in various positions when seen from a lower eye line.
2023-09-20 14:42:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Drawing the Nose from underneath the head can be particularly difficult in not just construction. But in position and proportion.
We tackle all of that in this lesson.
2023-09-02 16:29:49 +0000 UTC View Post
In this continuation of understanding the nose in structure and in vaired perspectives, we rely heavily on the wonderful drawings of Piazzetta.
Suggested Homework:
Work on drawing the full wedge-like structure of the nose, well connected to the face.
In this training I show you how to draw all of the various structures of the nose, how they fit to together, integrate into the great landscape of the face, and how they can radically vary from person to person.
(And I apologize for the setting on the camera showing on screen. I forgot reset them as they needed to be)
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, sketch out the structures of the nose separately and together and don't forget to anchor to that all-importan...
2023-08-18 23:03:42 +0000 UTC View Post
In this Training, I give you the basic strategies for drawing a nose well placed on a face.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, after constructing a basic head, find the wedge between the eyebrows that ends the forehead and begins the nose.
Draw the big simple structures of the nose on various head positions. We want to really learn to see the nose's separate structures. But more importantly to begin with, we want a clear vision of how it attaches th...
2023-08-12 15:23:09 +0000 UTC View Post
In this lesson, I not only explain the challenges around drawing a beautiful nose, I explain the process of actually how we build skills and . . .
A couple ways to reduce the friction towards leveling up.
Suggested Homework:
Using the photo reference as well as the Hans Holbein portraits provided, practice sketching the nose in preparation for our later more detailed lessons.
But also just practice seeing with the eyes of an artist as opposed to lettin...
2023-07-28 15:14:50 +0000 UTC View Post
There's one secret weapon all world class performers in any skill have that most of us don't --
That's deep practice. In this very important training I share this surprisingly simple way to level up your level of craft.
Suggested Homework-
Using any of the reference pieces you want, pick any filter you want -- and try deep practicing on only that filter. Do that several times (even over several practice sessions) till you see some real improvement.
Most of the technically great craftsmen actually follow the same rendering process.
That is to render down shadows to a middle dark and lights to a middle light.
And then, as the add details they down the darks even darker and the lights even lighter.
Suggested Homework:
Give this technique a try on eyes or on anything else you care to. I've attached reference as usual to help.
2023-07-14 18:50:13 +0000 UTC View Post
In this training, we talk about how there are few artists in history who can approach Rockwell in conveying story and emotion just with the silhouette of a figure.
And on top of brilliant use of silhouette he his viewer in then further with those wonderful expressions of his.
Suggested Homework:
Study the Rockwells provided and trying sketching (through simple construction) by isolating just 1 to 3 of body parts at a time at first the character and emot...
2023-07-08 15:11:20 +0000 UTC View Post
In this lesson I explain how the complexity of the eyes can be simplified down to a series of positions for each part of whole eye area.
Specifically, stepping back the telltale features from eyebrow to eyeball and then back out to cheek.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided of heads in profile, draw all the critical features of the eye complex as simply as possible while carefully focusing on their positions as they step back and forw...
2023-07-08 14:48:50 +0000 UTC View Post
In this lesson, using a beautiful Nicoli Fechin charcoal portrait, I show you how to understand the biggest possible structure by way of both the step construction and symmetry of a ziggurat (step pyramid).
Suggested Homework-
On front or 3/4 viees, work out those major steps of nose back to eyes, eyes back to cheeks.
-- Also look for moments on each lid that lines up symmetrically off
&nb...
One of the toughest things to draw in all of nature is the eye.
So, as always, when in doubt, we simplify.
In this training, I show the simplest way I know to draw an eye without all the structural and anatomical challenges-- including the strengths and limitations in such an approach.
And then, we start gently teasing in a little bit of know-how based on careful observations.
Suggested homework:
Using the referen...
2023-06-09 16:00:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Just as critical to being able to draw each body part is the understanding of how it connects to all the others.
I this training we begin to uncover the many connections of the head and neck.
Suggested Homework:
Do a basic construction of the head from the reference provided and work out how fits and flows into the neck from various positions.
(Just a heads up -- We had a rain and hailstorm during a good chunk of the stream. So the sound isn't great in those parts.)
In this one, I explain how to get control of the proportion issues associated with deep perspective.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, sketch the deep perspectives shown paying careful attention to proportion and the positions of the features as they correspond to the construction lines
...
2023-05-26 21:33:30 +0000 UTC View Post
In this training, I explain how important (using the LTL idea) the "third side" is to creating real volume in the head of in any structure at all.
I also give you a very useful way to practice craft to build towards mastery.
In a nutshell, I show you how to approach a drawing as part of a process of discovery where each new drawing tries to improve on the last with the addition of "one new thing".
Suggested Homework:
In this training, we continue developing our understanding the greater structures of the lower part of the face.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, practice working off the zigzagging corner around the eye socket and continue it down to the chin.
Pay careful attention to how the tones tend to track that ever-evolving corner or other more subtle ones.
Have fun!
Steve
In this training, I talk about the relationship of the forehead, cheekbones, Jaw and Chin and how they create a Zigzagging corner separating the front plane of the face and skull from the side plane.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided practice finding the head's zigzagging corner along with the variations explained in the training as you move from cheekbone to jaw or chin.
2023-05-05 16:17:37 +0000 UTC View Post
If we can have a basic understanding of how creative thinking happens and very simple ways to tap into that, we never have to worry about that frustrating plateaus that stall our growth.
In other words, we never have to be a slave to the limitations of whatever how-to methods we've put ourselves in service of.
Instead, we can create an almost limitless number of possibilities for what we can do in our practice and through those methods.
Having the right...
2023-05-01 14:59:13 +0000 UTC View Post
The understanding of the structure of any body part is not complete unless you have a strategy for how fits and flows into the next.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference provided, Find the rhythms as I described them in the lesson to tie the forehead, temple and cheekbones to each other, and even back to the earn and down the jaw if you can.
Have Fun!
Steve
2023-04-22 17:13:39 +0000 UTC View Post
There’s a lot of answers to that, of course?
But one of the wisest ways I know is to realize that areas of energy only feels energetic if they sit in relationship to areas of quiet.
Learn to bring in those quiet moments to give the space for the energy to do its thing.
And by the way, as is so often true…
As in Art, so in Life.
Take the time to look to your own personal energy. Are your actions and your emotions in or out of balance with those mu...
Here I take you through how to add in the secondary forms of the Upper Face and Skull to lay the ground work of those all-important features.
Suggested Homework:
Use the reference provided to find that Temple structure in relation to the Brow, Eye Socket, and back of the Skull.
Have fun!
Steve
2023-04-14 17:19:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATREON IS HAVING TECHNICAL ISSUES WITH SHOWING THUMBNAILS- We'll fix it as soon as possible]
Symmetry often is seen as health and beauty. While Asymmetry can show us drama and relief from boredom.
In this training, I show you how and why to pay attention to both.
Suggested Homework:
From the reference provided, construct some heads using various aspects of asymmetry and asymmetry to achieve the most dramatic and yet, most beautiful placement of featu...
2023-04-13 14:01:47 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATREON IS HAVING TECHNICAL ISSUES WITH SHOWING THUMBNAILS- We'll fix it as soon as possible]
In this one, I talk about how to study an artwork that inspires you. The most productive way I know is to look at it with just one craft, aesthetic, whatever, idea at a time.
How, in this case, is Sargent using proportion from subtle color to subtle color? Is there a strategy behind it? Can I use that in my own work?
Suggested Homework:
Start with ...
2023-04-13 01:31:19 +0000 UTC View Post
As we study the aging face, we dig into the 3 most common and useful Drapery Folds: Diaper, Interlock, and Zigzag.
Suggested Homework:
Practice finding our 3 fold structures in the reference portfolio below.
Have fun!
I explain how the rules of drapery apply perfectly to aging skin as we explore heads drawings from slightly different point of view.
Suggested Homework:
Using the reference portfolio provided below, Sketch out the Construciton of the Head and then add in, one by one, the aging effect (the skin as loose drapery) and start to refine your eye to how each line can add another year.
As a bonus exercise:
Try aging a youthful face using the same strateg...
2023-03-24 19:06:06 +0000 UTC View Post
In this training, we learn that to move convincingly from Big Simple Structures to the Smaller Complex ones, we must learn to track the Big Simple Value Patterns.
Suggested Homework:
Do basic construction models of heads using the reference portfolio provided below. Sometimes, draw them in boxier design, sometime draw them in an egg-like design.
Then practice placing basic values and value gradation to describe -- not the details of the features -- but the Big Simple Structu...
2023-03-24 18:42:50 +0000 UTC View Post
We continue to carefully explore the head in perspective and the characteristics that make it seem to sit just so in our drawings.
And the key and simplest marker in doing this is the ear and where we place it.
Suggested Homework:
Create very simple constructions of heads using the portfolio of images provided and practice several times for each image the placement of the ear.
Have fun!
2023-03-24 18:38:47 +0000 UTC View Post
In this training, I show you how to use LTL in ever more useful ways and what to do when we are missing the LTL Construction Lines.
Suggested Homework:
Practice you LTL Constructions, paying particular attention to micro adjusting each "L" and "T" to get it just "right" or "true" as you see it. And look for opportunities to correct reference that does not ring true.
This trains you eye and begin to build your own personal choice, paying great dividends down the road.
A...
2023-03-24 18:23:33 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the most difficult problems in drawing a head is to make it look three dimensional in any position close to a profile.
Being able to draw the eye socket as a grand corner between the front of the face and the side of the head is a critical step towards overcoming that problem.
Suggested Homework:
Using the portfolio of images provided, map out the eye socket to find the zigzagging corners of the Forehead and Cheekbones areas.
Building off the "LTL" strategies learned in Part 6, I draw out a process to go from a simple, big, two-dimensional construction of the head to mapping out it's primary corner by way of the Eye Socket.
Suggested Homework:
Working from imagination or the reference portfolio provided, construct the head in profile, especially focusing on find the Eye Socket/Whistle Notch and it's relationship to the ear.