stephenbaumanartwork

Sculpting the Skull, It's a Wrap👌

This final video brings the skull project to a close. It’s a quick walkthrough of the last refinements—checking symmetry, sharpening planes, and pulling the whole form together. Nothing new here, just a way to see the piece resolved and to remind you how the process looks when it all comes together.

Now that the skull is finished, we can start layering on what really makes the head look human—muscles and fat. Muscles give us movement, expression, and tension. Fat fills things out,...

Block-In Bootcamp 2.0: A Monthly Drawing Challenge

Starting in October, Block-In Bootcamp will run as a monthly challenge. Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: A New Project Each Month
  At the beginning of the month, you’ll get access to a new 90-minute drawing video and source image. I’ll walk you through a complete block-in project from start to finish.

• Step 2: Take on the Challenge
  Your job is to create the same drawing project. Everyone works on the same assignment, which m...

  2025-08-29 09:50:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Studio Log #3, Joy & Drawing

The question of subject matter can feel overwhelming because the world is filled to the brim with suggestive input (cue video clip of social-media-feed-doom-scroll). Everywhere there is something that could be drawn- but the truth is that not all of it matters equally to you. The key is to notice what actually stops you—what makes you look longer than you expected. That is the distinct signal that cuts through the noise.

Making is always tied to sharing. We don’t just enjoy a thing ...

Block In Bootcamp, Sargent Master Study II

Group critique: https://youtu.be/MUDcWw5prPg

This month we will be following up on last month’s John Singer Sargent portrait drawing study with a second attempt. Crucially this one will included a dark background that lends more depth and realism when compared to the more graphic sketch in the first lesson. So, get ready for some serious edge control 💪

Idio Pod X, with Nicolas Uribe 🚀

What can I say about this guy? He's fun, he's funny, he's a wicked good artist.

Any chance I get to chat with him it's worth a go- Michael and I gave his portrait our best shot.

Hope you enjoy 🤘

Heavy Metal, The Final Project Pt. 2 🎯

Developing a drawing in this style has to mean that we expand the possible outcomes instead of narrowing them down. After all, creativity thrives on options.

In this lesson, we're going to put down the source image, look away from the model, and at least in part- work from emotion. Just to be clear, that means our fundamentals and measurements are going to be super solid too. But we're gonna make a lot of room for what we're feeling as well 🤘

Block In Bootcamp, Sargent Master Study

Group critique: https://youtu.be/TG3NwWDr2t8

Lesson goes LIVE: Saturday July 12th @4pm Oslo time

For years, I resisted studying John Singer Sergeant's charcoal drawings. In an atelier environment dominated by precision and drawing at a snails pace, they seemed frivolous and difficult to follow.

Fast forward to today and I understand that they have just as clear a methodology and philosophy as any other styl...

Rome Workshop, Aug. 22-24

This August, I’m teaching a three-day drawing workshop in an unexpected location: a studio literally just steps from the Roman Forum. The Colosseum is literally down the street. If you throw a pencil hard enough (please don’t), it will land in a pile of ruins.

What to Expect:
We’ll be working on composition, structure, and developing drawings that hold power and clarity — all in a place soaked in 2,000 years of history. Think heavy metal drawing meets ancient...

Heavy Metal, The Final Project 🎯

Here is a concept that is hard to understand: preparing rigorously for a performance is not done in a effort to control all the variables completely or to ensure success.

We do it so that when the time comes to improvise and take chances we never loose sight of our north star.

In this lesson, we're going to start out as we need to finish. With intensity and creativity. With emotion and precision in equal measure.

Idio Pod IX, with Steve Forster

What can I say? Steve Forster is literally my best friend in the world. He is a brilliant painter and has been for ages. However, even more than that I value the diversity of his experience in his education and growth as an artist, I value this more: he hasn't done anything the easy way.

Its a great convo with a cool guy and I think that Michael and I even manage a decent portrait of him 👌

Block In Bootcamp, Heavy Metal Block-Ins

Group critique: https://youtu.be/FFgmut0VKlo

This sounds crazy, but hear me out… style is not the cherry on top of the cake, it's the seed that a drawing grows from.

With that in mind this month's lesson is about the block in style that I think dovetails best if the desired outcome in the drawing is a bold and expressive one as we find in my heavy metal series.

All the materials will be the same as our no...

Studio Log #2, Risk Positivity

So, Heavy Metal Portrait Drawing in Rome wrapped up last week and it was wicked/rad 🤘

Something very important occurred to me while teaching this course and that will be this month studio log entry:

Risk positivity is essential for sustaining a long-term, meaningful art practice—not because risk guarantees success, but because it fuels inspiration. Simply learning to draw can produce competence, but not vision. The deeper work of the artist—and the educator guiding them—...

Heavy Metal Thumbnail Drawing 👍⚡️

Let's be crystal clear about this from the start, creativity is hard to pull off.

I don't mean that you're innate self or vision are somehow a problem to be solved, or that we need to fit ourselves into some very uncomfortable shape in order to truly be creative.

I mean, explicitly that expressing your vision, taking the picture you see out of your head and manifesting it on paper in a way that shows what you feel is an incredible challenge.

To help us do this in the best wa...

Idio Podcast VIII, Ivan Loginov

Great convo with a good friend and a solid Draftsman. It's got all the things that you would want and expect, even a decent explanation about the variety of styles of painting and drawing that emerge from Russian academies.

Oh, I almost forgot- this is the first episode in which I am painting instead of drawing!

I'm using titanium white and warm sepia.

Block In Bootcamp, Blocking In Color

Group Critique: https://youtu.be/dPeePuHiuU8

Behind any solid improvisation, there’s always some kind of structure holding it up—something that makes sure that the performance doesn't run off the rails.

In the last lesson, we blocked in values with that in mind: working quickly, simply, and with a clear sense of shape and proportion. This time we’re doing the same thing with color. We’ll keep the palette ...

Idio Podcast VII - with Sculptor, Eudald de Juana

Eudald has been a source of inspiration for me since around 2011.

When I draw, I enjoy building form—but I also like breaking it apart. It might sound strange, but there’s something powerful about letting chaos into the process. It creates a situation I have to react to, one that wouldn’t have come up if I’d stayed in control the whole time. These moments force decisions that feel very alive and unpredictable. Exciting.

That’s what I see in Eudald’s work. Realism, yes,...

Features In Focus, The Ear

Is it possible to get away with a well-drawn portrait that has a badly drawn ear? Sure—sometimes. But why would you want to?

The ear is one of the most complex and interesting forms in the head. Its shapes are specific, sculptural, and often surprisingly beautiful. Learning a bit about its structure will go a long way toward drawing it more confidently—and making your whole portrait feel more solid.

Materials you will need:

• Graphite pencils

• Sketchb...

  2025-04-30 23:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Studio Log #1 (working title)

A feeling and an experience are not the same; your drawing’s progress and your emotional response to it expose this split. Feelings, while rich and immediate, often veil clear judgment, and when they dominate, they can blur your ability to perceive your actual work. On the other hand, experience—the slow accumulation of decisions, revisions, and marks left behind—endures beyond fleeting moods, offering a more stable reflection of your efforts. As an artist, you must learn to stand insid...

Block In Bootcamp, Blocking In Values

Group Critique: https://youtu.be/q5p1gZSNQEg

Each layer of a painting is like a block in. It introduces a new kind of information, ideally in the simplest way possible.

Following on from last month's Boot Camp, we're going to add to our monochromatic underpainting a map of well understood values using our underpainting colour and white.

To paint along with this month's lesson, you will need to have complete...

Idio Pod VI, with Mario Robinson

I’ve known Mario for what feels like forever, and in all that time, he has remained one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve encountered in the art world. In an industry that can often be competitive or ego-driven, Mario brings a rare combination of humility, insight, and unwavering generosity. Long before I ever picked up a pencil with intention, his work was already gracing the pages of major art publications and hanging in respected galleries. His longevity isn’t just a produc...

How Do Value Studies Work??

Seeing values and documenting them correctly in your painting is a technique. There are concrete steps to follow that lead to a good result. Does it have to be practised? For sure. But so does riding a bike, hitting a baseball, or swimming. You've probably gotten good at one or all of those things in your life so far, so you probably shouldn't consider this any different.

This is a compressed and illustrated lesson- if you want tot watch the full livestream you can find it on 2025-04-08 08:32:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Heavy Metal Spheres 🤘

In drawing and painting a sphere represents a perfect laboratory environment in which to explore the possibilities of style, materials, concepts, really anything that you need to work out in a practical sense as a visual artist.

In this lesson, we are drawing a sphere with the intent of determining exactly how far and how much we need to change what we see to embody Grebennikov's unique style.

The materials will need for this lesson as I described in the first part of the video ar...

Idio Podcast V - with Daniela Astone

This is a really special episode of the podcast. I've known Daniela Astone or about 15 years. In that time she has always represented to me the true spirit of creativity and painting. Though she studied and taught for a long time, her artistic expression has always seemed to me that kind of force of nature.

This conversation covers so many things, but the parts that resonated most for me were her journey into symbolism and as she puts it "the crisis of the 40s."

I've included a co...

Burnout, anxiety, and reconnection

You know, I've made hundreds of videos for YouTube and Patreon over the years. I'm not really shy about being in front of the camera, never have been.

This video on the other hand, makes me feel rather exposed. I don't think it's because of the content itself, rather that it's me really trying to tell a story. Admittedly it's just telling a story on YouTube and the barrier of entry there is not particularly high, but I am giving it a shot. 

My sincere hope for this story is t...

Bootcamp Lesson ARCHIVE

This is a categorical list of the previous block and Boot Camp sessions. Please enjoy perusing, watching, and working along with them 💫

This archive will always be here, and will grow overtime, while the primary lessons on Patreon will be optimised for linear practice and accessibility.

Since these videos will be streamed through the Vimeo platform, there may be some hiccups regarding the links working properly. If you have an issue, please just put it in the comments below and...

Idio Podcast IV - with Sean Cheetham

Sean is genuinely one of the coolest guys I know. Can he make chess pieces using a metal lathe? Of course. Is he a full-time professional artist who also spends time in his home foundry making giant knives, definitely. Does he have one of the best cranial structures in the entire western art scene? Obviously.

In this episode, Sean, Michael and I talk about how Sean is a part-time contrarian, and how exactly he has had several types of full on artist/artisan careers.

Block In Bootcamp, Monochromatic Underpainting

Lesson goes LIVE: March 15th at 5pm Oslo time 💫

In the session we're gonna go through a categorical step-by-step monochromatic underpainting. As I see it this is the perfect way to start a Portrait if you need to generate a positive outcome. By that I mean if it's a commission, if it matters that you get the likeness spot on, if it needs to turn out right- monochromatic underpainting is the way to go.

To do this, you're going to need just a few materials. I suggest an acrylic p...

The Female Model Pack

2,500 high resolution source images of various women in different lighting conditions. This pack was designed especially with the portrait artist in mind. This pack is TOTALLY FREE TO ALL SUBSCRIBING PATRONS ❤️‍?