stephenbaumanartwork

Advice About Speeding Up Your Drawing Process

...and a speed sketching demo.

If you are looking for a few tips about how to streamline your practice process this video will give you a few guidelines for starting that journey.

Don't forget- Block In Bootcamp lesson goes live TOMORROW, June 18th at 4pm Oslo time. If you want to make sure you get the practice that will make sure you get better at portrait drawing there isn't a better place to be. See you there.

And if you...

Cast Painting, Part 3.1, Real Time

The stunning conclusion to this direct and intense section of the lesson. 

All thats left is to consider the glazes and scumbles we will tackle in part 4.

Cast Painting, Part 3, Real Time

This 1st part of the real time edition takes you to the half way point of the painting showing you every step and insight in the process. And it's loooooooooooong. About 3 hours.

Side note- I am having some trouble with video thumbnails showing up in email notifications and posts. If you click the play button or "watch now" it will show up.

Cast Painting, Part 3, Refined Edition

This section of the lesson is HUGE. The real time edition is like 6 hours long. The refined edition takes you through the process of painting the entire cast, top to bottom in 1 session!

There is also a new, more descriptive thumbnail for the video as well. Hope you like it.

How to handle ART COMMISSIONS like a PRO

Been wanting to make this vid for a long time. One of the hardest challenges you face starting out as a pro is handling the business side of a portrait commission- and the artistic side for that matter! Here then is my best advice to those of you thinking of taking the plunge.

I have also attached 3 important documents: 

• My commission "contract," (may not be legally binding but has always served me very well). 
• My invoice template- great when you need to m...
  2022-05-28 10:55:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Block In Bootcamp, Lesson #2, Structural Style

UPDATE: This video is the introduction to the structural style taken directly from The Block In Course. It is rigorously edited for clarity and many diagrams have been added to express the concepts with a crystalline clarity. 

In this lesson we are going to practice a more structural (non-visual) style of block in. The focus will be on simplification of the planes and constructing a wireframe of the head. It's going to be a fun and challenging appr...

How To Stretch Your Oil Paper

Hello Everyone! A couple of quick things:

1. Next Bootcamp lesson is coming up on the 22nd. We are getting into the structural style of block in. The last 2 lessons are still available to work along with. If you want to get in on the action, go here.

2. Coming up ne...

What I Do When I Feel Stuck As An Artist

At some point we are all going to experience some kind of art block. 

Being a professional or a student the answer can never be: "I will just wait until I am inspired again."   

In this video I will tell you what I do when my art making process is stuck in a rut.  

Btw- Block In Bootcamp is on today (May 7th @4pm Oslo time) on Patreon. The live lesson will be available to watch after it is completed as well, but only for 1 month. Then it's gone FOREVER. 2022-05-07 11:28:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Cast Painting, Part 2, Underpainting, Refined Edition

All the best bits in half the time- here is the refined edition!

Cast Painting, Part 2, Underpainting, Real Time

In all the excitement about the Bootcamp Tier it's easy to forget about the cast painting project that we have going on...

Don't sleep on this technique! 

If you practice and master the underpainting stage I promise that you will successfully complete way more of your paintings. It is the bedrock of a free and easy finishing session.

Block In Bootcamp, Session #1

In the long run we are going to cycle through several different styles of block in. Each one has it's strengths and weaknesses, rules and concepts, etc... 

This 1st stream will focus on the visual approach that I learned and taught at the academy during my time there. 

Its primary strength is that it will engage both kinds of observation that we are capable of quite immediately. 

Lady Agnew, Group Critique #2

There are a few things about color and value that always need adjustment at the end of a project. 

How figure drawing can make you a better artist

This video is made in support of a course that I am working hard to get off the ground- but it's FAR from ready.

Eventually it will be available on my personal website.

In other news- we have hit the 60 subscriber mark for the Block In Bootcamp Tier! This means that for this month I will do a 2nd bonus livestream!! I will message all subs directly about times and then make a...

Bonus Special Offer: Lesson Notes!!

These notes are compiled from the almost 3 hours of video content I recorded for this lesson. 

This synopsis will provide some clarification and enable you to reference individual sections of this lesson much more efficiently.

Download link is at the bottom of this post.

Here is a link to the lesson itself: https://www.patreon.com/posts/drawing-part-1-44722628

By the way,...

Cast Painting, Part 1, Transfer Drawing, Real Time

In this real time lesson we are going to go through every mark and every decision in the process of making a proper transfer drawing. Run time is about 3 hours and 40 mins.

Cast painting is the lesson that marks the transition from a students education in drawing to the beginning of their painting career.

In part 1 you are going to learn about transfer drawing. A preparatory stage from which you will gain some knowledge about the structure of your subject while establishing the pa...

Cast Painting, Part 1, Transfer Drawing, Refined Editionn

Cast painting is the lesson that marks the transition from a students education in drawing to the beginning of their painting career.

In part 1 you are going to learn about transfer drawing. A preparatory stage from which you will gain some knowledge about the structure of your subject while establishing the parameters of your underpainting block in.

Model Pack, 2022-04-01 10:08:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Block In Boot Camp, OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTION

UPDATE: 

• Subscription is open as of Friday April 1st, 2022 10:30 Oslo time
• Materials list and more info coming soon
• 1st session will go live on April 30th at 4pm Oslo time

Theres A LOT of info here so please stick with me- I promise it's worth it.

Do you consistently have trouble with proportions?

Are you unsure of how to make the best start to your drawing?

Loo...

March News & Updates

Hello! Spring is about to happen! This is of particular importance to us here in Norway.

Here is whats happening on my Patreon right now:

> Sargent Master Study final critique is coming up. Please post your FINISHED studies on the community page by April 1st to be considered for inclusion in the critique vid.

> N...

What Do You Get Out Of Block In Practice?

Among drawing instructors it is commonly understood that a drawing won’t really get any better than the block in allows- no matter how beautifully rendered.

Because of this the longest standing project for students at the academy where I worked were short pencil drawings that focused exclusively on the 1st stage of a drawing.

Ever wonder how atelier students get so good at proportion? They would practice making these drawings for 4 years!

More info coming ...

Studying with Sargent, Part 3, Real Time

In this lesson we will pass through the final stage of the painting- a treacherous territory. 

This 4 hour video covers every mark I made in this final layer of the painting- and commentary the whole way through. 

I hope you will enjoy/be-challenged-by working along with me.

Studying with Sargent, Part 3, Refined Edition

Part 3 finally! Lets wrap this project up the right way- with well organised opaque brushstrokes and fresh color values.

A couple of unrelated things you should also know: 

There is an ongoing bug related to the use of my navigation site and Patreon on mobile devices. It involves the "handoff" between the web browser and the Patreon app. Basically the Patreon app pulls up a post with no video available where it should be. I don't know how many of you are experiencing this pro...

Bonus Special Offer: Lesson Notes!

So, what's this lesson notes thing all about???

Well, video content can be dense- even the refined editions of my lessons can be up to an hour long!

I wanted to create an easily scannable reference document to go along with each of my video lessons- and this is the 1st result of that effort.

It is my sincere hope that this document will not only serve as an appendix to the lesson but also another way to convey it's message- after all we all learn differently!

The downl...

Help me shape my courses to fit your interests!

Thank you all so much for al of your time and thoughtful input. The survey is closed as of 29 March, 2022.

SBA Planes of the Head

I know that when seeing this model it would be impossible to know how much effort and time went into making it what it is. I worked with 2 different digital sculptors on and off for about 12 months to get the result I was looking for. Countless drafts and revisions. The labor was super fun and engaging- and I am pretty sure that there is at least 1 more draft coming.

So, I am happy to present you with my planes of the head model, version 1.0

Eventually there will be a physical ver...

The Atelier Tier, St. Andrew, Group Crit

It's finally here! Our life with our new puppy has settled down a bit and I've had some time to produce videos again.

January News & Updates

So, what isn't happening this month?

I mostly want to tell you about the lessons that are coming up but theres some other stuff as well.

1. My planes of the head model is coming close to being finished. Once it's done I will eventually I will make it available to purchase but thats a little ways away. If you have any opinions or suggestions about the head I am all ears:

2022-01-18 09:52:04 +0000 UTC View Post

The Atelier Tier, Color Sphere Painting

Here is the whole lesson- what you really need to get going on this is a well mixed set of color-values and your intentions set on painting clearly each color as you proceed through the phases of form. Keep your smudging to a minimum!

By the way: Vimeo, my video hosting platform, has lately had some issues displaying videos across various devices (particularly ipads). If there is some trouble seeing thew video let me know in the comments and I will do what I can to fix it. Otherwise a l...

The Atelier Tier, Color Sphere Painting, Refined Edition

This is the refined edition of the (flesh) color sphere painting lesson. All of the important bits in less than half the time.

By the way: Vimeo, my video hosting platform, has lately had some issues displaying videos across various devices (particularly ipads). If there is some trouble seeing thew video let me know in the comments and I will do what I can to fix it. Otherwise a laptop/desktop is the optimal device to view this on.

The Atelier Tier, Color Mixing

This is a lesson that will prepare you for your (flesh) color sphere painting project. Super important stuff- Color mixing is a whole different ball game (yes, that is a sphere pun).

Full disclosure, these colors are mixed for a caucasian skin type- the same system can be adapted to all skin tones that I have encountered. Time permitting one day I would like to produce a video that explores this topic further.

By the way: Vimeo, my video hosting platform, has lately had s...

Web Address for Navigation Site Has Changed (updated)

UPDATE: The official web address for my navigation site has now been changed! 

There is a URL forward currently in place so even if you type in the old address it will take you to the new one.

Go there and bookmark it now:

SBAnavigation.com 

Everything else will stay the same- finding all the lessons in the easiest way possible will continue uninterrupted.

The reason for...