Rembrandt Reproduction on Mylar (Update)

Here's another progress shot. I've gotten more done since then but the battery in my camera just died, so I'll post more tomorrow. 

Photos vs. Life

I just checked the comment on my Rembrandt copy and thought I need to talk about this. I think there will always be this debate about using photo references vs. working from life. I'm not going to try to tell people what's right or wrong about all of this, I going to tell you my view on it. 

Let me start by how I learned how to draw. Of course like most kids, I was always drawing something on my spare time either from life or my imagination, but in high school I learned how to create more realistic images by using photos and the grid method. But that's not all there was, we also did still-lifes and portraits from life because I was lucky enough to have a teacher that believed in that. I became very good at doing photo-based stuff, and it was easier than drawing from life, but only because at the time, I had done that more than stuff from life. That was until 2004 when I started (and I'm sorry if this is repetitive) going to an atelier and learning a strong method of drawing from life, like the masters. At that point I immediately became more interested in drawing from life simply because it became easier for me, and it was always more inspiring. So the majority of my work since then is from life and to be honest it's hard to go back to photos. Mind you, photos are sometimes necessary when you need to capture something not possible from life. But other than that, I often get bored from using photo references these days--I'm too restless for that now. 

Back to the atelier, we do start by doing Bargue drawing copies, which are from a book. So you can learn from 2D sources but those were designed to teach you how to see when drawing from life. Once you've learned how to draw from life in the classical way, you can draw from photos without a grid and make it look like it's from life if you want. But you also learn that most photos are not a great representation of life in terms of light and shadow and you can take that into account. The bottom line for me is I love drawing/painting from life and that's what I'd rather do, but for the odd time I really need a photo, I know how to use one properly. Thanks for the comment Panos!

Rembrandt Reproduction on Mylar

In my quest to become more proficient on mylar, I'm tackling a Rembrandt. He's the perfect choice because well...it's Rembrandt! And the impasto and painterly qualities lend themselves to mylar very well. I started out by putting down a layer of conté and then gradually erasing out of it. Above is the progress shot, I'll post updates as I go. 

The Resurgence of Classical Realism

For years there has been talk about classical art making a comeback. When modernism was the big thing in the 1950's/60's, it was the norm to destroy classical busts in schools and reduce teaching of figurative art. Although those actions would be a bit extreme today, it is still difficult for artists seeking a traditional art foundation to find what they're looking for, but it is starting to get better. 

Back in 2004 I was loosing my mind because of the lack of traditional drawing skills being taught in my foundation year at university and I thought it would never get better. Every time I'd take out a knitting needle to measure proportions it was either, "You need to loosen up." or, "What the hell is that?" I even had one instructor tell me that I was going to poke someone's eye out with it! Anyway, things did get better as I was able to choose classes that were figure based as opposed to more existential, post-modernism based classes. I'm starting to realize that there's more hope for students like me. 

Today the traditional art scene is getting bigger and bigger. Artists like Jacob Collins, Juliette Aristides, Jeremy Lipking, Anthony Ryder and Sean Cheetham (to name a few) are very popular in the contemporary art world.  I believe part of the reason is because a lot of these artists have instructional books out, which is great because there's no shortage of students looking for traditional "how-to" books. And another reason is (even though their technique is traditional) their subject matter and compositions are more contemporary. They're not just doing the commissioned portraits for doctors and lawyers, they're really taking on more relevant subjects. 

As the number of successful classical realists increases, there seems to be more ateliers opening up (at least in North America), and schools like the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art and the New York Academy of Art are getting more popular. The atelier model is more sought after. For those who don't know, an atelier (French for "artists' studio) is where you would go to learn classical realism by first doing master copies, then life drawing, cast drawing, cast painting, still-life, and figure painting--all under the watchful eyes of the head instructor and assistant instructors. One of the big problems though is most ateliers are private businesses and therefore not eligible for student loan programs. That makes it difficult for a lot of students but hopefully as more of these schools open up, there will be more grants and loans available. 

Looks like making classical realist art isn't as far off an idea as it used to be.  

Getting Antsy

Ever since the school year finished I've been feeling really anxious to get working again. You get used to drawing/painting the figure every week and then it just stops. 

It's a good thing there's alumni figure drawing sessions. I plan on taking advantage of those sessions to get more work done, especially for New York. It's funny because I was drawing for 8 months during the school year yet I would probably only show 4-5 drawings out of that whole time. That's because a lot of the time, we'd be doing gesture drawings (2 mins to 10 mins each) and I'm not really good at that yet. So I'm hoping this summer I'll get some good gestures in my portfolio as well as a couple of sustained poses. 

Henry Yan

Thanks to a fellow artist on Artpapa.com, I found out about Henry Yan, and thank goodness I did. You can check out his website here. 

I've been trying to find ways to loosen up lately and Yan's method is one I definitely need to try. So far my attempts at drawing on mylar have helped but Yan's method will take me farther. I've always loved a more painterly style of drawing and painting (J.S. Sargent has a big influence on me). I plan on stepping up my figure work this year because I really feel like I've been holding back. 

Good thing Yan put a book together for those of us not lucky enough to take a class with him. It won't be the same but at least it's something. It's available on Amazon for about 30 bucks, not bad. I tried to find it locally (to see if I could do a quick flip through) but no luck yet. I'll let you know when I get it!