07-18-2015, 01:46 AM
Now I'll give an approach to learning that will differ from what is done here on the forum and done by most digital artists. Consider this an alternative method of learning. It's based on traditional ateliers and it's something that is done by several artists in the entertainment industry, just not as spoken about as self teaching.
We hear artists talking about fundamentals and we can find a lot of info about how to study fundamentals. That's great. We also hear about artists studying classical art or the works of old masters but there's not a lot of in-depth information about this on forums.
I don't think anyone will argue that a person can move from traditional realism to concept art and illustration. Watts Atelier, the Stockholm atelier, FAA, Angel Academy, all these places produce realists that then use their skills in the entertainment industry. The big problem is that this kind of learning is often difficult to receive outside of these schools.
Now I'm not going to try and argue that this is in any way superior than studying at a good design school or self teaching with the right resources. I would however argue that this is a path not a lot of us consider.
If you admire artists like John J. Park or Feng Zhu, the design based education may be for you. If you want to paint like Krøyer or Repin, then you might like the atelier process. Now you have a lot of bleed-over where artists from ateliers move into design and artists from design schools move to more traditional style work. These are different paths that can take you to the same end.
Also, this is important, nothing says you can't do a bit of both. If you're in a design school or self teaching, you can still read up on the traditional atelier process and apply it to your work. As a future atelier student, I know that I will still self teach and read up on how to study design for the entertainment industry during my free time.
So all that out of the way, this is what I suggest some try out. I've done this and I will re-do this in more depth when I start the atelier. This is the process most ateliers teach so I'm mostly just reiterating what I've learned from reading about this and talking to students.
Bargue copies. Maybe you've heard of them. Copies atelier students make that take several days or even weeks. I didn't think much of them at first but having done a few, I've found them very valuable. They re-set a lot of what I've learned in drawing/painting digitally and it has taught me the importance of accurate drawing. Do some research, learn how to sight size and do a few. Try to take it seriously and work on the same drawing for hours upon hours, making sure everything is perfect. You won't have a teacher helping you but getting used to being accurate will help a self taught student.
Cast drawings. When you've had experience being accurate in your drawings, both line and tone, it's time to learn how to translate a 3 dimensional form into a drawing. Using the process and approach of what you learned in your Bargue drawings, you setup a place to do a cast drawing using the sight size method. You can check out the cheap book "Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach" to learn how to do this.
While doing these first few steps in the atelier process, you always apply what you learn to the figure. What most places do is to spend the first part of the day on this and the second part applying the same process to long pose figure drawings. Anatomy and gesture is studied on the side but you primarily us the sight size method and do long pose drawings.
Now there is a reason why things are taught this way. When you've learned how to be very very accurate in your drawings (line and tone) and you've learned how to translate 3D form into a 2D surface, you have a foundation for drawing. You can now go out and draw basically anything. You've applied what you've learned to the figure and now you can apply it to landscape drawing or anything from life.
This doesn't teach you how to draw from imagination but I believe that learning how to draw from life accurately first, gives you a much easier time learning to draw from imagination. Doing this, you learn how to see and you can better analyse things visually. Your studies will look better and be more accurate, leading to you actually learning more.
I am sure there are exceptions but maybe this makes sense to some of you. You basically learn drawing before you separate things into different subjects. There's one subject first and as you go forward, you can study things individually and learn the unique aspects of something like landscape drawing.
We hear artists talking about fundamentals and we can find a lot of info about how to study fundamentals. That's great. We also hear about artists studying classical art or the works of old masters but there's not a lot of in-depth information about this on forums.
I don't think anyone will argue that a person can move from traditional realism to concept art and illustration. Watts Atelier, the Stockholm atelier, FAA, Angel Academy, all these places produce realists that then use their skills in the entertainment industry. The big problem is that this kind of learning is often difficult to receive outside of these schools.
Now I'm not going to try and argue that this is in any way superior than studying at a good design school or self teaching with the right resources. I would however argue that this is a path not a lot of us consider.
If you admire artists like John J. Park or Feng Zhu, the design based education may be for you. If you want to paint like Krøyer or Repin, then you might like the atelier process. Now you have a lot of bleed-over where artists from ateliers move into design and artists from design schools move to more traditional style work. These are different paths that can take you to the same end.
Also, this is important, nothing says you can't do a bit of both. If you're in a design school or self teaching, you can still read up on the traditional atelier process and apply it to your work. As a future atelier student, I know that I will still self teach and read up on how to study design for the entertainment industry during my free time.
So all that out of the way, this is what I suggest some try out. I've done this and I will re-do this in more depth when I start the atelier. This is the process most ateliers teach so I'm mostly just reiterating what I've learned from reading about this and talking to students.
Bargue copies. Maybe you've heard of them. Copies atelier students make that take several days or even weeks. I didn't think much of them at first but having done a few, I've found them very valuable. They re-set a lot of what I've learned in drawing/painting digitally and it has taught me the importance of accurate drawing. Do some research, learn how to sight size and do a few. Try to take it seriously and work on the same drawing for hours upon hours, making sure everything is perfect. You won't have a teacher helping you but getting used to being accurate will help a self taught student.
Cast drawings. When you've had experience being accurate in your drawings, both line and tone, it's time to learn how to translate a 3 dimensional form into a drawing. Using the process and approach of what you learned in your Bargue drawings, you setup a place to do a cast drawing using the sight size method. You can check out the cheap book "Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach" to learn how to do this.
While doing these first few steps in the atelier process, you always apply what you learn to the figure. What most places do is to spend the first part of the day on this and the second part applying the same process to long pose figure drawings. Anatomy and gesture is studied on the side but you primarily us the sight size method and do long pose drawings.
Now there is a reason why things are taught this way. When you've learned how to be very very accurate in your drawings (line and tone) and you've learned how to translate 3D form into a 2D surface, you have a foundation for drawing. You can now go out and draw basically anything. You've applied what you've learned to the figure and now you can apply it to landscape drawing or anything from life.
This doesn't teach you how to draw from imagination but I believe that learning how to draw from life accurately first, gives you a much easier time learning to draw from imagination. Doing this, you learn how to see and you can better analyse things visually. Your studies will look better and be more accurate, leading to you actually learning more.
I am sure there are exceptions but maybe this makes sense to some of you. You basically learn drawing before you separate things into different subjects. There's one subject first and as you go forward, you can study things individually and learn the unique aspects of something like landscape drawing.
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