Artisan Denizen: A Little Artistic Self-Improvement

The last time I took an Art class was in high school. I think it's time I took another one. And I found one recently that I want to take: figurative drawing.?

When I took drawing in high school, we did spend a little time on that. It was high school, so our teacher brought in a mannequin. Mainly we focused on that fact that you have to keep the human body in proportions. For instance, the face is broken up into quadrants (might not have been the term). The forehead area is one, the eyes, nose, and ears are within the second, and the mouth and chin appear within the third.

So I am trying to improve my drawing skills - people drawing, specifically.?

My sister and I made a trip recently to Half-Price Books to see if we could find a good book about that. I had to ask the clerk where the Art section was. Little did we know he is into Art as well. At check-out, he informed us: "Believe it or not, the hardest part of the human body to draw is the hand."

I do often learn useful tidbits of information online. Sites such as E-how or YouTube often have helpful demonstrations of how to paint the sky or the grass or clouds, making it easier to practice without leaving the comfort of your dining room table.

But drawing people. I would take a class for that. It seems immensely complicated.

Flesh tone. Even after watching several videos, mixing? bits of red, brown, blue, white, and yellow to come up with a specific shade of skin...that one, as you can see from my examples, is yet to be mastered.

Shading. Getting the shading right on skin. Again, challenging.

Opinions may vary here. I thought bringing the texture out in her hair was fun. There were so many colors and trying to get the effect of curl rather than straight lines. I don't know how well that comes across. Again, getting the facial shading correct really kicked my ****. :) And I noticed after I took the picture that I smeared her lipstick. Sorry, Mystery Lady. I think my hands were shaking from the frustration of getting it wrong.?

Well, after I take the class, assuming I feel I can show some actual improvement - and I am hopeful about that - I'll post a picture and probably even recommend the class.

Where Art is concerned, I will take the cue from the world's most interesting man : Stay thirsty, my friends. ;-)

Source: http://artisan-denizen.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-little-artistic-self-improvement.html

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