I have reached a point in my art where I want to express things that I don't have the ability to accomplish, so I've decided to take a drawing class. The class starts in September and is for Intermediate to Advanced drawers. I have never taken drawing, so I tapped Betsy and asked her what I should do to prepare. She suggested Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.
I got the book last night and am very impressed with the approach, now over forty years old, but it's new to me. Here are two before and after self portraits of students of Betty's -- the before completed before instruction (5 day intensive, 8 hours a day) and the after on the end of the fifth day. Remarkable. Even better than a Proactive ad.
See more gallery pictures here.
The book recommends that you complete three drawings before beginning the study to benchmark your current skills: your hand (non dominant as model), a self portrait, and a person from memory - no visual reference. I have completed two of the three and have posted them here. I hope to see the dramatic results the two students above accomplished. We'll see.
I've never really tried a self-portrait and was a little surprised that this one came out as well as it did.
I am pretty happy with the nose. The eyes are too big, the irises too. I look like one of the victims of that plague in the X Files movie, or like this baby, only grown up.
Reese and I went to APS for orientation today. So exciting! More on that later.
For those of you keeping count, only 5 more posts till the bicentennial blowout.
1 comment:
Great rendering of your hand and cute face! I am also doing some drawing this summer in an attempt to "shake off the rust" accumulated as I happily collaged my heart out.
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