Artist Spotlite - Interview With Jennifer Young
April 28, 2008
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer Young is a professional artist from Richmond, Virginia, most known for her vibrant landscape paintings of France, Italy, and the American South. She is inspired by the beauty she observes on her frequent travels, and paints on location as often as possible.
In addition to teaching painting workshops (www.jenniferyoung.com/paintingworkshops.htm) , she exhibits in galleries in the southeastern U.S., as well as in her own gallery and working studio in Richmond. Her paintings have been purchased internationally by both corporate and private collectors. She also maintains her own online gallery (www.jenniferyoung.com) and writes frequently about painting, art tips, travel, and the artist’s life on her blog, “Paintings of France, Italy, and Beyond” (www.jenniferyoung.com/blog.)
THE INTERVIEW
Q - What medium or mediums do you work with?
A. My primary medium is oil painting, but I love to experiment. Most recently these explorations involve watercolor, pen and ink, & acrylics.
Q - How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?
A. It sounds so cliche to say I’ve been an artist all my life. But from very early on, I knew I wanted to be an artist. After college I painted part time for a few years while I worked full time. With the great encouragement and support of my husband, I finally took the leap into full-time professional artist over 12 years ago.
Once in the full time arena, I painted nearly daily, but back then my paintings often took about 2 to 3 weeks to complete. I was painting very large, doing lots of layering, and working completely from imagination. My works and processes then were very different than my current work. I plodded along for a while taking the typical route of trying to get my work “discovered”. I entered juried shows, showed in university galleries, art centers, even a museum. It padded the resume but I didn’t feel like it was getting me very far, and certainly didn’t make me any money.
I got so frustrated with my progress, both as a painter and as a professional artist. When my father died I stopped painting altogether for about 6 months. I questioned everything, including my painting. It was a sad, dark time. Then on my birthday following my dad’s death, my husband Dave bought me a plein air easel. I’d always loved the Impressionists and played with painting landscapes here and there, but never seriously explored it before.
Plein air painting changed everything for me. I was hooked on painting the landscape and the direct experience out in nature was so life affirming and exhilarating. During that same period, I stumbled across a self-published book by artist Jack White called “The Mystery of Making It” (www.senkarikstuff.com/books.htm) . It was probably the best practical, real world book I’d read about art marketing, and I used Jack’s advice as a guide to develop my first art marketing plan. A lot has changed since the book was published, but I still think it has great value to anyone getting started trying to market their art, particularly to those who paint representationally.
Q - Do you have any formal training or are you self taught?
A. Yes, and yes :-). I went to a four year art school, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. I had a major in Art History Studio, which was essentially only a few credits short of a double major in art history and painting and printmaking. My personal experience at the time was that the school had a good foundation program the first year, but afterwards I found that the painting department was big on concept and light on technique.
The focus was more on abstraction, which probably helped me with composition and design. But for a while after school I had to teach myself how to use my materials, mainly from experimentation and books. Once I started with painting the landscape, I took a few outdoor painting classes to further develop my craft in this genre.
Q - Do you have any favorite art supplies that you would like to recommend?
A. I actually love to experiment with different art supplies and I write a lot about them on my blog. To students in my workshops, I don’t really stress paint brands at this point, because I think every artist should experiment and find what works best for them. Painting is such a primitive activity, and really you need very little in the way of “fancy” supplies to get the job done.
For oils, I do recommend using the best materials you can afford- especially in terms of using professional grade paints and archival supports. Good bristle brushes also help immensely. Unfortunately paint colors aren’t uniform from manufacturer to manufacturer, so I use different paint brands for different colors (often Gamblin, Windsor Newton, sometimes Rembrandt.) I’ve found a wonderful creamy titanium white made by Classic Artist Oils (www.artistoils.com) that is also economical. For plein air painting, I love my Soltek Easel, but EasyL makes wonderful pochade style easels that are good quality and easier on the wallet.
Q - Do you work with any specific styles or subject matter?
A. I like to experiment, but my main subject matter is landscape painting, with some city scapes and still life thrown in. I work often from life and on location (en plein air). As for style, color has always been important to me. Right now I think my work falls somewhere between Impressionism and Realism, though I may use a greater range of values than what I think of as “impressionist” work ( a la Monet), and have a slightly looser style without all of the earth tones that I associate with Realism. It’s so hard to attach an “ism” to someone’s work though, and I find it really only helps to provide a very general description.
Q - Can you recommend any books, videos or other resources that will help new artists?
A. I’m a bibliofile so I’ll stick to books. I write about painting books often on my blog, but off the top of my head, my favorites are “Carlsons Guide to Landscape Painting,” by John F Carlson, “The Composition of Outdoor Painting,” by Edgar Payne, Emile Gruppe’s wonderful but hard to find books on Color, Brushwork, and Oil Painting Techniques, “Alla Prima by Richard Schmid” and Kevin MacPherson’s “Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light and Color“.
Q - How do you get ideas to create a piece? What inspires you?
A. Well, being primarily a landscape painter I’m inspired by nature, and more importantly the effects of light on form and color. I recharge by studying others’ paintings in many styles and genres. Other artists’ works inspire me immensely. While I paint representationally and work both from life and from photos, I use color expressively. I try to see the scene as a starting reference, but I don’t find it interesting to copy a scene. I think it’s the emotion derived from the experience and the essence of the thing that’s important. And it’s the artist’s job to figure out the best way to capture that and communicate it onto the canvas; usually this involves a lot of editing, abbreviating and even rearranging.
Q - Are there any artists that have influenced you and why?
A. Yes, but having an art history background, it would take me all day to list these! For the purposes of this interview I’ll stick with landscape painting. The usual suspects- the French Impressionists and their friends (mainly Monet, Sisley, Boudin, Morisot, Degas, etc.) for their use of color and their innovation. John Singer Sargent’s somewhere at the top of that list for sure. His drawing, brushwork bravura and ability to capture light are all amazing. I love certain landscape painters who are usually classified as realists too, like Corot & Daubigny for their delicate and subtle approach to the landscape.
As for living artists, I enjoy the works of Kenn Backhaus and John Budicin, both of whom I’ve studied under and long admired for their wonderful (and very different) approach to brushwork, color palettes, and drawing. I also admire and love to look at lots of works by artists who belong to the Plein Air Painters of America for the same reasons.
Q - Do you have a website you would like to share?
A. I have a website at www.jenniferyoung.com , and an art blog at www.jenniferyoung.com/blog
Q - Finally, do you have any last words of advice for beginner artists?
A. Yes, first of all, be happy where you are and eager for more. We all have artistic goals, but know that no matter how long you’ve been at it, there is always something new to learn and always something greater that you will want to accomplish. (Personally I wouldn’t want it any other way!)
When learning from others, take what is useful to you and leave the rest. There is no one “right ” way of going about it, especially when it comes to art, and eventually you will have to take what you’ve learned and make it your own. It’s great to sharpen the saw with classes and the like, but ultimately it comes down to you getting yourself in front of the easel and doing the painting. And lastly, for those working on making your art your profession, there are three things that I’ve found extremely important; commitment, experimentation, and renewal.
By commitment I mean doing the work you need to do to improve your skills and meet your goals. Largely this involves making the time to show up in front of the easel and painting, but it could also be some form of art-related study.
By experimentation I mean allowing yourself just to play and grow, without worrying about whether the end result will be “good” or “bad”, “sellable” or end up in the trash.
Renewal will be different things to different people, but it has to do with taking care of yourself and your relationships and your “other life” outside of your art.
The challenge is to find a balance and that can really feel like a struggle sometimes, especially when life throws you those lovely curve balls. But when I make an effort to keep all of these things in balance, I reduce my risk of burnout, am more productive and creative, and am just nicer to be around overall! As artist/writer Jack White likes to say, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.“
Popularity: 13% [?]
“Vineyard Patterns” - An Oil Painting Demonstration by Jennifer Young
April 28, 2008
| 1. Step one: Choose a scene. | |
| I often head out to the Virginia mountains to do some plein air painting, and on a morning last week I visited Veritas Vineyards in Afton Virginia. This is a beautiful winery and there are many possibilities for painting subject matter. However, my umbrella broke and I haven’t yet purchased a new one, which can make painting on location in an open field a bit difficult. If the sun is shining directly on your canvas, all you see is a bunch of glare and your paintings end up turning out way to dark and muddy as a result.Having said that, I can’t stress enough how important it is to take the time to choose a scene that excites and interests you. You have a better chance of producing a much better painting as a result. Luckily I came upon a nice shady spot in a private area off of the main road past the winery’s tasting room and became excited about this scene: | |
 |
|
| Okay, so it loses something in my photograph, perhaps! But what I liked about this scene was the abstract shapes and patterns formed by the sweeping lines of the vines and ground. The light was constantly going back and forth behind cloud masses, making painting with consistent lighting very difficult. But that is the |
|
| 2. Lay out the design. | |
|
My paintings usually begin very inauspiciously, I’m afraid! All I want to do at this point is plan my layout and get the elements of the scene down in very abstract shapes. |
|
|
|
|
| As you can plainly see, I have to work quickly with the changing light, so I don’t do a lot of detailed drawing. In fact, I’d say I do far fewer details in the plein air drawing stage than I do in the studio, and if any one were to come upon my painting at this stage they would hardly be impressed! But the marks mean something to me, and I guess that’s what matters. In the coming days I will continue to unfold this plein air painting demo, so stay tuned! | |
| 3. Lay in the sky: | |
| I like to lay in the sky as early as possible in my process. The sky is the source of light and generally it appears to have the lightest tonal value in most landscape paintings. By laying in the lightest value first I can more easily judge value relationships (the relationship between lights and darks) for the rest of the painting. | |
 |
|
| Step 4 | |
| With my sky in place, I can now judge how dark the mountain range should be. I begin to block in the distant mountains and trees, still with very little detail. | |
 |
|
 |
|
| Step 5 | |
| After I’ve blocked in the distant trees I step back and begin to reassess my composition. What is my focal point? The eye tends to like to zoom in on something when looking at a composition, and up to this point I’ve been focusing more on the abstract shapes of the vineyard to move the eye around the painting. This is good, but is there something more? I’ll let you know what I decide in the next installment! | |
| I look again at my subject and notice a little tree in the field. To be honest, I am not sure that I had noticed it before. I decide to play up this element and use this as my focal point or center of interest: | |
 |
|
| The light is really changing a lot now. Sun shines intermittently on my scene, but behind me there are some pretty threatening clouds. I decide I had better not dawdle around any more if I want to get this painting finished! | |
 |
|
| Step 6 | |
| To help my process along, I try and pre-mix large piles of the various colors I see in the rest of the landscape. | |
 |
|
| Step 7 | |
| I add a little more detail to the focal point tree than I do the background trees, which will help to push the little tree forward in the picture plane. | |
 |
|
| Step 8 | |
| I really have to look hard to see the subtle variations in the green shades, but once I start painting in the ground and the vineyard, my picture begins to take shape. | |
 |
|
 |
|
| Step 9 | |
| The clouds called off their threats so I was able to relax a little and put the finishing touches on my painting right there on the spot. | |
 |
|
| “Vineyard Patterns”Oil on Canvas, 12×16 | |
|
My process for painting in the studio is very similar to my process on location. The exceptions are that I don’t have size limitations, nor do I have to deal with the changing light, bugs, and sunburn! On the other hand, painting on location is an exhilarating challenge and helps me to develop my observation and decision making skills. It also gives a far better understanding of the play of light on the landscape. Depending on the lighting conditions, color temperature changes dramatically. In a session of changing light like the one I had, I needed to make a decision early on about which lighting condition I wanted to go with, and then commit that to memory in case the sun went away completely! Painting on location, (or “en plein air”, as the Impressionists used to say) is a wonderful complement to my studio work. I often use my plein air sketches and studies along with the many, many photos I take on site, to develop larger paintings in the studio. |
|
| These images are original works copyright of Jennifer E. Young, and are protected under International Copyright laws. They are for online viewing purposes only and may not be copied, saved to a computer hard drive, reproduced or distributed without the express permission of the artist. | |
|
Jennifer Young is a professional artist from Richmond, Virginia, most known for her vibrant landscape paintings of France, Italy, and the American South. She is inspired by the beauty she observes on her frequent travels, and paints on location as often as possible.In addition to teaching painting workshops (www.jenniferyoung.com/paintingworkshops.htm) , she exhibits in galleries in the southeastern U.S., as well as in her own gallery and working studio in Richmond. Her paintings have been purchased internationally by both corporate and private collectors. She also maintains her own online gallery (www.jenniferyoung.com) and writes frequently about painting, art tips, travel, and the artist’s life on her blog, “Paintings of France, Italy, and Beyond” (www.jenniferyoung.com/blog.) |
Popularity: 24% [?]
Beautiful Watercolor Painting and Demonstration…
April 20, 2008
I came across a very beautiful and interesting watercolor painting and demonstration today that I had to share.
It was created by the very talented artist, Lori Rase Hall.
There are many quality photographs along with detailed instructions.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Artist Spotlite - Interview with Lorraine Vatcher
April 7, 2008
 |
“When painting I use my own photographs and when working on a canvas, I am recalling the sights, smells and the sounds that were surrounding me at that time. Although the pictures form the basis of the subject, my mind remembers where I was at the time and is able to give the painting a life. My father painted for years and now all his children have his works gracing our walls. We are lucky we are able to daily see the memories he created and Mom’s quilts keep us all warm on cold winter nights so you see that it seemed a natural progression to use a paint brush.”- Lorraine Vatcher |
Q. What medium or mediums do you work with?
A. Although I work with oil and watercolour, I prefer acrylics. They are, to me, the most forgiving because if you don’t like something all you have to do is wait until an area is dry (which is only a few minutes) and then paint over the section that you don’t like. You don’t have to use solvents to clean up or to thin the paints and there is a great deal of control in the paint. If you know how to use acrylic paints, they have the same intensity of colour as that of that oil paints. I have had so many people say to me, “You just can’t get that vibrant colour with oils!”. I do but it really comes down to knowing how to use the product.
Q. How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?
I started painting in 2001. My husband had kindly given me a painting kit for Christmas and my mother-in-law had been asking me for years to paint a picture of her family home (she had a lot more confidence in me than I did). The first picture is hidden in a closet; then I tried the homestead piece. I can definitely say that it is certainly not my best work of art, however, I can say that the bug hit me around that time and I have been painting ever since.
Q. Do you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
A. Although I consider myself more self-taught than trained, I have taken many courses and work-shops with noted artists and I read art instruction books continually. Training by instructors is good and gives a person food for thought because it opens your eyes to different ways to accomplish goals. Plus it gets you out in a circle of artists which gives you even more inspiration. I always feel more spirited after a course, even if I do not adopt the techniques the instructor has shown me. But I would have to say that it is practice which means more than anything. Painting even for fifteen minutes a day will make the world of difference in your painting.
Q. Do you have any favourite art supplies you would recommend?
A. Rather than recommend a brand, I would stress to get yourself artist grade supplies, not student grade. I don’t want to come across as a snob but cheap paints, brushes, and canvasses make cheap paintings. The brushes do not apply paint properly, the paint does not cover properly because it has not got enough pigment in it and the canvas simply does not give you the ground you need to properly paint what you want. There are many name brands out there which can deliver good to excellent artist grade quality. When you go to buy paints and brushes, get only the absolute necessity in good quality rather than oodles of cheap stuff.
Q. Do you work with specific styles or subject matter?
A. My style is definitely realist but my subject is far-ranging. The most important thing I look for is good composition, whether it be in still life, scenery or portraiture. I do not want to get stuck into an area of painting that I have grown tired of and by constantly changing my subject matter, I inject a new energy into whatever the subject is that I am doing at the time.
Q. Can you recommend any books, videos or other resources that will help new artists?
A. Four books I would recommend are: Classic Still Life Painting by Jane Jones, The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium by Phil Metzger, The 5 Essentials in Every Powerful Painting by Ramon Kelly
Don’t forget to frequent the library for all the information you can get. There are not only art instruction books, there are art appreciation and art history.
One other resource is to get together with other painters. I meet every Thursday with a group. We rent a large room with lots of natural light and stay there all day. The phone doesn’t ring for us when we are there and we don’t have to think about anything that may be pressing us at home. We critique each other when asked and are brutal with each other, however, not in a malicious way. Even though we ask for advice, we know our own minds and many times just follow our own instincts but because we are all artists, we get inspiration from each other.
Q. How do you get ideas to create a piece? What inspires you?
A. Ideas are all around, with even the simplest of subjects. Many times we just have to open our eyes.
My camera is my companion at all times and if I see something which captures my imagination, I use it so that I may go back to the images to get all the concrete information required. I take many images in as many different angles of light as I think will assist me. I have been taking photographs since I was in my early teens and back then learned what made a good photograph. Now most of the images I take are for future paintings so I try to arrange them to my own purpose. The inspiration initally is from whatever the subject is, as I see it at that moment. When I compose a picture now, the flash does not go on because I want all the nuances of natural light to touch my subject.
Q. Are there any artists who have inspired you and why?
A. My father never had training but he painted scenery that was special to him. He did inspire me but not because I ever watched him do a painting. I saw the finished product and admired what he was able to achieve. I cannot remember a time when I was not creating something. Because I was always creating clothing, knitting yarn, cross-stitching and embroidering, photographing, etc…, I just figured that one day I would try to do it. That, of course, did not mean that I figured I would be any good at it, just that I would like to give it a try.
Q. Do you have a website you would like to share?
A. Yes I do; it is http://www.lorrainevatcher.com. If you should decide to do this painting (click here to view the painting) , I would love to hear from you and get a picture of your work. In fact, if you have an opinion at all, I would love to hear.
Q. Finally, do you have any last words of advice for beginners?
A. There is no age restriction on art. If you are reading this, you have not wanted to stop learning. The best advise is to practise and don’t be afraid to take a critique. I know that the pieces we produce are our babies but if you really want to improve, learn to listen to good advise and learn to discard what is not good advise…it takes time.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Step By Step Acrylic Painting Demonstration by Lorraine Vatcher
April 7, 2008
The following acrylic painting demonstration is by the very talented Lorraine Vatcher. Be sure to visit her website to view more of her work.
Lorraine invites you to paint along with this demonstration and send her images of your progress. Drop her a line if you plan on giving this a try. She would love to hear from you.
She also invites you to contact her if you have any comments regarding her work. Click here to contact her.
Nature’s Decorations - Painting Demonstration by Lorraine Vatcher
The picture I am using for a reference was one I took on a beautiful sunny day after a white blanket had covered our world and made it into a Winter Wonderland. Even though it was still cold, the sun had enough strength to start melting the snow on the branches of the spruce trees. As the water fell off the twigs, it froze into solid icicles which glinted in the sun; then the sun split the light into colours of the rainbow when you looked directly into the sun through the icicles.
I truly hope you enjoy this lesson. It really is more of a still life than scenery. I wanted to do something which isn’t a normal lesson. You can change placement of anything if you wish to make it more your own.
For those who attempt it, I would enjoy seeing the finished product so if you don’t mind, I would really appreciate an image of your finished product.
 |
First, we will block in shapes of the background which will resemble branches of a spruce tree with snow on them. Mix Windsor Blue with Titanium White in varying dark tones. Do not make them bright because we want the icicle to shine, not the background.With a 1” blending brush, block in these colours in general shapes, fairly linear to resemble the look of snow gathered on branches.Then do the same with Payne’s Grey mixed with Titanium White in varying tones. The medium tones should be minimal. A light coat of Chrome Oxide Green in a few places gives the illusion of the under branches barely showing. Keep it muted with no real shapes and no light colours; nothing in this entire layer should pop out at you. Remember that the icicles are the focal point.They have to be much brighter than the background. |
 |
Block in the shapes of the snow on the foreground branches with Titanium White. Keep composition in mind. Too much white will detract; we want this snow and the icicle to sparkle over the top of the background. Think about where the icicles will hang and how long. Paint them in. Keep the amount of icicles in odd numbers. Block them in. |
 |
Use Windsor Blue mixed with white to give shadows in the snow on the branches. In the darkest areas, add just a hint of Payne’s Grey mixed in with the blue. Tops of the snow are always pure white with the bright sun shining on them. |
 |
Change to a liner brush to stoke in the buds at the end of the twigs with Burnt Sienna mixed with Cadmium red. Also, with the liner brush, stroke in the needles from the branches which hang down into the dark background area with titanium white. This will give you a place to paint your green needles. It would be of no use to just stroke them in greens because the colour would be drowned out by the dark background.Many colours are transparent or semi-transparent so the surface has to be prepared to accept another colour, otherwise it will have no impact. |
 |
Use three shades of green (Sap Green, Hooker’s Green and Chrome Oxide Green) and a liner brush to put in the needles of the branches. For the darkest green, mix Hooker’s Green with Cadmium Red in small amounts. This will make a much darker green. Stroke the needles in different colors. Keeping them the one colour would be boring, also sometimes vary the direction because Nature does not always make them go in the same direction. Don’t forget to stroke over most but not all of the white needles hanging off the twigs into the dark background. There will be white highlight in some of the needles because that is where the sun will be hitting and reflecting. Stroke in the needles which are on the areas of white snow. You have already prepared for these because the background of white will readily accept the green colours and show very well.. |
 |
With a small round brush, very lightly place a small amount of Cadmium yellow mixed with Titanium White in places on the snow to give a sparkle to the snow as if the sun is bouncing off the surface. In the areas close to the needles, add a small amount of Chrome Oxide Green mixed with white. The green simulates the green from the twigs under the snow as showing through. Although the snow is newly fallen, the hot sun is melting it and turning it to icy pellets in areas close to the twigs. This ice will reflect what is underneath it, namely the green of the twigs. |
 |
Ensure that your icicles are pure white before you start to colour them in. Then with a small round brush, brush Payne’s Grey in areas down the length of the icicle. Do the same thing again with a mixture of Payne’s Grey mixed with Titanium White. And repeat it in small spots with Windsor Blue with Titanium White. The outside edges down the length should be bright white. Next, very sparingly, spot Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red and Diazinon Purple. These colours will give the same idea as when a light hits a piece of glass or crystal; the light splits into differing colours. A very little bit of paint will convey the idea. |
 |
The sparkles are created in two stages. The first is with a wash of Titanium White. The washes should be with very little colour and a number 4 round brush. A number of washes is much better than one solid. Start in the center of the sparkle and pull the brush out to a point. Next, use Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Diazinon Purple in the same way, although sparingly. After the washes, hit very lightly with a hint of pure colour.The small red buds which are hanging at the end of the twigs now get a bit of water hanging from them. Use a liner brush with a little Titanium white to outline the drop. Then fill it in with Payne’s Grey and just touch them with a colour in the background which is around them. Water reflects its surroundings.With a liner brush dot the snow in lines where the needles will be peeking out of the snow. In real life, as the snow melts, more will be visible. |
 |
 |
Nature’s Decorations 16×20 Acrylic on CanvasBy Lorraine Vatcher |
This tutorial is copyright Lorraine Vatcher.
Popularity: 56% [?]
Artist Spotlite - Interview With Todd Harris
April 2, 2008
 |
Todd Harris is an artist who has spent thousands of hours being classically trained in the Florence Academy method. He works as a concept art director for the Walt Disney Corporation where he teaches and critiques teams of artists. He has had many paintings published in magazines such as Dragon. His mission is to help artists of all levels to achieve their artistic goals. He does this by providing his guide and supplemental information along the way. The archived articles, newsletters, forums, and portfolio reviews from his websites will all work as a whole to better artists anywhere in the world. |
|
"April" by Todd Harris
|
==========================================
The Interview
==========================================
Q - What medium or mediums do you work with?
A -
I work with charcoal, pencil, and digital mediums. I’m looking to move into the oils soon. I’ve always been a strong believer for figures that you master pencil before going into painting.
Q - How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?
A - I have been an artist for the past 12 years professionally but have been doing art for as long as I can remember. It’s the only thing that makes sense in my life.
I didn’t have as much talent as other artists but I wasn’t good at anything else, lol! My first job as an artist was drawing the pictures for tombstones (kind of a dead-end job). It was actually a really good starting job because you felt like you were bringing comfort to others through art and I really developed some good drawing principles during this time.
Then I did some commercial art and then went over to video game art, which lead me to Disney.
Q - Do you have any formal training or are you self taught?
A - Both…I have a Bachelor’s in Fine Art but that alone wouldn’t have put me in the place I am now. I would find that sometimes the artists taking the classes knew more than the university professors. So, I bought a bunch of books, studied those as often as I could. I also took workshops and independent classes here locally. One thing that I have found that is really cool is that most universities will offer figure drawing classes on the weekends for cheap. You can do a drawing session for about 5 dollars. These have really helped me to grow as an artist.
Q - Do you have any favorite art supplies that you would like to recommend??
A - The digital art medium is starting to become more legitimate and is great for saving time. I use Corel Painter 9 for my digital art.
For traditional products I like toned paper. It gives you a head start getting you half way there because it starts you off with your midtones and you can finish your drawings faster.
Q - Do you work with any specific styles or subject matter?
A - I like to draw people and then the more adventurous side of me likes to do a lot of fantasy as well. Working for Disney has kept me in imaginative worlds, so I like to work in those creative atmospheres a lot.
Q - Can you recommend any books, videos or other resources that will help new artists?
A - I like several different drawing books. I really like Bridgman, he has a bunch of anatomy and figure drawing books. I like Vanderpoel as well. Charles Bargue has some good educational figure drawing books. Stephen Peck has a good starter called Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist. I wrote a book on figure drawing as well, it’s called Master the Human Form.
Q - How do you get ideas to create a piece? What inspires you?
A - I’m inspired by reading and story . I am also inspired by that place in my imagination that I want to visit. (My wife is laughing at that last statement right now) I’m inspired by great writing and other beautiful art.
Q - Are there any artists that have influenced you and why?
A - Howard Pyle, NC Wyeth are two of the old timer’s that I am inspired by. Frank Frazetta and others. I am really inspired and love the old illustrators and visual storytellers. James Gurney and many others as well. I’m influenced by many artists that I have rubbed shoulders with or taken classes from or read their books.
Q - Do you have a website you would like to share?
A - There are many great advantages of the internet. Artists have such great resources now to help them in their artistic endeavors. I have a couple of websites that focus on figure drawing. They are www.learning2draw.com and www.alldrawnout.com. One offers a book and the other offers a site with video instruction and tutorials so you can see figure drawings being done right in front of you. About.com has some good resources for drawing as well, and of course, I love creative spotlite!. The blogging world is becoming big for artists to share their work, we are like a big community of artists. My blog is found at www.hog-heaven.blogspot.com.
Q - Finally, do you have any last words of advice for beginner artists?
A - Yes, just focus on your passion and love of art. Don’t get discouraged. As I mentioned before, I was probably the most untalented artist I know. Just keep practicing! You may hear that a lot but I think you hear it a lot because it’s the golden ticket to great art.
 |
“Learn the little-known secrets to Mastering the Human Form Through Figure Drawing techniques never before seen!” If you want to learn EXACTLY how to…
… Plus a TON more step-by-step Figure Drawing strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are already using to Master the Human Form, click here now… |
Popularity: 26% [?]
Just for subscribing, you will also receive the FREE ebook, "Inside The Artist's Studio", which includes step by step art demonstrations by professional artists! To receive this FREE ebook right away delivered to your email, simply fill in the form below: 
Recent Comments