smb

Awesome photos! I don't know how I missed these... ('Must have been away on work, at the time?)

On 13/6/2564 at 18 นาฬิกา 29 นาที, FunkyBoy said:

No worries, I'm more of a lurk and Post kinda guy than the social type but I try now and again :3

2 hours ago, FunkyBoy said:

I mean if it works for people then, good on em.

Thanks for your input on this article. It's really good to have some feedback and discussion here on artfreaks.com. It can get lonely talking to oneself a lot of the time!

So thank you again - and please keep it up!

On 6/6/2564 at 11 นาฬิกา 15 นาที, FunkyBoy said:

... but if you don't work on your weaknesses how ever will you develop? This entire thing has boggled my mind! 

You have to pluck up the courage to get started in the first place!!!

With these methods, people who think they "can't draw" will invariable find out that they can. No matter how bad they think they are at art, if they follow even some of the methods described in the book, they will find that they can achieve passable results that they will be quite pleased with.

And then they can take it from there...

I think this method was designed for people who tend to draw the conceptualized images, especially for the parts of human anatomy, that are held in some people's brains - rather than what is actually in front of their eyes? So, basically, it is a way of tricking the part of the mind that can get in the way when people who claim that they 'can't draw to save their lives' - especially when it comes to people and non-human animals.

In short, this is most definitely not a book for accomplished artists, like yourself. I think it was intended for people who would love to be able to draw and paint but who think, mistakenly, that they don't even have it in themselves... In other words, it's just a stepping stone to help them gain enough confidence in themselves to even get started in the first place.

Once they have finally plucked up the courage and got over that initial hurdle of thinking that they simply can't do it, then of course, they can start working on practicing and 'improving' their art, if photo realism is what they are aiming for. (For that, personally, I prefer to use a camera)!

But they have to get started in the first place - and that is what Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain really helped me with. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have had many a pleasurable hour with my drawing and pastels without it. I would have been dreaming to this day.

So, the main point of the book is that it is a mistake to think that people can be divided into those who can draw and paint and those who can't. Anyone can. Some people think they can't - and this book is for them, not you!

Thanks for your feedback on this article, anyway. This is always most welcome!

I just attached a copy of my first attempt at upside-down drawing to the main post, Ha ha! It looks quite funny with that enormous nose! I guess it was a result of the upside-down drawing process. Anyway, it was a great exercise and really helped me to learn how to draw what I see - not the stylized images of what my brain thinks I sould be seeing...

1 hour ago, Michelle Rolfe said:

great tip! 

Ha ha! Have you tried it yet? It really works!!

Thank you for that, Delmus! 'All good advice.

By the way... If any logged-in member is browsing this articles section of the site and they find that they keep getting logged out... Just try hitting the "refresh" button on your browser. That should solve the problem...

(My apologies for the inconvenience but I am not a software developer - just a struggling website owner. We will get this thing sorted out one day or another!!) 

The window frame looks like it was made out of matchsticks!!

For some more in depth guidance, how about a nice book from Amazon.com?

How to Photograph Works of Art

or

Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles

Although Rembrandts are generally classed as soft pastels - I'd put them at the very hard end of "soft."
However, when you look at the extremely high standard of Jennifer Blenkinsopp's work, you can tell that they obviously work for her!

Personally, I much prefer Schmingke and Senellier soft pastels. These are in a different class of softness - a bit like comparing glass with butter!!!

I can't find either Schmingke of Senellier pastels in the Philippines, so I buy them every chance I get when I am abroad.
Otherwise, I order these very soft pastels online, if I really have to...

Great tip!

I tend to use hard pastels or pastel pencils for sketching-in the outlines of basic shapes and the overall layout of the painting, and then fill-in with subsequent layers of soft pastels

Great!

Layers it is, then!

How to draw Selma Bouvier from the Simpsons

Nice work - and a great video!

There are a lot of really useful books on learning to draw, that you can buy conveniently online at Amazon.com

A great book for learning how to draw:

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Drawing "white space" - ( the space around an object, rather than the object itself) - is a great way of overcoming the tendency of your subconscious to influance your drawing with its own preconceptions of how it thinks something should look - rather than what it actually looks like...

(Original reply dated 29th May 2012) - Today, I managed to get started on a new pastel painting. (Apart from finishing-off another one that I started last year sometime, this is my first art of 2012!!)

Having just about run out of excuses, to put-off starting something new; I attached a blank sheet of paper to my board. I then sat there and just stared at it, refusing to leave my studio until a scene came into my mind and pastel had been applied to paper.

In the absence of a scene that I could visualize and wanted to paint, I was fully planning to just start applying sweeping lines and colours to the paper and give abstract art a try! Happily, though, a fairly simple scene did occur to me and I am glad to say that I subsequently spent a couple of quite satisfying hours actually painting again!

Here's the result of my little burst of enthusiasm:

This my ideal view from an imaginary kitchen window in my ideal imaginary country cottage:

This was the first ever painting that I created entirely from my own imagination, without any form of reference to photographs, actual scenes or other artworks.

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. All comments and criticism, good or bad, will be very gratefully accepted. (There is no such thing as bad criticism in my book!)

If you are serious about selling your art, check out this link from one of the ArtWanted.com sister websites.

This is a totally free course on marketing your art and it is delivered via email, over a period of 8 weeks:

http://www.artistmarketingtips.com/

Highly recommended!

As a Full Member of ArtFreaks.com, you can also upload high resolution image files of your work in the Downloads module - and then charge an amount, (which you set,) for every time someone downloads a copy of your file. The person who has downloaded your file can then use the file for making a high quality print of your art.

The link to the Downloads module is in the main navigation bar at the head of (almost) every page in the site. (Depending on your screen resolution, it might be under the "More" tab.)

ArtFreaks.com takes 10% of whatever you decide to charge, every time payment is made for downloading one of your files. (This simply helps to offset some of our running costs...)

It costs absolutely nothing, other than a bit of your time, to give this new feature of ArtFreaks.com a try.

Tip: Upload a small, low-resolution and preferably water-marked screenshot with each high resolution file upload, so that people can see what they are getting.

At the time of writing, you can upload image files of up to 30Mb in the Downloads module.

Thanks for your interest in ArtFreaks.com
Here's another site that you could try:

Take a look at ArtWanted.com. They have a free entry-level membership if you just want to try-out the site and if you like them, you can always go for a paid membership package that would allow you to sell high quality prints of your work on line. (AW handle getting your prints made, shipping, billing etc. so it's really no hassle...)