While in art school I desperately wanted to learn how to make things look real. One of the instructors said to me on several occasions, and I’m paraphrasing here, “is it (the drawing) believable”? Lately this idea has come to the foreground for me and I’m questioning what “believable”...
Mar232016
Real vs. Believable
Feb102016
Artist Sketchbook
Keeping an artist journal or sketchbook can be tricky sometimes. Or maybe it feels like a difficult, lengthy chore. Stephan Orsak shared some insights into the artist journal and making it a fun part of the creative process in a recent workshop. I’m not a consistent scribbler. I’d like...
Jan132016
Improve Your Drawing Skills
Do you want to improve your drawing skills? There are many ways to go about this. In my post today I share one of the ways I learned to improve my drawing skills. “I want to get better at drawing.” What does that mean? Do you want to learn...
Dec232015
Miserable Kid and Perfectionism
This kid looks miserable. I don’t know how old I was. Based on that haircut, probably about 8 or 9 years old. My mom, bless her heart, helped me bake the cake and make all the different colors of frosting (By “helped” I mean she most likely did all...
Oct282015
IlluXCon 2015 Wrapup
I definitely want to do this show again. It’s first come first serve for purchasing a table for the evening Showcase so I’ll have to be quick on my feet. Differing Opinions One person commented that the prints of my latest painting didn’t really look like the painting and...
Aug132015
Gen Con 2015 Review
Gen Con Art Show 2015 Review This year was even better than last year. I had some great conversations, learned some cool information about parrots, got to hang with my art buddies, and met some new folks. The set-up Originally my space looked like this. Bear falls drawing and...
Jun242015
The Magic Pencil
When starting out many artists hunt for the magic pencil. We read books on what the “masters” used. We ask artists more experienced than us what pencil, brush, plein air box, brand of paint they use. I think this is because we’re looking for the “right way” to make...
Dec312014
Painting Values
This experiment isn’t my idea. It’s based off something Jeff Larson does during his still life painting workshop at The Atelier. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I watched him do something similar during the workshop demo but wasn’t able to take the hands on portion...
Dec172014
Museum Visit – Go with a Question
I don’t know about you but when visiting art museums, after about the first few hours I start to get overwhelmed. There’s just so much to take in: value control, composition, color, gesture, how the artist painted (a colored ground, direct, indirect, an underpainting), the list goes on. I...
Dec102014
Values First, then Color
I’ve been reading a book recommended to me by Susan Cook, Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing by Margaret Livingstone (a neurophysiologist). In it she addresses many characteristics of human vision and how they relate to art in a very palatable way. Recently, one section really caught my...