Article: More Drawing Advice Than Anyone Wanted

The artist of a webcomic I follow recently wrote up a great essay about drawing and learning to be yourself as an artist.

"Anyone who has any aptitude at drawing will be asked at some point “how do I learn how to do that?”, and it seems to me that when people care to go into a more elaborate response than “Practice all the time” they are usually advising people to read up on a lot of Hogarth and Loomis, and learn all of the fundamentals before they start trying to get creative. I think one of the best pieces of drawing advice for beginners I ever saw was once upon a time on DeviantArt when Modus Operandi’s artist Tish Doolin told someone that if you were just picking up a pencil and trying this drawing thing out for the first time, it’s going to benefit you more to draw things that you have fun with than struggling with dry fundamentals right out of the gate."

You can read the rest of her post here. It's pretty long, but it's good reading. Expressing yourself artistically takes investing some time and effort into the endeavor. She uses the analogy of learning a new language--you don't expect to be fluent after paging through a few pages of a Spanish textbook, likewise you're not going to be Monet after painting once or twice.

She references and links to several helpful resources, one of which is this essay/tutorial.
I've come across similar guides in the past, but I found this particular one to be very well done and quite informative. It's surprisingly academic (but not in a over-your-head incomprehensible way) in that it's not simply about drawing. To draw well, you have to understand some basic ideas. To draw really well and to own your artistic style, you also have to know some art theory, which is not as scary as it sounds. I've referred to the landmark graphic novel Understanding Comics by Scott Mccloud in the past. This essay paraphrases a lot of his ideas into simpler, shorter form. I'd suggest reading the book for a fuller understanding of symbols and the styles of representation in art.

Artist: Kendall Bohn

I met Kendall Bohn the other day at the California Arts Building where he has his studio. My attention was grabbed by his paintings displayed in the hallway, which reminded me a lot of Henri Rousseau's. Kendall's paintings have that same dreamlike quality with vivid colors and undulating shapes. But he doesn't only paint, sculptures and ceramics are also part of his repertoire. And he's a graphic designer on top of that. That's what you call a jack of all trades!

What I really want to share with you is Kendall's series of coloring books, Kaleidoscopia. So many coloring books these days are overtly simplified and dumbed down, as if publishers think kids can't focus enough to color in even the most basic shapes. If your child loves to color and gets bored with the typical fare available, the Kaleidoscopia series is for them. There is no way you can finish these pictures in just a few minutes. The Abstract books caught my eye the most, but there's also dinosaur and fantasy titles available. There's a free coloring page from each Kaleidoscopia title available for download.
You can buy the books online at the Kaleidoscopia site, and they're available at a number of retailers, like Creative Kidstuff, as well.
You can also visit Kendall's studio in the California Arts Building during the open studios event every second Saturday of the month. He showed me some of the original drawings he did for the coloring books, which was pretty cool. I also got to see the work for the next Abstract coloring book coming out this summer, which is going to have twice as many pages as previous titles.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm inspired to go doodle in my sketchbook.

Resources: Google Art Project

I just found out about an awesome new website from Google. It's called the Art Project and it's amazing. It's like Google Maps but instead of streets and buildings, you can digitally wander around some of the best art museums in the world. I'm really excited about this! Not only can you "walk" through the galleries, you can click on art works to see more detail, zooming in to see individual brush strokes on paintings.
You can search by museum or for a particular piece of art. You can also create your own collections of favorite art pieces that you can then share with others. And you can save close up views as well, if there's a particular part of a work you like or want to show someone else. It's a nice way to set up a lesson plan for your students or browse a museum's collection you might not otherwise be able to see. And please do take advantage of this resource -- some of the most famous works of art in the world are now easily viewable in high resolution for your viewing pleasure.
I found the site extremely easy to use. After watching the intro video and a few minutes playing around, I easily got the hang of browsing through the Art Project. You have to hand it to Google, they know how to design good websites. They've found another good use for their street view technology! The Art Project links to all the museums, so you can easily view more works and find further info on each institution's website as well.
Over 15 museums are currently on board, sharing their art and galleries, and information about the works; more museums will hopefully be added as time goes by. You can read more about the project and see instructional videos here. The Art Project also has a YouTube account that has more videos and links to the museums' videos as well.
Way to go, Google, way to go.