I'm so glad I don't have to learn anymore! After all I've been a professional illustrator for 19 years now, and I think I'm entitled to a break from improvement!
Of course I'm kidding. One of my core beliefs is that we can never stop learning and so last fall I started taking figure drawing classes for the first time since my college days 20 years ago. Between my illustration classes I've been sneaking into Don Seegmiller and Perry Stuart's figure drawing classes at UVU here in Utah. Both are very talented artists and teachers and I have to admit I was a bit nervous because I'm supposed to be a colleague right? Now what I should be doing is posting my first drawing in that class last fall but I stuffed it into the garbage while nobody was looking. It was awful. I had that warm flushed feeling of shame and embarrassment. How could I be a college art teacher and produce something so poor.
It was after that first drawing that I resolved to make it to their classes as often as I could to finally learn to draw the figure. I must say that not only has it been extremely rewarding to produce drawings that I'm proud of but it's also helped my everyday sketching. So I encourage all of you to break out of your comfort zone and learn something new.
This is just beautiful. At Illustration Friday, last week's word was "beginner", and my blog post was in a similar vein: that no matter our proficiencies in our chosen field, we all need to be willing to be beginners at something now and then (which, in my case was drawing chickens!). I've been wanting to get back into life drawing, and you've inspired me...
ReplyDeleteMr. Terry,
ReplyDeleteI just bought your acrylic painting course online. It is very good. I paint in acrylics myself and am self-taught. Most of the books I see for acrylic painters are not very impresive. The work shown is usually very loose, or flat or there is a lot of experimentation. I like fairly tight realism. I like your use of color and your technique to blend colors. I also like your use of values. My name is Glery Becerra and I also live in Utah, I hope one day I can meet you in person and see your originals. Thank you.
Glery
Thanks Sarah! I have to admit that right after school I thought I had things figured out - now I know I never will. :)
ReplyDeleteHope to meet you too Glery - I hope you like the videos!
I like your drawing. The shading is good, as you're always very accurate with your use of lighting in your illustrations. I myself haven't taken life drawing for years, since college. Maybe 1989? (wow... has it really been *that* long? ha, ha!) I've always loved and drawn cartoons so my figures would be 'normal' from the neck down and then have more cartoon eyes and facial features. I'm sure my professors were smiling yet cringing inside thinking I'd never come around. At least I got A's in class! It's never too late to learn something new or even revisit something we've been introduced to in the past. Learning is a lifelong process that can only get better as we go along. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about learning and continuing education. Good for you for taking classes. It's great to learn new techniques and gain new tips from other people. I find your work beautiful and inspirational so it'll be exciting to see what comes about from your learning.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Will. I have Don Seegmiller's book Character Design Painting w/ Photoshop CS3,but found it frustrating. I don't know if he uses a PC or a Mac, but I found I had to reconfigure alot of the keyboard commands he used in his book. I think I was looking for something alittle more on technique and a little less on theory, but that's just me. Getting back to your post, I wish I had more hours in the day to expand and explore all the new things I want to get into.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful drawing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I need to get back into it too. Thanks for the inspiration.
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