Master Studies

I've been continuing to work on drawings and to draw from the works of master artists. Here's the last weeks drawings.

From a painting by Albrecht Durer

From a study by Michelangelo

From a drawing by Durer

From a drawing by Michelangelo

A study by Michelangelo

And a drawing by Michelangelo

As the week went on I started making a greater effort to really finish the studies and not just to get lazy and call it good.

Drawing again

I believe I've mentioned but I've been working on drawing more, improving my skills etc. There are periods where I do better at this and periods when I fall off but I'm on again (hoping to be more consistent this time around) and so I wanted to share my studies of masterworks.

This is from a study Michelangelo did for the Battle of Cascina.

This is a study of Degas' painting The Tub.
They could both be better, but they could be worse. It's a start.

Studies

I'm trying to brush up my skills, I've been focusing so much on paintings and geometric designs that some of my drawing skills have slipped. In an attempt to reverse that I've made some attempts to do some studies of master's works, like daVinci and Durer. I'd fallen off of that some but I've recently had some renewed efforts. As I've mentioned I've started a drawing group and I've been making studies when I visit museums or when I see something I like. It's a small step but I'm hoping it will something I can keep up.

I'm trying to get back on track. I've been working on new pieces, reading art related books and getting back to my master studies as I've stated before. I think I missed last week on master studies but I've got a new one this week.
I think the last few drawings I tried to be really measured and precise but this time I just went for it.

I go back and forth as to whether this is to be able to perfectly replicate the drawing or just to get more practice. I looked through all my drawings and compared them to the original drawing and while I think some are much better than others, somehow the eyes all seem very upset or angry, where as I get a different feeling from the da Vinci sketch. I keep thinking that it might be time to move on to another artist or another sketch but I think I'd like to keep trying to get the eyes better at least. Eyes are a very important part of a portrait, they convey so much, or at least they can.

Kandinsky and a master study

So looking back on the dates of my master studies, I haven't done one since May... it's been a busy summer. Anyway, I decided it was high time that I got back to that. Here's my latest study, still from the same da Vinci study.

Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this but I love back to school (even though I haven't been back to school in years) and it get's me excited to get back on track after perhaps a summer of getting lax. As part of that this year I'm getting back on track with reading (pleasure and educational). I've tried multiple times to read multiple works of Wassily Kandinsky (I even own two) and I've never really been able to get much out of them. I keep trying because they came up a lot in some of my art classes. Anyway I've decided to take another stab at Kandinsky's Point and Line To Plane. I've been going very slowly and really working at making sure I understand what he's saying. So far I've been really intrigued by what I've read. I've really liked the points he's made, so I'm going to share a bit.

"The general viewpoint of our day, that it would be dangerous to "dissect" art since such dissection would inevitably lead to art's abolition, originated in an ignorant under-evaluation of these elements thus laid bare in their primary strength.

Painting and Other Art Expressions

In reference to analytical examinations, the art of painting, strangely enough, assumes a special position among the varrious forms of art expression. Architecture, for example, by its nature closely bound up with utility, consequently requires from its very start a certain degree of scientific capacities. Music, which serves no practical use (with the exception of march and dance music) and which has until now remained abstract, has long developed its theory; perhaps so far it is only one sided but, nevertheless, it is constantly being developed. Thus these two diametrically opposite forms of art expression have a scientific basis about which no one seems to feel offended."

pages 17-18

So what I get out of this (and I could still be getting it wrong) is Kandinsky's saying that visual art lacks theory, that you should be able to pick it apart somewhat, like in music you might be able to say that this is a symphony, it has this movement and that movement, etc. that it's a little ridiculous that you can't really say the same about a lot of art, here's this element of composition, or this part builds to this part. It was over a hundred years ago that he wrote all this but I absolutely agree with him. Even if you want to ignore or break the rules, you've got to know them first. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Master Studies

Latest.

I think I took a bit longer on this one. I think parts are better but my gosh it's hard to avoid crazy eyes.

Master Studies Update

Alright, once again it's time to update the progress of the master studies. You can see the previous posts here and here. I only had one study in the last week, I did however finally take a picture of the image I've been working off.

And here is my latest study.

Side by side like that I feel like I've improved.

Master Studies continued

I have one more master study to share, though I have gotten a bit busy with other things. Hopefully I'll have some more in the future.

I tried to size this one more along the lines of the picture I was drawing from. I think on the whole this one might have been better than the others to date but I think there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Master Studies

I love Leonardo da Vinci and his work, he's fantastic, he's left-handed (which I can sympathize with) and just a genius. In the old academy systems the students started by drawing the prints or drawings (etc.) of the masters I've been doing quick studies from one of da Vinci's sketches to follow suit.

I forgot to take a picture of the sketch I've been drawing and I can't find it online so maybe I can do that later.

I've drawn it three times in a week, mostly pretty quick studies.

This was my first attempt, I may have spent more time on this one, I'm not sure.

This was the second, a few days later. It was a much quicker sketch, also the nose is really bad.

This is the one that I did today and it probably was a length of time in between the other two. The nose is even worse but the mouth and eyes might be a bit better.

It's a process. Anyway, here are some other things I've been working on this week. Have a good weekend!