Rendering with Arthur Guptill

Exercise in Color from Guptill's Rendering in Pencil

One of my goals for 2010 to was to work my through Rendering in Pencil by Arthur Guptill. Many years ago I worked my way through Rendering in Pen and Ink - and honestly, I think it is the most influential art book I have ever read.

Exercise from Rendering in Pencil

 The pencil book is equally gripping for me. When I was reading a section about graded tones it suddenly dawned on me that I could try the examples in colored pencil. This is what you see here.

Exercise from Rendering in Pencil

For the curious, I think there are two reasons that Arthur Guptill's books resonate so strongly with me. For one thing, he shows you with (usually) 3 different examples what he is talking about (you can just look through the images in the book and learn something). Secondly, in the text, he is constantly urging you to try the concept, practice it, and continue practicing it. His urging of constantly practicing mark making (which I have done for scores of hours over the years) has shaped my art and my style like no other single influence.

Book Review: Oil Painting Techniques and Materials

A few peppers sitting on my couch
(getting going on my sketching goals for 2009)

This post is a review of Harold Speed's Oil Painting Techniques and Materials.

What This Book is Not
This is not an easy read. This is not a "5 simple steps to a masterpiece" type of book. The chapters are long and at points rambling. The book was originally published in 1944 - it's not a book written for the modern "scanning" reader. However...

What This Book Offers
This is a marvelous book! There aren't many books that I read that I feel like I would benefit by reading again. But, this one is an exception. I learned there are several historical approaches to painting. I learned how certain effects have been achieved. I have a blueprint to try for approaching a painting.

In all of those areas and in others, I feel like there is more for me to understand in this book. Some of it went over my head, so I would benefit from returning to this book - and plan to do so in the future.

I do see a great improvement in my painting since I started reading this book. I have a better idea of how to handle painting wet-into-wet...what happens to the color, what can be achieved, etc. (Actually, I have been painting with open acrylics, not oils, but many of the same principles apply.)

Daily Discipline

Recently, I picked up Painting More Than Eye Can See by Robert Wade. I purchased it for two reasons. One, I really like the pictures in it - I love this painter's style. Two, the cover...he took an ordinary photo and turned it into a fabulous painting. I have loads of ordinary photos, I'd love to know how to get more out of them. I am very interested in creating more than a photo can show. I'd like to make my paintings express more than just reality, I'd like them to express reality as I see it.

One of the exercises that he encourages is painting daily...but not in the way you'd think. He suggests doing a 7 or 8 minute (4x6 in) "postcard painting." The idea is to just get used to watercolors, how they are applied, how they blend, etc. It occurred to me that I could take this idea and make it my own...

My New Daily Discipline Idea

• spend 5-10 minutes a day doing an ink and brush painting (although Vivien Blackburn posted today about sketching in oils, so that may happen too)
  
• perhaps use a small format, although for this one I only had 9in x 12in paper available.
• do the painting from a thumbnail image of one of my photos. I am gradually building a library of my own photos, so all I have to do is open a directory, pick a thumbnail and paint from it. The idea is that the image is too small for me to really know the details, this should force me to just concentrate on values, patterns, and suggesting rather than truly delineating everything. (In short, force myself to be a bit more painterly!)
• Above is my first effort, it was really fun to have only a few minutes and just whip out the inks, splash around, and throw them back and be done. The photo was taken on vacation this year, a view of the dry creek bed, trees (which are sadly dying and not really green), and distant mountains in Forest Falls, CA.
  

The book is all about the artist being the "director" and manipulating elements as she sees fit. He calls this idea "visioneering." Essentially, having a vision in your mind of what you want the painting to be...the mood it expresses, the perspective you want to give on a place, etc. He stresses using the fundamentals to accomplish this...reflected light, values, atmosphere, figure placement, etc.

Again, this wasn't anything particularly new, but he wrote with such confidence about manipulating basic elements to achieve what you want...well, it just makes me want to have a go with some ordinary photos.

Wade also offers the following encouragement "whatever I have achieved I've done by working my fingers to the bone. I've practiced until my eyes were so sore I couldn't see straight. I've driven myself to keep on going when I could cheerfully have dropped with exhaustion at some weird hour of the morning." (Wade, p.100)

I've never been one to stay up until the wee hours, but that statement does give me hope that with hard work, I will persevere.

Training Your Artistic Eye to See

I mentioned in my last post that I have been reading a fair amount about painting, I thought this week I would share some good quotes and thoughts that I've come across.

Lately, I have been struggling with what to paint. My subject slump stems from a few different things. For one, at this point, painting anything is a struggle - to get a convincing anything is tough, so I'm trying to choose things that I consider "easy successes" rather than subjects that inspire me. Secondly, as I believe in concentrating effort, I want to keep painting similar subjects so that I can improve more quickly - however, as the subjects aren't really inspiring me, it is getting harder and harder to carry on with them.

All that to say, when I came across What Shall I Paint? by Hazel Soan this weekend at the library, I picked it up. I don't think the book gave me any information that I didn't already know, however, it did apply some ideas in new ways for me. She mentions at the outset that an artist needs to focus on the two dimensional qualities that make a painting work...shapes, patterns, etc. That much I knew. In the past, I would choose a subject then work to make sure that the tones, patterns, notan issues, etc were alright. (That isn't a bad way to proceed, but if you can't choose a subject, it doesn't give you anywhere to go.)

So I tried one of Soan's exercises for training your eye to see subjects everywhere. I decided to draw negative shapes - the shapes between objects. (This was particularly nice because I've been in bed with a nasty head cold - I always read in bed so I constantly read exhortations to "draw what's in front of you" when I'm in there and I can never manage to do it from the view I have in there. Well, that has changed!)

Above you see some of those sketches. In the end, they aren't fabulous pieces, but I did find that I got excited about the shapes and patterns made. Even though the subject matter was clutter, I really enjoyed the sketching. I would imagine that if you did exercises like this all the time, you would improve your eye and begin to see interesting shapes and patterns made from tonal groupings all over the place.

Book Review: Pencil Drawing by Ernest Watson

This post is a book review of Pencil Drawing by Ernest Watson. Above you see the book and my drawing of some apricots using the broadstroke technique (as it was not done on a smooth paper, it didn't really achieve the usual results, but it was a good taster.)

A couple of weeks ago I was keen to get information on using a graphite pencil in the "broadstroke" sense. I had found some lovely examples of this technique in a book called Outdoor Sketching by Ernest Watson.

This past weekend at our favorite haunt, Half-Price Books, I found a copy of Pencil Drawing by Ernest Watson. I was so excited (as I also found Kautzky's Ways with Watercolor and the previously mentioned Outdoor Sketching I think that someone's children deposited their library at the store). This is the new revised edition, from 1941.

Watson goes through 12 methods to achieve a "variety of technics."

He begins with a story about how a small pencil drawing "changed the course of my life, because it made me fall in love with pencils...I revisited that window time and again, for I was desperately in love with the drawing. And I had to do something about it. I decided to master the lead pencil. The words of an art teacher came to me at the time. He had once said, 'Master some one medium thoroughly. I don't say to confine yourself to a single medium; on the other hand, be accomplished in many directions. But learn to speak one language perfectly.' Very well, I had discovered my language."

He then shares his purpose: "And now in this little book I am telling you how I fell in love with the pencil and what it has meant to me, because I want you to know what satisfaction awaits you in the serious use of that commonest of all drawing tools. I hope to influence some of you to take up the study of this delightful language."

I was rather in love with the pencil before I read Watson's book, but I admit that I am all the more encouraged to devote more time to it!

The broadstroke technique, as used by Watson, was achieved with a pencil with a bevel point (essentially sharpened and then worn down without turning to create a bevel.) He did not like a chiseled point. The bevel point is useful in creating the "broadstroke" (thick line) and when turned on edge, creates a lovely tapered line. Once I started practicing that move, it brought to mind all of the subtle weighted lines I noticed in drawings of masters last year.

Another key component of Watson's technique was the use of "Cameo" paper. It was a clay-coated paper which allowed the pencil to be applied without grain. As well, with a razor blade highlights could also be cut in, erasers were not especially useful with the paper.

There is more information about a pencil palette, stumps, scumbling, wash, sidestroke, etc. None of these sections is extensive, but enough to give you a flavor. There are also a great number of plates showing different examples. In my mind, this is where the book really excels. You have enough information to start trying out an idea. Then you are likely to have questions, where you can then turn to his examples and study for more answers.

This book is no longer in print. Even a compendium of the older books I mention, The Art of Pencil Drawing is no longer in print. However, should you run across a copy, I would certainly recommend picking it up. This is art instruction of another age. Pencil drawing (or painting) is no longer done like this and it is a pity. Watson's text reads like you've come into his studio to learn and he is chatting while he works. It is not a step-by-step-achieve-this-result type of book. However, I think this sort of book is more helpful. Here are principles and guideposts...go find your own adventure.

Book Review: Franklin Booth Painter With a Pen

Part of a Quick Copy of one of Booth's Images

This post is a review of the book Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen.

Many months ago I read this review by Charley Parker on his blog lines and colors. It was then that this book went on my wish list. Recently I was able to purchase it and I am not disappointed.

Franklin Booth is a stunning artist. The description "painter with a pen" is exactly right. His works are like paintings, not drawings. He uses the pen to carve out the image much like a painter does.

The book begins with four short articles: a foreword, an intro, an assessment of Booth's work and a biography. These ten pages of text and illustrations are then followed by nearly 100 pages of reproductions of Booth's work - some full page and some smaller.

This is the beauty of this book, it is full of Booth's work! There is plenty to examine. I keep looking through, pondering over images, trying to glean insight from what I see. I don't mean pen and ink techniques either...his use of value and tone are just incredible, the medium doesn't matter.

The importance of tone in artwork can be so clearly seen in his work. The design of his work is clearly thought out. This book, in many ways, could be used as a primer on the elements of art: line, tone, value, composition...it's all in there.

I highly recommend this book, not for info on Booth, but for gawking!

Book Review: Holbein

Quick copy of photo of U.S. Grant
from his memoirs

This is a review of Norbert Wolf's Holbein (a Taschen Basic Art Series book).

I liked this book, in fact, I found it hard to put down.

There's alot of history going on around Holbein in this book. His life, like anyone else's was affected by events larger than himself. I don't know a tremendous amount about the 16th century myself, but I was able to follow along. Holbein spent his time split between Basel, Germany and London. So you hear a bit about the movers and shakers (as they were the ones commissioning portraits) of those neighborhoods.

On the whole though, this book is really just about Holbein and his work. The author gives you a good feel about how his work progressed, where he began and where he ended up. There are lovely reproductions of a variety of his work - the majority are his oil portraits, as they are the bulk of his work, but Wolf includes early religious paintings, illustrations, woodcuts, and portrait drawings.

It's a short read, mostly pictures - a nice trait for an art history book!

As an aside, I'm not sure that I would pay the Amazon price for this book, it is fairly short. However, as I picked it up for a tenth of their price, I consider it a very good value, because it is a good book!

Book Review: Composition

Waterman's Pond
reference for this came from the lovely Jeanette Jobson here
9 in x 12 in, brush and ink on bristol board
Thanks to Jeanette for her generosity in sharing this with me and allowing me to post it here!

For my composition research this month I read through Arthur Wesley Dow's Composition: Understanding Line, Notan, and Color. (It made me desperately want to start doing some more brush and ink drawings, I just needed a reference that had flowing lines and a sparse enough landscape for me to be able to simplify it. Then Jeanette posted this and graciously shared it with me.)

Dow's book has been around for a long time and has been reviewed before, so I'll just offer a few brief thoughts.

As a warning...
This isn't a book you read once and master, it's a book you dip into time and again.

As a caveat...
There are exercises scattered throughout that are probably helpful (I did not have time to do them this month.) I intend to make time later to do those exercises. Actually, Robyn has been doing some of them to great effect.

I would never have thought...
to look at textiles and rugs for shape, pattern, or palette inspiration, but Dow constantly encourages this.

Greatest benefit for me...
the emphasis on shape and pattern. Let me elaborate. This week I've been trying to find a reference photo to start a new project and haven't been satisfied with anything I've come across. Why is this? Some how I think that the shape/value/pattern ideas I've been reading about are making an impact. I just couldn't find any photos that spoke to me on a notan sort of level. While this is frustrating in the short term, I do think it is for the betterment of my art in the long run.

As an ender...
As this book was written a long time ago, it does take a bit of effort to get into it. It isn't written in the casual style so common today. That is to say, there aren't bells and whistles here, but if you are willing to put in the effort, there is good stuff to be found in this book.

Book Review: Seeing and Painting the Colors of Nature

Flowers for Lisa
8in x 10in, colored pencil on vellum

At the library I recently picked up Seeing and Painting the Colors of Nature by Joseph and Gloria Dawley. I've really wanted to find a book to help learn how to see colors, so I had high hopes for this one.

To be honest, I think it is rather misnamed, but on to that in a moment. It's an inspiring story, Mr. Dawley was a realist painter who when diagnosed with Parkinson's disease became an impressionist painter (after his wife's urging him to paint.) His work is lovely in either stage and there are lots of examples in this book. It has made me think about what I would do if my body could no longer function as I wanted it to, would I give up art all together or find a way to make it work? What would you do?

He has many standard sections on painting, composition, improving photographs, brush strokes, figures, creating depth etc. However, he doesn't seem to really cover how to see colors. There is a blurb on the back that says you should take what's there and then play around to find what works. That may be the best way to learn, but if so, why write the whole book?

So, I'd say it's an interesting take on painting, with a bit of inspiration thrown in, however, it is not really about learning to see color. The Amazon reviewers both liked it, but I'd say two or three pencils out of five.

Book Review: Painting with Your Artist's Brain

As part of the composition project I've been reading Painting With Your Artist's Brain by Carl Purcell. Today I'll do a general overview of the book, the rest of the week I'll be discussing specific points from the book.

I saw this book at the used book store and decided to get it because it looked like it addressed some areas that I was looking into. When I came home I read the amazon reviews and one said that it was a poor knock-off of Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Now, it is true that Purcell makes the same distinction between artist brain and intellectual brain that Edwards' does with right and left sides of the brain. It is also true that he sort of beats the reader over the head with the idea in the first chapter or two. But, I actually think that he takes the concept a step further than Edwards. She makes the distinction to increase accuracy in drawing, whereas Purcell uses it to make a better painting (not just accuracy, but in classic terms of value, shape, and pattern.) In the end, the concept is the same, he is just taking it more in a painterly direction than a rendering direction as Edwards does.

Beyond that opening section, and a section on using watercolor, he spends the remaining chapters discussing different elements of composition and how to make them work for you. Value and shape are not revolutionary, but he spends time discussing them in specific instances and helping you see how he evaluates them. I really appreciated the examples where he showed a reference photo and then went through a discussion of why he deviated from it for the painting.

There were also a fair number of watercolor tips and tricks included. He had a section that gave exercises to do to improve your watercolor technique. Frankly, watercolor scares me, but I may just have to break them out and have a go at some of his ideas.

As per the usual rating system, I would give this book four out of five pencils. In fact, I think so highly of it, I'll be posting some discussion on it all week long, come back and join in!

The image above is part of my month long study of the head - taken from Paul Leveille's Drawing Expressive Portraits.

60 Minutes to Better Painting - a review

One of my goals for the year is to complete 50 painting starts, spending about an hour on each. Much to my delight, I recently found a book all about that. Here's my review of that book.


60 Minutes to Better Painting: Sharpen Your Skills in Oil and Acrylic
by Craig Nelson

Overview
This book is designed to encourage beginning artists to learn to paint, by painting quickly. So, it is ideal for someone considering joining the daily painting movement or a project like my 50 starts. The opening chapter lists the benefits of this sort of effort.

Structure
The book is structured by the above-mentioned list. There are chapters on process, editing, color and light effects, finishing a painting (not part of the 60 minute scheme), and a summary chapter on exploration in painting.

Topics I Liked

• Chapter on Process - gave an outline to steps to follow with a time line. (Obviously, this will differ with every artist, but it at least gives you a starting point.)
• Quick Analysis - he gives the reader a "push" towards learning to edit quickly and analyzing both the subject and your painting quickly.
• Surveys of Color Approaches - a few different ideas to try - ones that can be implemented easily without new supplies
• Tips for Finished Paintings - this is both about lessons learned from quick studies and how to refine a quick study a bit more

A Note About the Acrylic Side
It says oil and acrylics in the title, but almost every example is in oil. There is one acrylic study shown (that I found). For the demonstrations he lists supplies in both oil and acrylic, but then does it in oil. I think a better second title would be "why you should learn to paint quickly," this book doesn't list good skills to have or good practices to follow, it's more like a signpost to a path of learning.

Rating
If I was to give it a pencil rating, I'd say three out of five pencils. I enjoyed it, I'm glad I read it, glad I took notes to refer to later, but wasn't tempted to plunk down money when I saw it in the used book store last week. (But someone else was, because it wasn't there this week!) I did really like it as an encouragement to get on with my project - above you see start number one. It was done on the Nintendo "sketchbook". Honestly, I'm embarrassed to post that image, but one has to start somewhere! :-)

The Technical Pen

I recently picked up a copy of The Technical Pen by Gary Simmons. I hesitated to get it because I already have Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur Guptill. But, as Simmons book is focused on radiograph/technical pens, as opposed to pens with nibs, I thought it might be worth it.

I haven't been disappointed. It's been a great read. In the beginning he goes through a couple of the big name pens. It should be noted that he is regularly employed by one of the makers. He refers to the "disposable" kind of pen, e.g. Micron, as a pen marker. Lately, I've been running through pens quickly, so if anyone else wants to weigh in on radiograph/technical pens and their preference, I'd love to hear it.

He has the standard section on different types of strokes, useful but not evolutionary. He has an interesting section where he does one drawing in 24 different ways. He spends the chapter talking about how the different strokes are successful, or unsuccessful and why. Throughout the book he comments on the tension in pen and ink work where the stroke choice can affect value and texture. Sometimes, you want texture, sometimes you don't. I found this ongoing theme very thought-provoking and stimulating.

His final three chapters are on sketching loosely, producing a "tight" (or careful, deliberate) work, and color and the pen. The first two of these sections are thorough - they have exercises and ideas on how to progress through a work. He has several good thoughts about sketching on the spot with the limitations of a pen. He also has a nice process laid out for producing very exact, detailed pen and ink work. The final section looks fascinating to me (I've only glanced through it). I haven't really considered using colored inks before, but with the illustrations included here, I may have to try that. He achieves some things that I didn't really think were possible.

In short, I'm thoroughly pleased with this book. It doesn't seem to be in print anymore, but should you run across a copy in a used bookstore and you're interested in pen and ink, I'd definitely recommend getting it.

If I had to rate it, I'd give it 4 pencils. (I'd like to say 5, but I think the audience for it is rather small.) It's not really for a beginner, I think you do need to be interested in pen and ink and have some experience. At times, I think it is written almost like an instruction manual. That appeals to me, but I don't think it appeals to most people. It's not a comprehensive treatise on creativity, or drawing. It's a thorough explanation of all the different ways to make marks with a technical pen and the effects that are achieved.

Above is a 30 min sketch exercise from a reference by kuntal on morguefile.com. Done with no outlining, approx. 6 in x 10 in.

Sarah Simblet and Sketchbook for the Artist

Katherine has been reviewing books for October. She reviewed a book by Sarah Simblet. When I was at the library this weekend I saw another by her and thought I'd check it out. This one is entitled Sketch Book for the Artist.

It's a fun book to glance through. I can't say read through, because I just haven't had enough time to get through all of it with my other reading projects. But, I definitely liked this book and plan to continue reading it.

What I really liked:

• Her portraiture section was not overly complicated - just some good simple ideas that you'll remember later. Given her anatomical credentials, one tends to think she's giving you what's important.
• The body section was also very good. This book is full of pictures - not words. There are clues in there, but essentially the idea is to study the drawings (both hers and others) and gain a lesson.
• Her sketch copies of famous works are very interesting. She tells you what she was trying to learn from observing the original and how she went about answering her questions. She has stuff from Goya, Van Dyke, Turner, etc. She even made drawings of the brush strokes to understand movement in the paintings.
• She also displays some series from her sketchbooks. Large city type sketches made on the spot with buildings and people en masse. She talks about doing a series of sketches of just a couple of people - including her process, how she tries to capture the moment, etc.
• She's also got a section on perspective that I plan to look over more carefully (seeing as that was one of my goals this year that has gotten rather neglected. ;-)
  

Things I learned:

• Some basic anatomy about the neck and shoulders.
• How I might approach copying a painting in a museum.
• Some tips on comparing pieces of art by one artist - how to spot and define trends in a particular artist.
• That I really must get out sketching more in public places - I simply love those large city scenes with buildings and people everywhere - the ones that are "quickly" done and really give you a sense of a place.

In short, I really found this book inspiring and will continue to look through it as much as the library will allow :-). In fact, it was so inspiring that I did a little sketching with my free time before my son was out of his art class, above you see my quick efforts. (Please forgive me the horrible scan, I just don't have time to fiddle today.)