“From the Sketchbook,” toned paper

Last week in “from the sketchbook,” we showed you how Jeffrey Watts utilized toned paper and white charcoal to explore his figure invention exercises.  This week, we take a look at how a few other Watts Atelier instructors use their toned paper sketchbooks. While Jeff’s figure inventions were executed entirely in white charcoal, these sketches… Continue reading →

“From the Sketchbook,” White Charcoal

Sometimes drawing in a slightly different way than we are used to can help get the artist past mental roadblocks, and free up their mind to explore and enjoy the art of sketching. Here, Jeff Watts has utilized white charcoal on grey paper for a few figure invention sketches.  Next time you reach for your… Continue reading →

“From the Sketchbook,” Mini Master Studies

When one thinks “Master Study,” they generally envision a scale replication of an old master’s piece, painstakingly reproduced in order to better understand their process (along the lines of this study after Bargue, by Watts Instructor Lucas Graciano).  While these types of studies are fantastic learning opportunities, the hard reality is that many students lead a… Continue reading →

“From the Sketchbook,” Preliminary Drawings with E.M. Gist

While we’ve talked about utilizing sketchbooks for structured study, thumbnail exploration, and casual drawing, there is another area of sketchbook use that we haven’t delved into yet; the preliminary drawing. This is the stage where an idea starts to become a realized, “finished” image.  While every artist works differently, the preliminary drawing is generally a… Continue reading →

“From the Sketchbook,” indulging with Jeff Watts

One of the most common uses of the sketchbook is simple indulgence; Drawing what you enjoy, and having fun while doing it.  Practices such as these are usually what leads individuals down the path of the artists in the first place, and drawing for fun is especially important to remember as one starts to seriously study… Continue reading →

“From the Sketchbook,” our new weekly blog feature

Every artist keeps (or should keep, rather) a sketchbook. Sketchbooks can help you record ideas, solve visual problems, strengthen and commit lessons to memory, and so much more. Every Thursday for the next several weeks, we will be giving you a peek into our instructor’s sketchbooks in a new blog segment appropriately titled “From the Sketchbook.”… Continue reading →