ArtTutor.com work

Eye Study

| cathmary1030

I have a set of Derwent pastel pencils (36-count tin), and am taking Phil Davies’ “Portraits in Pastel Pencil” class on arttutor.com. I was less interested in exactly matching the reference photo than I was in determining the best 10 colors to use. (We’re limited to a palette of ten, per the instructor, and he uses Faber-Castell Pitt pastel pencils.)

The first drawing was done on Rembrandt Talens pastel paper, and I dislike the look of the honeycomb hatched paper. Utterly ruins the drawing for me! The other paper used was Canson Mi-Tientes (smooth side). In both cases, a tinted gray paper was used.

Working with Pastels and Charcoal

| cathmary1030

I’ve been taking Rebecca de Mondenca’s pastel classes on arttutor.com, and this is some of my initial work from her class “A Beginner’s Guide to Pastels”.

I find I don’t care for the pastel paper that has the honeycomb look, although it can hold more pastel layering, given the “tooth” of the paper.

Most of these are from using the Dick Blick Artist’s Pastels (60 set), but the (finger) blended blues are Sennelier Landscape (30 set) pastels.

Some of my work from the “Drawing Essentials” class

| cathmary1030

So the first course I took on arttutor.com was Drawing Essentials, taught by Phil Davies. Excellent course; I loved it. And I think what I most liked about it was having the video and the ability to watch the expert do something and then it started clicking for me.. whereas reading in drawing fundamentals books doesn’t always translate to my beginner mind.

The above images came from reference drawings provided in the Drawing Essentials course. I had never drawn a horse before, nor had I come anywhere close to successfully drawing draped fabric, as with the towel above.

Signed up as a member of ArtTutor.com!

| cathmary1030

I had never heard of ArtTutor.com, but recently discovered it via a YouTube video, after I was looking for an online grid tool to use on some of my photos. (I first learned of using grids in Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.) After browsing — and buying a drawing course — I decided to get the membership. It certainly appears that it might be easier for me to “get” some drawing fundamentals if I can watch a skilled artist do it.

We’ll see!