Errol McGillivray
(?)Community Member
Offline
- Posted: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:51:38 +0000
There's a single governing rule here.
Do as I ask and don't read ahead.
Start at the beginning and follow the order. If you don't, I can't help you nor will I try.
To start, do this for me:
1. Prepare: Get some paper and something dark to draw with.
2. You need to fit 8 objects on the page, so think about to how much space you have beforeyou start putting down lines.
3. Do not draw a grid on the page or any other kind of guide to space things. You have to learn to do it visually.
3. You're going to draw two rows of objects.
Row 1. Rectangle, square, circle, & triangle.
Row 2. Cylinder, cube, sphere, & cone.
No reference. No eraser. Just you, the drawing tool, and the paper. Scan it.
Right now. Go.
Post a link named "Prelim" when you get back.
I'm making this perfectly clear from now. This isn't a "tutorial" or "how to". Nor is it a guru thread. I make no claim that I know any more than average for someone with intermediate level training. All I'm trying to do is promote the REAL skills that lead to actual improvement, as well as grow our individual styles by understanding what style is and where it comes from.
I do that by sharing what I do know in a carefully chosen and structured series of demonstrations, assessment tasks, and practice tasks that will allow people to become used to the concepts, attitudes, habits, and tasks that will make their self teaching effective. See that? Self teaching. I am no teacher, but I do hope to coach self learners toward self discipline, self motivation, and the art of actual ******** practice.
While it will take years of sweat and tears to be a truly skilled artist, it doesn't take a hell of a lot to learn good habits and recognize the skills and concepts that will let use what you do have to it's full potential.
At the end of the day, I just want to see people that love what they do be happy with what they're doing.
I don't want to type any more than you want to read, so I make videos and cartooned guides.
Work on your own time, at your own pace. Make sure you understand it and move on when you're ready to move on.
I don't expect everyone to keep up with me from Week to Week, but there is a benefit to keeping up with me. Your work will be part of the next Week's demonstration, which will help you see the overall idea based on what others are doing, while seeing your own specifically. They are anonymous, so there's no need for competition or comparing individuals. It's important to learn to separate the artist from the work and only look at the work.
While I will ask you to do different things of you each time, these are the "rules" that are constant:
I cannot stress this enough: Don't get fancy. Use cheap paper. (Later, I may be specific about the weight and brightness of the paper, but not for a very long time.) Use cheapy color pencils too. Cause you're going to want to have more than one of them, so you're not stopping to sharpen pencils, when you should be drawing with them.
Each week I'll post a quiz. Don't move ahead until you've finished and submitted the quiz, so I can help you before you spend any time on the exercises. It's pointless to practice the wrong thing. If it's not terribly off, I'm going to just give you the okay to press on. The quizzes will be anonymously critiqued in the next week. I need to have them early, so I can make the next week's topic. It literally takes a week to assess the stuff and tailor the topic to what people need to move forward. Procrastinating puts me off, but it also robs you of an opportunity to see your work and understand how it relates to the next topic.
Each quiz consists of three parts.
Observation
Action
Analysis
Observation:
I set up a still life and talk about it's relevance to the topic. You will see the concept at work in real life, instead of just reading about it.
Action:
Do stuff.
Analysis:
This may be a critique of something I did at some point, a masterwork study, a "field trip" (outside your house is totally in the field xD ). Unfortunately, I can't take you to point things out. Unless you're in the NYC/North Jersey area. Then I can set something up.
Like a quiz in any other subject, ask me questions and review your notes before you start. Try to go through the quiz without help. I need to see where you really are. It's an honor system, but remember: You're not cheating on a quiz, you're just cheating yourself.
Everybody draws. The vast majority don't draw well and will never learn. These three things will be the tools that free you from the s**t art traps that most people stumble into and never get out of.
Exercises where you practice what you learned. No s**t, right? But you'd be surprised how many people don't do that. Instead, they bullshit themselves by practicing what they don't know or doing it once and calling it practice.
These are meant to be done for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour (maximum) per day, every day. Repetition is an important part of internalizing the material.
Each week I'm going to post a new subject. (If I can't, I'll let you know and you keep doing the dailies for the next week.)
1. Save your work. Make a folder and in it, make a new folder for each week. Also keep a folder of your original quizzes and your best daily for that week. We'll be going back periodically to revisit and you'll need the old art.
2. Email me full resolution, unaltered scan/photo of each quiz as an attachment. Do not link unless it's a dropbox link. I ask for an email because I don't want you seeing each other's quiz results. The next topic is based on them and I want them to be anonymous in the videos. If you don't want to participate in the critique (which defeats the purpose) then feel free to just post them here. No sense in keeping them entirely to yourself.
3. I want to see the edges of the page. If you scan, move it so there's room from the edge. Put something a different color on top of it and scan. That way, I can see the edges of the page.
4.The quiz comes before the dailies. The quiz lets me know what the next topic needs to be, so I need them early in the week. The opening task is always very fast and the quiz takes the longest to do, so I suggest doing your opening task and watching through to the videos until the quiz. Think about the information and the next day, watch 1-4 again. Then do your quiz. That way, I'll have them by wednesdayish instead of saturday and you'll have given yourself time to make sure you understand the material.
5. Post the opening task (the first week it's the prelim) here ASAP. That's what I'll critique during the week to help you with your dailies. My opening exercise will be shown in the video each week if I can manage it.
6. Post your best daily for the week in the thread at the end of each week. I recommend you post them all every few days. The feedback gives you a push in the right direction as you go. Whether you do your dailies as instructed is up to you. But if you just do one and post it at the end of the week, it shows. You'll be cheating yourself out of your own improvement, because it's by drilling that we make the information stick. I don't care what you name dailies.
7. Link your opening tasks here. Name it "task [week#]. After you post yours, critique one other person's. Speak to them directly, so they know who is telling them. Try not to critique the same person two weeks in a row, if it's possible. It's best if you make sure you've gotten to everyone before going back to someone you already did.
8. Help each other if you see someone struggling. Like I said, I'm not a teacher. I'm just putting the information out there while I do what I do well. Critique. I'm working on the same stuff as you guys (which I post too).
email: elvenboyslut@gmail.com - This is ONLY for sending your full res images. Don't talk to me there. If you don't want to email there are other options.
This thread: This is a really slow forum, so ask here first if it can wait. I don't plan to check the thread every time. I have my own improvement to worry about to.
tumblr: If you have an account, you can use the "Ask me stuff" link in the "About" section for questions or send a dropbox link to your full res image.
PMs: I will accept a PM with a link to the file on dropbox or a DA submission that I can download at completely full resolution. Do NOT PM me otherwise. No profile comments at all. Don't ask questions there either. Ask them publically either in the thread or on tumblr using the "Ask me stuff" link.
(If you SERIOUSLY have no other way to send me your full res quiz, then you can PM me, but let me know in the thread that you sent a PM.) I check my email every day and there are times when I only come on gaia to post the videos and check for questions, so email is always best.
To you: Do the quiz over at the end of the week, before you move on and compare it to the first try. Don't look at the first one at all until after you've done the second. You want see it with completely fresh eyes. Post a side by side of the old and new in the thread. If you made an improvement, be proud. If you didn't, we can figure out why.
From you: If there's a topic you're like to cover, let me know. I'll make it happen, just not necessarily when you think it should.
A note on sketchbooks and graphite pencils: Don't expect to use them much. Keeping a sketchbook is very important. On your own time. On my time, we use loose paper, unless otherwise stated in the instructions.
Do as I ask and don't read ahead.
Start at the beginning and follow the order. If you don't, I can't help you nor will I try.
To start, do this for me:
Quote:
[ Prove that you're serious about this and we're not wasting each other's time ]
1. Prepare: Get some paper and something dark to draw with.
2. You need to fit 8 objects on the page, so think about to how much space you have beforeyou start putting down lines.
3. Do not draw a grid on the page or any other kind of guide to space things. You have to learn to do it visually.
3. You're going to draw two rows of objects.
Row 1. Rectangle, square, circle, & triangle.
Row 2. Cylinder, cube, sphere, & cone.
No reference. No eraser. Just you, the drawing tool, and the paper. Scan it.
Right now. Go.
Post a link named "Prelim" when you get back.
I'm making this perfectly clear from now. This isn't a "tutorial" or "how to". Nor is it a guru thread. I make no claim that I know any more than average for someone with intermediate level training. All I'm trying to do is promote the REAL skills that lead to actual improvement, as well as grow our individual styles by understanding what style is and where it comes from.
I do that by sharing what I do know in a carefully chosen and structured series of demonstrations, assessment tasks, and practice tasks that will allow people to become used to the concepts, attitudes, habits, and tasks that will make their self teaching effective. See that? Self teaching. I am no teacher, but I do hope to coach self learners toward self discipline, self motivation, and the art of actual ******** practice.
While it will take years of sweat and tears to be a truly skilled artist, it doesn't take a hell of a lot to learn good habits and recognize the skills and concepts that will let use what you do have to it's full potential.
At the end of the day, I just want to see people that love what they do be happy with what they're doing.
[ This is how it's gonna go down ]
I don't want to type any more than you want to read, so I make videos and cartooned guides.
Work on your own time, at your own pace. Make sure you understand it and move on when you're ready to move on.
I don't expect everyone to keep up with me from Week to Week, but there is a benefit to keeping up with me. Your work will be part of the next Week's demonstration, which will help you see the overall idea based on what others are doing, while seeing your own specifically. They are anonymous, so there's no need for competition or comparing individuals. It's important to learn to separate the artist from the work and only look at the work.
While I will ask you to do different things of you each time, these are the "rules" that are constant:
Quote:
1. There's a reason why I give the instructions I give. I can't stress enough: Follow directions. I will ride your a** every time you fail to do this.
2. Do not read/watch ahead or skip around. The tasks are ordered the way they are for a reason.
3. Watch the videos (as instructed) the first time through. Then (If you're smart) watch them a second time to take notes. Review your notes before you start the quiz and/or the exercises. Don't assume you'll remember what you saw a day or even an hour ago when you sit to draw.
4. Go the the bathroom before you start a drawing. Have a bottle of water nearby in case you get thirsty. (Or a cup with a secure lid. Juuust in case you happen to knock it over.)
5. Put your phone on silent and put it out of sight until you're done for the day. That includes the breaks too.
6. I'm not interested in seeing anything digital unless I ask for it. Work on paper.
7. Take breaks between exercises, but not during quizzes. The idea is to let yourself run through the process without interruption so you can "get in the zone".
2. Do not read/watch ahead or skip around. The tasks are ordered the way they are for a reason.
3. Watch the videos (as instructed) the first time through. Then (If you're smart) watch them a second time to take notes. Review your notes before you start the quiz and/or the exercises. Don't assume you'll remember what you saw a day or even an hour ago when you sit to draw.
4. Go the the bathroom before you start a drawing. Have a bottle of water nearby in case you get thirsty. (Or a cup with a secure lid. Juuust in case you happen to knock it over.)
5. Put your phone on silent and put it out of sight until you're done for the day. That includes the breaks too.
6. I'm not interested in seeing anything digital unless I ask for it. Work on paper.
7. Take breaks between exercises, but not during quizzes. The idea is to let yourself run through the process without interruption so you can "get in the zone".
Quote:
Basic Supplies: (The ones with the * are needed every time)
- *No erasers. If you're using a pencil with an eraser, cut it off. If you don't want to cut your pencil up, get a pencil without an eraser. I suggest a black color pencil. In fact...
- *Black color pencil. (You can use a dark graphite pencil if you have to).
- A black sharpie.
- A red marker.
- *A ream of printer paper.
- *A cheap little clipboard for a sketching surface. It's super portable and I want you working on loose paper. (You can use another drawing surface if you can't get it right away, but get it asap. You need a portable surface you where you can control the angle of the surface).
- Tracing paper. - After a critique, trace your image and lay it over the still life/model that we're using, so you can see the differences.
- other color pencils for construction and separation work. Stock up on black though.
- Ruler Expect to blow off the dust between uses. Pretty much everything will be done freehand.
- *No erasers. If you're using a pencil with an eraser, cut it off. If you don't want to cut your pencil up, get a pencil without an eraser. I suggest a black color pencil. In fact...
- *Black color pencil. (You can use a dark graphite pencil if you have to).
- A black sharpie.
- A red marker.
- *A ream of printer paper.
- *A cheap little clipboard for a sketching surface. It's super portable and I want you working on loose paper. (You can use another drawing surface if you can't get it right away, but get it asap. You need a portable surface you where you can control the angle of the surface).
- Tracing paper. - After a critique, trace your image and lay it over the still life/model that we're using, so you can see the differences.
- other color pencils for construction and separation work. Stock up on black though.
- Ruler Expect to blow off the dust between uses. Pretty much everything will be done freehand.
I cannot stress this enough: Don't get fancy. Use cheap paper. (Later, I may be specific about the weight and brightness of the paper, but not for a very long time.) Use cheapy color pencils too. Cause you're going to want to have more than one of them, so you're not stopping to sharpen pencils, when you should be drawing with them.
Quizzes:
Each week I'll post a quiz. Don't move ahead until you've finished and submitted the quiz, so I can help you before you spend any time on the exercises. It's pointless to practice the wrong thing. If it's not terribly off, I'm going to just give you the okay to press on. The quizzes will be anonymously critiqued in the next week. I need to have them early, so I can make the next week's topic. It literally takes a week to assess the stuff and tailor the topic to what people need to move forward. Procrastinating puts me off, but it also robs you of an opportunity to see your work and understand how it relates to the next topic.
Each quiz consists of three parts.
Observation
Action
Analysis
Observation:
I set up a still life and talk about it's relevance to the topic. You will see the concept at work in real life, instead of just reading about it.
Action:
Do stuff.
Analysis:
This may be a critique of something I did at some point, a masterwork study, a "field trip" (outside your house is totally in the field xD ). Unfortunately, I can't take you to point things out. Unless you're in the NYC/North Jersey area. Then I can set something up.
Like a quiz in any other subject, ask me questions and review your notes before you start. Try to go through the quiz without help. I need to see where you really are. It's an honor system, but remember: You're not cheating on a quiz, you're just cheating yourself.
Everybody draws. The vast majority don't draw well and will never learn. These three things will be the tools that free you from the s**t art traps that most people stumble into and never get out of.
Dailies:
Exercises where you practice what you learned. No s**t, right? But you'd be surprised how many people don't do that. Instead, they bullshit themselves by practicing what they don't know or doing it once and calling it practice.
These are meant to be done for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour (maximum) per day, every day. Repetition is an important part of internalizing the material.
Each week I'm going to post a new subject. (If I can't, I'll let you know and you keep doing the dailies for the next week.)
Quote:
Submitting drawings:
1. Save your work. Make a folder and in it, make a new folder for each week. Also keep a folder of your original quizzes and your best daily for that week. We'll be going back periodically to revisit and you'll need the old art.
2. Email me full resolution, unaltered scan/photo of each quiz as an attachment. Do not link unless it's a dropbox link. I ask for an email because I don't want you seeing each other's quiz results. The next topic is based on them and I want them to be anonymous in the videos. If you don't want to participate in the critique (which defeats the purpose) then feel free to just post them here. No sense in keeping them entirely to yourself.
3. I want to see the edges of the page. If you scan, move it so there's room from the edge. Put something a different color on top of it and scan. That way, I can see the edges of the page.
4.The quiz comes before the dailies. The quiz lets me know what the next topic needs to be, so I need them early in the week. The opening task is always very fast and the quiz takes the longest to do, so I suggest doing your opening task and watching through to the videos until the quiz. Think about the information and the next day, watch 1-4 again. Then do your quiz. That way, I'll have them by wednesdayish instead of saturday and you'll have given yourself time to make sure you understand the material.
5. Post the opening task (the first week it's the prelim) here ASAP. That's what I'll critique during the week to help you with your dailies. My opening exercise will be shown in the video each week if I can manage it.
6. Post your best daily for the week in the thread at the end of each week. I recommend you post them all every few days. The feedback gives you a push in the right direction as you go. Whether you do your dailies as instructed is up to you. But if you just do one and post it at the end of the week, it shows. You'll be cheating yourself out of your own improvement, because it's by drilling that we make the information stick. I don't care what you name dailies.
7. Link your opening tasks here. Name it "task [week#]. After you post yours, critique one other person's. Speak to them directly, so they know who is telling them. Try not to critique the same person two weeks in a row, if it's possible. It's best if you make sure you've gotten to everyone before going back to someone you already did.
8. Help each other if you see someone struggling. Like I said, I'm not a teacher. I'm just putting the information out there while I do what I do well. Critique. I'm working on the same stuff as you guys (which I post too).
Contacting me:
email: elvenboyslut@gmail.com - This is ONLY for sending your full res images. Don't talk to me there. If you don't want to email there are other options.
This thread: This is a really slow forum, so ask here first if it can wait. I don't plan to check the thread every time. I have my own improvement to worry about to.
tumblr: If you have an account, you can use the "Ask me stuff" link in the "About" section for questions or send a dropbox link to your full res image.
PMs: I will accept a PM with a link to the file on dropbox or a DA submission that I can download at completely full resolution. Do NOT PM me otherwise. No profile comments at all. Don't ask questions there either. Ask them publically either in the thread or on tumblr using the "Ask me stuff" link.
(If you SERIOUSLY have no other way to send me your full res quiz, then you can PM me, but let me know in the thread that you sent a PM.) I check my email every day and there are times when I only come on gaia to post the videos and check for questions, so email is always best.
Quote:
Suggestions:
To you: Do the quiz over at the end of the week, before you move on and compare it to the first try. Don't look at the first one at all until after you've done the second. You want see it with completely fresh eyes. Post a side by side of the old and new in the thread. If you made an improvement, be proud. If you didn't, we can figure out why.
From you: If there's a topic you're like to cover, let me know. I'll make it happen, just not necessarily when you think it should.
A note on sketchbooks and graphite pencils: Don't expect to use them much. Keeping a sketchbook is very important. On your own time. On my time, we use loose paper, unless otherwise stated in the instructions.
