Conrad Martin Metz (1749-1827) published a series of plates, Studies for Drawing, chiefly from the Antique. 30 plates. Fol. London, 1785. S.K., designed for students of drawing to copy in their pursuit of knowledge of the classical ideal. Copy books like these substituted for plaster casts and for live models in the 18th and 19th centuries. Other books were: Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings, from the Restoration of the Arts - 1798 Metz's studies of the human figure - 1819 Studies... Read Full Story
Artistic Costume Designing was written by Louis Lipson in 1940 and revised in 1941. Mr. Lipson was the founder and director of Lipson's School of Costume Designing in Los Angeles. It is designed as a home study course, similar to many drawing courses that were popular at the time. It is now available as a ebook at Figure-Drawings.com . Not much more information is available about him but the book proves that he was well versed in costume design, he knew materials, he knew drawing and he knew... Read Full Story
Figure and Animal Drawing by Cecil G. Trew is available as an ebook at Figure-Drawings.com . From the first chapter: THE study of the human figure and the study of animals have so much in common from the artist's point of view that they may well be considered together. In fact the artist will gain much in both branches of his art if he recognizes their similarities and allows his knowledge of the one to aid him in the other. Even portraiture is only to a very limited extent an exception to... Read Full Story
Women at the Wall Click Here to Purchase a Print Today, I would like to introduce my bebes to the art of fellow fineartamerica friend Bruce Combs. Bruce is a retired English professor who has studied representational drawing and painting techniques with Jean Eliott Jones at StudioJean in The Hague, The Netherlands. There, he spent considerable time studying both the old masters and contemporary artists. He was especially inspired by the natural light sources and reflections on water found in... Read Full Story
Are you very artistic? What can you do artful? Me? Well, not a lot, that's for sure. I'm trying my hand at oil painting.... not finished yet with my first project. But I will finish it... you'll see (maybe!). Drawing? Well, only in a caricature way. You know, comic/cartoon caricatures. I love to draw comical people or things, I wish I could draw more seriously though. I love to decoupage! I've covered whole chairs with decoupage! This is one of the chairs I've decoupaged. And here is the... Read Full Story
My eyes are tired and closing. I look out the window of my train to see nothing but sky and wires. I watch the train smoke dance and strange, cubist faces with missing features begin to emerge. And I wonder if I will be able to remember them all, sketch them down quick in my book. But the day has been too long and there isn't enough will to reach for my pencil. My mind wanders and desperately imagines what is behind the wires, and the skyscrapers and the noise. My eyes are shut, but Im not... Read Full Story
Humble (24 inches by 18 inches, Japanese Watercolor and Ink) Click Here to Purchase a Print for $22 bucks! Oh yes, I have donned my cape and cowl once again, friends! I have leapt from the tallest buildings in a single bound. Chased down bad dudes in their Mazda Miatas using my superspeed. And I have gotten confessions from the worst criminals by getting them drunk using my "superpower" and turning their bottles of Evian into wine! (which has also made me a hit at cocktail parties). Actually... Read Full Story
This book or woodblock prints by Kuwagata Keisai (Kitao Masayoshi) was published in 1795 in Tokyo. It shows figures in all kinds of actions and has a chart of human proportion at the beginning. it is titled Ryakuga Shiki or Simplified Forms of Drawing or Rough Sketches or Admiring the Spirit and Form of Nature . According to various sources Hokusai was greatly influenced by his work. Very rare. a copy is for sale on Ebay . Search for the book Riaku Gwa Shik on Ebay . Here is a link to... Read Full Story
My dear friend Jenny bought me some gorgeous books for Christmas - she finds the most wonderful books. I have so enjoyed them, particularly reading about the early life of the illustrator Ernest H Shepard. He is best known for his illustrations of Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows - my favourite illustrations as a child were the ones he drew for A A Milne's children's poetry books, When we were very young and Now we are six. The books I've just enjoyed were written by Shepard himself... Read Full Story
Don't know a grawlix from a plewd or an agitron from an indotherm ? Finding words for the marks made by cartoonists is a funny business. A jokey article about the marks cartoonists make for things like movement, emotion and radiation is now the stuff of earnest research into the visual language of cartoons. It seems to have started with American cartoonist Mort Walker who in 1964 wrote a satirical article called "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes," for the National Cartoonists Society . In 1980 he... Read Full Story
