Drawing from Line to Life

Human Portraiture

Mike Sibley — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:16:53 +0000

There is a small Yahoo! group of artists that I belong to, run by Diane Wright called "Drawing Line to Life". Diane started the group to study my book of the same title and, over the last few months, she has started to review the book again. We have reached Chapter 8 - where I demonstrate drawing my granddaughter Charlotte - and she has decided to expand the topic to encompass human portraiture, which we'll discuss over the next eight weeks.

Drawing Boards - advice and tips

Mike Sibley — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:08:11 +0000

When I first began I was in the same situation that you - working on the dining room table at that time! From there I progressed to building my own drawing boards and have used Melamine-faced chipboard satisfactorily. My current draughtsman's drawing board is simply made of that too. MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) on its own would be fine. However, for best results...

Drawing Workshop co-organisers wanted

Mike Sibley — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:22:30 +0000

Following a successful workshop tour of the USA this year it’s time to begin planning for next year. Nothing beats local knowledge, so I’m always grateful to receive assistance from my local co-organisers and in return I offer a free workshop. USA & CANADA 2010 I’m planning to visit the US twice in 2010 - in May/June [...]

Drawing Papers and Drawing Sizes

Mike Sibley — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:18:57 +0000

PAPERS AND PAPER MATTERS Earlier today I was contacted by an artist who has signed up to my 10-week correspondence course - the first one I’m running at DrawSpace.com. She had a query about the Mellotex paper she had just purchased from my website’s shop. She asked: I ordered both the Super White and the Ultra [...]

Negative Drawing - part 3

Mike Sibley — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:17:46 +0000

MANAGEMENT We previously explored the ways that Negative Drawing can: Allow you to concentrate on one texture at a time. Draw a structure without reference to it’s three-dimensional shaping. Divide any area into a collection of easily-managed elements. Don’t try to draw many textures at one time. To draw effectively, you must understand the area you are working on, [...]

Negative Drawing - part 2

Mike Sibley — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:16:14 +0000

NEGATIVE DRAWING Negative drawing enables you to perform tasks easily. We previously saw: How we can control separation of background, midground and foreground elements. How we can isolate those areas we don’t yet understand. How Negative Drawing protect our virgin whites. Negative drawing involves the creation (or isolation) of an element within your drawing by simply drawing around it. To [...]

Negative Drawing - part 1

Mike Sibley — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:04:47 +0000

Negative drawing involves the creation of a element within your drawing by simply drawing around it. If, for example, you’re drawing a dog, it is often logical to draw the background first. This presents two benefits: you have an established setting in which you dog can live, so they will possess a unity; and you [...]

Drawing HAIR the Negative Drawing way

Mike Sibley — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:34:06 +0000

I’m involved in a series of discussions concerning the relative merits of the different techniques used for drawing hair - dog hair in particular - and I’m arguing for the use of Negative Drawing against the use of applying tone that is then cut through with a sharpened eraser. So, having set the scene, here [...]

Drawing Trees and Bushes

Mike Sibley — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:42:31 +0000

Drawing trees or shrubs really has to begin with observation. I’m forever looking at trees and trying to work out in my mind how I would draw them. You really need that information in your mind - the layers of foliage and how they stack one over the other; the side and front elevations of blocks [...]

Epson Counter-attack Successful!

Mike Sibley — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:08:24 +0000

My office workhorse Epson C66 decided to die yesterday. Annoyingly it was due to built-in obsolescence! I found a great little utility that not only solved the problem (reset the protection counter) but has opened up all sorts of money-saving goodies and improvements to the printer's use.