THE DRAWING BOARD - Daily updates
August 1st, 2009
Study And Practice
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I loved the Greg Manchess interview over at SideBarNation.com - Link I listened to it last night and I really agreed with the stuff he was talking about as far as natural talent, hard work and the ability to study and learn.
I’ve always felt that the key to art, or doing anything well is, of course lots and lots of practice, but also lots and lots of study. Learning by looking at other artists and trying to figure out how they do it.
A huge chunk of the art section of any book store is filled with how-to books. How to paint in oil, how to work in pastel, how to draw Star Wars, how to whatever. Basically a soon as you learn which end of a pencil to draw with and what sort of paper to use, they all become irrelevant.
I learned to draw when I was a kid by copying comic books, first Peanuts and then Tarzan and the Fantastic Four. Later I found Frank Frazetta and went crazy for his stuff, then Bernie Wrightson, Jeffery Jones and Barry Smith. Eventually I got into the classic book illustrators like Rene Bull and Arthur Rackham, Howard Pyle and NC Wyeth. Still later came realist like Andrew Wyeth, and even later came Drew Stuzan and Richard Amsel.
The point is that studying every one of those guys made my work richer and better.
See you tommorrow
Jeff
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