Function and Form – The Architecture and Mechanics of the Human Figure.
Few enter a life drawing class with any fundamental understanding of the underlying structure of the human form. There are those that believe that working purely from observation will reveal all they need to know about what lies under the surface. Unfortunately, this misconception is a prescription for failure. No master draughtsman ever relied on observation alone, one cannot draw well what they do not know.
The Mentler Method stresses what bones and muscles do instead of what they are. It removes the confusion by eliminating Anatomical Names and Anatomical drawings, and replacing them with practical names and grouping them by Mechanical Function; i.e., function creates form.
How To Sharpen Your Way To Dull Insipid Drawings. We realize the many venues spend a great deal of time showing novice practitioners how to sharpen their pencils and crayons to beautiful long fragile needle points. Sharp pencils have their place, but it is not the first order of business in learning to draw. Unfortunately, […]
In this 4-day workshop Michael Mentler will go over classical mediums and substrates used in Renaissance Bottegas’. Michael will also cover in-depth head construction using the proprietary CSI proportion system and the best Aspective views. Additionally, he’ll demonstrate the construction of the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Attendees will learn how to develop Sanguine Velatura’s; starting with dry media on linen panels and transforming drawings into paintings seamlessly. This workshop goes beyond drawing what one sees by revealing what to look for and sets forth the needed skill-sets to proceed on one’s path to mastery. Enroll today to attend this workshop on November 11-14, spaces are limited.
December 10, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.
When one looks at Albrecht Durer’s works, particularly his drawings and engravings, it is easy to become overwhelmed. Albrecht never met a detail he did not like. His works are some of the best lessons in using hatching to describe form if one takes the time to dissect and analyze them. The master engravers, in […]
Leo Putz _B. 18 June 1869, in Merano_ D. 21 July 1940, in Merano He began his studies at the age of sixteen at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he studied with the history painter Gabriel von Hackl. From there he when to study at the Académie Julien in Paris. His work encompasses Art Nouveau, Impressionism, and the beginnings of Expressionism. […]
Louis Frederick Grell (November 30, 1887 – November 21, 1960) was an American figure composition and portrait artist based in the Tree Studio resident artist colony in Chicago. He received his formal training in Europe from 1900 through 1915 and later became an art professor at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 to 1922, and at […]
Starting with Edward Goodall 1794-1870, there is a linage of Goodall Artists in England until 1982. Edward Goodall was born near Leeds, Yorkshire, where his Quaker uncle raised him. He went to London in his early teens and began as an apprentice to a printer and learned the art of steel line engraving. He became Edward […]
The latter half of the 19thc and first quarter of the 20thc diverse things happening in different parts of the Globe. Here we have a Painter trained in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts French Academic manner which painted things that looked like things. They were primarily recorders of Nature. Painting subjects largely dictated by the government. […]
This type of genre realism was greatly out of favor when we attended the Layton School of Art in the mid-60s. They are still not held in high regard by the art establishment. Their social-realism and folksy genre scenes tend toward Rockwellism and contain too much illustrative narrative to be taken very seriously. What can […]
Charles H. Woodbury was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, while an undergraduate at MIT he became at 19 the youngest member of, the Boston Art Club. After graduation, he painted the New England coastline exhibiting and selling his works. In 1891 went to study at Academie Julian in Paris. It was the time of the Impressionist […]
