Tutorials, Art and Website Design

Portraits can be one of the hardest pieces of artwork to get ‘right’.

This is because we all spend a lot of time looking at other people’s faces. We are familiar with the array of shapes and proportions, but is seems to be difficult to put them accurately onto paper without preconceptions.

Follow this portrait tutorial at my new site drawing-tutorials.com

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This is a recent double portrait drawing I created from an old wedding photograph for my grandparent’s 60th (Diamond) wedding anniversary.

The focus is on the faces and expressions, with a much rougher, sketchy style blending into the clothing and flowers in the shoulder region of the picture.

The mix of texture (in terms of the pencil strokes used) is intended to give a more interesting range of marks on the paper from a purely abstract point of view.

The techniques demonstrated specifically in my fundamental portrait drawing tutorial were used to create this drawing.

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Street painting is an experience I recommend to anyone and everyone.

It is good exercise, most certainly gives you good practice at taking criticism.

It is also a great opportunity to work quickly, at a large scale and under pressure, because you have to wash and scub it all away before midnight (or you turn into a pumpkin… only kidding).

Below you can see the first of my street paintings on the road. I was of course doing it all legally, with an official “Madonnari” license in the centre of Florence on via Calimala, just off Della Republica.

For my first street painting I decided to rely more on my creativity than getting bogged-down with the technicalities of replicating famous portaits as precisely as possible.

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Webcanvas is a large online digital painting project.

A large ‘artwork’ that is purportedly the largest collaborative painting in the world.

It is free to look at and you have to register (for free) to add your own graffiti to it - because that is essentially what it is - a giant digital graffiti wall.

You are given a couple of levels of zoom to get a broader overview of a segment of the wall, but the facility to look at the wall as a whole is not yet possible.

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Fez is an upcoming 2D and 3D PC Platform-Adventure game with a post-modern 8-bit style. The game is developed by independent game developer Kokoromi.

The unbelievably cute and cool character, Gomez, is 2D and the environment which you have to navigate can be twisted between 2D and 3D.

If all this doesn’t make complete sense to you, read on and then watch the Fez gameplay footage video from GDC 2008, and all will become clear. It may seem like any other platform game, but keep watching it to see the surprise innovation. Read more »

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Zbrush is for artists who don’t like getting bogged down with all the technical faff of 3D Computer Software, but do want to try their hand at creating 3D art, sculptures, illustration or animation by using digital methods in artistic ways.

With no prior knowledge of more technical 3D Software like Maya, XSI or 3DSMAX, you can be up and running creating and texturing 3D sculptures within hours.

All you need is a free (trial) copy of Zbrush, which you can download here. It is also extremely beneficial to use a Wacom Pad or some kind of pressure-sensitive digital tablet, as you will find out by following the tutorials on this site.

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At the end of this page is a growing series of drawing tutorials which I have created and illustrated to depict the fundamentals of drawing through to figure drawing and portraiture.

These concise and precise academic drawing lessons are designed to be followed by anyone, from beginners to advanced professional artists.

I produce quite a varied range of artwork, some of which you can see in the Art Portfolio Gallery »

My art studies within the UK and in Florence, Italy have been combined together to enable you to learn and practice many varied techniques and tips.

I hope that you can then use these academic skills in creative, artistic ways, which you will adapt and develop into your unique personal style.

This example above, is a quick sketch drawn within a short-poses session. These short poses are the most common you will encounter in life-drawing classes. Most likely the model will stay still for between 5 minutes and 20 minutes, then proceed to either change to a different pose or have a short break.

The figure drawing below is an example of the more refined academic drawing studies. I rendered this drawing using some of the methods previously taught in 19th century ateliers, and now in a growing number of modern drawing and painting academies.

These free, practical drawing tutorials are created for you to learn the methods of the masters.

Basic Drawing Skills - How to sharpen your pencils »

Daily drawing to improve observational skills with Shape Exercises »

Photo realistic portrait drawing tutorial »

Life drawing study - Measured drawing from observation »

Life drawing study - Articulating the outlines and shadows »

Loose figure sketching - Five minute poses »

Loose figure sketching - Ten minute short poses »

Sketching tips for 20 minute poses »

More drawing tutorials are on their way for both beginners and experienced artists.

Here you can browse through my Art Portfolio Gallery

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This is the first part of a series of free online tutorials which guides you through the various steps taken to produce a classical figure drawing.

2B and HB graphite pencils are my main two grades of pencil. Some people also prefer to use a 2H, although I would not initially recommend using hard pencils like the 2H because they are more prone to irreversibly damaging the paper through indentation.

By using a mechanical pencil and changeable, replaceable leads, you gain a number of advantages:

They are quicker to sharpen to a finer point; They are more portable (lots of leads and different grades can be carried easily); The leads cost less than wooden pencils; There is no need for a blade (Xacto knife or craft knife) to shave off the wood and there is less waste produced from sharpening. Although there are all these benefits, some people still prefer to use normal wooden pencils, as they feel that the weighting is different and they are more natural.

To sharpen the lead a two-grade sandpaper pad (made by Faber Castell) is used. A grey (not white) putty rubber is good for erasing, as it is less destructive to the paper.

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