Mike Sibley   Comment Posted Mar.18th, 2017, viewed 5 times

HI EVERYONE,

If you haven't completed the final drawing (I never did expect you to!) and you'd like to receive advice and critiques after the course ends please read on.

We don't have facilities for extending a course here at Drawspace, so go to the Workshop Plus page on my website. You'll see a big "upload" panel in the top right-hand corner - click that and post your final course work (at any stage). You won't see your work appear immediately - I'll critique it for you, post it to the page, and email you to let you know it's available. Be assured that I will continue to offer assistance and guidance at any time after the course has finished.

Many artists who take this course think it's centred around accuracy, but it's really about seeing in depth. By studying each small area individually, looking for features that can be picked out and those that can be emphasised, you learn to see ever deeper into the reference and gain a much greater understanding at the same time.

The majority spend time on Robbie and Henrietta and then skate through the rest. Yet, the reverse is far more useful. The dog and hen, with their sharply defined shapes and edges, are comparatively easy to handle, but wood and weeds require thought, study and work. To succeed realistically, all elements have to possess life - and that usually means including, inventing, exaggerating or manipulating the small features within them. That won't happen if you just take a broad overview. If that overview is the full extent of your mental picture, it's all you'll draw. So take your time, tackle it one section at a time so you understand it fully, and think about the lighting direction as you draw. You're trying to describe each three-dimensional shape and texture to your viewers as simply as you can, so work out how you can best use highlights and shade to do that.

As I'm five or more hours ahead of some of you and half a day behind others, I'll take this opportunity to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this joint adventure with you. I feel as though I'm about to lose touch with a group of good friends - and you've have worked hard and made advances in your work that really please me.

Thank You!