Pen & Ink: Studying, Learning as Continued Engagement
Overview: Learning & Art, Why?
I love keeping a sketchbook: drawing with pen and ink and a big element that keeps me engaged, aside from seeing others’ works or getting feedback on mine, is learning. This comes up enough in conversations with other artists, like exchanging favorites of current art books or resources, that I decided it would help me to write it down somewhere.
Recent Learnings
Here’s my own efforts that I can speak to (and maybe even recommend):
- 2024-11: “Upper Arm” with Dr. Bouftass’ at Palette & Chisel
- 2024-10: “Leg & Foot” with Dr. Bouftass’ at Palette & Chisel
- 2024-09: Glenn Vilppu’s same workshop, but in Vienna, Austria
- 2024-08: “Head & Hands” at Dr. Said Bouftass’ in-person (Palette & Chisel, 2024-07-10 to 2024-08-28).
- 2024-07: self-study of head via
- 2024-06: Glenn Vilppu’s week-long, 9-5 figure workshop
- 2023-12: nma.art studies
- 2023-present: daily figure drawing, self-study with books like Bammes, Vilppu, Tom Fox.
- 2003-2007: various college courses (and things like the now defunct Governer School of the Arts 2005).
Resources
Books
Here’s some other resourcesI can speak to–anything from “I couldn’t get through this” to “love this and read use it regularly”:
- Bammes’ “Complete Guide to Anatomy for Artists & Illustrators”
- Glenn Vilppu’s “Drawing Manual”
- latest edition from 2022
- "Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters" by Robert Beverly Hale
- “Complete Guide to Drawing From Life” by George B. Bridgman
- 5th Ed. (ISBN-13 9781454926535)
- “Anatomy for Artists: Drawing Form & Pose” by Tom Fox
- “The Electric State” by Simon StÃ¥lenhag
- “Mastering Atmosphere & Mood in Watercolor” by Joseph Zbukvic
- “The Skillful Huntsman: Visual Development of a Grimm Tale” by Scott Robertson
- “Figure Drawing: Design and Invention” by Michael Hampton
- 2nd Ed. (ISBN-13 978-0615272818) with red accent on cover
- “Anatomical terms of bone” by Wikipedia
- “Anatomical terms of location” by Wikipedia
- “Anatomical terminology” by Wikipedia
Auto-Curriculumn
Here’s a sort of “auto didact’s art curriculumn” I’ve written myself with input from friends with similar interests. I imagine this list is only really interesting if you have an obsession with figure and portraiture drawing. It’s useful to me, and hopefully to others, in that it’s a directed collection of resources towards a particular focus. I don’t imagine it’s realistic (or maybe even interesting) for anyone to rush through this list like one does through an actual academic institution’s curriculum.