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| Encyclopedia for WC Terms, definitions, etc! General art lessons from different sources Danial Smith and W&N color charts |
YouTube Portrait Painters (Some of my favorites) |
Where to get inspiration and study other’s works |
| Measurements EyeBalling Game |
Portrait Drawing References (Photo links) |
Copy-Mimic-Pastiche another/Master’s style |
| YouTube Misc Topics General Topics Proko podcast WC paper sizing |
Posing/Photographing Portraits Taking Interesting Portraits (This takes you to another page). |
Inspirational Artists and Links Artworks I love to study! |
| Perspective Composition |
DRAWING General | National/Regional Groups, Competitions, and Shows |
| PAINTING Watercolor General Transfer Photo to paper |
Life/Figure Drawing Lessons References (and links) | Local groups |
| WC Washes | Museum and other reference for inspiration Including a good YouTube page. | Contact Me |
| Useful Links |
To SNIP an image for reference (better than print screen) press WinKey+Shift+S. The images go into your username>Pictures>Screenshots folder.
Artistic Reference Sites & some HOW TO:
This page is a never ending collection of favorite sites for drawing and painting reference and learning.
THE Encyclopedia for watercolor is HandPrint.com They include a ton of information on papers, brushes, paints, palettes, technique, and much more!
Jackson’s Art has a great amount of information on Watercolor terms and explanation. These are just a few. A good store located in London.
Art Terms Explained: Watercolour Painting A to Z list of terms.
Watercolour Paper Everything you every wanted to know
Marshall Vandruff (the man) is an encyclopedia of art knowledge! Marshall’s YouTube channel He did a pod cast with Stan Prokopenko on the Proko channel.
Paul Ingbretson is very heady but very interesting! Search for specific topics and speed them up to 1.5% https://www.youtube.com/@PaulIngbretson
Color charts are interesting to review the relative temperature of a color to other colors with which you are familiar.
Danial Smith’s Interactive Color Map (CIE-Lab) (Color Chart). It shows all their colors. Crazy.
Winsor & Newton colour (color) Charts for WC Oil Acrylics to download their PDF It ID’s their properties, staining, transparent, opaque, lightfastness ,etc.
Measurements
Eyeballing Game. (Be careful to not click the adds. If you want to play again, refresh your browser!)
This is great test of your eye and your computer mouse skills. Visual measuring is real skill needed for drawing portraits. For example; look at someone’s face and determine how long their nose is. Is it longer or shorter than the “Standard” to which you are accustom? If looking for an accurate likeness, practice guessing the distances, then measure for accuracy (Guess then Check!)
YouTube Misc Topics
General YouTube Topics:
Draftsman Podcasts are general topics with in depth discussion. They are long but informative!!
Draftsman Podcast: Stan Prokopenko and Marshall Vandruff Season 1 , season 2 , Season 3, There is a season 4 I think. Go to the comments on each episode and see what they talk about. They are long so be selective on your subject of interest. I sped them up to 1.5 or 1.7 speed.
Sizing is a gelatin applied within the mixture when paper is made or applied on the surface. It purpose is to keep the paint from soaking in! You can’t get soft blending without sizing. Don’t skimp on cheap paper!! Always buy 100% Cotton (sometimes called Rag) paper. If it doesn’t say it is 100% cotton, it isn’t.
How to Restore Sizing on Watercolour Paper Yeoh Yi Chie 13:22 This is interesting how he puts two products on WC paper to regain the effects of sizing. I am experimenting and haven’t come to a final opinion. At 4:23 he demos Holbein Sizing straight from the bottle. I needed to drip it on the paper and apply like a bead wash. At 5:27 he demos DS Watercolor ground, he dilutes it to about “tea” consistency. I applied like a bead wash on a steep angle.
Perspective:
These are good to watch in this basic order.
Non-Technical Understanding of Perspective – YouTube 9:19 Stephen Travers:
When to Use 1,2 or 3 Point Perspective How to Know 17:50 Stephen Travers:
Perspective Drawing For Painters – Tips Tricks and Techniques 29 min Liron Yanconsky. I liked the first 18 Min, I didn’t like his paintings as examples.
Eye Level – An Essential Perspective Tip for Artists 8:04 Love Life Drawing. More details, excellent lesson on eye level and the horizon line.
Why Is Eye Level So Important – 6 Key Points 13.44 Stephen Travers:
Train your eye: Easy perspective practice while walking Love Life Drawing. 8:25 Excellent lesson on 1,2,3 point perspective. Shows buildings and graphics to explain.
These are a little too advanced in Perspective to watch first.
Real-Time Building Drawing Demo for Beginners 20:17 Stephen Travers:
Perspective Made Easy 20 min Stephen Travers:
Perspective Eye Level vs Horizon Which is Misleading? 11:56 Stephen Travers:
Composition
Stan Miller on the MOST Basic Composition. Stan Miller on YouTube Watch all 3
Composition Lesson 1. He first talks about the differences in visual pathways; Left vs. Right brain. In Lesson 2 , he shows examples of the masters. See the greatest point of contrast and greatest point of interest. Lesson 3 More of the same; words of the song vs. the music. Watch the rest when you have time. He is amazing!
Also, see Stan Miller, in Painting WC below.
Ian Roberts: Mastering Composition, Simplifying the Painting Process
The #1 Composition Rule You Cannot Break. This is excellent and a MUST watch. Keep the viewers eye within painting! I own his book, I recommend it!!!
How to Compose a Painting
Here is Ian Roberts’ list of many Composition videos.
There is lots on the web and YouTube about “Dynamic Symmetry” which uses diagonals to place elements and angles of a painting.
Also there is plenty on using Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, golden number, (1.618) golden section, divine section, Fibonacci sequence.
Leading lines, are the lines that lead to your area of interest. The lines of perspective may be used to lead you to the focal point… Also bridges, handrails, fences, rivers, mountains, trees, etc.
Using an arabesque in a painting. Sounds fancy! It is an interesting compositional tool which should be considered with any of the many armatures in design like Cross/cruciform, L, S, rule of 3rd, triangles, etc. Ian Roberts discusses these and more in his book and YouTubes. They are the curving lines that lead your eye and keeps it in your painting. Making your eye move around the painting can be done with tree branches or people pointing, arrangement of bushes or a stone path, etc.
Many YouTube say the Rule of Thirds is just a overly simplified method.
I do find it all very interesting. The question is did ALL the Masters use these as a tool? Some try to prove they did. Or does the fact that when they paint something that looks pleasing it happens to fall within these rules?? “Chicken and Egg”, which came first? I do admit I have read lots about them and consider them when I layout my paintings!
Read about it, think about it, discuss it with your friends, study successful paintings, and let it sink in. Consider it all when you compose your paintings.
Sycra Yasin’s YouTube channel Look at his YouTube playlist for “Composition for Artists” There are 9 on composition and he has many other excellent drawing videos.
See the link below on Groups and Competitions to see paintings with winning compositions. Search these groups for their past shows. Studying these paintings one-by-one and try to figure out “why did they get accepted, and why did they win”? “What is the secret??!!!” Consider gathering your friends and have a discussion group… This could be done using Zoom in your homes.
YouTube fundamentals for ALL WC artists. (mostly new to WC)
Painting Watercolor – (general-beginner)
David R. Smith, A MN artist. I recently took a workshop of his. He paints dark, rich, loose, and wet. Like drippy wet!. On his web page he gives us many good beginner fundamental videos.
How to Transfer a Drawing Using Graphite Paper with David R. Smith
Consistency of Paint in Watercolor with David R. Smith
Moisture Quality of Paper in Watercolor with David R. Smith
Values in Watercolor with David R. Smith
Edges in Watercolor with David R. Smith
Stan Miller Lesson 11 / Control your Brush / Watercolor His scale of how defining wetness of a brush
Stan Miller Lesson 12 / Controlling your brush in Watercolor Part 2
Also, see Stan Miller, above in composition section.
Watercolor Washes
Watch Sean D’Souza’s YouTube.
Watercolor Bead Wash; Paint these washes on an angle so the water and pigment flows horizontally down the paper with a bead. As you move down with a bead wash, DO NOT go back or you will disturb the wash. You will get a bloom!! Wait until it drys if you must correct something. You can change the color as you carry the bead down. Skies are not all the exact same blue: mix up the sky with a yellow or violet, but you must do it while the bead is wet.
Part 1 of 3 Choosing the brush, big and comes to a tip
Part 2 Glazing over a first wash
Part 3 He does the washes on thin paper. He shows how to keep the bead. Which size brush depends on the area you will cover.
Watercolor washes: how to get them wrong
Liron Yanconsky (I follow this guy’s YouTube) He is a very good teacher! These are just a few of my favorite basic techniques for new painters. I will continue to add to these.
6 MOST Important Watercolor Techniques to Master shows simple but important washes, flat, gradient, wet-in-wet, lifting.
How Timid Mixing is Ruining Your Paintings using just the tip and not using the whole barrel of the brush.
This one is on mixing greens on your painting for a more natural green vs. on the palette. Then he paints pine trees both ways. It’s from 2018, he gets better in later videos. Improve Your Watercolor Paintings With This Simple Tip
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Portrait Painting YouTubes I subscribe
미술부화실 misulbu His washes are amazing. As of May 2021, he is my favorite portrait artist to watch! He starts with the background and gets amazing life-like flesh! Check out the detail he gets in the hair and fabric using flat brushes. I personally don’t want to paint to his level of detail and realism.
J.hunsung Watercolor he is very much like Misulbu in style. I like how he shows his palette so you can get a sense of wetness and his color puddles!
ChaYeon Painter. Excellent painting demos! I like to start my portraits with a blue under painting. He uses different colors than I do now… He takes the paintings WAY further than I would. I often feel like I want to tell him STOP! Sign it!!!
Café Watercolor – Eric Yi Lin: Watercolor artist. Very well done in his simple, classic style of washes. He gives tips easy to understand for all levels of artists.
Portrait Drawing References (photos)
– Danny Santos. He is a photographer based in Singapore who takes amazing candid portraits of interesting people. His sites are excellent sources of drawing reference. https://www.dannyst.com/ facebook/dannyst.photography
Danny Santos Portraits-of-strangers, He describes in shooting Portraits of strangers how he approaches strangers and what he says. I found this inspiring and motivating.
Jeff Haines Charcoal portrait drawing. Wonderful work!
Unsplash is a source of FREE reference photos. https://unsplash.com/license, here is says: All images can be downloaded and used for free, Commercial and non-commercial purposes, No permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!)
Please read these two articles of mine:
Interesting Subjects make Interesting Portraits
How to Take Interesting Photo this gives tips on photographing a person.
Frederik Trovatten Photography Tips and Tricks, YouTubes: This guy is excellent on how to take Street Photography of strangers. He has MANY great videos to inspire and motivate ME to get out there!!! Must see!! Just two examples are:
You are NOT too shy for STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
20 Street Portraits in 7 Minutes [Street Photography Challenge]
Eric Kim, street photography, here he lists the ” 5 Tips How to Be Invisible When Shooting Street Photography” Very good video with many helpful techniques!! Keep the camera up after you shoot, act like you are shooting the background, not the person, or pretend you are shooting a video. He has many street photography videos. He also has a street photography blog.
Photo Portrait Tips to improve your look. (PHurley links also on “interesting portraits”)
These videos are excellent for posing portrait photography. He has many more on his YouTube page.
“It’s all about the Squinch!” Peter Hurley
This YouTube talks about your eyes and how lightly squinting makes you look better!
“It’s all about the Jaw!” Peter Hurley
This YouTube is about how to position your jaw. Forehead out-Jaw down
Peter Hurley’s web page has amazing portrait examples
General Drawing Lessons
Sycra Yasin’s YouTube channel Look on his home tab and playlist tab for excellent specific videos on drawing and many more subjects. (Note: There was nudity in some of his links!)
Drawing Art Academy Another good lesson in drawing the face, its features and figures.
Proko Channel Mind-Blowing Realistic Shading Tricks Shading an egg by Dorian Iten “If you can’t shade an egg well, how will be able to shade a head well?”
Proko, Shading Light and Form – Basics
Sharpen the drawing tools
Proko – Portrait Drawing 02 how to sharpen a charcoal pencil 4 min
Basic Drawing Technique – How To Sharpen A Drawing Pencil 4 min
How to Sharpen a Pencil With a Knife (for Drawing) Jake Bussell Art It is good, all you need to see is the first 2 min.
Figure and Life Drawing Lessons
Figure Drawing versus Life Drawing: (from wiki)
A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and postures using any of the drawing media. A life drawing is a drawing of the human figure, traditionally nude, from observation of a live model.
For Life Drawing information in Duluth, check out my article. Interested in modeling or attending?
Proko, Stan Prokopenko Here is the link to his play lists. Art and drawing instruction. He also did podcasts with Marshall Vandruff. |
Marshall Vandruff is an encyclopedia of art knowledge! This is Marshall’s YouTube channel
Andre Pijet These are some very good lessons in figure drawing and portraiture. It is amazing to watch how easy he makes it look; very inspiring to watch his movements. I strive to free up my motions as he does.
LoveLifeDrawing, Excellent lessons on drawing the figure and much more!! They collaborate with a site on Vimeo called Croquis Café.
Other figure drawing reference images, some with lessons
Croquis Cafe. This is like actual life drawing with live nude models. It was removed from YouTube because of nudity. Now you must watch them on Vimeo. You need to set up a login and pay a fee. https://vimeo.com/channels/figuary In February they produce one per day, normally one per week.
New Masters Academy Good lessons. They have timed models, some nude, some not. Another good resource to keep your hand and eye sharp! You need to look down on this YouTube page to find lessons.
Drawing Art Academy Good lesson in drawing the face, it’s features, and figures.
Reference.sketchdaily.net/ This is very good. gives different poses with a timer
Line-of-action.com and Quickposes.com
Posemaniacs.com
Jeff Watts: Friday Night Workshop – August 29, 2014 Excellent 3 hr YouTube showing 5 and 3 minute life drawings. Other YouTubes from Watts Atelier
Jeff Watts follows the Frank Reilly Method of drawing figures. Google Reilly Method for sample images.
Friday Evening Figure Drawing. These currently have clothed models doing real time poses.
Fineart.sk (General) Photo reference from FineArt. There is a link to
Photo references for comic artists https://www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com/
You can, of course, do a web search for “Gestural Figure Drawing” or similar phrases for a million YouTube lessons and photo examples.
Museum and other inspiration and reference sites
To SNIP an image for reference (better than print screen) press WinKey+Shift+S. The images go into your username>Pictures>Screenshots folder.
WooArts.com is an amazing site composed of hundreds of painting from artists with different styles. Many of their pages have interviews with the artist or some bio they put together. Consider studying one of these painting and try to duplicate their colors and textures (for your own use, of course). Check below on my page images that were accepted into national and regional shows. Try to figure out “why did they get accepted, and why did they win”? “What is the secret??!!!”
Creative Commons (Royalty Free Images) put in a search word to find references
Inspirational Artworks (Art Resource Library) looks like a blog page with millions of images. You can click on an index. It is not an https site!!
National Geographic (General)
PBase (General) Gallery of photos submitted for inspiration and purchase
Art Renewal Center (Master Studies) Museum images
www.Getty Museum
Pastiche or Copy – Artistic Inspiration
To copy or mimic another artist’s style. “Pastiche”:
I think this word is appropriate to mention here. Artists and photographers don’t “own” their style. They don’t own their poses. (Yes, there could be copyright issues, but I am talking about their colors and brushstrokes.) I feel there is a respect all artists deserve and it is up to us to develop our own unique style and voice.
There is a line between being inspired by an artist and copying their style. Don’t attempt to COPY their style but incorporate bits and pieces from every artist whose work we admire and want to emulate.
Try to copy artists/Masters you like for practice and to learn from them. What attracts you to their work? You can like their colors, washes, brushstrokes, try to learn from them, take from them, but leave some behind. Of course, NEVER copy someone’s work and pass it off as your own.
Yes, we go to workshops and try to paint like the instructor. That is what you are supposed to do!! But you cannot display these paintings in a show.
As I grow as an artist, I don’t feel I need to go to every amazing artist’s workshop. I am starting to be able to deconstruct what I like and try to incorporate it into my work.
I have more on different terms to research on my Model Release and Copyright page.
YouTube that morphs portrait images from an old Master.
YouTube of William-Adolphe Bouguereau a French academic painter. This is really cool. He paints with a tendency to have big eyes and small mouths. Can you see this, what else can you notice? (rhetorical) Probably the same model in a lot of them. Inspiring for me to find a few of these poses and try to copy them with my own subjects. You can’t use someone’s image but you can make your own. They don’t own the pose!
There are lots of Morphed images:
Fantastic Morphing Faces – Female Art Portraits
Other YouTube Morphing videos of women
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Inspirational Artists and Links
Enjoy this growing list of specific artists I admire.
Ewa Ludwiczak, she paints like Charles Reid. She is amazing and fresh. I want to do my life drawings like her and Reid.
Janet Rogers,I have not yet attended one of her workshops. I love her fresh colors and thin layers.
Kim Johnson, Very accomplished. Colorful paintings. Very bold and fresh washes. She has YouTubes.
Bev Jozwiak (pronounced Jaws’-wick). I love her drippy, rich backgrounds. She was on my list of workshops I wanted to attend, but, sounds like she retired from teaching, NOT painting!
Ted Nuttall,Ted is a master of thin layers of arbitrary color and freshness. He has a wonderful fresh style many admire and try to emulate. I am one. One signature element of his style are his “sloppy dots”. I love how these dots lead your eye around the portrait. I try to use a similar technique with dark values to lead your eye. I will darken some corners, make some lines darker, etc. Ted’s fresh, thin, transparent layers makes his portraits beautiful and what many of his admirers strive for in watercolor!!!
Here are just a few artists (like me) who seem to share a style similar to Ted’s. https://www.facebook.com/pamwengerwatercolor/
https://www.facebook.com/mareth.warren
https://michaelholter.com/
https://www.janheltonartworks.com/
https://kj-art.com/ Kim Johnson
https://steverothertart.com/ Steve Rothert
Michael Holter, I had the pleasure of taking a portrait workshop from him in 2019. I adapted many of his colors and washes. I have only really focused on his portrait demos.
Alvaro Castagnet.net/ Alvaro Castagnet is amazing in his use of neutrals and small simple details. I am inspired by his simplicity!
Eudes Correia A Brazilian artist living in Lisbon Portugal. Very loose and fresh. Looks like he paints quick but has very detailed focal areas. I love how he blends his colors into the background with what looks like a fresh splash! Check out his YouTubes. https://www.instagram.com/eudes_watercolor/
MarcosBeccari.com A Brazilian artist. His Instagram page has a million photos of his work to study!! He has many images of portraits water. The question is always what color is flesh? Mr. Beccari looks as if he uses some violet for his darks. I am going to study these closely. One thing I am also noting in so many images of his, are the examples of interesting poses and simple expressions. Also most are with high contrast. Instagram.com/marcosbeccari/ Beautiful work!
Pam Wenger. I like her brush work and layering on the portrait. I paint similarly and am drawn to these demos. I like the freshness in her hard edges, but a different style than mine. I learn something from each one!
David R. Becker, Landscape and plein air watercolor artist. He is very generous providing hour-long real-time unedited demonstrations and lessons. I don’t paint like him, but I always learn something! (He is not a portrait artist.)
Jan Helton, She is a lovely artist. She loves to paint birds and portraits. She has a monthly newsletter that is well written and informative.
Stan Miller, I have listed him other places. He is a classic master painter. Be sure to watch his 29 basic lessons.
Drew Struzan, You may not know his name but you will recognize his work for his movie billboards. I am drawn to his charcoal sketches on gray paper. I love the depth he gets in his drawings. His border within the drawing is very striking! I prefer to search on images of Drew Strazan.
National/Regional Groups, Competitions, and Shows
The following include links to groups showing paintings with winning compositions. See Composition tips above. Search these groups for their past shows. Study these paintings one-by-one and try to figure out “why did they get accepted, and why did they win”? “What is the secret??!!!” Consider gathering your friends and have a discussion group… This could be done using Zoom in your homes.
A one-stop-shop for art competitions is CaFE’ www.callforentry.org/ Check out the calendar for shows and due dates to apply.
To SNIP an image for reference (better than print screen) press WinKey+Shift+S. The images go into your username>Pictures>Screenshots folder.
National groups of which I am not yet a signature member: (remember you must paint a lot, and submit to be accepted!!!)
Transparent Watercolor Society of America (TWSA)
National Watercolor Society
American Watercolor Society
Transparent Watercolor Society of America
46th Annual Exhibition Watercolors.org/2022-exhibition. Change the year on the link to see other years winners. Watercolors.org/2023-exhibition here is the YouTube for 2023
The National Watercolor Society
They have provided for your enjoyment, inspiration and possible motivation YouTubes of their shows. This is the link (or search) “nws member exhibitions” See many years of winners!
American Watercolor Society
Here is a link to the AWS YouTube videos for their exhibitions and more.
2022 Associate members Online Exhibition YouTube
SAWE Catalog 2020 11th Annual Signature American International Watermedia Exhibition World of Watercolor & Beyond Feb-Apr, 2020
2021 Tennessee Watercolor Society Online Exhibition
Artists of Minnesota Spring Show participants and winners There are several years linked on this page.
Watercolor & Other Artistic Organizations and Groups. Top
Local groups of which I am a member:
Lake Superior Watercolor Society, I became a member of the LSWS in Spring of 2015. This group meets in Duluth, MN 9 mo/yr. A group of very skilled local WC artists.
Artists of Minnesota, I became a member of the AoM in 2016. This group has a Members Show in the Spring with demos and judged art show.
Arrowhead Art Club, I joined them in around 2010. This group meets the 3rd Monday, 9 months/yr in Carlton MN. An open painting group that paints in all mediums. Doors open at 9AM and a demo at 2PM and members meeting to follow.
Regional groups of which I am NOT a member, yet:
Bagley Area Arts Collaborative, Bagley MN Home page. BagleyAreaArtsCollaborative Facebook
Central Minnesota Watercolorists, St. Cloud MN
Minnesota Watercolor Society, Edina MN
NorthStar Watermedia Society, Roseville MN
Cook County Historical Society, Grand Marais, MN
Useful links:
https://www.prepostseo.com/ This site has many Free online tools. I have been using it to correct my grammar.
https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-photoshop/ This site shows other free photo editing software.
https://alternativeto.net It shows other free crowd-sourced software
https://www.photopea.com/ I have been suggesting using this as a free substitute for Photoshop.
https://www.youtube.com/@SetupSpawn This guy Matty McTech has lots of interesting links he calls “Powerful Websites” he shares on his YouTube. I like him
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Last updated: Nov 2022 added more and rearranged topics, Oct 2022, added more terms in composition, Jul 2022, added some links, Mar 2022, edits by Kate R
Ignore this info,
It is just for me to remember how to create an anchor on same page (or a different page see below). Good for long complicated document like this one.
- Just edit this and paste it in Text mode just before the destination text on the page. Yes there is an easier way but I am not taking any more time with this. In this example test will be the anchor word. (case sensitive, and use hyphen instead of spaces)
<a id=posing></a>
<a id=test></a>
Notice no quotes here! ON the test page it will put quote marks.
Tip, Jot it down or copy the name you just gave it. You can paste it in the next step.
2. Go back to Visual mode and go to the key word or phrase at the top of the doc. (The starting point) “Insert Hyperlink” with the #sign, #test, #posing
Another example what to paste and also a link to the top. If you do this, you need to Hyperlink the top line to #top
This needs to be at the top of the page <a id=”top”></a>
<a id=disclaimer></a>
<a href=”#top”>TOP</a>
3. To link to a different page you need to include the page in the hyperlink before the anchor name. This is the link to send me a message from my contact-me page.