Art Curriculum Help!

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Hey and thanks for stopping by!

I'm currently putting together a full-scale art curriculum for myself since, frankly, I cannot find any artschools in Norway that are either not too traditional or too mumbojumbo.
But I need your help. What kind of death traps should I avoid? What's the hardest parts? And what are the easy parts?
Advice from anyone with experience within teaching art would be greatly appreciated.

At the moment I'm on a 3-month martial arts/language trip to China, but I'm hoping to have a concrete plan to work on when I get back home (2nd of June).
Right now I'm trying to enjoy as much of the Chinese culture as I can, but I churn out the eventual sketch which I will upload to a sketchbook here so you can see what level I am currently on (though the lack of a scanner means photos of any traditional stuff).

At my disposition I have a Wacom Intuos 3 A5 tablet and of course pens, pencils and paper. I'd love any suggestions on different kind of paper, pencils (mechanical vs "normal ones"?) to get for basic sketching and life drawing.
I figure most of my anatomy studies and life drawings will be done on paper while more complex stuff like colour and enviroments will be done digitally.

I've set aside 8 hours a day and ALL my progress will be uploaded to CA.org.
I have split the day into four two-hour batches and with the help of ryanoir and Andrew Sonea I've split the "basics" into different "classes".

Anatomy:
Booklist:

• Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis
• Drawing Heads and Hands by Andrew Loomis
• Guide to Life Drawing Bridgman by George Bridgman
• Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman
• Der Nackte Mensche by Bammes
• Atlas of the Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck

First off I'll start with studying Loomis' books and life drawing. Loomis I will study from the safety of my working space (which I have yet to set up) and as for life drawing I will attend all the sessions of all the nearby galleries I can find, as well as coffeshop creeping. Geastures will be done (probably using lovecastle and pixelovely). Memory studies.

I'll follow up with Bridgman after Loomis and then go on with Bammes, I'll add in some photostudies to the mix and in the end masterstudies.

I've also been reccommended studying Hogarth. Thoughts, people? Anything I should swap out?


Values:

I've been told to study values before color and light. What kind of studies are preferable? So far studies from life (including casts, selfportraits), screen caps, photos (both greyscale and colour) and masters is the current order in which I'll do it.

Any thoughts? Kinda stumped on what to add. Suggestions pretty please?


Shapes:

Silhouette studies, negative/positive shapes, thumbnail drawings.

Stumped here as well. Merge value and shapes into one subject, maybe? Thoughts?


Colour and Light:
Booklist:

• Color and Light - A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney
• The Dimensions of Colour by David Briggs

Studies from life, to photos, to masters.

Suggestions on approches to this?


Perspective:
Booklist:

• Basic Perspective Drawing by John Montague
• Perspective Drawing Handbook by Joseph D'Amelio

Lifestudies, photostudies, masterstudies.

Tips? Ideas?


Environments:
Booklist:

• Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson

Life, thumbnails, photostudies, masterstudies.


Tips? Ideas?

History:
Material list:

• Wikipedia's pages on the History of Western Art
• Simon Schama's series on art

Not too serious about this, just an addition.


Imagination and Challenges:

These hours I will spend doing drawings from imagination, utilizing what I'm currently studying, to make sure my brain does not rot and to get some more fun into it all.
I will also do the ConceptArt.Org challenges here, my goal will be to finish at least one of the challenges every week.


Various:
Booklist:

• The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed
• Imaginative Realism by James Gurney
• Sketching: Drawing Techniques for Product Designers by Koos Eisse
• Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton
• The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expressions by Gary Faign

Extra stuff I want to learn/go through.
Additional topics:

• Animal/Creature anatomy
• Vehicles/industrial design

All help is greatly appreciated! Everything from book suggestions to study methods to tips about classes to shearing of sheep! Everything you tell me takes me one step closer!

Also, feel free to share your experiences with similar attempts.

[ryan mcshane]

get on with it then

[dierat]

For anatomy books, I'd like to recommend Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton. And for perspective, I found the Massive Black downloads by Carl Dobsky very helpful.

Other than that, my only advice is to start small and work your way up. It's like a building a structure out of bricks; you need a solid foundation first, then build on what you know. It's easy to get overwhelmed if you try to master everything at once. Good luck and godspeed.

[JJacks]

Sounds pretty ambitious. I would study value and shape before anatomy since understanding the very basics will aid you in figure drawing. Also I think shape could be a part of working with composition.

And try your best to paint from life as much as possible during your color segment. Photos don't really do real color and light much justice.

[Incinerated]

May I suggest studying composition aswell, oh and have a nice trip

[JeffX99]

The best advice I can offer is to do as much of this study from life...with traditional media and with a traditional approach (working large and at an easel). Use the books to support and guide your efforts to carefully observe and translate. Study one thing at a time until you understand it well. Stay focused on the fundamentals of composition, accurate drawing/perspective, value, edges and then color. Still lifes are an excellent method for studying every aspect of visual art (except the scale, light and texture of the landscape). For landscape study get out there and paint it.

Additional books:
"Drawing Scenery" by Jack Hamm - good for composition
"Alla Prima" by Richard Schmid - good for everthying
"Drawing Essentials" by Deborah Rockman - good for learning sight measuring and solid observational drawing

Good luck!

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Cheers for the great responses, people!

I'll definitely add composition in to the mix! Anyone knows a good resource for learning about it?

Also, JeffX99, I was looking through your Plein Air thread, what kind of paints do you recommend for someone just starting out? Brands, colours, brushes etc?

[JeffX99]

Oils are generally the best choice for plein air for a variety of reasons...but they take some adjusting to (but so does any painting media). I like Utrecht brand paint - it is professional grade and reasonably priced. But there's a lot to be aware of before jumping into oils or plein air work - there is euipment you'll need, etc. For brushes I use Robert Simmons "Signet" series in flats. Ikeep my colors very limited - a set of warm and cool primaries plus white. There are a few plein air threads around that many of us have contributed to if you can find them.

[Andrew Sonea]

If you want to get into oils, then this is a good starting point:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98647

All you need are a couple brushes, a couple tubes of paint (black plus white being simplest, but look up limited palettes like the Zorn Palette) and a canvas. You don't even need solvents, mediums etc.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Cheers for the advice. Though I'm still uncertain about adding in oils as it's going to be a whole new medium for me (never used it, ever) and it seems like quite a complicated process. More information on the subject would help a lot!

[JeffX99]

Oils aren't as complicated as they seem - but no rush - get to them when you're ready to start painting.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Alright so now it's about one and a half week till I'm going to start this "program". Are there any more advice anyone would like to give? Everything is much appreciated!

[Conniekat8]

don't forget the 2D design elements...
Form, Principles of organization, Harmony, variety, balance, proportion, movement economy
Also, elements of art: Linem shape, value, color and texture... and how to combine and use them all....
Usually those are taught in begining design classes... in most US schools they are required before embarking on most of the stuff you already listed.
Here's one of the textbooks used: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fundamenta.../dp/0073526525

[arenhaus]

"Visual Literacy" for composition and creativity.
Sheppard's works on visual anatomy, especially "Drawing the Living Figure".
Hard to beat Ken Hultgren on animal anatomy (and incidentally dynamic drawing).
"The Illusion of Life" is a textbook on animation and animation history, but it helped me with drawing a lot; perhaps more than any other book. Animation is a great teacher of good drawing.

[sone_one]

from bammes id get "die gestalt des menschen"... i dont know "der nackte mensch", but as far as i know die gestalt is the most complete of his books.

id also add "oil painting techniques and materials" by harold speed to that list.


[edit] and i learned A LOT from this thread, back when d.r. darrow and ron lemen, been posting.

[blogmatix]

Advice/request: start a sketchbook thread here on CA, as a record of your progress. Others will eventually learn from it. But it is also sometimes useful to look back through old drawings, otherwise it is easy to forget where you were and how long a way you have come.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Conniekat8: 2D design elements it is! I'll look into that book!
arenhaus: Which Visual Literacy book? There's quite a few. I'll look into the other ones as well, especially the Ken Hultgren one!
sone_one: I'll compare the Bammes book and pick one. I'll also look into the oil painting book when I venture into oils.
blogmatix: A sketchbook is already up (link in OP), but it only contains a few sketches I did in China. It will, however, be updated daily (or near-daily) when I start on this craziness! That's one of my inspirations for actually doing this, it keeps me going and makes sure I don't slack off.

At the moment I'm refurnishing my room (Not enough drawing space!) and recovering from a slight hospital visit. Almost there!

[sone_one]

the harold speed book "oil painting techniques and materials" is not as much about oilpainting exclusively as you might think.
his books are rather about fundamental concepts of thinking... hard to put into words since i aint completely got the full picture yet. i consider it the best investment i ever did, considering what i got for its price.

[Flake]

the harold speed book "oil painting techniques and materials" is not as much about oilpainting exclusively as you might think.
his books are rather about fundamental concepts of thinking... hard to put into words since i aint completely got the full picture yet. i consider it the best investment i ever did, considering what i got for its price.

Yeah, the Speed books are dense, they have a lot of information to digest.

They're worth re-reading, some of the concepts flew right over my head entirely the first time round.
The words were identical but my brain wasn't ready to absorb them back then.

I'm 99% certain the same thing will happen if I re-read them two years from now.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Alright, so I'm ready to start this. I got my work space set up (Photos below, though it was rather messy when the shots were snapped)

There's been a slight change of plans, though. As my parent thought it was best if I applied to an art school, just for credentials.
The official deadline to apply is over, but when I contacted the school they said they had a few open spots left. Thus, I'll have to see if I might have to attend this fall, but I'm going to go through with this project regardless.
Naturally, the first thing I'm going to do is some tasks I have to do for the art school application. They are as following:

• Draw a chair in a room. Use values to describe the chair and the surrounding room.
• Use colour to visualize three or more objects (abstraction is allowed). Colour should be the carrying element.
• Visualize "irritation" in a drawing, painting or 3-dimensional object
• Up to five additional works.

Once again, going to start up my sketchbook now, you can view progress etc from there.

[Flake]

Dude, you have to really get to work. Like now.

Right now, you have a few loose sketchbook pages.

I realise things will have changed from back in the day, what with me being ancient and all and that I have no clue about Norwegian art school but what you've posted so far would not be an acceptable entrance portfolio for art school in my country.
It would scrape you a pass in high school art.

It's not so much about the skill level but the tiny amount of work demonstrates a lack of interest and dedication (or at least that's how whoever is in charge of admissions is likely to read it)

Less theoretical curriculum and posting , more drawing.

I'm not trying to freak you out here but you just need to get stuck in to the only thing that matters, the work.
Looks like you have a totally sweet place to work in so get into it and stop worrying about some ideal pathway, a lot of it is trial and error anyway..

Good luck.

/2p worth

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Yep, that's the phase I'm entering now. But it's less a portfolio and more the tasks that you submit.
So right now my priorities are in submitting those tasks + a couple more.

Today I did some hand sketches, you can check them out in the my sketchbook.

[Johanaan]

Hey there. I just wanted to thank you for your post with the literature you're using. I've been searching for the title of that Bammes book for quite a while now. So thanks
Since this is an old post I hope you're still here and improving yourself. Cheers.