Hello Steemers!!
Welcome to the first week of ‘Art School’.
The doors have opened and everyone is welcome!
But first let me tell you a little bit more about this initiative!
In the Steemit Art School we will follow a weekly schedule.
We will tackle 1 or more subjects per week which will include a few ‘Homework’ exercises.
-You can join in on ANY week!
-You can choose to skip a lesson if you aren’t able to do any homework that week and in the future you will be able to pick up on any older lesson.
-You can choose to do the homework any way you want ( in terms of medium ) digital/sketchbook/painting.. whatever!
- Those who want to get critiqued on their homework can ask for it in their blogposts or in the comments of the weeks lesson.
- Every week we will pick out a few people who excelled at doing their homework and they will receive a reward of a few ‘SBD or STEEM’!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions! Please leave them below!
TAG YOUR WORK WITH 'ARTSCHOOL' SO WE CAN FIND IT!
Now let’s start with WEEK 1 !
This week we will start with NEGATIVE SPACE! One of the most important skills to train when becoming a better artist.. It will help you in ways you aren’t even understanding yet!
Here is a quick video on DTUBE about Negative Space – https://steemit.com/dtube/@beekart/n2e6s7to
But to try and explain…What is negative space:
Negative space is all of the space surrounding a certain subject/object. The best way to show this is through a picture.
All the WHITE in this image is negative space.. The tree is reduced to a shape.. 'the shape of a tree' since we are always eager to see things in shapes.. it is how our mind works. But if try to overcome that urge we see just a shape.
If we would want to replicate this image we can approach it in 2 ways..
Either we paint the black parts where 'Tree' is.. OR we outline the shape of where the tree ISNT .. you follow? .. You have the same result but 2 very different ways of looking at the image.
This concept is for a lot of people very hard to grasp and especially execute when doing a study.
But what do you gain from knowing / practicing this..
You train you mind to see things in a 3d space.. reduce it to a 2d shape and see it in relation to other shapes.
Which mean you are simplifying what you see in front of you and it allows you to become more accurate as you are focussing on 1 shape at the time.
It will help you get better at spotting values as you try to look for shapes in the same value range.. bundle them together and make them fit in relation to the other shapes..
What ends up happening is almost a categorization of shapes building a whole.. whatever that eventually is.. a face.. and environment or a still life study.. it doesn't matter. Eventually you can do this just by looking at what you trying to create/paint.
That is the skill you are training, it eventually will be unconsciously with you as you try to paint that portrait or find the right composition for that landscape painting you are making.
But it doesn't end there.. Because you look at shapes in relation to other shapes you also start to notice when things aren't quite right.. when proportions are off or when a form/shape doesn't seem to hold up to what it should be in your mind. ( This sounds super abstract I KNOW!) This is especially true when looking at anatomy studies or character drawings/designs.
To practice this you can try drawing figure drawings in a negative space
As you can see you don't actually need any of the 'information' of the figure it self to make out the pose.
Our brain is trained in shapes and silhouettes we can recognize almost anything instantly and this becomes even easier when we see something in relation to its environment.
HOMEWORK FOR WEEK 1 -
DRAW THE FOLLOWING IMAGE IN NEGATIVE SPACE ( meaning you just draw where the object isn't.. )
Do ATLEAST 2 of these 'Blind Contours'
( you can find more on www.posemaniacs.com / or google search 'posemaniacs' )Draw your hand from life in negative space in atleast 3 different poses! (see video for example.)
TAG YOUR WORK WITH 'ARTSCHOOL' SO WE CAN FIND IT!
I know it is a bit different than most 'contest' posts.. but it isn't a contest!
But if you do your best we will reward you by upvoting and the best of the class get a reward in 'SBD/STEEM'!
Thank you! Good luck!
Cheers!
Rogier / @beekart
Great idea @beekart. And a great lesson to begin with. I'm excited to see where this goes, and what kind of interest it drums up. Way to bring some value to Steemit!
Thank you very much @everlove I really do hope people join in and do some work.. If i can then send them some money(sbd/steem) for participating they actually get paid to do some studying :D I think that's new? ;)
I haven't heard of anyone really get paid to study in particular, but I feel studying comes in many forms, so simply reading each other's posts can be extremely educational. Ideally people will do it for the enjoyment of it and to expand their abilities, and the rewards will be bonus! I love that you're offering something of value to this artists' community.
can wait for this crazy holiday season to pass so I can start working on amazing projects like this one :))
Would be so awesome to have you take part even just for fun :D
since this are just exercises and learning resources, why don't you guys post the work under creative commons licence ? I think it would be cool to have more cc art resources on steemit
Creative commons... help me out here :X
you don't know :0
I am writing a post now and it will contain some links about cc, but basically it is a encrypted licence that you add to your work and let ppl know how they are allowed to use it, you can give all privileges or none, if you choose.
All slothicorn art was done under cc licence so everything is free for use, even commercial
https://steemit.com/steem-cartoon/@ivoryss/steemit-art-school-negative-space-homework-week-1 Finally able to finish my homework! (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ
Yay! :) I will take a look!
Thank you! Be sure to participate in week 2!
It is also very useful when sculpting. I must remind myself about this when trying to put too much details too early and at the end realize that there is something wrong in proportions and pose.
Hey mitch! :) Yeah you are absolutely right :)
Yess I made it :)
look here : 🖼️ ART SCHOOL : BecomeTheArtist's Homework Week 1 - NEGATIVE SPACE [EN]
Awesome! I have commented som feedback on the blogpost! Thank you so much for participating!
thank you so much for your valuable advices!
https://steemit.com/artschool/@lunaticmoon/artschool-week-1-homework-negative-space
Finished just in time, found some extra time today to do this!
it was really a nice experience
Thank you for participating @lunaticmoon I'll have a look! :D
DONE! :) Certainly was challenging but fun and super helpful.
Space Ginger - Artschool - Negative Space
Nice work bro, really like this idea. Been a long long long time since I've done anything like this. My brain overcomplicates everything and very often gives up as the results don't reach my ambition. Getting into it right now :)
Aaaaaaaaa so excited to learn pure art!! Never got the oppurtunity to now that Im in university in a different course. Hope I can learn a lot from here!!!
Here is the link to this week's homework --> https://steemit.com/art/@ellyn-suraya/trying-steemit-art-school-my-homework
Nice Homework @ellyn-suraya! :)
Thank you so much! :) I will check out your homework for sure!
I'm happy to accept all your criticisms @beekart ;)
https://steemit.com/artschool/@yanes94/art-school-week-1-negative-space-my-homework
I will check it out and leave the comments there! Thank you for participating! Xmas days are getting in the way!
Resteemed for you and hope to have time to do some drawing this week. If it happens I'll try and have the kids do it also. Should be a fun activity to so together...time permitting. So hard around the holidays with family in town and us going from house to house to see people.
Thank you very much @thedarkhorse it would be amazing to see you + kids collab on the homework heheh ;)
Mehn! My interest is on it's 'hyper'for participation. But i don't know if im scared of failed attempt or inconsistency. Always loved art but not professionally inclined.
I commend this concept!
Cheers!!
Thank you for your enthusiasm @facts-profile ! I hope you decide to just join in!
Failure/Failing is part of improving.. that counts for everything in life! So don't be afraid to fail at things.. It is how you grow and become better!
Those who never fail will never learn anything new! :D
Resteemed by @resteembot! Good Luck!
Curious?
The @resteembot's introduction post
Get more from @resteembot with the #resteembotsentme initiative
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this is well written, well done, good use of images as well
Right! :) Now grab your pencil and do the homework! :P haha
ha ha , Mr teacher :)))))
:D :D :D :D
Resteemed by @resteembot! Good Luck!
Curious?
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Check out the great posts I already resteemed.
I really like this idea. Hopefully once Christmas is over I'll have a little more time to sit down with my sketchbook.
Yes! Would be great to have a few people participating :') Might help cross some people over to actually pick up the sketchbook and do the work.. and earn some money doing it XD
Great art keep it up
Great initiative. Will carve out some free time in the weekend to do the homework exercises.
Thank you! That would be great! Hope to see you join in! Cheers!
Ta-da! Hope it isn't a problem that I didn't include the reference photos.
https://steemit.com/artschool/@bonaramis/steemit-artschool-week-1-homework
Hey Bonaramis no worries! I will check it out for sure! :)
Wow good post 👍👍👍
nice idea...
Thanks! If you are up for it.. Join in! :D
certo...c'è sempre da imparare.... ;)
What a great way to teach art... this is brilliant @beekart! Resteeming...
Thank you @jbgarrison72 I hope you might consider joining in as well! :)
The more .. The merrier!
Cool! I want to join steemit art school too.
Yes! Let's do this! :) Just make sure you do the homework, and post it here in the comments and make your own post with it .. tag it '#artschool' and I'll find it! :)
What a great initiative! These are the kind of things that I miss from art school, I hope I'll have the time and inspiration to participate in this. Very well written about the negative space as well, this is so much more important than people realize. The spaces in between are what shapes the objects that we see really.. I can't help but imagine black holes and dramatically inverted reality scenarios when I hear the phrase "Negative Space" which makes it even better.. lol
It is cool isn't it! The basic of everything are always the biggest teachers. Any time I look at a piece of my own artwork and I'm not happy with it it's always the fundamentals that I've neglected. You should participate for sure! Took me less than half and hour and felt great to do it.
So I made an attempt, but this negative space thing is not working out for me at all atm.. I keep filling all the spaces with patterns, and besides I'm terrible at drawing from real life.. I end up making it up anyways 😂
hahah good to hear you are atleast busy with it! :D nothing goes right at first go! If it is.. its ur not challenging yourself enough! ;)
haha @cyoung :D
I know right .. negative space... sounds so spacey :D
It is a very useful skill to train tough! I hope you join in like spaceginger did! :0
Oh yeah I'm taking on space, positive, negative, neutral, extremist space.. Just bring it on universe!! I'm currently observing 🔭 the faces of yer spaces.. 👽
@beekart Haha thanks, and yes I know, I'm very lazy in that way, and I lack self discipline... O:-) On the other hand I am very effective when it comes to generating new concepts and experimenting to create something that hasn't been done before, so in my mind it evens out. IF I feel inspired to try again I will try to though!
Thank you so much Beekart! That's a very nice initiative and so instructive!
FYI, I added your initiative/contest to my weekly post which I just released :
🏆🏆🏆🎨 Unleash your creativity 25/12-31/12 ! List of ongoing drawing, painting and crafts contests
Thanks so much for hosting it!!
@BecomeTheArtist 🌷
Thank you very much @becometheartist :) It will hopefully become a weekly thing! :)
Resteemed and I'm now following your page! :)
I noticed some of the homework from 'Essentials of Realism' with Jonathan Hardesty @Schoolism in the post. I completed the course too! When did you finish it? I learned loads from it! Did you take any other courses?
Hey yep I have also done the course a few years back to freshen things up! :D
The exercises weren't new to me but it's always good to go back and visit the basics! :)
They were new to me, thought they were excellent! I learned a lot. Did you do any other of the Schoolism courses though?
I have done the Nathan Fawkes color and light one about 5 years ago.. not sure if it is still available.. that one i really liked! :D
I am currently enrolled in Nathan Fowkes watercolour & gouache online class. I want to take all of his classes, the look very good!