How to Become a Master

How does one become a master painter?

There is a difference between knowing something and being able to use this knowledge to perform.  Mastery requires both knowledge and performance.  How do we become “masters”? 

1. Seek knowledge – be passionate about learning.

2. Acquire skills – manual, visual and mental

3. Rehearse - practice, practice, practice

4. Seek out constructive critique

5. Correct deficits (think and practice)

6. Become increasing independent from critique

7. Perform masterfully

8. Use mastery for expressive purposes

The Academy of Realist Art, Boston helps students develop skills in draftsmanship and craftsmanship. We work hard at getting students to develop critical thinking skills. We want our graduates to put these elements together with their individual imaginative character and make compelling art.

1. Students come seeking knowledge. We have a systematic way that we introduce our skills; each progressive skill builds on the last skill acquired.

2. While students develop manual skills their visual acuity improves; they can actually see things they weren’t able to see before. This is learning by doing. For example by rendering very small shifts in the light value of an object students perceive subtle values that previously they didn’t even know were there.

3.  We have an ongoing dialog about thought process and visual analysis. For example we talk about the way the 2-dimensional paper may be used to create the illusion of a 3-dimensional world, convexity versus concavity, perspective...

4. Students learn to develop strategies to help them find the errors in their work. When students can self-correct they develop independence. An example of this is the use of anamorphic shapes.

5. Students regularly receive constructive critique from instructors. Additionally, fellow students are a great resource because everyone has done all the same assignments; they can share their problem solving strategies.

6. Introductory assignments in each level of the program teach students new concepts and skills. The last assignment in each level of the program offers the student the opportunity to demonstrate their independence and mastery.

7. A respectful, supportive environment encourages students to express their thoughts.   We look forward to having conversations that help individuals to develop their imagination.

The cold hard truth about great art is that it requires a lot of work and dedication. The only way a student can stick with it is if they have a passion for learning new things and a desire to be the best that they can. This mixed with imagination and intelligent thought makes an artist.  At the Academy we’re motivated by having the opportunity to help prepare students to make “masterful” paintings.  

 



Figure Drawing - Boston

Drawing the human figure is one of the most challenging tasks an artist can confront.  All human faces are composed from the same limited number of features yet, we see each person as a recognizable individual. Human instinct makes us hard wired to perceive slight differences in human physiognomy. This makes the task of drawing the figure difficult.

At the Academy we teach a step-by-step method that helps students convincingly draw the human figure. Our students learn to accurately depict a figure’s proportion and gesture with a few basic lines in the early stage of their drawing (gestural construct). Once the proportions are correct these basic lines are broken down into a general description of the major forms of the body; torso, arms, legs etc. including a general indication of the light and shadow pattern (completed construct). Once the completed construct is accurate we articulate the anatomy; describing the musculature and the way the shadow describes these forms. The final stage of the drawing is to fill in the shadow shape with a general value. This helps us to evaluate our drawing as a large light and shadow pattern (articulated construct).

This figure drawing demonstration prepared by Emmy De Musis shows the evolution of a figure study from the basic construct through the articulated construct.  This demo shows what a student works on when they attend figure drawing classes at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston.

New Figure Drawing Classes Soon!


Thursday, 6-9 p.m. Sept. 29th  – Nov. 17th  Cost $300 
Saturday, 10-1 p.m. Oct. 1st – Nov. 19th  Cost $300

Portrait Drawing – Instructor Brian MacNeil

Saturdays Oct. 1 – Nov. 19 cost $300

In a systematic way students will learn to accurately construct, draw and render a portrait from the live model. In the first half of the course students will concentrate on understanding the structure, forms and planes of the head. In order to bring out a likeness of the model careful attention will be paid to proportion and the anatomy of facial features. In the second half of the course students will learn to observe tonal relationships, compress these values and use them to render the form conceptually. Lectures and demonstrations will be given to assist the class in mastering the use and application of drawing materials. Individual attention will be given to each student helping them to progress at their own speed and level.

Brian MacNeil joins the faculty at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston

The Academy of Realist Art, Boston would like to announce the addition of Brian MacNeil to our faculty. Brian is a graduate of the Angel Academy of Art in Florence. He has also studied with Marc Dalessio and Frank Covino. Brian has had a unique blend of artistic influences; he is a fine artist and a tattoo artist. You can discover more about Brian by visiting his website at www.brianmacneil.com

Brian is a dedicated learner – he continually seeks opportunities to learn . He is articulate and willing to share his knowledge with others, he has a lot to offer students at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston. The first class he will be offering at the Academy is Portrait Drawing on Saturday afternoons.

Welcome Brian!

Master copy of Edwin Landseer painting

Master copy of Edwin Landseer painting

I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the paintings from the master copy workshop. Julie Beck is copying the painting Dignity and Impudence,

1939 by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. The original is part of the Tate Collection in Britain.

Landseer was one of the best-known and popular British animal painters in the 19^th century. He was a prodigy, already exhibiting drawings of animals at the Royal Academy by the age of 13. It is said that Landseer could paint with both hands at the same time.

Here you see Julie’s painting in two stages – the first is the dry brush stage. It was done primarily to establish the drawing on the canvas. She also used it to mass in a few of the value notes. This was done in burnt umber (one of the fastest driers on her palette).

In the second photo you see Julies painting during the “first painting” stage. Here Julie is using mosaic-like patches of paint to describe the form. The idea with this stage is that there is no blending. The edges are soft and the paint notes are organically shaped. As the viewer stands further back from the painting these patches should blend optically and the painting should look exactly like the subject. In this stage of our layered painting method students can easily correct and adjust any passages that are out of context – the drawing is easily adjusted as are color or value notes. Next Julie will go on top of this layer and make all her fine blendings and add the calligraphic strokes that describe the hair of the dogs.

I have also included Julie’s palette showing the value strings she mixed (as described in the last post). Her palette consisted of Cremnitz White, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Venetian Red, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Ivory Black (all greens are mixed).

Mixing color strings

Master copy workshop

We finished the oil painting master copy workshop a week ago. 11 students participated in this information packed class. We were pleased to have had one student join us after travelling all the way from Iceland.

Instructor Joseph Pfeiffer-Herbert started the class by introducing choices for supports to paint on, he worked his way through methods and mediums and finished the workshop with glazing.

One of the things students found helpful was mixing a string of values for each color on their palette. Once the strings were complete color mixing was a little less daunting. Students made admixtures between colors by first identifying the hue and value that was close to what they needed and then only mixing colors of the same value together in order to refine the color.

Everyone who participated in the workshop said they learned a lot. Our thanks go out to Joseph for doing such a great job and for giving students some great lectures.

Joseph is turning a new page in his life. He will no longer be teaching at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston. We all wish Joseph the best in his new endeavors

Anatomy class

Anatomy classes are taught on Wednesday afternoon at the Academy of Realist Art, Boston. For the past 12 weeks we have been studying the upper limb. Students are encouraged to apply this new knowledge to the projects they work on in school: figure studies, cast work or master copies. Here is an analysis done from a students Bargue copy of Plate I, 23 Man's arm, bent.

It is very beneficial to make copies after master drawings or paintings. The most important part of making a master copy is not blindly making an exact copy but to take the time to think about what you can learn from it. Ask yourself if you understand the anatomy that is being described, how the general fall of light describes the form and how that affects the smaller forms, can you see evidence of the process used to make the image...

Being an artist requires advanced analysis - the more you know and understand the more you will see.