Abandoned Warehouse

Late-day sun sneaks under a foreboding sky to dramatize this abandoned warehouse, sketched in pencil on smooth paper. 

Best Books for Self-Teaching Drawing and Painting

Concept artist Alexander Forssberg says: "I've learned everything I know about making art from studying photographs and real life, and reading these books."

Thanks for mentioning my books, Alexander. I also recommend the other books, and they were all key to my growth. A few notes:

Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis

Andrew Loomis was a leading mid-20th century illustrator based in Chicago. He analyzes faces and hands in useful ways using a pencil and paintbrush. Text is encouraging and practical. 

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis

Graceful drawings and helpful information that you can put to use. For picture-making and composition, I also recommend Loomis's classic book Creative Illustration.

Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman

Bridgman was a famous teacher from the Art Students League in New York, and both Norman Rockwell and Frank Frazetta also credited him as a big influence.

The Human Machine by George Bridgman

Chunky, dynamic approach to analyzing the figure as a system of levers and pulleys overcoming gravity. 

Color and Light by me

The book was originally based on posts from this blog from 2007-9, where I was downloading everything I know about color and light, which aren't usually talked about together.

Imaginative Realism by me

Most art instruction books examine how to capture what you see, but here I present all the old-school methods for developing fantasy, science fiction, and historical scenes.

Alla Prima II by Richard Schmid

An influential teacher from recent years who analyzed the process of painting in a unique way. It's a little pricey, so let's hope someone republishes it. 

Also, don't miss this video review on YouTube

Alexander Forssberg is on Twitter & Artstation

Trash Talking

I catch the Gurney brothers trash talking while playing Rocket League:

 "Remember that time I destroyed you one-on-one?"

"If we trade who gets Foamer and who gets Boomer, it'll be devastation."

"So...are you blue?"

"Get in, thank you very much."
"If only you had an AI teammate to help you score some goals."
"Oh, I thought I was going to blow you up."
"So the front of the goal is solid."
"Hey, the camera messed me up."
"I bet you're kicking yourself for kicking it in your own goal."

Why I'd Be A Poor Guest on a Movie Podcast

A really nice guy sent me an email and said he wanted me to be a guest on his podcast, which was about obscure old movies. I had to decline, and here's what I said:

"Thanks! Love your show, but I would be a big disappointment to your audience, because I'm no good at talking about movies.

When I was coming up as the youngest kid of a family of five kids, my Dad was too cost-conscious to take all of us out to movies. I remember one time we talked him into making an exception. All of us piled into our yellow truck and went to a movie theater to see Mary Poppins. But they had just raised the price to 35 cents per person, and that was too much for him. "THIRTY FIVE CENTS EACH!!!? NO WAY!" He said as we got back in the car. And we went home without seeing the movie.  

Instead I found a radio station that played old radio shows like Suspense and Escape and The Bickersons. No one my age had ever heard of those shows, which made it feel like I lived in my own universe. After I left for college I never bought a TV. All the media references of people my age are lost on me.

Instead I did stuff like stand in the backyard, shoot an arrow straight up in the sky, watch it turn around, and step out of the way when it came back down."

Space Beacon

Space Beacon, gouache, 6 x 8 inches. 

A space fantasy can be an opportunity for experimenting with color. 

The idea here is to shift the axis of the triad away from the usual yellow/red/blue and base it instead on orange-brown, yellow-green, and red-violet. From Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. 

Books are on their way

If you ordered a book from our web store over the weekend, it’s on its way to you in today's mail.

Each book is signed and personalized with a little dinosaur doodle.

 

Passenger Portrait

Here's a watercolor portrait done live on the train.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

flandelacasa asks: "Did he see it?" No, I was ready to show him but he took off when we got to the station.

Keeping it balanced

 My career as a professional fashion model was short but well balanced.

Charles Bargue Plates Reprinted

Making copies of Charles Bargue plates have become a standard part of academic practice in the ateliers, but it can be hard to find high quality reproductions of the original lithographs.

Fortunately a dedicated team of artists and technicians has reprinted many of the best plates, including this one of Faustina, using a painstaking process that included careful photography from the original Bargue set and printing on a historic press using a heavyweight light gray stock.

According to the creators, this plate represents "a horse's head, from the east pediment of the Parthenon showing the miraculous birth of the goddess Athena. This figure was carved like an isolated horse's head, pulling the chariot of the goddess Selene during the night."

"It captures the very essence of the stress felt by the animal. The ear is flattened back, the jaw gaping, the nostril flared and the eye bulging."

Available from our store, Bargue Horse Print, lithographed plate on gray-blue tinted art paper, 350 g, ideal for charcoal copying.

Art Renewal Article: Bargue Encore, an Academic Tradition Revived

Website Bargue Encore

Venice Beach

Venice Beach, plein-air oil, 9x 12 inches.

I had fun with this one putting most of the detail way up in the upper right, and letting the rest be open spaces.