Hello guys,
I am happy to introduce myself! My name is Anne, I am mainly working as a professional around the film business of Europe, as a cover illustrator and concept artist, designer and lecturer and I have been running [b]["Absolute Beginners"](http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=433)[/b] with CGSociety for a while now.
The course is currently open for enrollments again and I would be happy to welcome you there. :)
In this course I am using my experiences gathered over the years as instructor at one of our local art schools here at Berlin to help online students reach their dreams when it comes to tradtional and digital drawing and painting.
I am happy to teach you all you need to know about the fundamentals of figure and animal drawing and painting.
You can choose if you wish to train with your sketchbook and show the results during the runtime of this course.
Digitally I will show you easy to follow techniques of how to create convincing paintings.
Now the course is receiving some major updates since I have upgraded the system that I am working with, meaning we have a bunch of new videos in better picture and sound quality, and a lot of updates to the program.
[color=Cyan]This course is designed to be helpful to both: beginners and intermediate students, since all lessons are build in steps that allow easier tasks for the very beginners, and more of a challenge for those who already generally know how to paint and draw and want to learn new techniques.
The program was updated once more to make the entry even easier for beginners and those who'd like to improve their digital art skills. There are more opportunities now for each student to have their individual creativity flow within each assignment.[/color]
There now is more space for learning portraiture and basic colour theory, too, and after having practiced full figure drawing and painting, train on creative brainstorming through thumbnails and custom brushes to 3 full assignments that will help you to create your own artwork for the end of the course.
In the past, courses have also been kept open even after they have ended, and we are currently also working on a forums that will make it possible for past students to hang around together and share their experiences. (That will also make it easier for me to follow up with you once the course is over).
Last but not least of this big rant, I would be very happy to answer all of your questions and listen to wishes regarding the course update that is currently happening.
I am always working on improving this course so I can help as many students as possible with my experience and knowlege. :)
In case you are curious, here is the new week by week outline for both contents - figure drawing (AB) and Mastering Animals (MA) that are both part of the [color=Cyan][b]["Absolute Beginners"](http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=433)[/b] course:[/color]
[b]WEEK 1: Drawing Digitally And Proportions:[/b]
[ul]
[li] 1. Photoshop basics software and tools[/li][li] 2. Brushes and wacom tablet usage[/li][/ul]This is were you will learn how to handle Photoshop basics together with a graphics tablet (Wacom would be best).
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB)[/b] students are going to learn the foundations around the figure based on the Mannikin frame.
[b]Mastering Animals (MA) [/b]students will explore different types of animals and compare them in body types and proportions
[b]New- WEEK 2: Portrait Basics (Black & White) / Animal in Space[/b]
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB) [/b]will learn how to work with planes to draw a basic head, and what brushes are best for making a value study of a head in black and white.
[b]Mastering Animals (MA)[/b] students will learn how to draw an animal in space: An animal is "explained" best to the viewer when it is put into relationshp with the space around it. To study this, it is wise to look up several animals that have an interesting pose/ are seen from an interesting angle and draw them for practice.
[b]New- WEEK 3: Portrait Basics (Colour) / Painting Fur[/b]
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB):[/b] I am going to introcude you how you can use layersettings to apply colour to your value study. We will also explore how different colour settings will change the overall impression that is going to be created around your portrait and will create 3 different color setups (of our own) for later comparison.
[b]Mastering Animals (MA): [/b]Our goal is to pick 2 to 3 different animals from the folder that I have uploaded, draw their pose using the methods that we have learned in lesson 1 and 2, and apply a fur study on them. (It doesn't need to be the entire body, portions do work just fine aswell)
Fur is a very complex subject because it wraps up several things at once:
[ul]
[li] 1. The overall proportions of an animal connected to: The form and masses of the body[/li][li] 2. The pose of the animal and its relation to the space that it sits in.[/li][li] 3. The texture and overall behavior of the fur itself[/li][/ul]
New- WEEK 4: Skin & Drapery painting, Color Blending /Herbivores
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB): [/b]Students will be given references of statues and will either practice on portions or the entire figure how to paint skin and drapery. This is a black and white exercise which we'll use to practice seeing forms when painting.
[b]We will also learn:[/b]
[ul]
[li] 1. Breaking down the body into planes[/li][li] 2. Studying light and form using the planes[/li][/ul]Mastering Animals (MA): After we have studied fur last week and you are now perfectly geared to make full color studies of every animal as you please, it is now time to go to a more indeep topic which talks about their skulls and the muscles around them.
For that sake I am huge fan of starting from the bones since they are a figures framework. We are going to study the facial skull and muscles of horse and ox.
[b]New- WEEK 5: Full Body Study (Colour) Or Still Life / Carnivores[/b]
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB): [/b]We will examine some portraits made by old masters and talk about colours again and what impact they have on a painting. We will also take the role that light takes on a piece of art when painting into account and will practice to illustrate a full body figure once more, finding the colours on our own.
Students who'd rather like to explore light and color in more basic terms can paint a still life at this point.
[b]Mastering Animals (MA): [/b]When you have done the assignment from past week already you will feel comfortable with this assignment anyways. We are going to explore lion and dog this week.
I want you to get to a point were you are thinking first about what you are seeing in front of you and analize what you are going to draw before you draw it. Flip your study and the reference picture often sothat you can spot mistakes. Compare all the references that you have opened and use them to spot and fix errors on your study.
[b]New - WEEK 6: Brainstorming Thumbnail Sketching & Custom Brushes/ Making Dragons[/b]
[b]Absolute Beginners (AB): [/b]In that entirely new assignment we are going to practice how to create thumbnails in order to brainstorm figures, and this assignment will help you with lesson 7 and 8 lateron.
I have recorded some new videos that are explaining custom brushes and how you can use them to create forms that encourage you creatively to see new forms and therefore create compositions for figure (or creature) painting.
[b]Mastering Animals (MA): [/b]When you receive this assignment, you will be given the coolest description ever on why designing a dragon at this point will be awesome. Until then we have this little summary:
Think up a little story. What type of dragon do I have? How huge is he (she, it...)? Where does he (she, it...) live, what does he (etc) feed on and so on.
When it's a vegetarian feeding from trees, a long neck like that of a giraffe might be needed. What about the rest of the body? How does my dragon fight and defend himself?
[b]WEEK 7: Big Master Study Or Own Painting[/b]
[b]Absolut Beginners (AB): [/b]Welcome to your big master study assignment!
This is were we take together all the basics you have learned into one big study.
We will choose a painting of an old master to study from that contains at least one full body figure and a background.
[ul]
[li] 1. Full body painting in color[/li][li] 2. Adding a background to our painting[/li][li] 3. Working with textures[/li][/ul]Mastering Animals (MA): The MA group is going to continue to work on their own design. Indeep 1on1 feedback videos will help here to make sure that you get all the attention and care that you need to approach your goal successfully.
[b]WEEK 8: Free Assignments Continued[/b]
On week 8 everybody who decided to make a big master study is going to wrap up his work for a nice finish. MA students can ask for one additional assignment (for instance about animals that have riders on their back) or continue with some brainstorming sessions.
AB students who decided to design a painting on their own on week 7 can finish that as well and will receive indeep 1on1 feedback to guide them through the process.