Intense training
 

In February, as my studio was completing, Emily came to study with me. She graduated with a BFA a few years ago and is working as a professional designer and illustrator in Salt Lake City. She is with me to study fine art and portraiture.

There is a new generation of young talent, all over the world, who are willing to tackle real old time art training, the kind that was perfected 200 years ago, and then later dropped and almost lost.

Emily started with the most basic of basic training, copying visual training drawings prepared in the 19th century by Charles Bargue. Each drawing must be perfect and the purpose of the exercise is to teach one to see with supreme accuracy.

She works on her drawings three days a week in my studio. She spent a month on this first one, in pencil.

Emily is very talented, but the work she is doing now is forcing her to exceed her native abilities. This very basic work is nevertheless incredibly difficult

I moved her on to a Fechin copy so she could get inside his technique and absorb his sensitivity. No sense merely being accurate, one needs style and grace and understanding of line and search for magic.

Her patience and grit is amazing. She even replicated the paper quality of the original with her charcoal line. She also was able to finish this one faster than the first two.

She then tackled a second Fechin. I suggested graphite pencil, but she decided to use charcoal pencil again. This time I wanted her to incorporate some of Fechin

On May 2nd Stacy joined us. She is working on her first Bargue drawing. As of Thursday, her line drawing was just about complete when I took this photo. Friday she worked another five hours adjusting some contours to perfection before beginning to lay in tone toward the end of the day. She was still working in the studio at 7:00 p.m.

She is a lefty, so the easels are set up facing each other.

Emily has been working on this Dean Cornwell copy lately. This is how it looked Thursday. She finished it Friday and I hope to photograph the result tomorrow. She is getting faster and faster. Her next project will be a copy of her own choosing and in a style of her own. I

What wonderful images and what excellent drawings! I'm sure there are many who are reading this wistfully - to draw alongside other artists helps to stave off the feeling of fruitless and lonely labor. I wish these dedicated and talented young artists a long lifetime of productive work and much success.

I also welcome this thread in that it encourages people to learn academic drawing techniques on their own schedule and timeframe. I hope this thread will encourage artists to set up their own "home school" area to hone their drawing skills and sensitivity. There are books out there that set forth atelier methods and procedures, though a few years with Jacob Collins, Jeff Mims (or William Whitaker, or course) would be hard to beat.

By the way, the Bargue book is no longer in production; I talked to people at the Dahesh Museum about it this morning. However, one can still find many fine examples of master drawings to copy, in books and on the internet. Casts are also readily available online; I have a good one from Guist Gallery. (It was expensive, but after I draw it for a while I plan to either sell or donate it to an art school.)

If you can't get access to the bust of Brutus or drawings of Piazetta, the lowbrow types among us can always copy Spiderman action figures and Frank Frazetta. :)

Thanks again for this inspiring thread and some shots of your killer new studio, Bill!

These are all incisive clues to what is going on here, over and above the mere accounting for time spent on any given drawing. Even a very talented individual still needed to further train her eye and internalize that skill so that it became second nature, so that with each new start, the likelihood diminishes that significant errors in perception will be made. It's hard work. Some days it's exhausting.

It's the difference between just beating the odds at an archery range, waiting for the official score to see how you did, and knowing even before you release the arrow that it will hit center, a result that you can already "see" and that you have trained yourself to ensure through a correct attitude.

I was not untalented -- and perhaps that was itself an impediment, because I wasn't used to not "getting" something pretty quickly, and impatience and boredom and ego were serious threats -- but I was just playing the odds for nearly 1-1/2 years into this kind of training. A lot of drawings were good, some weren't, so what. It wasn't terribly satisfying, though -- often discouraging or humiliating, as my studio mates drew and painted their way toward remarkable images -- and during those 1-1/2 years when no real progress seemed to be made, I often despaired of ever "getting" this. And then "suddenly" -- that is, dozens of drawings and hundreds of hours later -- I began to see and to transcribe accurately what it was I saw. Progress was being made after all.

And not a moment too soon, because I was thinking a lot about getting into marine biology or interstellar physics or . . . anything that was easier than drawing well.

In some circles the advice is given: "Don't leave before the miracle happens!" The miracle in this work is the transformation of perception, and it will come in its own time, while we're working. For me, it took its own sweet time, thank you, but it was worth the wait.

You have to turn off the TV, though (a metaphor for all manner of distractions), if you want this.

Steven,

You are right. It is exhausting. Yet I know of nothing else that allows an artist to progress faster. Those who haven

Yuqi Wanged!
 

These young ones are going to clean our clock!

The very creme de la creme are going to the top with this kind of training. Lest you think that this is the purview of the Academic Realists, need I remind you that Degas and Klimt went through this kind of training. They had the confidence and wings to be able raise their work to extraordinary and imaginative heights.

I am sorry I did not have this training and how much time I have spent reinventing the wheel.

Anybody who is a figurative artist, who doesn't want to work this hard and learn their 'craft' from photographs, should consider pottery instead.

Bargue plates
 

Are they still available? Where can you get them? They look like a great thing to practice when my model declines to show up.

I understand, that even drawing from life for years, this practice can increase your speed and accuracy.

Info, generally:

http://www.geraldmackerman.com/
www.daheshmuseum.org

What you will discover is that the book is unavailable, pending the next (theoretical) printing. Get your email address on the Dahesh list in order to be notified if and when there is a reprinting, by sending your contact information to:

museumshop@daheshmuseum.org

Probably wouldn't hurt to beg and plead a little.

There are a few used copies available from Amazon and elsewhere but at unconscionable prices ($350 and upwards to $500 or more).

Sharon,

I've scanned about twenty Bargue plates that I could share with you and others. Each scan is large enough that it could be printed nice and crisp at 8 1/2 x 11 inches or larger. Emily and Stacy have been copying from these printed scans.

Here is a large thumbnail of the Agrippa face. This is one of the more simple images to copy. Here too are a more complex Homer bust and a nice horse head, both a bit more advanced.

If there is interest on this forum, I could post all twenty (or more) plates as small images here and people could email me and I could send them large jpgs to print and use. We could also post a bit of instruction on how to go about making the copies.

If I could get a bit of time together, I could actually do this through my own site!

There would be no charge.

A Bargue-athon!
 

I am totally interested. Also, I would love to know what is the best paper and pencil for this.

We could post our results on this thread and then move on to casts.

Oh Nirvana!

Steven,

Thanks for the links. I saw one on Ebay just sell for $250!

I am definitely interested and will check back to see if this all works out Bill - since I didn't buy this book awhile ago and now the price has skyrocketed!! :o

Thanks!

Bill, I am so glad that you have found time to share the importance of Bargue and type drawings with the forum. I will be more than happy to contribute if I can. Being that I have lot of the plates in a tif format I will e-maila file upon request.

Bargue painting
 

Hi,

I spent the day at the Boston Museum yesterday, poking my nose as close as I could to the Manets, Sargents, Monets, Renoirs, Degas, Coutures, Winterhalters, Velasquezes,Bouchers, Stuarts, Geromes, Copleys etc.

The collection is so overwhelming, it caused the Frenchman standing next to me to cry out ,"quelle abondance!"

I espied a tiny painting, about 8 1/4 x 11". It was a Bargue, "The Turkish Sentinel". The drawing is so precise, refined and accurate in this tiny piece. The figure of the man is so beautifully painted, you can feel the languidness of his body beneath the clothing.

Also I am posting a Bargue drawing. The control and refinement of his line work is beyond compare and a total delight. I would kill for this drawing.

plate III 17
 

Oh how I wish to have the pleasure to see that lovely painting of the sentinel. It is one of my favorite. Here is my attempt and one of my favorite studies

Mischa,

That is just lovely. I can't wait to get my hands on the plates.

The Jpg. did not do it justice. The left chest of his top is so delicately depicted, a delightful swirl of pinks and cream.

Sharon, I have the talked about book which I purchased when it first came out. The book is an absolute gem.

I would love to see some close up shots of the sentinel if you have any. If you do not have them shame on you and I am utterly sad.

Mischa,

The close-up is from the web-site of the museum. It is not compressed and is the clearest reproduction I get get.

I did not know that painting was there until I came across it. I will try and get a close-up when I go there again, but it probably have to be in stealth mode. Things were a lot looser when I was a the Museum School there, knew many of the guards and ran around barefoot on the cool marble floors.

Quest
 

Thank you all, for this rich source of information. What could be better than this wonderful source of knowledge toward beauty and instruction.

Ahhhh, ......Amazon. My addiction. Like all addictions - there is satisfaction at the moment. Do you suppose there is a 12-step program for this insatiable quest for knowledge and improvement ???

Well, I need it. Is there a sponsor out there among you to help me? Anybody out there?

Uh, huh. That's what I thought. No one.


PS Yes, I just ordered the two books mentioned grouped together by Amazon.

I found the book.
 

I have a 14 yr old son who has drawing ability and who wants me to teach him how to draw. Unfortunately, I'm of the generation where when coming up you were pretty on your own if you wanted to learn anything about "realism". I'm largely self-taught with a smattering of knowledge I've picked up along the way. I don't have a model for teaching. The Bargue drawing series looks very promising and perhaps a good start for him. (I thank all those who have brought the series to our attention.) I found the book on amazon.fr for 71 euros, about $112 with shipping. Its been a long time since I've used my college french. I don't think I'll be able to translate it without a great deal of effort. I'm just wondering how important is the text? I gather from what I've read here that one tries to duplicate the plates with pencil and paper by sight sizing and double checking measurements. Any info would be great. Thanks much.

Steve

Steve, the book is a good start and the instruction is good as well. Being that I've had first hand instruction and experience, with the Bargue plates, I am of the opinion that the sight size approach should be made easier and it has been. Not everyone can jump into the site size approach while standing at a distance. So, I propagate the sitting down approach for at least three plates. When a student has come to understand the working method that the Bargue plates teach, then one is ready to do the site size at a distance but from a casts and in charcoal.

All the best to you and your boy and let me know if I can help

Steve,

Can you post the Amazon French site please. I can stumble through it, as a matter of fact it would give me a great chance to brush up on my French.

I also bumbled through, even though I went briefly to The Boston Museum School, a waste of my time and my parents money.

Thanks Mischa. So, you're saying the text is an integral part? Would I miss much of the instruction if I got the book just for the drawings?
Sharon, here's the link: [url]http://www.amazon.fr/Charles-Bargue-Jean-L

Craig,

De remerciement si beaucoup!

There are great translation sites on the web if you get stuck!

Je vous en prie!

I think it is safe to say that the drawings alone are worth the purchase.

Proper usage varies with intent
 

The original plates came with no instruction. What is included in the book is the opinion of a teaching artist. Personall I disagree with the way the plates are being used. I think they were designed to get people to see objectively and IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, copying them literally is not how Bargue and Gerome (who was Bargue's teacher and the initiator of the concept) intended them to be used. My opinion reflects only my ideas and should be considered as such when being weighed.

When I approached my first Bargue drawing I thought it would be a breeze to do. Now I look at the Bargue drawings from a different vantage point from a point of relative understanding. Unless a individual draws each and every drawing to absolute perfection, copy machine errors not included, one has no understanding of the value in the plates. After just copying five in progression of difficulty but to perfection one barely begins to understand the value of the other plates.

Each has the right to give ones opinion from what ever vantage point one stands but unless one has experienced these drawings as I describe they have no clue but only a opinion. It would be a sad fact to way someones future based only on opinions. As we all know a foundation built on a rock will stand the test of time but a foundation built on sand, it is simple to figure out.

Narvin has a point about whether there were written instructions with the plates. How one uses the drawings is another good point but whether Bargue intended them to be used this way or that way is a long winded story. I think the best way to find out is to look at the results. The students, the work, speaks loud and clear.

Mischa,

I bet you can read French anyway. Thank-you for that information.

Marvin, I appreciate the humbleness of your opinion, but unless you are a freak of nature and the worlds oldest living artist, you would not be old enough to be privvy to that information.

The chain was broken and all we can do is somehow to the best of our collective knowledge, reassemble it and respect others attempts to interpret it.

I continue to teach several student interns and apprentices. They work along side me three days a week and are all low maintenance. I love it when they are here, and just when I want some time alone, they are not here. It is a near perfect system.

Thanks to them, my life is more tidy. Today they washed windows. They also drew and painted a little.

I haven't taken any photos of the studio in months. I remembered to do so today and I'm going to post the results now.

Emily, who has been with me since February, is now painting. However, I'm starting my image posts with one of her recent drawings, a very accurate head in Nupastel.

I only teach basics and all the artists move along at their own speed. I have no slackers. They all work harder than I do!

I find too that everyone makes the most rapid progress if I break the training down into basic components.

Here is Emily at the easel, painting a dinner roll. After months of intense copy drawing, there is nothing to drawing a dinner roll! Therefore she can concentrate on brush technique, edge quality, color and value.

She is working in the same natural light conditions perfected over 350 years ago by our heroes. Nothing is better.

I stress good habits. She is working on her feet, using a light touch, and doing the painter's dance - even when her sitter is a dinner roll!

On the right is Hala. Hala has been a professional illustrator for ten years. (See her website - http://www.artbyhala.com/) She is getting a master's degree now and I'm serving as her adviser. She is very talented and it is a joy watching her swallow new ideas and new techniques whole.

They are painting quick. Each one paints several oil sketches each session, working on tracing paper to warm up. I hope to post some of their work soon.

The goal is to bring their subjects to life, whether they be bread, fruit, cloth, metal, leather or flowers. Once they can do this, they can paint figures that will be full of life.

I don't always have the same group on board. Some of these folks are full time university students getting release time to work with me.

Brittany and Stacy are doing copy drawing in my cast drawing room. They both have rigged very good studios in their own homes and will be painting in their own painting rooms tomorrow. Brittany will be drafting her husband to sit for her.

Brittany has even painted her own studio the same color as mine - Mohegan Sage by Benjamin Moore. She has a great little working space there - as effective as mine.

They are both lefties so they have the north windows to their right. Brittany's drawings are very accurate, but her technique is bad. She is concentrating on technique by working rapidly on sheets of tracing paper which of course feels great under the pencil.

Stacy is working on a Bargue copy and is to the stage where she is concentrating on value (shading). She has taped a piece of paper towel over her drawing so she doesn't smudge her work with the heel of her hand. She is working at her own speed, perfection being her goal. I expect she will work on this drawing for a few more weeks before she is satisfied.

Notice the terrifically clean windows! My people keep the my studio immaculate.

I'll post more stuff soon.

This is a wonderful series of posts, Bill. How lucky these artists are to be up there working with you, getting impeccable realist training!