Exhibition of Life Drawings at Brisbane Institute of Art

DUE TO THE CURRENT LOCKDOWN IN BRISBANE WE WILL AIM TO SET UP NEXT WEEK AND HAVE THE OPENING ON FRIDAY 9TH JULY, PENDING DEVELOPMENTS.

For those of you in Brisbane, I will be taking part in a group exhibition of drawings at Brisbane Institute of Art, it includes work by those of us who regularly attend the untutored life drawing session on a Monday night there.

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Includes work by David Paulson, Meredith Macleod, Bruce Slater, and others. My drawing above and others will be shown.

Opening at 6:30-9:00 pm on Friday 2nd of July at BIA (Brisbane Institute of Art, 41 Grafton St, Windsor.

Show is up until the 13th of July

New term for my Classical Life Class!

Early bird discount until the end of June: use code “EARLYTHIRD”

For full details, bookings and schedule see www.scottbreton.art/book

Term 3 Classical Life Drawing 10 week course at RQAS

Term 3 of the Classical Life Class I teach at RQAS, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane will begin on the 26th August 2021.

7% early bird discount until the 30th June with discount code: EARLYTHIRD

For full details and to enrol go to: https://scottbreton.art/book

ADC THREE Drawings - At QPAC, Brisbane May 26 -29, new paintings, news, tutorials and tips

Responses to Jack Lister’s “Still Life” Choreography

In the foyer of QPAC, at this production of Australasian Dance Collective, my drawings will be displayed (Queensland Performing Arts Complex, Brisbane, Australia)

Sketches from the development and rehearsal of Jack Lister’s choreography for the performance led to more worked out drawings in the studio.

“THREE” at QPAC, Brisbane 26 -29 May 2021 (Tickets still available at time of writing)

See the drawings, sketches and read about it here.

 

New Paintings

Click for details, info and sketches

 

Lucky 13

I was flattered to be included in this article of Sivilisasjonen (Civilization) a Norwegian publication. The author is Bork Nerdrum, film maker, who among other things made an excellent documentary about Odd Nerdrum, his father.

https://sivilisasjonen.no/english/53593/the-worlds-greatest-living-painters/

Note this link seems to be broken on desktop, try on mobile.

 
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Cost effective solution for photographing drawings

If you’ve ever struggled with getting shots of your drawings where the page is illuminated evenly, you might like to try a pair of continuous light softboxes such as these from Volkwell. They are tunable to a cool, white or warm light and adjustable.

I got them here for $100AUD (about $70USD):

https://www.amazon.com.au/VOLKWELL-Professional-Photography-Continuous-2x20x28inch/dp/B089Q3L546?ref_=ast_sto_dp


 

Video Tutorials

While the quality of the videos still leaves a lot to be desired, there is still useful information in these video demonstrations of figure drawing that I posted with “Figuary” back in February this year.

These are essentially introductions to lessons 1, 5 and 6 from my Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course

 

Early bird discount for Brisbanites! And updates to Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course online book

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Classical Life Class, Brisbane

For those of you located in Brisbane , Term 2 of my weekly life class starts in April,

Use the discount code LINE2021 at checkout for 7% off until the end of the weekend (ie the end of February)

For full details:

https://scottbreton.art/book

10x Thursday evenings at the Royal Queensland Art Society upstairs studio

 

Updates to the Form, Gesture, Anatomy Online Course

Video Intros/demos

I have added video intros and demos for the drills from lesson 1, 5 and 6. More will follow in the coming weeks.

Timed Slideshows

Timed slideshows for lessons 1, 2 and 5 embedded in the lesson itself in addition to the existing photo ref resources. The idea is that the poses and duration for the slideshows suit the content of the lesson/ drill well, so you can just load and practise away.

(just go to the table of contents -> lesson number -> life drawing)

Access for $7 USD per month

of $40 USD for one time outright payment

Is the concept of "Fine Art" still useful? Video of Panel Discussion at RQAS Brisbane

My statement (5 Minutes on IGTV):

 

Full Discussion on Youtube:

The origins of the concept of ‘fine art’ -- as opposed to commercial art, decorative art, illustrative art and so on – are historically uncertain. The phrase was certainly prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries though reportedly ‘fell out of fashion’ in the late 1800s, and in the early 20th century was accused of embodying an invalid ‘double standard’ separating art from useful objects. Yet we still have courses and departments of fine art around the world.

The questions before this panel then are:

-Has the concept of fine art so changed over time as to now be virtually meaningless?

-If there are good reasons to maintain the distinction between fine art and other kinds, what are these?

Early Bird Discount: Life Class with Scott - Term 1 2021 from 7th January

Early Bird Discount: enter “DRAW2021” to receive 7% off until the 25th November.

The first 8 week series of 2021 will begin on the 7th January and run until 25th February, with optional extension/catchup sessions on the 4th and 11th March.

For beginners to more advanced drawers looking to improve the fundamentals, this course will help you develop:

  1. Volume / 3 Dimensionality

  2. Anatomical understanding

  3. Accuracy of observation

  4. Classical flow and design

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Following the figure drawing curriculum in my Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course, we will be working in the traditional way from professional nude life models.

At the end, you will have:

a solid, classical strategy for approaching the figure

This core strategy, based in the approach of the Italian Renaissance Old Masters will help you prioritise the big things over the small things, so that you gradually cultivate more beautiful drawings, being confident that you are not wasting time and practising an inefficient strategy or bad habits.


Apply this the core strategy to quick gesture studies…

…as well as more extended studies from life


Make your practise work for you - avoid wasting years of recreating the wheel.

And, you can always go back to the drills I teach using the online notes so that you can improve weak points or keep things fresh in the future.

I have seen people at untutored life drawing sessions make the same mistakes continually over years. These have held them back from achieving the type of convincing, beautiful drawings they desire. The drills and core strategy for drawing that I offer here are challenging but they can be a fun challenge! And they will get you drawing well in the fastest way I know how. I’m not holding any information back that could help you.

Examples of the types of drills we practise in the class:

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14 different drills designed to refine the various aspects that go into classical drawing.

“There’s no shortcut but there are plenty of long-cuts!”

Each session is a mix of class demo and 1-on-1 instruction

…and each session is themed, following a carefully thought out sequence of classes to optimise your learning

So who is this course useful for?


As well as figure drawing being a wonderful practise in its own right, what I teach is particularly relevant for compositional design involving the figure. Or even without the figure, since the interdependency of structure, form and flowing connections is key in all types of traditional compositional design.

The course has two additional sessions at the end that you can choose to add on which allow for longer studies and developing rendering/shading (or allow you to catch up missed sessions at a reduced price).

You get three months complimentary access to the online notes of the Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course as well. This includes literally hundreds of illustrations as well as 3D models and instruction from the anatomy component.







An example of one of my figurative paintings directly using the principles and skills taught in this class (“The Geometry of Escape” Oil on Panel 2020)

 
Classical Life Class - 8 Week Series from 7th January 2021 (Prices in USD) Classical Life Class - 8 Week Series from 7th January 2021 (Prices in USD) Classical Life Class - 8 Week Series from 7th January 2021 (Prices in USD)
Sold out
Classical Life Class - 8 Week Series from 7th January 2021 (Prices in USD)
 

My new show at Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane

“The Shape of the Sky”

This show runs 4th to 22nd September at Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington, Brisbane.

I will be available to chat to on Saturday 5th September from 10-2pm and at the same times on the 12th September.

Click to see the page for this collection and further details.

Two main themes characterise this collection: one is the use of geometric planes and other simple forms to articulate the space around and interact with both figures and landscapes, an abstraction of the Renaissance preoccupation with the perspectival setting.  The other theme is the specific effort to pursue imagery, mood or poses without having an intentional meaning before beginning the work, and instead follow elements that seem to be tapping into my unconscious in some way.  I have attempted to listen to the impulses coming from the images and allow them to become what they will, trusting the sense of fascination or intrigue as a guide to the generation of an image that will resonate with others.  How and where a line touches the skin, or what a pose without clear narrative content says, or how natural form pushes against an artificially geometric form seems to contain psychic content that perhaps cannot be concretised in other ways.

Life Drawing Class with Scott Returns! - at RQAS Brisbane, Australia

Life class resumes at Royal Queensland Art Society upstairs studio, suitable for beginners to more experienced since the focus is on applying core principles at progressively higher levels.

For details of what is covered see this earlier post

One on one instruction and group demos each class.

Includes 2 months access to my online book “Form, Gesture, Anatomy” on which the class content in based.

Class runs 7:10pm to 9:40pm

Book in for Thursday 25th June 2020 here

Book for July sessions here

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(this timing allows you to access parking on Petrie Terrace immediately after the clearway ends at 7:00pm)

Upstairs workshop space, Royal Queensland Art Society

The door will be unlocked prior to class start or you can buzz or call me on the number pinned to the door.

Regular price for 1 class : $70 Australian Dollars, for 4 classes: $240 AUD

Full Time Student for 1 class: $40 AUD, for 4 classes: $120 AUD

To access student discount, proof of enrolment in a tertiary institution will be required at the first session attended.

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Process and Concept: Collaboration with Australasian Dance Collective -Interview and drawings -

Prior to the Covid19 situation, I was very privileged to start collaborating with choreographer Jack Lister and artistic director Amy Hollingsworth in doing some sketches from life from rehearsal/ development sessions. These I worked on away in the studio to make compositions with a bit more presence than the very rapid sketches from life, showing some of each in the album below.

The idea is for them to be presented in the foyer when Jack’s work “Still Life” is presented.

Read the interview: https://australasiandancecollective.com/scott-breton/

I use a combination of 3D software and physical plaster and 3D printed models to figure out how shadows would project and to develop the concepts. This is very much the spirit of the Italian High Renaissance masters, in which working from imagination was then informed by wax or plaster models, or the human model, a synthesis forming that is not strictly observational and certainly not photorealistic. The aim is more to abstract/stylise, and emphasise and create hierarchy in the qualities that the eye responds to, including: light, character, space, anatomical plausibility.

Graphite and white coloured pencil on hand-toned paper 42 x 59 cm

This wax model by Tintoretto reveals how he used models to arrange compositions and visualise light and shadow, presumably without employing a group of human models as Caravaggio did. I like the idea of the flexibility of this process from the point of view of the artist, allowing a lot of plasticity and imagination.

 

These drawings show the sketches from life and the more substantial drawing that came from them. At the end more sketches that I liked for their poses and movement but have not worked on yet.

If you like what I am doing here, you might like to access my Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course which goes through each of the topics that I think contribute to what I am doing here, and gives exercises to focus in on each of them.

Reference Photos now added to the FGA course

I have recently added dozens of poses to the Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course available to anyone who subscribes or has purchased permanent access outright.

They have been shot with the intention of being a useful addition to the drills included in the course, as the descriptions indicate.

They have been shot with the intention of being a useful addition to the drills included in the course, as the descriptions indicate.

Use the reference images for your own practise or to complete the drills included in the course.

For those who already have access, go to:

www.scottbreton.com.au/reference-images

If you don’t already have access to the FGA course, you can choose one of the access options here:

https://www.scottbreton.com.au/fga-buy-options

 

More sets will be coming soon as I process more photos and refine the sets they are placed in, so that they are most useful for your practice.

For instant access go to:

https://www.scottbreton.com.au/fga-buy-options

Skeleton 3D printed model now available!

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I am happy to now be able to offer you access to the industrially 3D Printed skeleton kit that goes with the Simplified Anatomy component of the course, allowing you to go through the full process.

https://www.scottbreton.com.au/fga-buy-options

I think the simplified approach taught here is more or less in the sweet spot of anatomy study for the artist. 

Here's why:

Access the intermediate layers of simplified anatomy and other course notes at: https://www.scottbreton.com.au/full-basic-ecorche-and-gestural-life-drawing-course This model is from the course in life drawing that I teach. Students build this model as a simplified Ecorche in coloured clay onto a 430mm 3D printed skeleton armature, as well as studying aspects of form drawing, and of course drawing from the life model (nude artists’ model).

1. Follow embedded 3D models: Unlike the flat pages of a regular book, here you sculpt the forms in coloured clay based on step-by-step 3D models that you can rotate on your screen (rather than wading through books looking for the right angle to understand what the form of a muscle is)

 

Soft Tissues of Fingers - 3D model by scottbreton (@scottbreton) [225c6ea]

2. Strategic Simplification: These forms are simplified where appropriate - for instance, in the observed human body, the forearm flexors are usually seen as one general mass, rather than the multiple small muscles that compose this group - and the shape of this group as it interlocks and flows with other forms of the arm is what we are interested in as artists

 

3. Touch is a powerful learning tool: Involve your hands and spatial sense as you model them onto the 3D printed skeleton - this is the most fun and intuitive way to grasp the way the forms relate to one another

 
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4. Colour Coding: My simplified colour coded system keeps each muscle or muscle group separated mentally, and gives you a way to colour code your study of any reference you choose to - in the course I suggest colour coding life drawings, tracings of photoreference or figures from imagination - consistent colours help you to stay in control of the masses.

 
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5. Covers key poses/actions: Characteristic patterns emerge with certain actions - the pose of this 3D printed skeleton allows you to see:

-A twisting, tilted torso in contrapposto (weight on one leg)

-A bent versus straight knee

-A bent versus straight ankle

-A bent versus straight elbow

-A forward thrust shoulder versus a more retracted and lifted shoulder

- A pronated forearm (palm down) versus a supinated (palm up) forearm

 

6. The Simplified Anatomy component is related to and integrated with the practise of figure drawing.





 
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I wish it was around when I started trying to figure this stuff out!

It is an approach that balances simplification (so that you are not overwhelmed) with robustly deepening your knowledge of the form, or 3D shape, of the visible elements of the human body.  Detailed écorché (flayed figure) courses are great if you can find one and and can afford it, but in the end we need to simplify when thinking about the human body observed from life .  Also, if you are thinking about doing a complete écorché, getting an overview through my colour coded system will help you to orient yourself as you go into full detail. 

 
In the full kit you receive the 36cm skeleton model, all the required coloured clay and a simple sculpture tool

In the full kit you receive the 36cm skeleton model, all the required coloured clay and a simple sculpture tool

It has been a challenge to get it produced on industrial 3D printing machines at a cost affordable to you, the end user studying anatomy, but I am very happy with the strength and accuracy of the result (and have tested it myself going through the entire process and filming it - this will be embedded in the course notes soon.)

You can order with or without the coloured clay (it is about a kilo of clay so there is the shipping cost to take into account - therefore you might like to source it locally if you are located outside Australia and have an art supply that stocks this.

This tool can save you a lot of time and hassle (and money!) as you study artistic anatomy, which can otherwise be extremely challenging.   Simply by getting the kit and following the process in the course, the insights and connections will come naturally.

Testimonials:

Wayne, Brisbane

Vicky, Brisbane

Martin, Brisbane

New Video on Colour-coded Block in Drill

Colour-coded Block in Drill

(from Lesson 1 of the Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course online book)

Below is the first in a series of videos I am currently producing demonstrating and explaining drills to train the key aspects of figure drawing.

This is so that they begin to flow naturally and we can focus on higher level sensibilities.


Extracted from Lesson 1 of the Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course online book :

While two dimensional accuracy is certainly not the only, nor the ultimate aim of drawing, it is integral to developing visual sensitivity, discipline and focus.  Emphasis and exaggeration are more successful by those who are intentionally and purposefully deviating from what they are literally seeing rather than it happening accidentally. 

We begin with a basic tool box of comparative drawing techniques (as opposed to sight size) for developing an accurate drawing, and more importantly an accurate eye, followed by approaches to drawing the figure that utilise this toolbox and develop this way of seeing.

Once again : ACCURACY IS NOT THE POINT OF DRAWING but is important to develop and work to maintain if you wish to draw freely.

access this entire chapter and samples from all the other chapters by signing up for a free trial account here

OR if you already have an account, see the video in the context of lesson 1

For students who are quite experienced and have already developed a fairly accurate eye, I encourage you to take these activities seriously nonetheless.  Your extra skill, as well as having the experience of how costly unintentional inaccuracy (ie. sloppiness) can be, can make these activities even more powerful - a chance to focus on this aspect of drawing.  Because you have habits of the way you draw, by having a very specific process to follow, you can reset your habitual way of drawing to some extent.  

This activity I find surprisingly helpful though it is simple on the surface.

Note that the purpose is to see and notate relationships between parts of the figure, not to merely replicate it.  Make your drawing "about" these abstract relationships.