studying the greats

[geoffd]

let me ask you guys something. when i'm looking at all the professionals work, and studying the old masters and the recent greats. what exactly is it that i am looking for? i mean studying brushstrokes and pen/pencil strokes? i can stare at sargent's or davinci or j. sweet or foster or andrew jones or durer or frazetta or nc wythe's etc etc etc... work for hours and not quite know what it is i am looking for? ... am i doing something wrong?:bash: i don't knowe
back to drawing... thanks! :o

[Jeff Gran]

well I'm no master, but mostly I think you're looking for that elusive "inspiration". Maybe you're just looking too hard. I think you're looking for ways that these people represent things... I was looking at Michealangelo's work and noticed that in his drawings he will shade in the direction of the form...if that makes sense. Like if you treat the muscles as cylinders, the shading lines go around the perspective of that cylinder, helping to create the illusion of the form. stuff like that. when to use hard outlines and when not, how to use composition and color schemes, etc. Or when you can't think of what to draw, think back to something cool you saw Lukias draw and say, "i think it was something like this:" and try to draw it, and fail miserably (which i always do). but at least it's practice. hope this rambling helped.