Curriculum for self-study?

[solidcube]

Hey, I'm getting more and more serious about art. Obsessed would be a better word-- I lie in bed at night thinking about architecture, like ruined buildings and monolithic concrete structures, and I love to paint more and more. I've done it for years on and off-- if I'd stuck with it since I first started with digital art in 93, I'd be amazing right now. As it is, I feel like I get better results at some things than I have any right to given how little I've painted.

I did trad. airbrush for 5 years or so, on and off, and I think that must have helped, because I'm much better at turning forms with value and even color than I am with any sort of drawing, which I am pretty much terrible at esp. on the Wacom, though I'm getting better.

Can someone please suggest a curriculum I could follow for solo study? Let's say I spend 4 hours a day of studying, for the next two years or so, in addition to some painting outside of the semi-formalized time allotment.

Any ideas? This seems like a question that might get asked a lot so I apologize in advance, I hope it's not too much of a frequently asked question.

[sharpe]

Self-study is such a personal thing, it would be difficult to find a perfect fit for you that you didn't design yourself. The curriculum would be different based on your own strengths and weaknesses, right?

From your post, it seems like you're able to self-identify your own primary weakness — draughtmanship. So if I were you, I would get into serious drawing study. I'd learn using pencil since that's probably the most honest art-tool out there — you can't hide or mask bad drawing with a pencil the way you might be able to with colour.

Narrow down exactly what your weaknesses with drawing are and tackle those. Only you know what they are — easiest way to spot them is to think about things you hesitate to draw. Hate drawing people? You probably draw them poorly. Procrastinate when you need to draw architecture? You probably draw them poorly. Draw all the things that make you want to go for a run or read a book instead, because those are the things you know you need to work on.

[German-s]

have you considered reading The Natural Way To Draw by Nicolaides? He's structured a pretty rigid course for self-study that you might find helpful.

Most people say that his course is TOO RIGID but regardless you could derive your own course that suits your needs based on his lesson plan or at LEAST get pointed in the right direction.

Best of luck in your journey!

[solidcube]

Yes, I had a look at that Nicolaides book. It seemed rather repetitive but on the other hand that was before I was looking around for a serious course on the subject. Good call-- I am interested to hear what other people think on that one but I will very likely get it tomorrow.

What do you think of the Hogarth books? I have all of those, I think, except for the "drawing clothing" one. And I have a whole bunch of manga instructional books, the big white ones, but I have to say I think that style is terrible for anyone trying to learn to draw-- the artists there are already, IMO, super-experts at anatomy, perspective and everything else, and so that style may not be so good for people who are just learning to draw because it encourages stylization of things like eyes as graphic logos so people who learn from anime books alone won't understand why they put the highlight where they do, etc etc.

I should go draw instead of sitting here blathering on.

[Twelve]

Yep go draw, and i probably should too. Trouble is I am a professional procrastinator. Self study. In my opinion it's good to have a solid foundation in the following 5 subjects. Values, Perspective, Composition, Colour Theory and Anatomy.

You could go into more but I hope this helps and may give you insight.

Also I think the Hogarth Books are amazing and I'm trying to get hold of Dynamic Light and Shade. All the best.

[Ninjerk]

super-experts at anatomy

I chuckled a little bit here.

[German-s]

y'know I understand why you might be turned off by the repetitive nature of Nicolaides but just remember that part of learning to draw means being repetitive from time to time so don't let that be a deterring factor when finding your way.

[solidcube]

I chuckled a little bit here.
Yeah, yeah. But you know what I'm saying-- it's a stylization, and like many other stylizations, the pros who do it have a long background in fine art. The stylization is a shorthand and if you don't know what the symbols in the shorthand are supposed to represent, it's not going to work. I see a lot of anime-influenced art that I think is just horrible. Instead of drawing a tree, they're drawing a drawing of a drawing of a drawing of a tree.