A reader asked: “How is your thought process different at the beginning of a plein-air painting compared to the end?” At the beginning of a painting, I think about the concept or feeling that I want to convey. That intention guides the choice of framing and the colors I may choose. The thought process always comes before the painting, and if it’s a studio illustration, I work it out in sketches. If I were to start drawing or painting without a clear idea, it’s likely to be a dud. My first goal is to make a foundation in simple lines drawn with a brush, graphite pencil or watercolo ..read more

Image: Rodin's Thinker How do thinking humans survive in a world of intelligent machines? That's the question I pose in my latest deep dive on Substack, called: "10 Thinking Strategies."Bottom line: If we nurture the thinking strategies that are unique to the human experience, we can live our best lives in a world that’s more and more populated by intelligent machines.  ..read more

  Arthur Denison, chronicler of Dinotopia, in his study with Bix, his sidekick Protoceratops.  From Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara ..read more

J.C. Leyendecker, during his student days in Paris, wrote home to Chicago describing the work he was doing in the Académie Julian under Benjamin-Constant, Lefebvre, Bouguereau, and Laurens: "Thoroughness is the principle upon which the French Art Schools have won their success. It doesn't take long to discover that style and dash will not make a drawing or painting go here as it will an illustration back home. Serious work—getting right down to the foundation principles—is the demand which is laid upon every student over here.  If I learned anything it was that a picture is really only v ..read more

I painted this dead van in Greenport, Long Island using watercolor and gouache. You can watch the YouTube premiere today at noon NY time. Stage 1. Measuring I establish a unit of length. The distance from the left edge of the windshield to the back of the door equals the distance from the A-pillar to the back of the van. Stage 2. Mapping. I mark out the basic lines in a red-brown watercolor pencil. Stage 3. Blocking in. I use a flat brush to establish major shapes. Stage 4. Big areas first. I’m eager to dive into the details, beginning with the reflections in the wind ..read more

Feeling stuck? Need a fresh approach to your creative practice? Dürer's Melencolia I Here are four tips to help overcome creative melancholy: 1. Set up a different workstation. For most people, doing work means facing a computer. If it's a laptop, bring it to a new spot in the house or try working in a library or a café. Setting up a standing workstation can be a gamechanger.  2. Invent an alter ego and let them solve it. Pretend you've hired a specialist to help you with the part of the process that stymied you. 3. Trust the process, follow the workflow. For me, that means doin ..read more

 Not all head paintings are intended as portraits of specific individuals. Joos van Craesbeeck, 1605/6-1660/1 The Smoker Sometimes the goal is to capture a facial expression, a character type, a weird angle, an exotic costume, or an exploratory lighting arrangement. Adriaen Brouwer, The Bitter Potion, 1636-1638, Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch and Flemish painters developed a whole series of experimental modes of head painting. Frans Hals, Laughing Boy, 1625, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands. There’s a lot of fun ..read more

 All of the films by Laika Animation have "Art of" books available, including Paranorman, Boxtrolls, and Kubo. But their first film, Coraline, doesn't.  Much of the concept art had been shared online, but it wasn't organized, and hard to find. So a group of fans gathered up everything they could find, and created an unofficial digital book in PDF form and put it online. But after the book had been available for a while, they started receiving takedown notices from Laika. They weren't making any money from it, just honoring the artists' work. They wrote to the management of Laika ..read more

Frederic Edwin Church had the ability, even in a small field study, to capture a lot of convincing detail and texture, working quickly over a pencil line drawing in a single pass of oil paint. View of Wimmis, Valley of the Simmental, Switzerland by Frederic Church, 1868, oil on paper mounted on canvas 32.4 x 50.5 cm The original is only about 13 inches tall, so, depending on the size of your monitor, this detail may be about actual size ..read more

  Donkeys are very friendly and sweet, but it’s hard to sketch when you’re in there with them ..read more