The Art of Art - A Search for the Definition

Over the years I have experimented with many forms of art. Invariably, I have had people say things like, "That looks really nice, but it isn't real art." For example, this piece was created by taking three different photographs, putting them together in Photoshop and applying some artistic filters. The complaints that I recieved were that I didn't create anything, all I did was put photographs together and apply filters.

So, I opened Photoshop again and I created this image. This was created entirely in Photoshop but I did not use any photographs, I simply used the software as my medium. Again I was hit with, "That looks really nice, but it isn't real art." Why? Because I didn't use physical materials. I was told that anyone can create images that look good on a computer, but not everyone can take pencil to paper or paint to canvas and come up with a work of art.

Pencil to paper! I went to work. I created these three images using graphite pencils and artist's paper. Surely no one is going to complain about this. "That looks really nice, but it isn't real art." What? What's wrong with this one? It seems that replicating an existing photograph without making any "artistic" changes to it, keeps it from being art.

Ok, so that leads to the question: what is art? What are the elements required to make something a work of art? I took a long voyage of research to come up with answers to those questions, and I found them. In fact, I found so many answers that there is no way I could possibly include them in this article. Besides that almost every single definition I found of art contradicted every one else's definition. It seems that discussing the definition of art is almost as explosive as discussing politics and religion. What a dilemma. How was I supposed to come up with a definition of art for my blog post in a situation like this?

Time for a trip to the St. Louis Art Museum. I spent a lot of time on the main floor studying the old masters. I marveled at the skill and talent that was on display. Then I went upstairs. One of the first things I ran into was the Rock Circle. Um....what happened to the skill and talent I marveled at on the main floor? This was just a pile of rocks in a circle, anyone can do this.

Then I came across Spectrum II. Well it looks really nice, but it isn't real art. I mean anyone can take canvases, paint them a solid color and then hang them all in a row....right?

Photo by Gabriel

Yeah, that's right. I had become the very person that was complaining about my own art. As far as I could tell, I was looking at things that took no skill whatsoever, it couldn't possibly be art. Yet these works were on display at one of the country's premier art museums.

I had decided that art could not be defined by skill and talent. As an artist I decided that it must simply be defined by the fact that the creator of the work declared it art. But as I looked at the world around me I came to the conclusion that there had to be a different definition. I started seeing buildings as works of art. Meals presented at restaurants, wind and water erosion, rust on old pieces of metal, the patterns of stripes on a house cat all started to appeal to my artistic senses. So, does that mean that art is in the eye of the beholder? Maybe, but that doesn't really sound right either.

Time to turn to the old standby...Wikipedia! Here is what they say about art:

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature.

Ok, so that doesn't really work for me either, but it is the closest I have found yet. I have at least learned that I was as guilty as anyone else when it comes to being an art snob and I have broadened my appreciation of art in the process. The bottom line is this, don't ever let anyone tell you that your work isn't "real art." But at the same time, if you are quick to judge what others think is art, maybe you should take another look.

The purpose of this site

This site is starting to get a very large number of readers. As such, I think it is important that I attempt to explain exactly what it is that I am trying to do here. However, I think I should also explain what this site is not. My purpose in this site is not to teach art or to help people become artists. The purpose of this site is to teach a technique that can be used to recreate any photograph as a graphite drawing. I focus on portraits, because they are extremely popular.

So do I consider this technique a form of art? Actually, no, I do not. Allow me to explain why. Art is something special. It comes from the creativity of the artist. It is something that is inspired. I personally do not believe that art can be taught. No one can teach you how to be inspired, it is a spark that comes from deep inside each individual person. That being said, it is possible to teach techniques that are used in the creation of art.

That is what I am doing. I am teaching some techniques. Primarily, I am teaching how to use a tortillion. I am also teaching how to see. But first and foremost I am teaching how to use the tools.

Using what I teach on this website you can create a pencil portrait of a family member or of a beloved pet and give it as a Christmas present or hang it above you fireplace.

What is important to understand is that I am teaching a very limited range of techniques. At some point in the future I might expand the tutorials into a broader range. But for now my goal in this site is to show people the techniques that I have learned to create realistic pencil portraits from photographs.

I highly encourage anyone that wants to learn the traditional artistic methods to seek a degree from a reputable university, art school or community college. But the most important thing, is that you do what you love and you love doing what you do. If you enjoy your life, the universe will go out of its way to provide you with an enjoyable life. If drawing pencil portraits from photographs is what you love, then this is the place for you.

The Final Touches - Drawing Eyes

This is the final result. Once again, much of the detail was lost in the process of saving the image to the web. But I think there is enough here that we can talk about it. Let me pop in an image zoomed up to show one eye more clearly:


Eyebrows:
Remember an earlier lesson where I talked about the hatching technique for creating the lines in the iris? That same technique needs to be used in creating the small hairs that form the eyebrows. There are a few things that you need to keep in mind when creating eyebrows:

• Use hatching technique
• "Always" follow the natural line of the hair
• Start where the hair attaches to the skin then hatch in the direction that the hair lays
• All hair must have an anchor, it can't just sit in open space, it must appear to be attached to the skin
• The hairs are not haphazard. Know exactly where you are going with each one before you "hatch" it in
  
• As always "reproduce what you are actually seeing"

Tip: Sketch in hair to fill the area, then use a tortillion to blend them all out. Then use the pencil to add more hair. This will give the illusion that there is depth and many layers of hair.

Eye Lashes:
Pay particular attention to where the eye lashes are connected to the eyelid. If you want it to look realistic you must have the hairs attach correctly. The biggest problem that I used to have with eye lashes was that I was trying to draw in three dimensions. I knew that the eye lashes came out from the eye and my mind wanted to try to recreate that. As we know, that is not possible. So, look at your original as exactly what it is, a two dimensional image. Look at the eyelashes as if they are lines going across the other areas of the eye. Then draw them exactly as you see them.

The same things that I pointed out above when talking about eyebrows are important here as well.

Blemishes:
Skin is never perfect, there always freckles or other spots that define character. This is where you keep your finished image from looking like a porcelain doll. With your pencil simply draw the blemishes where you see them, then use the tortillion to smooth them out. Blending them a little bit will anchor them to the skin so that they don't just look like dots drawn on the face.

Wrinkles:
All skin has wrinkles but remember that not all wrinkles look the same. In this image there were a few wrinkles under the eyes and more tinier wrinkles where the corner of the eye meets the nose. Using very light strokes with the pencil, sketch the wrinkles in. You will likely want to go over them very lightly with the tortillion just like you did with the blemishes.

For the larger wrinkles you will want to look very close at your original source image. You will notice that there is a bit of reflective light along one edge of the wrinkle. Using an eraser that is sharpened to a fine point will help you get those highlights in place.

The Shadows - Drawing the Face Around the Eyes

The first thing that I would like to do is to thank everyone that has signed up for my newsletter.  I would also like to thank everyone for their patience.  Life has been really crazy these past three weeks or so but things are starting to settle a little bit and I am finally able to get back to getting these lessons created.

Today we are continuing where we left off in the last lesson "The Wet Look - The First Steps to Drawing Eyes."  If you haven't looked at that lesson yet, I recommend that you do.

One of the things that I have been trying to make clear since I started this blog is the importance of drawing what your are actually seeing instead of drawing what your brain tries to convince you is there.  This is the case in almost everything you draw.  In the last lesson it became very important when trying to recreate the highlights in the eyes.  It is just as important in this lesson and as always we are dealing with lights and shadows, nothing more.

This lesson will begin the process of creating the face that the eyes are set in.  When we are done today, you will have created the basic shadows and shapes that make up the upper portion of the human face.  In the next lesson we will expand on this base and add details such as hair, wrinkles, and freckles.

The Lower Lid

Let's get started with the lower lid.  Pay special attention to areas that are in highlight.  It is very important that you get them correct in order to convey the natural look that you are going for.  What you are trying to do here is to get the graphite laid down on the paper, so you need to make sure you get just the right amount.  Do this by taking note of the difference between the whites of the eyes and the skin of the eyelid.

This is also where you take care of a common mistake that many people make when drawing eyes.  The eyelid is not a paper thin flap of skin that covers the eye.  There is definite thickness. This is where you add thickness to the eyelid itself.   Making sure that you get that thickness will go a long way to creating the feeling of depth in a final portrait.

 

Once you get the graphite in place it is time to bring out the tortillion and blend the pencil lines to create a smooth layer of graphite.

 

Basic Skin Tone

Now we need to create a skin tone base that we can work with as we progress through the rest of this piece.  We do this by laying down an "extremely" light layer of graphite.  This may be difficult to see in this image, so let me explain exactly what I did.  I rested the pencil lightly in my hand.  I did not provide any pressure at all on the pencil.  I simply allowed the weight of the pencil to do all of the work.  I then used small circular strokes to allow the graphite to transfer to the paper.  Yeah, I basically just scribbled.  Only I did it without applying pressure.

Note: This will likely take a really long time.  All I can say it patience truly is a virtue.  Don't try to rush this step, allow it to take as much time as it needs to take.

 

Then, using the tortillion again, I blended the entire skin area so that it has a very light and somewhat even layer of graphite.

Shadow Areas

Now that the basic skin tone is on the paper, it is time to add some of the shadow areas.  Continuously use your photo reference.  Especially when adding in shadows.  You want to make sure you get them in exactly the right locations.  For this step I used the same basic technique I used for laying in the skin tones.  However, I applied a bit of pressure to the pencil to create the dark areas.  But, once again, I basically scribbled. 

While doing this step, go ahead and darken in the areas where the eyebrows are going to go.  We are not interested in drawing the hair at this time, just the darkness.  You will find that this darkness is very important when you get to actually drawing the individual hairs.

Finally we are using the tortillion once again to blend the graphite and smooth the shadow areas that you just created. 

 

Next:

As you can see, we are starting to get something that resembles human features.  In our next lesson we will work on the details that will bring more reality to the drawing.

Top 10 Art Myths

1. You have to be born with a natural talent to create art
This has got to be the laziest excuse I have ever heard for not becoming an artist. Let me be perfectly clear. People are not born with natural artistic talents above anyone else. The reality is that as we grow we develop interests in other things and we focus our learning on those things. Historically we focus on those things that we need to learn in order to survive. We learn skills that we know we can use to make enough money to provide for our future families. Because of this, we never spend any time really focusing our attentions on creativity. The bottom line is this, everyone can become an artist if, and only if, they have a true desire to do so. The hard work, dedication and self confidence that it takes to become an artist tends to turn most people away. So, they use this excuse above all others.

2. If you don’t get a degree in art, or go to an art school, you will never make a living as an artist.
I know lots of people that graduated art school. Not one of them has a career in art. On the other hand, I know several people that have never had any former schooling at all, and they make a nice living as artists. It has nothing to do with the training you are given. Instead, it is the real life lessons that you learn and your passion for art help you succeed as an artist.

3. Being an artist isn’t a real job
Oh please. Let’s define a job as something that brings enough income for you to support your family. Let’s say Ed makes $30,000 a year working in the computer industry and Bill makes $30,000 a year working as an artist. Can you really believe that Bill does not have a real job?

4. I can’t be an artist; I can’t even draw a straight line
I have been a successful artist for over a decade and I can’t draw a straight line; at least not without a ruler. Yup, there it is. The key to the whole artist mystery is that you have to learn to use the right tools. Art is just like any other endeavor you choose to pursue, if you don’t use the right tools, you will never get the job done.

5. I’m too old to learn how to draw
Really? Tell that to the 80 year old man that decided to become a portrait artist. He couldn’t draw a picture to save his life. After a few weeks of study he started creating colored pencil portraits so realistic you couldn’t tell them from photographs. No. Dump that excuse right now because it simply does not wash.

6. I am disabled; I could never become an artist
Bring up your web browser and search for “disabled artist.” If the people in those websites can’t convince you, I never will.

7. It requires investing a lot of money to become an artist
First of all, there are so many free online tutorials for learning to be an artist that you will never have to spend money on books, lessons or classes. Second of all, you can create fantastic works of art using $15 worth of pencil drawing supplies.

8. I am not creative enough to become an artist
Creativity is not the key to becoming s successful artist. There are tons of places you can get creative ideas from. All you need to do is learn to use the tools and keep fueling your passion for art.

9. Every work of art must be perfect
Let me tell you a little secret. No work of art is perfect. To paraphrase a famous film director, works of art are never completed, they are abandoned. If I considered every non perfect work of art I created to be a failure, I would never have sold a single piece.

10, Real art is only done with traditional methods.
By traditional methods I am referring to pencils, paints, canvases, paper and things like that. There is a world of art snobs out there that consider any work done with modern technology to be inferior and not real art. That is ridiculous. Real art does not come from the medium that is used. Real art comes from the heart and soul of the artist. So use your computer if that is your medium. Use your camera to create grand works of art. Use a yard rake on a sandy beach if you want. The important thing is to create your art. If you don’t, you will be depriving that world of the beauty that is within you.

The Wet Look - The First Steps to Drawing Eyes

In the last lesson on eyes we talked about the various problems that artists run into when trying to draw eyes as realistic as possible. In this lesson, we will begin the drawing process. There are two things that you need to do in order to in order to get started. The first is to make sure you are using the right tools. If you have trouble finding the tools locally, or if you would simply like to help support this site, you can purchase the tools directly from my Shopping Center by clicking on the Pencil Portrait Supplies link in the upper left section of this page.

The next thing that you have to have is your initial sketch drawn on your paper. The first two images I am going to show you here are the original photograph and my initial sketch.

Step One - The Pupil

The first step is to draw in the pupil. Using your 2B pencil, color in the entire pupil area. Make sure you lay in a lot of graphite and create as dark of a tone as you possibly can. Don't worry if you can't get really dark. If it needs to be darker later on, you can use a softer lead pencil on top of the 2B. But that will be in the final stages of the drawing as finishing touches.

Important Note: Make sure that you do NOT color in the areas that will be the highlights. This is very important. Those highlights have to be left completely white in order to get that wet look that we are going for.

Step Two - The Iris
Before we start drawing in the iris, I want to talk a moment about a technique called hatching. We use the hatching technique when creating the iris. You start with your pencil on the paper and make a short sharp motion across the paper. The key to this is to lift your pencil off of the paper before you finish the stroke. The result is a nice line that tapers off into nothing.

This image illustrates both the correct and incorrect usage of hatching. Notice the first group of lines starts out solid and dark, but ends up fading to a nice point. This is what you are looking for. The second group of lines was done by stopping the pencil before lifting it from the paper. Notice that both ends of the line end suddenly and harshly. The third group of lines shows what happens if you try to join groups of hatched lines that are done incorrectly. Notice the dark band where the two join together. The last group shows how two groups of hatched lines join when they are done with the correct motion. Notice that the area where the two groups join is nice and smooth.

There are a few ways that artists traditionally shade the iris area of the eyes. All are legitimate techniques, but the one we are going for is the first one. Start at the outside edge of the iris and hatch inward toward the pupil. This will help to create the realism that we are looking for.

Ok, the first step in the iris is to create the initial lines of hatching. The human eye has many layers of lines that make up the iris. That means that you must draw many layers as well. Do NOT start out trying to draw the darkest areas of the iris. Start out light and create the darker areas by drawing many layers on top of each other. Take your time with this. This is a very important step and there is no need to rush it. Sit back and enjoy the feel of the pencil on the paper. Also realise that you can add more layers as you continue through this lesson. So, if you don't get it dark enough now, you can darken it later. When you are satisfied that you have it looking the way you want, go on to the next step.

Did anyone notice the mistake I made here? I will point it out later in the lesson.

Step Three - The Edge of the Iris

Every eye is different, of course, but most eyes have a distinct darkness along the outside edge of the iris. In this step, all I have done is create a dark ring that I will be pulling into the iris in the next steps. Remember, never press hard when drawing! If you want something darking, simply add more layers.

Step Four - Pulling in the Darkness

Using the same hatching technique that we used before we are simply pulling the darkness around the edge into the iris so that it does not look like such a hard ring in the middle of the eye.

Step Five - Blending to Create Depth

Using a tortillion as a blending tool, start blending the lines of the iris. Make sure that you follow the same direction as your pencil strokes. This will begin to create the depth of the eye that is contrasted by the bright white of the highlight. Once again, make sure that you leave the highlights completely untouched.

Step Six - The Inner Darkness

Along with the outer ring of darkness in the human eye, there is also an inner ring. If you look very closely at the original photograph you will see this area. You will also notice that it is not a uniform ring. In some areas it is closer to the pupil than in other areas.

Using your pencil, lightly hatch in layers until you have recreated that inner area as close as you can to the original photograph. Then use the Toritillion to blend it in with the rest of the lines of the iris.

Step Seven - Fixing the Mistake

Did you figure out the mistake I made yet? I left out a very important highlight. If you look at the outside edge of the eye on the left you will see that I have "drawn in" the highlights from the photograph. How did I draw them in? I am so glad you asked. I used an eraser. Actually, I used a battery operated eraser. It is very useful for drawing in highlights when using both graphite and colored pencil. Always remember the importance of highlights and do not skimp out. The closer you recreate those highlights the more realisic your drawing will look.

Step Eight - Drawing the White

As much as your brain wants to think it is white, the whites of the eyes aren't really white. They are just whiter than the rest of the eye. The true white is found in the reflections you see in the eyes. In order to get that highlight to look as white as possible, the whites of the eyes have to be darker.

In the image you see below, I barely allowed the pencil to touch the paper while laying in just a small amount of graphite. I then used the Toritillion to smooth the graphite and remove the lines. Note that I avoided the highlight areas and went in with a very sharp pencil to draw in some lines to represent the blood vessels in the eyes. Note: it is possible that I have made the whites a little too dark. But I will not know for sure until I get the rest of the image created. If need be, I can lighten them up later on.

Next Lesson:

We will focus on the edges of the eyelids and the corners of the eyes. Attention to detail in these areas is very important.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I first want to apologize for not being around for the past week or so.  Unfortunately, there was a series of unfortunate events that we could not have foreseen.  The good news is I am back online now and will be working this site even more than I did before.  For those that are interested, read on and you will find out exactly what happened and just how lucky we ended up.

For those that are not aware of our lifestyle, Kylie and I live full time in a motor home and travel the country.  We left California in the spring and spent the summer in Southwest Missouri with my family.

Last Wednesday morning we left Columbia Missouri, heading to St. Louis on our way to Florida.  We got a couple of miles down the road and the engine started making a bit of a rattling noise.  We pulled off the side of the road and checked things out but there was no one in the area that we could have look at the engine.  So we drove a few miles until we found a Freightliner repair shop.  We stopped there and they told me that there was no one there that could work on gas engines.  So we decided to drive on to Kingdom City.  About 4 miles before we got to the Kingdom City exit, the rattle became very loud and was obviously from one of the engines cylinders.   We were lucky in that there was an exit right there.  We pulled off and called a mechanic from Kingdom City to come take a look at it.  He agreed with what we had diagnosed, so we had it towed to his shop where we could get an estimate on repair.

The tow, which was only 4 miles total, cost us $225!  After a couple of hours of being there they told us that the engine was going to have to be replaced and it was going to cost between $5000 and $6000.  So, we started panicking.  A little while later they told us that it was actually going to cost between $7000 and $8000.  Ok, even more panicking.  Then a while later the owner of the shop showed up and said that there was no way they could do it for less than $9000.  It might as well have been $100,000, because there was no way that we were going to be able to get that kind of money.

Kylie's parents came from St. Louis the next day, we rented a U-Haul to take all of our stuff to St. Louis.  I called a couple of salvage and scrap dealers to try and sell our home for scrap.  No one would take it.  All we could do at that point was to head to St. Louis and see what we could come up with.  It just so happened that Kylie's mother has a cousin with a piece of property and he said we could park the rig there while we worked on it ourselves.  I hope that we can fix it ourselves for less than $1000.  I am going to try anyway.  So, we had the rig towed the 160 miles or so from where it was to where we are now storing it.  That tow cost us $1000!

Well, that left us homeless, so to speak.  It just so happened that Kylie 's grandmother is in a nursing home and will likely never leave that facility.  Her house is full of junk, important papers, photographs and family records that go back to the late 1800s.  So, Kylie's mother suggested we stay in that house for the winter and help her go through all of that stuff and get the house in a condition that it can be sold once Kylie's grandmother passes away.  She will likely pass this winter.

We didn't make it to Florida like we had planned, but we are ok.  We are in Illinois. Kylie has a potential job lined up.  I am going to be focusing on our online businesses, organizing all of the stuff in this house and distributing Juice Plus+.  BTW - if anyone uses Juice Plus+ or are interested in doing so, let me know and I will hook you up.