It's both challenging and exciting to impose time limits when drawing. Doing so forces me to prioritize what I want to accomplish on paper; whether it's roughly capturing the complete figure or scene or, in this case, focus on refining a specific area or feature. 

Charcoal on Newsprint

Approximately 5 hours

Newsprint paper. It's not archival. It's cheap in every sense of the word, and yellows as it ages.

Charcoal. It's dry and dusty. No frills; simply charred wood. Smudges easily and is difficult at times to control.

Two relatively raw materials, due to quickly fade and decay, to be consumed by the earth.

The glorification of these two tools comes only from the application of one to another. But even then, their life expectancy is short.

Maybe the goal of forging art from these tools is to create something beautiful and impermanent. There is something rewarding from creating art that will soon disappear...

...Now I know how pancake artists must feel.

OK. Here I go! I am opening a studio in Valley Park. It's a very rustic space, located in a manufacturing facility. No bells. No whistles. But perfect for instructing a few groups of students across several drawing bootcamps. I've learned a lot about drawing, based on over 30 years of hobby and professional art skills I've picked up along the way.

The concept around my bootcamps is simple: your children will come out more advanced in their drawing skills than when they came in. Consider this the "select sport" of drawing instruction. This isn't a craft camp. I don't work in the popsicle stick medium :).  Rather, I've developed a solid curriculum that will prepare your child to excel in their talent by building up their foundational drawing skills; skills that traditional grade, middle, and high schools often do not fully instill in our children.

View the courses here.

All that to say, I am now accepting students for beginner's and intermediate drawing bootcamps, beginning in Septemb...

Spending twenty minutes to sketch someone every day is a great way to practice and remember your drawing techniques.

Ten-minute drawing (left), and a two-hour drawing.

My newest studio will be opening in the industrial section of Valley Park in the very near future. As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of work yet to be done. But, please don't expect high finish. The studio is inside a manufacturing space and is intentionally rustic and edgy. Keeping with Drawn's goal of fostering a positive, studio-like atmosphere where students can hone their drawing skills, my students will be there to create, get charcoal dust on the floor, draw and learn without fear of nicking corners or scuffing surfaces.

More info to come. In the meantime, I'd like to thank those who have shown their confidence in me. My students (and their parents), my patrons, my teachers, my parents, wife, family and friends.

Jonathan has such great patience, which was illustrated in a recent class. Drawing in my class is not just about laying down a line or value but working that charcoal mark after it's been applied. In this photo, he's demonstrating an excellent job of patiently blending the vine charcoal on his paper to show subtle variations of shadow and light. I was even more impressed with how he captured a deeper level of dimension on the nose by making just a few strategic eraser marks to suggest highlights. Super impressed with his work and progress!

I have three children. Being a teaching artist, I would love to pass my knowledge of drawing onto my children. But I do not force it upon them. I want to first make sure they have the passion to draw without my coaxing and enforcing. My youngest, Cole, definitely has this passion right now. He asks me if we can go down in the basement studio and draw. As an artist and a father, I am excited to see the focus he holds as he draws images we find in magazines and the internet. Everything from cartoon characters to animals. During these moments, it's his world.