PORTLAND, OREGON, WORKSHOP 2010
 A professional artist for 30 years, and author of the drawing bible "Drawing from Line to Life", Mike now passes on his knowledge through international workshops and online courses. 
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I'll show you how you can break down any drawing into easily manageable parts, and apply simple step-by-step techniques to draw them believably. |
 At no time did you make me, or anyone else there, feel it was beyond our reach. Your demonstrations were so informative.Thank you for an outstanding workshop. Truly I learned more from you in three days than I learned in two semesters at the community college. And it was fun too!Thank you for another great workshop weekend. Once again I came away with more knowledge and some great tips to help me with my drawings.I cannot begin to describe what a wonderful experience San Antonio was! I highly recommend Mike's workshops - I learned more technique in 3 days than I learned in a year in a local art class. Mike and his wife Jenny are so friendly and fun! Mike is quite a teacher - he explained and demonstrated his techniques in a manner that we could all understand and immediately integrate into our own drawings.Thanks for everything, I had a great time and learned a lot from you. I'll rank your workshop as five stars.Thank you for a super workshop. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned so much and you have me hooked on graphite!Fantastic workshop! A lot of "ah ha" moments! A wonderful experience! Thank you Mike for making it such a fun weekend!I've been an artist almost all my life and have quite a bit of experience, but I really learned alot in your workshop to better my work. I go to at least one workshop a year, and I believe yours was the best so far.I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and feel completely inspired. Thank you for taking the time to work with us all and share some of your incredible gift.As a teacher, I appreciated your format, one-on-one assistance, concrete examples, etc. I am glad you shared your expertise with us. It was a memory-maker weekend. |
PORTLAND USA WORKSHOP: Graphite Pencil Techniques
Date : 3-5 September 2010Duration : 3 days, 10 am to 5 pmLocation : OREGON SOCIETY OF ARTISTS BUILDINGThis informal workshop is designed for artists of all abilities, from novice to advanced, and who have a desire to take their drawing to a new level of realism. I'll show you how you can break down any drawing, however complex, into easily manageable parts, and apply simple step-by-step techniques to draw them believably. Three days of uninterrupted drawing! You'll travel from the basics right through to a final drawing, covering a variety of techniques along the way, including the use of references and how to use them for composition. And no lectures! I prefer to work with you individually. Drawing is fun! I run friendly and flexible workshops, built around a schedule that can be tuned to individual needs, and the final day is unstructured so I can cover anything you personally request. You'll learn how realism is achieved by closely studying textures, and then mastering the ways to interpret them and commit them to paper. These workshops will provide you with a greater ability to explore and understand textures, the techniques required to render them in a believable way, and you will learn both the "how" and the "why". Whatever your present ability, you will leave with a new-found knowledge of how to draw and use textures and contrasts to the benefit of your work. Paper, pencils and all other necessary supplies are included. However, if you prefer to use your own favourite pencils and tools, please bring them with you. If possible, I'll have a few of my original drawings with me, but prints will be available for you to study in close detail. And I'll be will be happy answer all queries and demonstrate specific techniques used. Please feel free to bring examples of your own work along for critique or advice.
The workshop is limited to
students to ensure individual attention.
•convert currency Price includes Equipment Pack comprising:
This workshop is flexible to take into account your present level of ability and the typical daily itinerary is as follows: DAY 1: In the morning, after a short initial drawing session, you will receive tuition on graphite pencil techniques including pencil points and the application of line and tone, and a series of exercises to accustom you to drawing on Mellotex. This will be followed by demonstrations and exercises using blending, layering and creative erasing. The Afternoon will begin with an introduction to Negative Drawing followed by a series of exercises for your enjoyment and instruction, designed to increase your knowledge and handling of the techniques learned so far - including the creation of textures, such as hair and weathered brick. DAY 2: In the morning, after completion of a short exercise on erasing, three further exercises will explore the negative drawing of textures including a leaf, rusty metal and wood. During all sessions I will work with you personally, as required, to assist you and demonstrate these techniques. The morning will finish with advice from me on "creating your own world" (or "How not to be a slave to photographs"!) In the afternoon, you and your fellow students will begin working on identical drawings. I provide the reference sources and guideline drawings for each student. DAY 3: The day will be spent working on your final drawing. This last day has an informal structure so I can cover any subject you wish to raise at any time during the day - including demonstrations as required. You are not expected to have completed the drawing! If you wish to complete any workshop exercise at home, send scans or photos to me at any stage for critique and advice in the Workshop Plus online resource, where I will also offer advice or assistance with any aspect relating to the content of your workshop - Your workshop continues after you leave! |
