Visual Arts Journal

Choosing the Best Art Program to Meet Your Needs
This is the first installment in a series of reviews on self-study art training courses. I’ll be reviewing programs designed for a wide range of skill levels and pursuits, from beginner to advanced and recreational to professional. All of the programs I will be reviewing are offered via PDF, or DVD and some offer online member-only communities to supplement the original content and learning experience. (continue reading…)

Buy the Best Possible Products Right From the Start
Several years ago I had decided to take up painting, something I had wanted to do since childhood. I bought some very inexpensive art supplies, figuring I could try it before committing too much. I promptly gave it up after a couple of tries because I hated to results. It wasn’t my assessment of my talent, it was the way the paint interacted with the paper and the weakness of the colors that I didn’t like. Having no one to ask, I just gave up the notion of painting for several years. All that lost time because I didn’t know enough about watercolor paper, the various textures and sizing or the difference between student grade and professional grade. (continue reading…)

The Shopping List A recommended list of supplies. Established professionals can cherry-pick through the list and the beginners can go crazy at the art supply store. Of course, you can also accumulate the supplies over time. For a list of online suppliers and outlets check the Link page. ☐ Hand Drafting or Layout Prior to illustration These tools are helpful for more technical styles of illustration, cartoon layout, storyboarding, template making, etc. (continue reading…)

The Recommended Tool For Finding Values
If you are looking for a tool to aid in seeing values then the preferred tool is the Gray Scale Value Finder shown above. This tool can be particularly helpful if you are following Jane Hofstetter’s methods or just trying to train your eye. (continue reading…)

The Pros and Cons of Several Styles of Hand Cutters
Each of these cutters have their advantages so I won’t be making a recommendation. Purchasing decisions would be highly influenced by many variables so a definite recommendation would be difficult. Instead I’ll be pointing out the strengths and weaknesses, common uses and accessories of each style of cutter. Since all of these cutters are rather inexpensive I’ll skip the price ranges. This article only covers hand cutters and not standing or table top cutters or the specialized cutters for framing images. (continue reading…)

Dream Tool for Math Avoiders
Proportional scales make quick work of determining exact measurements for increasing or decreasing the size of reproductions (copies) while maintaining the proportions of the original work. Whether you are matting and framing, setting the dimensions on a new digital file or cutting substraight (the supporting material such as paper, wood, canvas, etc.); using this tool reduces error and waste.

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A Little Advice Earned the Hard Way
Once you decide to use markers as an artistic medium, you’ll discover that there is a huge array of colored markers to choose from. Before you go out and sink a boat load of money into markers, let me offer a bit of clarification and advice.

The Difference Between Writing Markers and Artist/Layout Markers
There are two primary categories of pens, markers for writing and markers for art. The difference will determine not only (continue reading…)

An Industry Standard
A quality magazine that is considered a “must have” for many photographers. The content highlights two or three really cool Photoshop tutorials and an article or two. Filling out the rest of the pages are a dozen or so regular columns, a handful of photo equipment reviews, Lightroom content and a nice spread on the current featured photographer. Also present, a lot of glossy looking advertising, which as a photographer, I do selectively glance at. (continue reading…)

Video Showcase
(Additional links are shown below the showcase)

Artist is David Jon Kassan doing a 1 1/2 hour draw condensed ( via time lapse) down to 5 min. Note the use of a charcoal applicator for gesture lines, measurements and for capturing values before details are added. He’s also using binoculars to see values and details as he draws. Pay attention to the cast shadows on the eyes during the close up, around the 04:53 mark on elapsed time. He works on toned paper and uses charcoal and white chalk for this piece.

His gallery pieces have a gritty, edgy feel as most are done with a graffiti cement wall type of background. Visit his web site at David Jon Kassan.com (continue reading…)

Radical solutions for exploiting the worlds most versatile medium

Authored by: Patti Brady ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-013-4 List Price: US $29.95

This book is widely recognized as a popular book judging by the user responses online and through the recommendation of other artists. I got my first look at the book during a product lecture for golden artist colors, and was very inspired. (continue reading…)

SilverShotz is pricy and hard to find, but it’s drop dead gorgeous. The magazine mainly profiles the artists, or rather their portfolios, by displaying numerous very large images of their work. Text is very light but who needs it. If this doesn’t provide inspiration, I don’t know what will.  They have a one page directory in the back and no other advertising. They also have a one page book review but no other columns or content, just the big name profiles and portfolios. (continue reading…)

A Postmortem Review: Camera Arts Magazine

A small but highly inspirational magazine covering all genres and specialties of photography, fine art, photo mixed-media, portraiture, photo journalistic, etc. All the articles are keepers; I found no fillers (advertising yes but no meaningless articles). The articles tend to be more visual than text oriented and the writing is concise.

Update: A Review of the Camera Arts Magazine Web Site
Once entirely gone, this magazine has been resold back to a previous owner (continue reading…)