The Old Man Mad About Drawing (Hokusai)

I'm fond of paraphrasing this (badly) but it's about time I stop mangling the master's words and let him speak for himself. If you've asked how long it takes to get good at drawing, here's the simple answer.

 

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things.

When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs. 

But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. 

At 75 I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. 

When I am 80 you will see real progress. 

At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. 

At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. 

At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. 

To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing.”
― Hokusai Katsushika

Got 5 minutes? Treat yourself to this delightful little documentary:

What's New for 2016

Been a while since I updated the blog! I actually have a bunch of half-finished articles I think you'll find really useful, but it's been so busy, I haven't had a chance, and I'm kind of a stickler about making them the best articles I can. But I'm making a point of catching up! Stay tuned for more fun articles to come.

We have a couple of new, fun offerings for 2016:

Single Pose Class We're now presenting a 2 hour long, single pose class. It's a great opportunity to really hunker down and develop your visual acuity and get a very detailed, finished drawing. One nude model in a single pose for two hours (with a break every 20 minutes). We're currently doing it twice a month on Thursdays.

Classes WITH Instruction If you'd like a little formal instruction (or a lot), these classes are great. We have a nude model, and each class begins with some very basic exercises, and tips to help you capture the figure on paper and maybe see a little differently. These classes are usually pretty small, so you can get plenty of individual attention.

Special Events We're planning them now for the warmer weather! I hate to give too many specifics before they're finalized, but most likely you can expect more art sails aboard the Schooner Pioneer, Some unusual art workshops, and some social gatherings. And we;ll continue to list third-party events around town that may be of interest to our meetup members, even the ones that we don't organize.

Old Favorites We're still doing Sunday afternoon sketching featuring a nude model in an academic figure sketching class with both short and long poses, and our ever-popular draw-a-thon Draw-mania! that combines a variety show with a drawing event.

To find out all about these events join our Meetup group http://www.meetup.com/FigureSketching-NYC
It's free to join and will keep you updated with all our fun events.



Is there some kind of art event that you'd like to see us offering? Let us know! If it's possibly of interest to our membership we'd like to know!