I didn’t know that there are still atelier art schools as they mostly died out with modern art education. A few still persist, however, because a handful of artists thought the method was too important to be forgotten. The idea behind an atelier is much like a modern school for music. Students practice basics, apply the basics to an intense study of master works, and then, sometimes, go on to create their own art in their own style. While in training, however, they stick to copying. Art education nowadays focuses less on mastering basics and more on creation.

From Juliette Artistide’s book: I attempted to copy the teapot on the left. Accuracy is definitely something for me to work on.

I’m probably a little too old to spend the next four years studying at an atelier, but I can get a taste. Drawing with graphite is the beginning medium of art ateliers, followed by charcoal and then oil paint. The drawing principles mostly come from the school of Charles Bargue. Not much has changed with his method, and without getting into it too deeply, it still works and many talented artists today pursue an atelier education.

For me, I bought the lovely book, Beginning Drawing Atelier, by Juliette Artistide, I rushed through most of it before realizing I needed to slow down and repeat the exercises. After spending some time redrawing a few apples with the new techniques I was learning, I started to investigate online atelier schools. There are several, and some are even free.

My first attempt copying a masterwork on the left on Strathmore paper, my third on the right on Stonehenge. I skipped showing the second as it’s kind of embarrassing..

I decided to start with the Classical Sketchbook course from artist Sadie Valeri. This course is free when you purchase any of her other courses, so I also purchased the Introduction to Classical Drawing. These two classes are supposed to keep me busy for 12 weeks, but of course, I’m plowing through the first one as though I’m in a race. At some point, I again realized it was time to slow down, and then… it clicked! The ideas about value and using a pencil in a careful, thoughtful, and light manner came together. After my third try, the rose (on the right) started to actually look like the rose I was copying.

So, I decided I needed to purchase some art supplies. 🙂 I normally use Tombow Mono pencils, which are great. Awhile ago, I bought a sample set of Musgrave Unigraph drawing pencils, and I love them… so I bought 96! They range from 7H to 6B. I can’t say enough good things about them. Not only are they made in the United States, they’re terribly inexpensive. I think I was seeing a range of $2.50-3.50 per pencil for Tombows. The Musgrave Unigraphs are about $.50. Yes, really.

I hope I truly like them because I’ll probably never need to buy another pencil.