Beginning Drawing Atelier: An Instructional Sketchbook

by Juliette Aristides

Written by a well-known artist and best-selling art-instruction author with almost rock-star popularity in the contemporary world of representational art, Beginning Drawing Atelier, with its unique workbook/sketchbook approach, and high-quality paper, offers a comprehensive and contemporary twist on traditional Atelier art instruction practices.

Atelier education is centered on the belief that working in a studio, not sitting in the lecture hall, is the best place to learn about art. Every artist needs to learn basic drawing skills.

In this elegant and inspiring workbook, master contemporary artist and best selling author Juliette Aristides breaks down the drawing process into small, manageable lessons; presents them progressively; introduces time-tested principles and techniques in the Atelier tradition that are easily accessible; and shares the language and context necessary to understand the artistic process and create superior, well-crafted drawings. What makes this approach unique is the fact that it includes blank pages for copying and practicing within each lesson, facilitating traditional Atelier methods.

Ateliers have produced the greatest artists of all time--and now that educational model is experiencing a renaissance. These studios, in a return to classical art training, are based on the nineteenth-century model of teaching artists by pairing them with a master artist over a period of years. Students begin by copying masterworks, then gradually progress to painting as their skills develop. Beginning Drawing Atelier is like having an atelier in a book--and the master is Juliette Aristides, a classically trained artist. On every page, Aristides uses the works of Old Masters and today's most respected realist artists to demonstrate and teach the principles of realist drawing and painting, taking students step by step through the learning curve yet allowing them to work at their own pace. Unique and inspiring, the approach in this new book offers serious art courses for serious art students.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Gourav Sengupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightful, fantastic, and pure enjoyment. The idea of using the great works of art to learn one's strokes and nuances is purely brilliant.

[Martin Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through this twice, one go I did some of the exercises. It has some good instruction, exercises and samples. I may go through it again, and do the other exercises. Practice practice practice (I read a lot, but do little it seems)

[Seb5253 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I can't recommend this book highly enough, I had to knock a star off as a: it needs to be a good A3 in size when open ( this will become more apparent in the later sections with more detailed exercises, particularly the portraits) and b: it would hugely benefit from being spiral bound in order to lay flat ( I had to use bulldog clips to hold the pages down). Odd that these simple and obvious points were seemingly overlooked considering the incredible quality of everything about the book - from the high quality paper ( which even has neatly rounded corners ) to the flawless writing. if you're serious about learning to draw this is "thee" book .

[Kierkegaard Fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised--This short sketchbook is incredibly helpful. Although atelier is a very demanding and exacting method, the hard work pays off.

[Suzanne Conboy-Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a work book - guidelines, exercises, drawings to copy and a page next to each to do that. I have never copied other people's work or tried for the photorealism some artists specialise in making so this was quite a challenge. Add to that the realisation not long ago that lefthanders make their marks in entirely the opposite direction to righthanders and I could see this was not going to be easy. Fortunately, the quality of the images to be copied - there are two da Vinci's! - makes it clear that perfection is really not the aim, learning from mistakes is.

I learned a lot.

First, I found that I am capable of copying and doing quite a decent job of it in some respects. Second, doing that showed me where I so often go wrong with semi-profile drawings and heads at different angles. I haven't fixed this by a long chalk but I know what I should be doing. Third, I discovered graphite powder then wished I hadn't as it's quite unruly. There are instructional videos on YouTube though to help get a grip. I've also found that, while I can make a passable replica of a portrait drawing, I seem always to transform it in some way. I'd like to see this as 'making it my own' but I think I may be fooling myself. I'm about to start on Aristides' next book, Figure Drawing Atelier, which should confirm my rating of this one.

If you like drawing and you want to draw better, this is a really good and relatively cheap (about £17.00) investment. It's also a thing of beauty in itself with a lovely soft feel to the hard back cover, and a strip of black elastic to keep your place. Very, very nice.

[Benjamin]

How? I talked a bunch to an artist friend, and then went to a library, so I grabbed a bunch of art books.

What? It describes itself as a workbook you should draw in, using lessons from the master to teach you drawing.

Yeah, so? You know the meme, "How to Draw an Owl," which is two steps:
1. draw two circles
2. draw the rest of the fucking owl
That's kind of what I got from this book. There's some discussion of shapes, some discussion of lines -- but a lot of the discussion here takes place at a level that feels... well, not beginning, but maybe I've put too much emphasis on "beginning" and not enough on "atelier." Not for me. Charmingly, this book that is meant to be drawn in has been drawn in, but only a little, as if someone couldn't resist just a little drawing in a library book.

[August Schau · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent course in drawing and very inspiring. Keeps me working on the different aspects of drawing.

[Aidan Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perfect introduction to sketching atelier, it reflects the foundation of what it means to place form on paper, while not overwhelming the reader. If you ever wanted to start drawing like the great painters, start here.