Cover Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash
If you’re a self-taught artist like me chances are you have never done a “Master Study”; or maybe you have, but it felt totally pointless.
While reproducing a master’s painting was a common practice in classical art training in the past, it is not as common nowadays… or is it?
Maybe it is not as popular in its formal format, but if you think about it, the practice of reproducing someone else’s work is more alive than ever. Look at the rising and steady popularity of the #DTIYS challenge.
A mashup I did of two DTIYS challenge back in 2019. Original characters by @procrastiartist and @ragonia_ .
Copying is one of the most valuable learning skills: we all start in life copying from those around us and build our own voice and personality from that. Same happens with our art. You, as me, probably have copied an anime or cartoon character from your childhood.
I’m not saying making a master study is exactly the same as making a fan art or taking on the new insta-trend, but seeing how they’re similar rather than different could help us think of it more like something fun.
But, what if we actually wanted to learn something instead of just mindlessly copying? Consider this:
1. Pick something you love
Have you ever tried to finish reading a book you’re definetely not liking? Well, you’re going to get the same dragging feeling if you choose to study a painting you find boring. There’s no point on studying Michelangelo just because he’s unanimously recognized as a master when you feel totally drawn to Hokusai. If you HAVE to study an artist you don’t like, research their body of work throughly, maybe there’s a painting or drawing you haven’t seen before that you actually like.
What you love is a clear reflection of your aesthetic preferences, and, in the end, the main point of making a study is to add value to your craft.
2. Ask questions
What is it that I want to learn? What is it that I love about this painting? Is there something I would like to bring to my own work? is it anatomy, composition, color, value, technique? Answering questions is good way to know WHY you’re studying what you’re studying. Maybe don’t ask anything about the painting, but about the artist: Did this person had a known process? How was their life and how did that influence their art? The questions above are just examples, feel free to come up with your own.
Thumbnails on Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte. Notice how I also keep the reference image small and make notes of my observations.
3. Start Small
Before jumping into making a full painting it is a good idea to make loose thumbnail sketches. Not only you get to observe the painting for longer, but you might discover where you actually want to focus your attention on. This is particularly useful if you want to learn about the overall composition of a piece.
4. Start Big
Have it ever happen to you that you’re in the middle of an awesome sketch, just to realize it won’t fit in your paper/canvas? It doesn’t matter if you’re studying a master painting or using a reference for your next original drawing, it is a good idea to start drawing the biggest shape first. Identify the biggest element and its orientation, and then decide where in the canvas it should be placed. Tip #3 should have already helped with this.
5. Start with the right proportions
Before starting a study make sure your canvas have similar proportions to the original painting. This way you’ll avoid having cramped or loose deatils in the overall composition. THAT or you can digitally crop your reference to the canvas proportion you want to work on *ehem* make it Insta-friendly square.
6. Flip your artwork and see the mistakes pop up!
Now I see the mouth and the ears need a touch up 😂 ugh and the shading on the forehead is so uneven.
Probably not an exciting thing to look forward, but it will help you see what to fix and improve. After looking at something for long periods of time our eyes and our brain get used to it. Knowing this, artists would use a mirror to observe both their work and their subjects to percieve new details and indentify mistakes. In our current times it is easier to just take a picture and flip it digitally.
Also do this with your reference and see if you can find a new detail you missed before. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a mistake in the master painting and learn from that too!
7. guess the colors
if you decided the most interesting thing is the color of a painting play this game: Pick an element and try guessing what the color is, then use the color picker and see if you guessed right. Our perception of color is relative, you’d be surprised on how a greenish gray can actually look blue next to a burnt yellow, and how that same yellow looks green next to it.
Christina’s World a 1948 painting by Andrew Wyeth.
See how an ochre yellow looks orange next to a desaturated yellow (that we perceive as green), and how the black hair of the character is actually a deep green.
Nothing is pure black or white either. Unless you’re studying Mondrian (or any modern artist), chances are what looks white or black in a painting is actually a different hue in a really bright or dark value. There’s always a little color in there, try seeing if its either cold or warm and from there make your color choice. Pay attention to your canvas too: when studying a drawing most likely the background is not paper white.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog 1818 painting by Caspar David Friedrich.
No pure whites or blacks, just really light blues and yellows, and really dark greens and reds. Note these are also complementary colors.
IMPORTANT: Don’t use the color picker to actually pick and paint your study. You won’t train your eye that way.
Finally
Don’t worry too much and have fun! There’s no need for your version to be exactly like the original as long as you learn something. Heck! there’s no need to learn something: maybe you’re just curious about how a painting looks in your style, and that’s totally OK. The beauty of art lies in that; there are no rules. Did you know that impressionists were mocked in their times? Most of us totally love impressionist paintings and consider impressionists to be master painters today.
It is not up to institutions and the”educated” to decide who is a master and who’s not, so go ahead a shamelessly study whoever you’d love to.
Want to give Master Studies a try?
A group of talented artists and myself have a challenge just for you! Click on the image below and get to know more.
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