Tag Archives: motivation

Do you need talent or be an artist to be able to draw?

Do you need to be an “artist” to be able to draw? NO!

Everyone can draw – You CAN draw – you just may not have had a lot of practice and tuition – unlike when you learned to write. After all, writing is just a form of drawing. If you managed to learn to write, you can learn the SKILL of drawing because you already half way there!

Being an artist is something else – that’s about ideas.

In this video I talk about the difference between the everyday skill of drawing and how being an Artist is like being possessed by an idea. How you deal with that situation comes down to temperament, talent and sheer hard graft, which may never, ever be appreciated or understood, one of the reasons that the life of an artist can be unhappy.

I think I need to talk more about managing the the expectations of being an artist! stay tuned.

How to draw in a Gothic Style – with illustrator Chris Mould


Gothic-Chris-MouldWatch illustrator, Chris Mould as he draws a Gothic/Baroque style gentleman with a Bic Cristal Biro – a simple ball point pen. As he draws Chris talks and gives priceless advice about drawing and about being an artist and illustrator.

Get the pens here: In the US and here in the UK

See the previous video with Chris where we discuss drawing.

Chris works at his studio in The Dean Clough Mills – al old Carpet Mill in the centre of Halifax that is now home to studios, galleries and many small businesses.

Chris has illustrated books for many authors. Websites http://www.chrismouldink.com and http://chrismould.blogspot.co.uk

Drawing Skyscrapers with Sarah Silverwood Taylor

Drawing-SkyscrapersIn Part Two of my series of Videos with Sarah Taylor Silverwood, we go to the top of the New public library and look out on the rooftops of Birmingham and draw the tall buildings in front of us, while discussing ideas and drawing techniques.

Sarah is preparing for a residency in Chicago where she will be drawing really tall buildings. Sarah told me that her fascination with tall buildings comes from brooding images of Superman, Batman and other superheroes, sitting on the roofs of buildings surveying the cities they look after. Are they Guardian angels or voyeurs?!!

In this video Sarah explains how she uses tracing paper to build layers and add depth to her drawings.

I’d like to congratulate Sarah on becoming a board member of DACS today, It’s the artists’ rights and collection agency organisation in the UK – as I said in there last video – making waves! Find out more about Sarah here: http://www.sarahsilverwood.com

Sarah uses:

Seawhite A5 Artists travel journal sketchbook – the one I use too –

Sharpie Magnum – in the UK and in the US

Chalk pen in the Uk and In the US

Uni Pen Fineliners – Get them in the UK

Sakura Pigma Micron Pens – get them here in the UK and here in the US

and Copic Ciao markers – get them here in the UK and here in the US