I sorely miss my group life-drawing sessions which have been on hiatus for five weeks. Figuring I didn’t have to factor in drive-time, I had high hopes for all the drawing I would accomplish during those extra hours over the break…wait, what extra hours? In fact, looking back on my recent “free” Mondays, it has become starkly obvious that the structure of a set schedule is a better formula for accomplishment in the long run — for me anyway.

Copy from Studies of Two Apostles and their Hands by Raphael (1483-1520)                                         Hands are my greatest challenge, so that is where I need to concentrate my efforts.

I know I could make much greater leaps in my life-drawing skills if I were able to draw from a model daily for a series of weeks, rather than only once a week for however many months. Unfortunately, that option isn’t available. However, one of my fellow Monday drawing attendees reminded me that there is much to be learned by making copies of master drawings. So that is what I’ve been doing.

Copy of drawings by Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651)

Considering the garden is popping and there have been plenty of other things vying for attention during my “extra” hours, I haven’t been as diligent as I should have — or certainly to the degree I would have liked. But these images are a few examples of my stabs at practicing, thanks to the work of Raphael, Abraham Bloemaert, and Bernard-Romain Julien. Jon deMartin’s book Drawing Atelier: The Figure is another excellent resource about copying master work. Follow this link for a list of drawing references I’ve mentioned before and am glad to have in my personal library.

Copy of Head of Wounded Soldier by Bernard-Romain Julien (1802-1871)

For another testimonial on the benefits of copying, read this wonderful blog post by Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist.