Art Renewal Center

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Ateliers and pay-as-you-go classes are unarguably the most ethical means of teaching art, however it's important you know what you're getting into in either case.

I am interested in animation but I go to a ("ARC Approved"®) atelier once a week. At the atelier they teach the sight-size method which is pure, "literalist" (to coin a Loomis term) observational drawing-and that's basically it. While there is 'some' overlap with what I do there and what I want to do, if I were to devote myself to that method and discipline exclusively I would be making a terrible, terrible mistake when it comes to achieving my own personal goals.

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>>279139

We use both sight-size and comparative measurement. Life drawings are always done larger than sight-size. Instructors encourage us to use our eyes first and then confirm by plumb line as a means of visual training.

I thought most if not all ateliers would teach both?!

The mix of pay-as-you-go, affordability, and depth of skill + historic knowledge from the instructors surprised me the most.

Pic related.

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>>2791423
The only atelier around here really has a boner for sight-size. It was apparently at one time one of the only, if not the only, ateliers in the entire united states in the latter half of the 20th century so I can't say I'm surprised they're stoic in their defense of the method. Many ateliers and organizations promoting realism in the country trace their lineage to it and its founder, but I'm not surprised many of them may have departed from teaching that strict sight-size method to the exclusion of all else.

Luckily thanks to the internet it's easier to have access to individuals like Vilppu, Borenstein, Silver, and other animation-friendly instructors because there aren't too many brick and mortar classes outside of the toxic $40,000-a-year art college environment I'm aware of.

>>2791358
Not even remotely my thing but in general I'm glad they're still going.

ARC is a collection of elderly sparklets and their disciples. Most are limited to doing cast drawings, still lives, figure drawing or painting studies, and portraiture, and other lower forms of art. In the rare cases that they make anything more complete it's in the service of highlighting how representational it is, how it's influenced by such and such master, how anti-modernist they are, or a host of other defects.

>>2791398
Watts teaches comparative mesurement you dumb cunt

>>2792440 here

>>2791398
But good point

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>>2792071

For better or worse the stoicism is part of the charm, and I think the approach of building up on the knowledge of previous generations is very beneficial from time- and quality-of-work perspectives.

Our instructors have found a good spot between adherence to classical traditions and more recent approaches, so referring to Loomis's head construction method during life drawing is not unheard of. Most demos from instructors include a quip or two about why/where/approach of the techniques they use and how to think about it all.

>>2792299

Not referring to you specifically but from what I have seen of other artists and my own struggles, having a school where you can sit down and work through a curriculum can do more for you in three months than a year of flailing at home doing various half-assed online drawing/painting exercises.

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>>2792440
I don't go to Watts though. I got to the atelier nearest me which does not teach comparative measurement. Maybe I should have said "this" atelier instead of "the" atelier, I don't know. All I'm saying is that ateliers in general are good, but you might want to make sure they're offering what you're looking for before you sign up because they're all different I'm sure.

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>>2792421

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>>2792455

The nice thing about the ateliers is that you can take the work you've done, submit it to one of the other ARC-related ateliers and continue from where you left off. Although more than likely they'll ask you to change something about your approach to fit with their level of detail criteria and whatever lectures you missed out on, the grinding drawing-to-painting curriculum across the board seems to be the unifying theme across all of them.

>>2791358
Culturally irrelevant, traditional makes no sense anymore. We got photography now. 90% of artists are deluded as fuck. I think it's a personality issue, this industry attracts lots of over emotional retards and it makes them blind.

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>>2792597

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>>2792597
>>2792717

>>2792421
Kys artlet

Arc and sight-size are cancer.
Not a single person on that website knows how to draw and paint like pre 1900 artists.
In the east(Korea, China, Russia,...) you have a few schools that are somewhat decent at the old manner of drawing but that's about it.
Watts atelier and vilppu are about as good as you can get in America sadly. And even they aren't at the same level you'd need to make works like a Sargent or Velasquez.

Very sad times indeed. Wish I had enough cash to study in China or Russia for 6 years.