One of Justin BUA's favorite artists of all time is Vincent Van Gogh. To commemorate the anniversary of his death in 1890, he’s recorded a video where he explains just a few of the reasons why he was such an amazing artist:
Vincent Van Gogh is the quintessential artist. When you think of a tortured soul, somebody who would cut their own ear off like Van Gogh did, somebody who HAD to paint to live (and he did have to paint to live), someone almost driven to the insane asylum by his own creative genius… that was Vincent Van Gogh.
"When you draw nothing, it is really everything." - Justin BUA
The idea of using negative space is a strange but useful concept for anyone learning how to draw. In this sample lesson from Justin BUA's Online Art School, he demonstrates how to draw using the negative space of the canvas. This fundamental drawing technique is an amazing way to see traditional shapes in an abstract way.
COMMISSIONS???
Lately I have been doing a lot of commissions and quite honestly I have been having a lot of fun taking peoples' visions and realizing them through my eyes.
However this last commission was a bit challenging as I was asked to paint an original that "looked" like my Bass Player that I did a few years back. I told my client, "Why not buy an embellished painting of my bass player?" But my client insisted that he have an ORIGINAL BUA.
Hmmmm... OK well... I was looking at my blank canvas thinking I already painted this once and if I do this again I could potentially die of boredom or at the very least fall asleep at the wheel of my paint brush. But I had that voice in the back of my head, which is really Picasso's voice and his words, "A lazy artist has never produced a great piece of work." (Every artist has a voice in their head, some are their mother's some their wives, friends etc... Mine is Picasso himself).
"Drawing is hard enough. Let's get our tools as ready as possible." - Justin BUA
Here's a tip for anyone drawing with pencils: make sure you have a good sharpener. Not only that, make sure you have a good pencil and know how to properly sharpen it for the kind of art you're drawing. Learning how sharp to make your pencil is crucial if you're new to drawing.
When drawing, your pencil is your weapon to convey your art. Just like you wouldn't want to go to battle with a dull sword, you don't want to go drawing with a dull pencil. You want to get your weapon in the best of shape before you the battle. It's the same for learning how to draw - you want to go in as prepared as possible.