Practicing the Masters

When I was in 7th grade I took up the violin, followed by piano in 8th grade. For both instruments I took private lessons, and for both some of the first pieces I played were adaptations of works by Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. Within a year, I was playing full compositions by these Classical master composers. It was expected. It was part of the learning process, to play these great works, even though I was just starting out.

Why is it then, after over fifteen years of working on my drawing skills, have I just now copied a Michelangelo?

It was also one of the most intimidating drawing exercises I have done.

It goes without saying that art education is fairly limited before one heads into art school (and even then it's iffy) but when I realized how long I had gone without even considering the idea of learning from the masters - and how intimidated I was by the thought of it - my jaw dropped. I have, in the past, done some oil copies of a few works, but never really with the intent to *learn*. When you're playing the violin and presented with a little ditty by Mozart, you don't learn it just to have a song to play; you learn it in order to play the violin better. Likewise, anyone with any interest in drawing should copy drawings by the old masters (or new masters, for that matter) not just to make a copy of a beautiful work, but to learn how to draw better.

What did I learn by making the copy of the Michelangelo above? I learned about the subtleties of anatomy that can't be learned by copying from the rigid diagrams of an anatomy book. I learned about the massive twisting gesture of the human torso that requires more "oomph" than it ever appears to. I learned how line can curve and strengthen and weaken and fade in order to describe a shape without outlining it. I learned how value can show depth and texture, the tilt of a head and even expression. And all of that built on the basics of capturing a pose through the usual block-in, measurement and sighting.

I could have been given a photo of a person in the same pose and never learned so much. I have been working from photos forever, and have ended up with very inexpressive lines and shading that is often too light and narrow in value. It's one thing to copy the subject of a photo; it's another to *capture* the subject, as the masters captured theirs. By copying their drawings we learn how they did it, even just a little, to add to our own bag of tricks.

The Michelangelo copy was an assignment in my current figure drawing class, and even though it seemed a bit out of place in the usual process of drawing from photos of live models, I found it immensely educational - as you can tell! It was followed the next week by the Raphael drawing below. By the time I had started the Raphael I had lost the sense of intimidation I had when faced with copying the Michelangelo; I felt like this was something I *should* be doing.

It's something everyone learning to draw should try from time to time, and definitely something that should be introduced in art classes and private lessons. Once again, it's all about breaking down the mystery surrounding art. It isn't magic. It's little different than any other creative skill. All it takes is practical experience and knowing how.