Well....As I am the first to post, can I first offer a MAJOR thankyou to Drawspace.com and to Mike Sibley for encouraging, supporting and teaching. We all are here because we enjoy creating art and to have experienced teachers at our fingertips (so to speak) is fantastic.
Mike's course is so enlightening. He is a little cheeky with constant smiley faces to lighten his critiques. But his insight and teaching methods are beyond criticism. I am sure that all will agree......and more than likely, if there are further courses, we will be on the lookout to extend past our comfort zones once again to achieve our own masterpieces. Thanks to all our classmates who are sharing their art and therefore their thoughts, skills and styles. And although we are not yet finished our course, thanks again to Mike.......

So well written. Thank you for writing what I also feel. And congratulation for being the first to write in this forum

I have been looking for this kind of course for many years and suddenly one morning it was there in front of me on Internet. When the student is ready the master is there (perhaps I quoted wrongly?).

AnnKristin

Seems you both beat me to it today, ladies.
Great to have such a forum. I also hope Mike does an 'intermediate' course - he has kind of hinted that he will, but not until the end of the year.

In the meantime, perhaps we can use this forum to set ourselves drawing challenges.

Dawn

Hi. If you look through the forums here, you will see we have regular weekly chanllenges, and also monthly challenges, watercolour challenges and ATC trades. Please feel free to join in with any or all of the above.

Thank you , Drawspace, for this awesome website (love the new look!) and for the new forums - great idea! How amazing that we can have world-class artists like Mike Sibley and others to be our intstructors right in our home!! Thank you, all who make this possible! And thank you, Mike, for your gentle yet straightforward (how do you do that?) teaching style - that definitely stretches us, yet says "Yes, you can!" and "Well done!" when we reach the goal! The class has been phenomenal and I will be in line if he offers the next class (hint, hint) And, I agree, Sharon - thanks to all my classmates who have been so willing to share and learn together - I've learned so much from you, too. I'm so glad we will have this place to continue on together - sharing and learning.....
Cyberhugs,
Jan

Hi Everyone,

Good to see you here! Don't worry, I'll be back in the classroom in a few minutes catching up on all your posts.

Intermediate course? Yes and No. I'm thinking of renaming the current course as Intermediate and writing an Advanced course to bring them more in line with DrawSpace's naming.

So the Intermediate (the one you're on now) will be to take you to Intermediate and, obviously, the advanced course will be for Intermediates who want to reach advanced.

I still need to run my business while I'm away in the US for six weeks, running my workshops, so I've bought a nifty little netbook computer. By the time I get back it should be full of notes for the new Advanced course from ideas sparked from the workshops so I can begin writing it on my return.

Wonderful Mike,
you can count me in for any other courses that you teach. this one has been fabulous!
Nancy

I just enrolled in Mike's September 3rd class and am really excited. Loved reading all the positive posts here!

Hi Simon and welcome to the September course! Not long to go and I promise to to assist you in every way that I can.

Hello everyone,

I too have just enrolled for the September 3rd class. I can't wait to start. Mike, I have your book and I was ecstatic to find out you were offering a class. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

~Charlotte

Hi Charlotte, welcome to the Novice course and thanks for joining us. It won't be long before we can dive in and begin.

I feel like I have finnished my drawing. I left it one hour too late to upload it on the course website.
Can I upload the file to this forum, and if so, how do I carry on ?

I had a lot of troubles with the foliage. But thanks to Nancy I managed a last.

AnnKristin

Ohh I can't wait to see it!!
YES
just click on "New Topic" at the top or bottom of the page. Write a note and add attachment (just below and right of the message box).
HURRAY.
Nancy

You will never see it because it is ruined!!!

I was about to scan the drawing but had to leave in a hast because a sheep had got a barbed wire in her fur and around her foot. I don't know from where that barbed wire came. We don't use such fencing wire. So we tried to rescue her. But we didn't manage. She was so stressed so she run away even though it must have hurted her. The greenyard is so vast so it was impossible to get her. We have tried the whole day with differnt aproaches but have to wait until tomorrow and try to get her into a small corall.

When I returned home all three cats had been on my drawing desk and overturned a vase full of nettles and water...
Everything is ruined. But I will try to print out a copy of an earlier upload and do all the foliage again. :- (

I'm so dissapointed but I can't blame the cats. Normally I never leave a drawing on my desk, because I know how playful the cats are. I told my niece and she told me that something good will come out of it, it always does. I really hope she is right.

I'm so sorry
You have had your share of troubles lately.
The "something good" is next!
please do try again.
I have a line drawing of my cottage scene but my attempt at drawing a little bush has me stumped. I want to say I can't do it (really, I want to throw it) and find something easier but instead I will do some more reading and practicing trees and go back to it in a day or two.
I am just practicing on a sheet of hot press watercolour paper until my Mellotex arrives sometime next week.
Keep your chin up AnnKristin, I believe something good will come of it :-)
Nancy

Nancy,

Thank you for your encouragement. I loved to here that from you. I am going to redo the drawing, no matter what happens. But I must buy pencils. The pencils we have here in Sweden are useles so I must order from England. I have only B2 left and a little stump of HB and H2. What brand of pencils do you use?

I watched your photo again and saw that the bushes are in total shadow so you can 't have any help from the photo while drawing them. Do like Mike wrote. Hold the photo against a light sorce so you see better. But I guess that will not be enough. Do not start with bushes, but with the easiest, eg the stone steps. But nothing in that photo is easy. However, I guess that the eye will read your bushes as bushes. And you can have a look at how Mike renders bushes in his book.

It will help you to think that the drawing is hundred different drawings and that you have hundred years to do every one of those drawings. And you can practise on sheets of paper so you can keep yuor drawing priscine. You want to do this drawing and you will manage if you take it in small steps because I know how good you are.

AnnKristin

I bought the clutch pencils and leads recommended by Mike - Staedtler Mars - but I also occasionally use a mechanical pencil (one in 2B and one in HB) when I need a very small sharp line or I'm in a tiny place. The woodcased pencils are called Mars? Lumograph?
I order all of my supplies online as we are in a rural area with no art stores.
Thanks so much for the encouragement. I am posting my progress with the new drawing in a new topic "Postgraduate drawing The Cottage"
Have you started the "re-do" yet?
Nancy

Nancy,

Thanks you for telling me about the good tools. I have a mechanical pencil with a 0,5 HB lead. I didn.t know there exist 2B leads for them too.

I have tried to find where to order these tools but I can't find any place. I remember that Mike wrote about a shop which ship to other countries but I can't find where he wrote it. The clutch pencils I bought in Sweden have given out, they were useless. And I have only one 2B lead left. The same with the woodcased pencils. I too live in a n area with no shops. But this isn't a rural area but a forrested one with wolves and a lot of other wild animals. The closest town is 75 kilometers from here. And there is no artist shop to find.

Yesterday I wanted to outline the nettles and the foreground with my 2B pencil but we had to work with the sheep the whole day. We made a corral and tried to catch the wounded sheep but nothing worked. All the other sheep went into the corral because they are so used to me and eat from my hand. But the wounded sheep is stressed, frustrated and scared. She doesn't trust my husband anymore after his attempts to catch her. Today I will offer the whole day to calm her down and regain her trust. We just must get her so we can treat her and perhaps medicate her. Time is running out.

This evening I hope I will be able to start the outlining.

annkristin, i have been doing some research for you but I cannot see to get it posted here.
I found some sites that have the clutch pencil holder and leads.
can I email it to you?
Nancy

Nancy,

Thanks so much, you are an angel. But I have just ordered what you suggested. I contacted my sister bacause I remembered that I had told her about the site and she had written it down. It was a site in UK and that is perfect because I don't have to pay customs duty.

But It looks like everything is working against me for the moment and make it hard and almost impossible to finnish this drawing.

I should print out, this evening, on my drawing paper what I had drawn during week 9 of the course. There were the foliage and foreground left to be done. But now I have tried seven times to print it out but the printer doesn't accept the paper. That is strange because I have printed on this paper several times earlier without any problem. But I have tried with four different sheets but nothing works.

So what can I do? I'm not going to redo everything from the start. I will see, when I visit the town sometime, if an advertising or media office can help me to print it on my papeer..

By the way, we haven't been able to catch the sheep yet. We will try again tomorrow.

The one I use is www.Millers-Art.co.uk and they will ship internationally.


I'm so sorry to hear about the fate of your drawing. My cats are banned from my studio for all the reasons you mentioned.


And I fully understand your sheep problem. We only have one old ewe now but we used to have a lot more - Manx Loghtan breed - and they're the one thing guaranteed to make me SWEAR! They're too clever for their own good

Thanks Mike,

I checked the link and it was a great site which I will use in the future. I ordered from Cult pens but they had only got Steadler Mars 2mm Carbon leads. What's the different between them and the Steadler Mars Lumicolour leads?

I browsed for the Manx Loghtan breed. I have never seen such an exeptional breed. I hope they don't hurt each other with those horns. The breed we have is also a native, very old breed which is almost extincted. There were only 40 left in Sweden when we started to breed them but now there are about 400. Just as the Manx Loghtan breed they are born with black wool which goes darkbrown and then bleach. They are called Wermlandia forrest sheep.

I'm guessing.... that the Carbon leads are CARBON..... and Lumocolour are COLOURED leads. What you need is LUMOGRAPH leads, which are GRAPHITE.


Most are 4-horned, some are 6-horned. Our ram Maurice had 4 HUGE horns! I could sit on his back and "drive" him like a motorbike with his "handlebar" horns!

They're very popular with butchers and chefs, as they carry their fat within the meat rather than as an outer layer. There's a small natural herd on the Calf of Man (off the Isle of Man). We had 29 at one time, which was the third biggest flock. Their wool sold very well - mainly to spinners. The lambs are a dark chocolate brown, which fades as they age, so the fleece provides a great variety of shades of brown.


I've never heard of the Wermlandia breed but they sound very similar to Manx. Incidentally, because Manx are an old natural breed and not a man-made cross it's said all you need at lambing time is a pair of binoculars! They very rarely have any lambing problems. Just once I had to remove a dead lamb from a ewe.

Mike,

On the site you recommended I can’t find the Lumograph leads but the Lumocolour. I guess there has been made a misstake with the word, or a missspelling, because you can order the different grades of Lumocolour leeds from 4B to 4H. So I guess they must be graphite leads.

What is the difference to draw with the Carbon leads compared to the Lumograph? Would I be able to notice the difference? And anyway, what are the purpose of the Carbon leads, if not to draw with? Would it be better for me waiting to restart my Robbie drawing until I get the Lumograph leeds?

I was very surprised and amused about your description about the ride on the ram's back. I would never dare to ride on the back of our ram, he attacks like a lokomotive if you don't protect yourself with a wip or a stick. But that’s a good behavour, even though we don’t like it, since there are wolves in the forrest in our district.

The Wermlandia forrest sheep were only breeded in one very small province of Sweden so they were not known outside that province and like the Manx Loghtan breed they have never been manipulated by directed breeding and their lambing is also completely natural. Our sheep live like wild animals in a very vast enclosure with forrest, pasture, bushland, sheepshelters and a brook. I just visit them on a daily basis to check them and treat them with pellets. They listen to their individual names when I call on them and take turn to eat from my hand. Their wool is not of a high quality and we don't eat the meet so there is really no purpose to keep them but our interest in conservation, Swedish cultural heritage and native breeds.

We also keep the North Swedish draft horse and the Swedish elkhound. I wish you could draw that breed sometime. It is related to the Russian Laika but has been cross breeded with wolves. Only the tail differs from a wolf.

All this rural discussion, makes the contributions from those of us who find hens about as much chaos as we can manage feel quite inadequate.

I can sympathise with the cat problem - the number of times our cats have wrecked some important piece of paper is too numerous to recall. I hope you finally caught the sheep, Annkristin. We had fun with a neighbours flock last year when one had fly blow - took several days to corner the flock and deal with it - too late for the unfortunate animal, though. Not a pleasant experience for any concerned. So I hope your story ends more happily.

If you're struggling to get the leads, ANnkristin, let me know. I bought a selection of the Staedtler 2mm clutch pencil leads for the course. They came in 12-packs - and it'll take me several lifetimes to use them all up. I'd be happy to send you a selection of different 2mm leads, if you can track down the clutch pencils themselves (which of course don't then have to be Staedtler!)

Dawn

Hi Dawn,

Thank you, the sheep is happy now and so are we.;-)

My cats are so impulsive one never know what they will do next. While drawing I 'm so focused that I don't realise they are sometimes sleeping on my drawing desk or even in my drawing case.

That's so nice of you wanting to share your leads with me. :-)

There are plenty of them on US webpages. But the shops don't seem to accept European bankcards. And I haven't found any webshop in Europe who sells them. However I have written to Milles in UK asking them if they can get them for me. I will see first what happens or I will accept your kind help.

I have a question for all you Mike Sibley grads. My drawing skills are at a very very beginner level. I can come up with something pretty decent if I grid it out. I have admired Mr. Sibleys drawings for ages. I have his book and love it. I notice that he is teaching a course on line. Is it way too hard for a beginner. I would love to jump in but I am scared it may be way over my head. What do you all think?

Deborah
Santee, CA

Hi Deborah,
Mike's course focuses more on the shading and bringing an item to life (realism in textures) than being able to sit and sketch an accurate representation (so none of that sighting along your pencil to judge heights). I think all of us on the course were absolutely amazed at what we were able to produce - and I would count myself as one of those who couldn't draw at all.

He did push us really hard, though - definitely beyond the comfort zone, but his exercises and feedback are really well graded to build from the very, very basics. Mike has the knack of setting an exercise that feels absolutely overwhelming and impossible, then teaching you how to break it down so that you can do it in manageable pieces. And before you know it... voila. A drawing you didn't believe you could do!

Take a look at Nancy's postgraduate drawing to see just how good an understanding has been built over such a short course. I think any one of us would be able to have a good attempt at producing that picture.

Definitely a course for a raw beginner especially if you're up for being given challenges that feel impossible when you start them!.

But do get his recommended pencils and some decent bristol board or Mellotex paper (from Mike's website) before you start. It really makes a difference to your ability to produce textures that look realistic.

Dawn

dear all...

i just subscribed into the course of Mike Sibley of September.. i'm so excited... i can't wait...
it will be my first course in art... and i feel so lucky to join such a brilliant group with an outstanding teacher...


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