General Studies
For me, 2016 was the year of possibilities. In additional to leaping for my dreams, I committed to self-direction studies. Listening to Crimson Daggers’ podcast convinced me that art school doesn’t matter. If you push yourself and you’re hungry, you’ll learn. “Go back to the fundamentals,” is the advice I kept hearing. So, my goal was to do a film still study every day.
The problem: I could churn out an nearly exact replica and learn nothing. My bulk study approach wasn’t working. I needed more critical thinking. I needed to emphasize the fundamentals.
Back to the drawing board, I devised a fundamental-oriented program. 3 studies a week based on 1 fundamental.
Below you will find 15 weeks of studies done in this method.
Week 01
Fundamental: Lighting
Film Genre: Fantasy
Week 02
Fundamental: Value
Film Genre: Historical Period (Medieval)
Week 03
Fundamental: Perspective
Film Genre: Crime/Thriller
Week 04
Fundamental: Composition
Film Genre: Scifi
Week 05
Fundamental: Color
Film Genre: Music Video
Week 06
Fundamental: Anatomy
Film Genre: Chick Flick
Week 07
Fundamental: Color
Film Genre: Scifi
Week 08
Fundamental: Anatomy
Film Genre: Fantasy
Week 09
Fundamental: Value
Film Genre: Post Apocalyptic
Week 10
Fundamental: Composition
Film Genre: Superhero
Week 11
Fundamental: Perspective
Film Genre: Fantasy
Week 12
Fundamental: Lighting
Film Genre: Post Apocalyptic
Week 13
Fundamental: Composition
Film Genre: Scifi
Week 14
Fundamental: Color
Film Genre: Historical Period
Week 15
Fundamental: Lighting
Film Genre: Fantasy
This worked much better, and I noticed that focusing on one fundamental helped a lot. However, there were certain fundamentals that people needed more work on generally. And even focusing on one fundamental, it was still easy to mentally check out and not internalize the learning.
Inktober Studies
We took a break for Inktober. Instead, we did a progression of topics meant to harmonize.
- Simple anatomy
- Foreshortened anatomy
- Perspective
- Foreshortened anatomy & perspective
See my whole #inktober series.
Inktober Week 1: Simple Anatomy
Inktober Week 2: Foreshortened Anatomy
Inktober Week 3: Perspective
Inktober Week 4: Foreshortened Anatomy & Perspective
Week 16 through 21
After Inktober, I revised the study program again. Even focusing on a fundamental, I found I was trying to recreate the scenes exactly. I wanted these studies to push my critical thinking. I restructured the program to include one, three-step study per week. We’d focus on the most commonly needed fundamentals only: perspective, anatomy, and color.
This study method is explained in more detail on the #StillStudying post.
Week 16: Anatomy, Fighting
Week 17: Color, Dusk & Dawn
Week 18: Anatomy, Backs
Week 19: Perspective, One-Point
Week 20: Anatomy, Kissing
Week 21: Anatomy, Dancing
Week 22: Color, Magenta & Teal
Miscellaneus Additional Studies
Throughout the year, I participated in some study prompts from various art groups. Most of these were done before the start of #StillStudying.
Portraits
Disney Realism
Virtual Plein Air
Vehicle in Perspective
Hair
Water
Indoor Virtual Plein Air
Virtual Plein Air
Light on Skin
Glass
Scales
Quickposes
Fur
Clouds
Crystal (Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst)
Clothing/Fabric
In total, I completed 114 studies in 2016. Not bad. Let’s see if I can do better in 2017!
If you enjoyed these studies and you’d like to join, please check out my channel for more info.
