Until I was in my 4th year, I had never undertaken to copy the artwork of a great master to advance my own work. As far back as high school, friends of mine and I eschewed copying as a stunt some of our peers were adept at, but which didn't lend itself to learning. Copying still life was fine; the strokes of the pencil or brush were our own. So much better than a copy of a copy.
During a class on historical techniques and materials, I discovered how wrong I had been. Re-discovering each stroke a master like Albrecht Durer had made allowed me to romanticize a connection of minds while I worked. It took surprisingly little time to complete the assignment (I'll let others judge if it should have take me more time).
Here are my drawings compared with the originals by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) of Nuremberg, arguably the the master of Northern Renaissance Europe.
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Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.
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2 comments:
I think it's pretty clear I made Durer's mother's face a bit scrunched. Like she smelled something strange.
Thanks Heather! I recall it was fun at the time, though I haven't done it since. These are about 9 years old now.
Truth be told, I did these as a one-shot the night before the assignment was due. Totally freehand, no tracing, but I also didn't practice.
So I'm happy with them but I keep spotting mistakes when I look at them.
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Posts over 14 days old have their comments held in moderation - I've been getting an unusual amount of spam for a guy who paints trilobites. I'll release it lickety-split though.