Classical Atelier at Home

For the self taught realist artist

Save hundreds on studio equipment! Color charts on a budget

Save 781.50€ on studio equipment!…..What? Recently I talked about the Munsell color system which in brief is a system based on the three qualities of color – hue, value and chroma which helps you in judging color. As an artist you will need to know what colors to mix for your subject and which paints to … Read more

Don’t play with the food!

So you have not enough money to attend a portrait painting class or hire someone to pose for you? But you’d really like to learn to paint skin tones? Well, I guess you have enough money to buy some bread. Bread is a very good alternative to painting skin tones. See these Google search results … Read more

Mannequins as nude models

Learning human anatomy is an important part of the study in classical art. Drawing a nude model not only teaches you skills in patient rendering but also anatomy. In the Academy you work on one single nude drawing for up to 6 weeks with a total of  ~50-60 hours ending up super realistic. See here a … Read more

Mixing Munsell neutrals

Having some neutral values at hand is very handy. You can use them for a value scale or to mix with higher chroma colors (of the same value) to make them more neutral. If you have problems judging the value of a high chroma color squint your eyes. I’ve got the Munsell student book*, and … Read more

Got no drawing casts? (part 2) Make your own!

As you know cast drawing is a very good way to learn to draw a three dimensional object. It’s the second step in learning classical painting techniques as it is taught in many ateliers. The ateliers have many plaster casts from which the students can choose. But what about someone learning at home? There are … Read more

Do not save on the wrong things

I recently received an oil paint set with 12 different colors as a gift. This set of tubes was sold at a very low price for around 3€ so I was curious about the paint’s quality and as I expected, the quality is very low. Although this blog is also about saving money with your … Read more

Free Alla Prima portrait painting demonstrations

There are hundreds of instructional videos and painting demonstrations for purchase on the web and I don’t want to question their use. They are mostly narrated and good ones also show the palette and the colors that are used throughout the painting process. For example Cesar Santos’ video (LINK) is a very good one with … Read more

Low budget glass palette

You propably know the traditional wooden palettes that artists use – on one hand they hold their brushes and on the other is a wooden palette resting on the forearm, secured by the thumb through a hole. Read on and learn about the advantages of a Glass Palette and how you can get one for … Read more

Got no drawing casts? Just use your city’s monuments!

What’s the advantage of an anatomical drawing cast compared with a real model out of flesh and blood? It holds perfectly still, always has time, has no color distracting you while you just want to study drawing and they charge no money. There are anatomical drawing casts available out there (for example here for those of … Read more