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  • Gotta love Internet Explorer. Pause a vid and start drawing, after a few minutes the window closes, re-opens and the video restarts from the beginning. The browser proudly announces it has recovered the tab. It's such an enthusiastic bit of software. It goes ahead and revovers things no matter how well they're working.

  • Au contraire, travailler sous les yeux de Davy, que j'admire, m'a motivé.

  • @stefanplouviez Et maintenant Stephane, retournerez vous a Paris? Est ce que vous attendez un lettre d'invitation a Montmartre ou peutetre vous voulez aller par une autre route?

  • @EraserKneaded Je ne sais pas, je l'espère en tout cas. J'attend effectivement une réponse de la mairie de Paris, tout en continuant à exposer sur le Bassin d'Arcachon.

  • @stefanplouviez Alors! Fermez les yieux, lancez du sel. Faites sacrificie de trois vierges, apres ouvrir les yieux. Vous auriez la bonne chance, bien sur. :-)

  • this type of technique usually leads to complete disaster... but strong draftsman skills saved the day. also, i noticed that portraitists who also do caricature work tend to get much better likenesses especially in a short time.

  • @heirihunziker Effectivement, je suis aussi caricaturiste. Je suis autodidacte et j'ai appris sur le terrain, c'est la meilleure formation.

  • @stefanplouviez ça on peut voir, vous avez un avantage décisif en comparaison avec quelques autres portraitistes!

  • @heirihunziker Voilà! J'ai decouvrit comment faire les accents. Alors je peut ecriver comme un vrais Français! Je choisis les mots comme un Français de 5 ans, mais je suis content tout de même. Je veut dire que la Place du Tertre est vraiement une école superieure des beaux arts. Beaucoup d'artistes et aussis les mannequins. Et on peut apprendre cooment faire avec les gens. Cest un art! Au même temps on y trouve Davy, un vrais artiste qui prendre plaisir par aider ses confrères. Quelle occasion.

  • @heirihunziker Je m'excuse, je voulais parler à stefanplouviez. Pardonnez mois.

  • @heirihunziker Merci. Quel avantage décisif? Etes-vous aussi artiste à Montmartre?

  • @stefanplouviez non, mais j'ai vu toutes les vidéos avec les artistes différents et donc je peux comparer un peu. c'est une bonne publicité pour vous et j'éspère que vous continuez ce travail encore beaucoup des années.

  • i love the head tilting thing , but only when im taking plesure in what i have drawn so far, or looking at a painting in a gallery, i call it a bow to the master, its totally automatic a sub conscious movement of plesure and delight, i dont tilt the other way when im looking at the object though, that must be confusing , dam them making you write a forward slant, About the right side of the brain, theres a video about autism where they fire electromagnetic pullses into the left . cont...

  • @cardellacole4 ...into the left side of the brain disabling it, then ask the subject to do tasks such as drawing and counting dots far too many dots to count in the short period of time, the results are amazing, with out the left side brain , the person is free to make accurate guesses of how many dots, and his abillity to draw at will complex shapes such as horses jumping , i will try and find the video for you, so your book sounds like a very good read

  • @cardellacole4 If words come into your mind, take a breath and let them fade away. The logical left brain will eventually say "This is pointless stuff, I'm not going to pay attention." As the visual right brain takes over you will see more clearly, feel as sense of enjoyment, lose track of time, feel a sense of fascination with what you're doing. You'll become completely engaged. Give it 5 minutes or so then look at your paper. The fine lines will be fascinating and distinctly yours. more...

  • @cardellacole4 Some artists do this little exercise before they start to work, to shift into right brain mode. Another one, find a line drawing of a face you think would be hard to copy. Turn it upside down and draw what you see. The left brain doesn't recognize inverted images and it will gradually stop interfering with verbal input. The right brain will take over, you'll become visually engaged like in the previous exercise and you'll draw hte face much better than you expected. more...

  • @EraserKneaded i am about to draw a few old people with lots of lines may be copy one of christos self portraits for a propper pastel drawing very complex full of collours, if i find it hard, ill give that a go, thanks good advice

  • @cardellacole4 Davy's vid's are a good source of drawing material. There's a happy new year one from 2009 that I like to pause here and there for drawing. I work on drawing the artists' faces, great expressions. Don't tell Davy... I have a vid in my favourites of Rembrandt's self portraits and I work on those too. I don't use colour but I try to get the modelling in pencil. Look for Davy's vid with Georges Fassolis in it, great face.

  • @EraserKneaded ive done the exact same thing with the same video

  • @cardellacole4 Well, obviously we have a situation where great minds are thinking alike. I was pretty sure you were a genius (too). :-) :-) Spring has come to the west coast of Canada. I've opend the windows wide and beautiful air is coming in. I'm gonna kick back with a cup of dangerously strong coffee and breathe and smile and think good thoughts of everyone who draws or paints or sculpts or make sand castles....

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  • @EraserKneaded im not sure about the genius bit ?, ive been trying to be bold decisive fearless everything in the gabor video, ripping up lots of cheep papper, getting all hot and menapausal, ha ha ha , not discouraged though , having wierd thoughts of throwing paint against walls, making extreem videos, i am a line do not dilute me, i am vitality, let me speak aaaaggggghhhhh, ha ha ha

  • @cardellacole4 Do you mean Gabor in one of Davy's vids? You know, he demonstrates one of the beautiful things about art. He does portraits in a plain, simple (seeming), no frills style and when he's done the living person is right there on the paper just as clearly, completely and uniquely as in a full blown painted portrait. Davy does it too, and Samuel. I'm glad you mentioned Gabor, I'll look at his stuff again. The learning never stops.

  • @EraserKneaded yes its titled seeing in black and white, the first one

  • @cardellacole4 I sure hear you about frustration. I've noticed a few things about my own experience. When I know exactly what I want to do and I'm sure it will go well, everything starts to look like crap. Probably because the apparent confidence makes me hyper critical. In any case it's an occasion for launching pencils across the room. The wages of sin is that I have to find them again. :-)

  • @cardellacole4 When I decide to concentrate on one deatil of portraiture it doesn't usually look so good, but the rest of the drawing looks great! When it's late at night and I should go bed, and I decide to do just a quick sketch I end up with a good detailed portrait. I think the lesson is about exaggerated self-criticism. It's deadly. I have to remind myself that there are no straight lines in nature and I can't expect to learn at a steady rate. Art is supposed to make us crazy. :-)

  • @EraserKneaded ah yes a quote from blake

  • @cardellacole4 Yeah yeah Blake. Damned poets and philosophers using my best lines before I do. What really gets me steamed is that they're sneaky about it. They do it like, hundreds of years ahead of me....

  • @cardellacole4 The most important thing I've learned is that everything I draw looks better the next day. :-)

  • @cardellacole4 I just noticed Gabor is holding an umbrella in his other hand. How on earth can he draw with one hand and hold an umbrella with the other? I'd be poking someone in the eye if I tried to pull that off. What's with these Place du Tertre people? It's merciless talent that's what it is and now I'm deeply depressed. Geez!

  • @EraserKneaded yes they wear gloves and large puffy restricting coats, i am looking for a nice cumfy folding chair , i will probably sit as davy does holding a board, but ive just baught an easle , probably have to use one for the larger colour portraits, so i have a lot to learn and get used to, going to go to london with my daughter saturday, she wants to enter the x factor so hope the weather is good , and i can make a video drawing her before she goes, and check out the london eye....

  • @cardellacole4 ....ive been told there are portraitists working there, so i can make another video of them , my last video was a complete mess, lost all the clips but one, and i dont know how to edit properly yet , let allone give a commentary, as for doing portraits i have to be perfect by the time of next years olympics , to get enough money to move to paris, because i will probably have to compete with the monmartroise artists who come to london for the games, might meet davy ?

  • @cardellacole4 ps, done a sketch from a hairstyle magazine the night before last where all the proportions fell in place first time, YIPPIE hope it continues

  • @cardellacole4 I used to draw from women's magazines but I found the lighting was a nuisance. They use it to wipe out shadows completely or they use it for unnatural dramatic effect. It's hard to get the proportions right when there are no shadows to help tell the story, it's like facial features pasted onto an expanse of flawless skin. Men's faces are easier to measure, hard edges make good reference points. Don't worry, it will continue. If you got one right you'll get more and more.

  • @EraserKneaded yes, but theres lots of different faces to draw , and it helps me if they are beautiful, and yes the unnatural dramatic effect is there and it usually completely covers one eye over which is a bit annoying, but i dont like staring at the computer screen for long, you do have to search, the thing i hate most is some of the models have a gaunt lifeless expression, which ruins the mouth,

  • @cardellacole4 Yeah you're right about models' expressions. Sometimes they look dreadful, fashionably dreadful I guess, but ... I don't know anything about the world of photography. I wonder if there's a publication of work by portrait photographers, not the the fashion types, the serious kind.

  • @EraserKneaded yes good idea

  • @cardellacole4 I bet Davy can give you plenty of tips for videos, but, speaking of Davy, are you sure you want to meet the guy? What are you going to do if he ties your leg to a lamppost and starts yelling "Draw! Draw! Draw!" I have a sneaking suspicion some of those folks at Place du Tertre would like to go home to their families but he won't let them. See the dark circles under their eyes, the haunted expressions. Right there in modern day Paris!

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  • @cardellacole4 Maybe I misinterpreted those dark circles, haunted look, furtive glances over their shoulders. Maybe those Place du Tertre types are just terrified someone will publish a documentary about their exploits and escapades. Wouldn't that be something! Probably keep an army of lawyers busy for a decade. :-) :-)

  • @EraserKneaded ha ha ,carefull they say we judge others by ourselves

  • @cardellacole4 I bought a huge heavy painter's easel a few years ago when I thought I'd be the next Rambrandt but now I work in pencil and I never use it. I mean, Rembrandt is very nice but so past tense...ahem. Paper clipped to a board is the way to go. I can rotate it...or fling it out the window like a frisbee. All the best to your daughter, is she into music?

  • @EraserKneaded yes a complete fanatic, will sing anywhere at the top of here voice, not shy at all

  • @cardellacole4 Not shy huh? Well good for her! I hope she does well and no matter how it goes she'll have a lot of fun and get some good experience. :-)

  • @EraserKneaded, thanks

  • @cardellacole4 Can you imagine walking into the art supply shop and saying "I do portraits. Give me six conte crayons and an umbrella?"

  • @cardellacole4 These are two ways we can deliberately make the left brain disengage and leave the right visual artistic brain free to do the visual work it wants to do. After a while when we're better at sensing the shift from left to right brain we can do it more quickly and easily. When I'm drawing and a verbal monologue starts up in my mind, I know I've slipped back into left brain mode. I take a breath, let the words fade, and then I carry on. Just a little more...

  • @cardellacole4 People who draw easily and naturally make this shift from left to right brain automatically and they're not aware it's happening. So when they're asked how they draw they say "Well I just look and draw," which doesn't help anybody. The good news is that the rest of us "ordinary blokes" can learn to do it too. :-) That's the end of the morning thesis I'm desperate for coffee. :-)

  • I don't know if Stephane is still at Place du Tertre but he sure gets marks for courage. I mean if I tried to draw under Davy's baleful gaze I'd be dropping pencils, knocking down the easel and my eraser would be smoking from hyper friction. :-)

  • I guess I have a bee in my bonnet, but I think lower schools' approach to artwork is that it can't be learned and it's only for gifted people. So it's not given priority or budget. Part of the superstition is due to the fact that people with the gift, who draw naturally, often have difficulty explaining how they do it. They're not aware of the process. Truth is, anyone can learn. After 50 some years I decided to try again and it's going well, no thanks to education.

  • If he let the kids use their erasers, they might make some progress. That's the last thing this teacher needs, to have to teach even more.....

  • I hear ya on the use of black. He did pull it off though Been having good luck with Derwent burnt umber p540. It's the darkest dark I've found in pastel pencil with out going black. Good luck to Stephane. It's fun watching new blood, He has an admirable boldness. I will be on the square mid june (for 2 weeks) with a pocket full of SD cards!

  • He's excused his failure to teach and he's prepared the kids for failure. He's made sure they won't do well by using the old superstition about artists and erasers. If he had any understanding he'd know the kids might be able to draw circles after they learn to draw and not before. The only kids who might do well in his class are the ones who draw naturally and don't need his "help." I wonder just how many kids have given up before they got started.

  • @EraserKneaded best lesson i had in class was a collection of saucepans fryingpans piled upon each other higll'dy pigle'dy on the floor, and then told to disreguard the threedimentional objects themselves,do not look at the pans themselves, only look at where the ( an) edge meets a background , and draw the outline of the whole mass of objects as one outline all the way round, going round in one direction and attempt to meet up where you started,

  • @cardellacole4 this has saved me using a rubber so many times, made the background just as important as a shape , as the object being drawn, i still find myself making the same mistakes, you still need the ruber, but i can spot allmost immediately when something is wrong, in the light sketching stage, pluss its very good practice for spacial awareness , by the disregarding of it

  • @cardellacole4 off course the temptation to cheet is enormass, to look at the pans as dimensional objects, but it is still a excellant exercise, and hellped me see something, i didnt think or know i needed

  • @cardellacole4 Have you read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain?" It's the single best source of help I've had. Anything you want to draw has 5 aspects: edges, spaces, values, proportions and the gestalt (the whole thing). Add colour if you're using colour. I think the exercise you did is about the gestalt, seeing the whole thing at once. It's also about flattening the image on a 2 dimensional picture plane, like looking through a window and tracing what you see on the glass.

  • @EraserKneaded yes its like the window , the window does it for you, when you draw on the glass ,But without the window the mind wants to follow the perspectives of the object , is bent by them, fooled into error , its only by (consciously seeing) the background shapes in there position threw and around the object, that the object can be drawn in its perspective far easier,

  • @cardellacole4 For drawing or any visual task, you can make the logical left brain stop interfering with the visual right brain by giving the left brain a job that it can't do or doesn't want to bother with. For example, have your pencil on the paper ready to draw but don't look at it. Focus your eye in the creases in the palm of the other hand. Move your eye along the creases as slowly as you can, and as your eye moves let the pencil follow but don't look at the paper. more...

  • @EraserKneaded to be truthfulli think i can draw well because my left brain cant be bothered with much anyway ha ha ha, so this all sounds perfectly true to me, so this is whats in the book , interesting

  • @cardellacole4 I wish I had your left brain. Mine's a tyrant, thinks it's the expert on everything and the less it knows the more it has to say! Yeah the book is about learning how the left brain interferes with clear visual perception and how to get around it. I guess you could say it's about learning how to see what you're looking at, drawing what you see instead of what you're thinking about what you see.

  • @EraserKneaded Hi,

    I 'm Stéphane Plouviez, thank you for the encouragements, I read comments, but English is a little bit difficult (I am French). To answer your question, I'm not at present on the place du Tertre.

  • @stefanplouviez Bonjour Stephane! Je peut parler le Francais assez bien pour creer la confusion. :-) Vous avez faites un bon portrait. Ce n'est pas facile, travailler sous les yeux de M. Davy. J'ai vu que vous etes un peintre sincere, alors yous trouverez le succes. Bonnes souhaites. :-)

  • @EraserKneaded

    Hi,

    I'm Stéphane Plouviez, thank you for your encouragements. I read comments, I am French but try to write in English. I am not at the moment on the place. It is about one of my first portraits in color on this place.

  • @cardellacole4 An important point is that anything in the universe you might want to draw has the same list of aspects, so everything requires the same set of skills. One thing isn't more difficult than another thing in terms of skill. One thing might be more complex and take more time but the skills for everything are the the same. As for erasers, I love my erasers! :-) They're drawing tools too. I certainly don't buy into the superstition that artists shouldn't need erasers.

  • @cardellacole4 Flattening what you see is important for making an accurate copy of the image created by the brain. Our brains make 2 dimensional images. Two eyes cause two images somewhat distorted to give a perception of perspective and depth so we can navigate in the 3D world, and these 2 images become one perception. When we look at things like we're looking through a window we can re-create the same distorted image our brain makes.

  • @cardellacole4 I have one bad habit which has caused me all kinds of grief in drawing. I tilt my head when I'm concentrating. I'd tilt it to one side when I looked at the object and tilt it one way or another when I looked at my paper. For the longest time I couldn't understand why my drawings were always skewed like two eyes left of centre, nose on the centre line, chin right of centre. I felt like a total jerk when I finally caught on. :-) :-) Still do it sometimes! Duhhhhhh.

  • @cardellacole4 I believe the head tilting thing started in early school when we were learning to write. The teachers wanted eveyone's writing to have a forward slant. I write with my left hand and my natural slant was backward, so they had me tilt the paper on my desk to compensate. I'd be reading examples with my head one way, writing with my head leaning another way, reading from my paper another way. Now I have a habit of leaning my head when I concentrate on visual tasks.

  • I wonder if anyone can relate to my experience in an elementary school drawing class taught by a teacher who couldn't draw. It went something like this: Teacher: "OK, this is the drawing class. Art is a wonderful thing. Only a few people can do it. We'll try anyway. We'll start by drawing nice round circles. Do not use your erasers. Real artists don't use their erasers." This is a teacher who knows he won't be able to teach the kids anything about drawing, and he needs to rationalize. more.....

  • hi davy, went to london today , there were 6 portraitists working , one of them said there was a notable portraitist called tony who left for canada some 15 yrs ago, just when he started, a permit for a month is £400.00 oposite the empire, took some video clips , hope to post soon, some artists operate in picadilly circus though they do not pay ,but still i didnt see any , and none behind the portrait gallery by the statue, had a nice viewing at the galleries though

  • Sorry for the double posting....didn't notice I was talking to myself with the first one. Didn't notice 'cause I'm always talking to myself. OK, I'll stop now, while I'm breaking even. :-)

  • ps. a video of the london portraitists would make a big difference,it would certainly be a first, theres nothing on youtube for over here, ive even looked on google for weeks typing all diferent variations of words ,cant find a thing,,,,,, yes i know your name from other videos , and yes i bet things are tighter these days

  • oh wonderfull, ive been told recently about the national portrait gallery as a good place to look by someone who had seen some there a while ago, ive been there a few times over the years my self but dont remember seeing any portraitists, dont think i went behind it though, yes will pop to leicester sq also, hope its not to cold and there out in force, ill drop your name as a calling card and hope someone there remembers you, and direct them to your youtube page, get my foot in the door, tnx

  • @cardellacole4 I passed by leicester sq a year ago,but I didn"t see anyone from the good old days.I am

    actually better known as 'Dave' than Davy,and that goes for la place du tertre too.If you drop the name yvadmil,

    noone will know who the hell you are talking about! I think the "statue'pitch is defunct,noone uses it any more.

    The police used to turn a blind eye there....but maybe not these days

  • Hi Davy. I hope you'll give some serious thought to using your old photos in a "Life and Times of..." video. Let the world know how you came to be the Robin Hood of Art.:-) Who knows it might inspire others to follow or maybe make some pause to think. In any case I'm sure you'd put together a good show.

  • @EraserKneaded When I get some time I'd like to go back to London to trace the person I consider the best portraitist I have had the privilege to work with.If I can find 'Tony' and film him in action ,adding some of the old photos it would make an awesome video.

  • @EraserKneaded Davy, I've been meaning to ask you if you use fixative on your conte or pastel work. My drawings are all pencil and I spray them with ladies' hairspray. It has a slight darkening effect. I haven't tested to see if it's workable.

  • @EraserKneaded Frame it ASP:once a drawing is framed (with a mat;the glass should never touch the surface of the drawing)there is nothing to fear.At Montmartre we generally use 'crystal paper' (fine,translucent paper with a grease-proof quality) for temporary protection.Charcoal work should always be protected with fixative.Hair spray is an old trick but pro sprays are better;soft pastel should also be fixed if its been thickly applied.I don't usually fix graphite work unless 6B+

  • @yvadmil Thanks Davy! Much appreciated. I never go as dark as 6B, so I'm OK for now. I've been doing everything in H and HB. For some reason I don't like darker values. They feel too heavy-handed or blunt. It's hard to describe. I've been spending a lot of time copying Rembrant's self-portraits from a youtube vid. You know what good art does, when you look long enough it's like the artist is in the room with you. When I do it well It's a little creepy! And such a sad man. I needed to say that.

  • A big thank to everyone for the positive feedback..I have been trying to upload this vid

    for 5 days.You tube have given me the green light to upload vids that go beyond the normal 15 minute limit,but this one simply refused to upload until I trimmed it to 2

    gigabytes.Stephane is young.He has a raw talent but he will get better and better if he works permenantly at Montmartre.It will be interesting to make another vid of him in a couple of years time!

  • i will pop into london tomorow if the weather is as fair as it is today, search out where the portrait artists are , shame there is not an equivilant over here of the place du tertre, seen lone portraitists in london and a few by the thames if i recall corectly when i was very young, take my i pod and record a few , do you have any tips davy as to where they gather

  • @cardellacole4 I did my first portrait in London in 1981.We used to work in a tiny square behind the National portrait gallery,on charing cross road.There was a statue of Henry Irving in the middle of the sq.It was a really

    close knit group of artists:we eat, got drunk and partyed together: insane,wonderful days...I have a wole bunch of

    photos that could be used as the basis for a video.The current crop of portraitists hang out in leicester sq.

    in front of what used to be the empire ballroom.

  • i like the way stephane framed his portrait with a professional signature giving it ballance and adding character which is as bold as his lines , good luck and bravo stephane, familiarity and confidence outweigh the self conscious, another tutorial, thanks davy, thats one happy young artist with a good thirty years ahead of him,

  • Spring is in the air, new hopes and a new young artist at the pl tertre, thats cool ! :)

    thanks  yvadmil

  • Part 3: Finally, I just want to conclude by saying that you have created yet another GREAT video and all I can say is: WE WANT MORE! :0)

  • Part 2: Posting for a 2nd time, Davy. The 1st time it posted somewhat strangely with repeating words

    As for you, my friend, I'm so THANKFUL that you're conscientious enough to get those close-up shots of Stephane drawing by focusing in on what's taking place on the paper and ignoring those distracting peripherals. It really helps those who are learning how to draw with understanding the techniques Stephane used. You even devoted a portion of the video to the materials he used!

  • @shysterlicious Hi Tom,In future I'm going to try,when possible, to include info about the materials artists have used in the creation of the portraits.Actually,I think Stephane uses too many different pencils,and I would advise against his use of black in the construction stage of drawing the face in a colour drawing:it creates a nasty grey stain when smudged and is difficult to get rid of.

  • @yvadmil "In future I'm going to try,when possible, to include info about the materials artists have used in the creation of the portraits." Davy, that's an excellent idea!! The more I know the more I can progress. All of us who follow would love to see this! All the best to you my friend ~ Tom

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  • Part 1: You know, Davy, I was oh so close to writing to you to alert you that it was about time to post another video:0) Checking your channel for the second time today, I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that had posted another vid! All I can say is woo-hoo!

    I think Stephane passes this video test with flying colors. I like his style of highlights and choice of colors for this magnificent portrait. I hope he passes the tests Montmatre demands of him so he can work there permanently.

  • Well, Stephane gets my vote. :-) That's a very nice portrait and he's a young, talented, very sincere, pleasant guy. I can tell that his art is very important to him and I hope his dream comes true. I'm glad you posted this, Davy. I was beginning to wonder what you were up to. Please be aware that your fans are very devoted and now that you've spoiled us, we expect you to continue. :-) :-) :-)

  • a day yvadmil posts a video is a good day indeed! Stephane is very talented, ill be rooting for him

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