On a lighter note...

Just so that the most recent post on the page isn't an angsty angry rant against art school: I was recently turned on to the artist Alberto Vargas by fellow classmate Irene Geller. While looking through the book she has of his work (which I immediately went and ordered for myself afterwards http://www.amazon.com/Alberto-Vargas-Works-Max-Collection/dp/0821257927) I noticed that though his lighting remained impeccable and his hand light, towards the tail end of his career he developed a highly stylized manner of drawing/ illustrating to the point where he was no longer drawing what he saw in reality, but rather what he "knew." It's one of the first pitfalls we learned to watch out for in Drawing Fundamentals. Other than the eventual stiffness and "barbie-esque" look that began to creep in to his work, I fell in love with the playful, sexy, yet light and illustrative way in which he handled the female form. Especially, as I said before, the way he handled his lighting. The women he drew (often for Playboy) seemed to practically glow from within. He even had a Batwoman illustration! I intend to one day try my hand at painting/ drawing in a similar style. He used pastels so skillfully that they often appear (at least in the reproductions for the book) to be watercolor. Highly impressive, I can't wait for my book to finally arrive so I can go through it again.