Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Dan, you encourage art pupils to draw inspiration from real life, rather than using repetitive exercises to develop technique. What about as students mature, though? How would you recommend they prepare, if they’re interested in studying art in college?

Daniel Ellis:
Basically, what a college wants to see in their portfolio is some sense of the artist’s personal response to their subjects. They want to see a confident use of materials, and the use of a variety of materials. So to build personal response, of course, the best way to do that is to try a lot of different subject matter, and find out which ones interest you most.

And when you are beginning to be impressed with a particular subject matter, do two thirds at least of your drawings on that subject and do them from life as much as possible. If it’s not possible sometimes to do it from life, why then you have to synthesize an image from materials that you’ve studied from other sources.

Proper use of materials requires instruction, of course, and most of the literature out there is how to use this or that or the other material. So by all means, draw like crazy and explore that as much as you can. This is a process that takes a long time to develop, and it's your own personal enthusiasm that gives you the energy to go after it.

Mike:
Thanks, Dan. Those thoughts are extremely helpful. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith