Robert Barrett - Life Drawing: How to Portray the Figure with Accuracy and Expression

REPOSE
Nupastel on paper
22" 30" (56cm 76cm)
Collection of Brian and Ruth Arnst

Life Drawing

how to portray the
figure with accuracy
and expression

robert barrett

www.artistsnetwork.com

Life Drawing: How to Portray the Figure withAccuracy and Expression. Copyright 2008 byRobert Barrett. Manufactured in China. All rightsreserved. No part of this book may be reproduced inany form or by any electronic or mechanical meansincluding information storage and retrieval systemswithout permission in writing from the publisher,except by a reviewer who may quote brief passagesin a review. Published by North LightBooks, an imprint of F+W Publications,Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati,Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. FirstEdition.

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Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barrett, Robert.

Life drawing : how to portray the figure with accuracy and expression / Robert Barrett. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58180-979-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-646-4 (EPUB)

1. Figure drawing--Technique. I. Title.

Edited by Kelly C. Messerly
Designed by Wendy Dunning
Production coordinated by Matt Wagner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In addition to being an accomplished painter, muralist, and illustrator, Robert Barrett is also a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He has exhibited his work in many art shows including those at the Society of Illustrators in New York, the Directors Guild of America, N.Y., the National Arts Club, N.Y., and the Annual Utah Illustrators Exhibitions. He has had a number of one-man shows including those at the Society of Illustrators, Springville Art Museum, the St. George Art Museum, the Kimball Art Center, Repartee Gallery, and the Busam Gallerie in Berlin, Germany.

Robert studied painting in Europe as the recipient of a German Academic Exchange Grant and was an artist in residence at the Kimball Art Center as the recipient of a joint grant from The National Endowment for the Arts and the Utah Arts Council. His work has been featured in International Artist, Southwest Art, The Artists Magazine and American Artist. He has also had work published in Society of Illustrators Annuals, Communication Arts Magazine, and Print Magazine.

His clientele includes many imprints of Viking USA and Outdoor Life, American History, Boys Life, and McCalls Magazine. Robert has completed limited edition collectors plates for the Bradford Exchange and prints for Millpond Press. He recently completed a childrens book entitled The Real Story of the Creation for Concordia Publishing House.

Robert received a BFA in painting from the University of Utah and an MA and MFA in painting from the University of Iowa. In 1995 he was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Award for Teaching Excellence at BYU and in 2004 he was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award.

He is a member of the Society of Illustrators, the Pastel Society of America, the Portrait Society of America and the Salmagundi Club.

Cover art:

DEAN
Nupastel on paper
30 " 22" (76cm 56cm)
Collection of the artist

METRIC CONVERSION CHART

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When I began my education at the University of Utah in the late 1960s, I was able to study drawing and painting with a gifted draftsman and portrait painter named Alvin Gittins. He hailed from England and maintained his pronounced British accent, which, to me, added an air of authority to what he said. He was committed to teaching and became a mentor to many of us.

Among other things, Alvin felt that the idea for a drawing or painting was always vulnerable to failure if the artist lacked the technical skill to give it authority. He remained convinced that art that was different for the sake of difference failed ultimately to hide its mediocrity. If drawing truly is an act of discrimination, as Alvin felt it was, then the process of refining ones skill can teach the artist discernment as a way of thinking and a way of life.

Several years of teaching experience have convinced me that there is no curriculum content compelling enough to make up for the deficiencies or miscasting of the teacher. The best teachers are those who love learning and know how to help it happen. They are specialists in nurturing and guiding talent both conceptually and technically. They understand that talent without skills, inspiration without knowledge, and creativity without technique count for little but lost potential.

During the course of my career, I have been fortunate to come under the tutelage of excellent teachers. I have also been fortunate to be proximate to teachers who have shared my views, enthusiasms, and experiences. To them I wish to express acknowledgment for their influence and support. I wish to thank Ralph Barksdale for his devotion and commitment to life drawing and the many discussions we have had over the years in that regard. To my colleagues Richard Hull and Bethanne Andersen I wish to express my gratitude for their encouragement to the enterprise of drawing and for their commitment to the process of teaching and mentoring students at Brigham Young University. I have learned much from my association with them. I also wish to express my thanks to my good friend Burt Silverman whose work I continue to admire and whose devotion to the process of drawing is both remarkable and transformational. Burt has been willing to exhibit his work at BYU on more than one occasion and has made several trips to Utah to lecture and perform workshops. In addition, he has been willing to take several of our students under his wing as interns in New York City.

To artists Sherrie McGraw, Anthony Ryder, Bob Dacey, Murray Tinkelman, Thomas Blackshear, John Collier, C. Michael Dudash, Walter Rane, Bunny Carter, Jeff Hein, Ron Dias, William Maughan, and so many more who have been willing to travel to BYU to lecture, demonstrate, and freely share your personality and perspectives, I express appreciation. I feel I have often benefited from their composite knowledge more than my students. To William Whitaker who has lectured and demonstrated on campus and been willing to mentor students in his studio as well I express appreciation.