I’m new to the group

[DanielG]

Hello everyone. I’m new here and looking forward to learning a lot.

Dan

[Laurene]

Hi Daniel and welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing your work.

[DanielG]

Thank you. I hope to post something soon.

[Mike Sibley]

Hello everyone. I’m new here and looking forward to learning a lot.

Welcome to DWM, Dan.

If you fancy getting your teeth into something, have a go at the White Peacock Butterfly drawing (all references and line drawing supplied). Or one of the other drawings. You'll find them in GROUP PROJECTS and MEMBERS TUTORIALS.

Or you could head over to the videos - where I suggest you begin at the beginning (Basic Techniques) and work your way through them. Each builds on the next.

And please feel free at any time to post work in the appropriate forums. That can be finished work or WIPs (Work-In-Progress) that we can critique and assist you with at any point - or points.

Finally, a quick word of advice - when you click a link in a DWM forum hold down your CTRL key (CMD on a Mac), so it opens in a new tab or window. That way, you don't close down DWM when you exit the page. Unfortunately, phpBB (our forum app) cannot be programmed to do that automatically.

[rideum51]

Sorry Mike evey thing was great until that last paragraph. DWM? etc.. no clue what you are referring to. I think you are going to want to educate me but I'm to old to learn.

[Mike Sibley]

Sorry Mike, everything was great until that last paragraph. DWM? etc.. no clue what you are referring to.

I'll give you a clue... you're in the DrawWithMike forum...

You can ignore the "CTRL+click" advice, but if you do, the link will open in the same tab. When you've finished and close that tab, you'll close DWM too. See what I did there? DWM

And before someone tells me... if you use SHIFT+click, you'll open the link in a new window. I use Firefox, but I'm fairly confident it applies to all browsers. I'm talking about desktop and laptops - If you're using DWM on your phone... I've no idea how anything works.

[JulianC]

Hi, I'm Julian and new to the group. Really looking forward to learning and hopefully helping where I can as well.

[Mike Sibley]

Welcome to DWM, Julian. It's great to see you here.

And, for everyone else:
JulianCourtDrawing.com
Visit and enjoy

[Scribbler]

Hello;
My Name is Bela and I am new here. I started drawing in 2020. Well, I have not had time to draw much. But I am close to my retirement next year and I start to have more and more time. Drawing fascinates me. I have tried charcoal, graphite, and watercolor. All three are beautiful in its way. I love to work with all three. Mike, you are a fantastic artist. I love your work. Your realistic drawing is mindblowing. However, I want to move towards the expressive style. The reason for joining DWM is that you say "know what you draw". In expressive style, details are hidden and leave a lot to the viewer to find out. But I think the distinction between a good and a not-so-good expressive artist is the former knew what he was drawing. You are also a phenomenal tutor. I enjoy every second of your videos. Thank you for your work.

[Mike Sibley]

I love your work. Your realistic drawing is mindblowing. However, I want to move towards the expressive style. The reason for joining DWM is that you say "know what you draw". In expressive style, details are hidden and leave a lot to the viewer to find out. But I think the distinction between a good and a not-so-good expressive artist is the former knew what he was drawing.

Welcome to DWM, Bela! Whatever your ultimate goal - realistic or expressive - the techniques remain the same. You'll find the Basic Technique videos will help you with those.

And then the Creative Technique videos should help too. In those, I'm trying to focus on the mental side of drawing rather than the physical. Such as, letting go of the reference, taking only what you need from it, and inventing everything else. That applies to any art, no matter what the intention is. Actually, I'm wrong - I guess photorealism does demand being faithful to the reference. But I've never personally understood the world of photorealism. To me, it seems to praise technical expertise over content.

You are also a phenomenal tutor. I enjoy every second of your videos. Thank you for your work.

Thanks for that. Seriously. Whilst I'm fully aware that only 5% of members will ever post anything into any online forum... there are times I wonder if anyone ever watches what I make. So, your comment means a lot to me.