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What can you learn from the sketchbook of Giovanni Boldini. A surprising amount really ….
Giovanni Boldini brief biography
Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 July 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. He was known as the “Master of Swish” because of his flowing style of painting.
Boldini was born in Ferrara, the son of a painter of religious subjects, and in 1862 went to Florence for six years to study and pursue painting.
Moving to London, Boldini attained success as a portraitist. He completed portraits of premier members of society including Lady Holland and the Duchess of Westminster. From 1872 he lived in Paris, where he became the most fashionable portrait painter in Paris in the late 19th century.
Giovanni Boldini pencil sketches
Key lessons
The wonderful thing about the sketch above is its simplicity. Boldini says so much with so few strokes of the pencil. But the lines he chose were very significant.
With a few lines, he identifies the top, back, front and lower part of the head. This is enough to accurately convey the overall proportions of the head.
The positions of the eyebrows, outer corner of the eye, position of the bottom of the nose and its tilt, the position of the corners of the mouth, and chin are the keys to getting a likeness.
Another key point is the position of the ear, which together with the chin and shoulder line, shows how the head is tilted.
The curve of the line of the clothing around the neck is a simple single cross contour line that creates form. Without this line you would not get the feeling of three dimensions.
His use of line is not only economical, but also elegant. The graceful line conveys the elegance of the sitter. This gives the sketch both Visual Music (interesting design in an abstract sense) and Visual Poetry (a feeling or emotion).
When you join the Virtual Art Academy you will be able to study lots more of Boldini’s sketches in our advanced program, as well as learn about more than 50 artists, including some contemporary masters, that we recommend you study for improving your color, composition and brushwork.
You can read more about the life of Giovanni Boldini and see some of Boldini’s work at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to get free painting tips by email, please sign up for my free tips newsletter.
If you are interested in a structured approach for learning how to paint, take a look at my online painting classes.
Happy painting!
Barry John Raybould
Virtual Art Academy
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An excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting
When I got word of the course available through Virtual Art Academy, I was very excited for the opportunity to learn what I never knew about painting. VAA has provided me an excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting. The course is organized very logically, provides great examples, diagrams, thorough explanations and worthwhile assignments. I highly recommend this course to anyone with a desire for an in-depth education of art.
Thank you again, Barry, I love this course Jeanne
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Barry gave me a fishing rod so I can catch my own fish
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A great learning platform
comprehensive art education
It is wild to see how much I am learning in this course!
I retired last year, and decided I wanted to spend my time in retirement learning how to oil paint. But having never painted before, I wasn’t even sure what to look for in an online painting course. However, I did some searches for “Best Online Oil Painting Courses,” and found several references to VAA.
I signed up for VAA’s ongoing Apprentice Program last October (2023), and I am incredibly glad I did! As a beginner, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but I didn’t have to: VAA has already mapped it all out for me. It starts out with basic, fundamental stuff, but also teaches me the THINKING that goes in the painting: the composition, my color choices, how to consciously select which darks and lights need to be emphasized, etc.
Bottomline, I am learning how to create paintings that have both visual music and poetry, and it is super fun to see my growth! I cannot recommend this course enough!
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Only online learning program I have ever discovered using a training industry best practice
VAA is the only online learning program I have ever discovered using a training industry best practice of incorporating Knowledge and Skills to support learning a new activity. Every building block (Drawing, Form, Observation, Concept, Notan, Composition, Colour, Brushwork) incorporates a “spiral learning” approach where you are introduced to the Knowledge/Skill at one level and then reintroduced to it again elsewhere in the curriculum. Sure genius.
I’ve attended workshops, read books, and watched YouTube videos — and none of them provide the scaffolded approach to learning the VAA offers. If you are just starting your painting journey, start here. If you are a mid level or advanced painter, start here. There is a sense of community with artists around the globe. You are part of a peer to peer learning process bigger than yourself.
As a result of the VAA, I have been juried into several shows, am represented by a local gallery and have been selling my paintings on a consistent basis. VAA curriculum’s approach will grow your ‘artist’s brush’ and aid you in finding your artistic voice. As your basics improve, your art improves. Henry Hensche said, “There is study and there is performance, and we should not confuse the two, study is done for perceptual development, our performances show us where we are in that development, and we must have both…”. VAA curriculum offers both.
I went through the entire curriculum, did every every exercise, and today review my printed books/exercises on an annual basis to keep myself fresh and ready for my next painting adventure.
Onwards/Sideways,
Jay “jbird” Holobach
https://www.jayholobach.com/
The equivalent of a 4 year art education at a fraction of the cost
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The small steps are easy to do
No need to buy expensive art books…. Just do the VAA 4 year course. I still refer to it
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