Francesco from NY/Italy

[Francesco Cipollone]

Hello Everyone,

Feeling like dynamite having signed up with New Masters.  I love to draw in charcoal.  My primary goal, as one would expect, is to fluidly take what’s in my mind and put it on paper. Both for my own personal satisfaction and to have any sort of impact on the viewer.  I would like to do this professionally.

As far as life story goes, I used to draw frequently as a child and viewed it then as a way to create characters and new worlds and scenes.  Despite being driven towards the creative, I shot the opposite direction in academics and in career and studied engineering and worked in finance for 15 years. Not one day passed that I didn’t feel like I should be doing something more creative and with impact on others (even just one person).  During this time I became a professional skydiver teaching advanced body flying techniques (lots of gesture, rhythm and flow).

Over a year ago, I left my career to evaluate life and myself. Without missing a step, the first thing I did after many years was pick up charcoal and begin to sketch. The pull towards it was natural and magnetic.  With zero training, I immersed myself in project after project. Utterly satisfying. The “practical” voice saying that it is only a distraction from figuring out the next “real” career move. But a year passed and many of those projects inspired another level of happiness in me and also smiles from enough people to make me feel it should be explored more. Furthermore, the “practical” voice has disappeared, which I guess has been part of the inner journey.

A few months ago I began dabbling with Loomis’ figure drawing book and then signed up with the Proko program for anatomy. I view the human form as my entry point into serious training but am open to drawing more than that.  My drawing has gone from a couple of hours a day to at least 4 or 5 for the last 4 months (virus or no virus).  The appetite to learn is huge and having viewed a few New Masters videos on youtube, I was convinced to sign up and go deeper.

That’s my journey and I’m excited to be part of what you guys have to offer.

[Haidar]

Hi Francesco

 

Love to read about your journey! I went into engineering too and want a creative outlet. Hope we can connect, not sure if there’s a DM feature?

[Francesco Cipollone]

Thanks for the response Haider. I don’t see a DM but find me on IG: @cipollone.art

[Joshua Jacobo]

Sounds like your goal is to draw from imagination. Many of us share that goal but it’s a challenging road. As you do your training(and hopefully share your progress with us) always focus on more knowledge based approaches. Avoid copying reference. Try to understand it as if you needed to build it from memory because you will. You can study the graphic approaches on the site like Reilly method or Sight Size but remember that the graphic elements are secondary to 3D construction if you want to draw from imagination. Perspective, anatomy, all of that will be important! Welcome!

[Francesco Cipollone]

Thanks so much for the careful response Joshua.

That makes a lot of sense to me. As I mentioned, I signed up for the Proko anatomy/figure/portrait months ago and have been making solid progress through it. Anatomy in particular has been so fascinating to me. Like solving a puzzle each time. Almost like gaining a superhuman power. I do many timed gesture and quick sketch sessions every week. Less so to get good at copying reference but to get that ability to spot the interesting spots, flows and of course get more comfortable with what positions the human body can get into.

I’m only a few days into NMA but the Steve Huston materials and how he teaches has really clicked with me.  I enjoy doing the timed sessions with him and also listening to the overall approach to art which only adds to my inspiration.

Thanks again.

[Haidar]

@Joshua: what do you mean by

“always focus on more knowledge based approaches”? Thanks 🙂

[Joshua Jacobo]

I mean that if he wants to draw from imagination it’s better to focus on approaches that show you how to constructively build a head, figure, etc over ones that show you how to capture or record something. Focus more on analysis and the 3D aspects of drawing and less on copying.

 

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