AnekaDiscs

Professor Richard Brettell creates a vivid, "virtual" museum through which to appreciate the genius and enduring accomplishments of the Impressionists: the men and women who, in a few short decades, forever changed the art of painting.
Who Were the Impressionists?
They appeared in a period of upheaval. They saw the rebuilding of Paris, the rise of industrialism, the ruin of the Franco-Prussian war.
They displayed their works—paintings that were startlingly, even shockingly, new—in a series of exhibitions from 1874 to 1886.
And by the 1890s this "loose coalition" of artists who rebelled against the formality of the French Academy had created the most famous artistic movement in history. "They" were the Impressionists, and Professor Brettell is your expert curator and guide to a movement that created a new, intensely personal vision of the world.

Whether the subject was a city street, a holiday beach, a harvest field, or a demoiselle’s boudoir, they virtually invented the sensibility—urbane, contemporary, ever-changing—that today we take for granted as the "modern."

Who were the Impressionists? What’s the difference between a Manet and a Monet? How does a Pissarro landscape differ from one by Cézanne? Were they really as personally scandalous as the Establishment alleged?

And why is Impressionism, a 19th-century phenomenon, still so appealing in the 21st?
What You Will Learn

These artists documented life in the latter half of the 19th century and provided models of behavior, decorum, and urban beauty that persist to this day. This series of lectures will introduce you to the style, subject, and function of Impressionist painting by artists including Monet, Renoir, Cassatt, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and van Gogh.

Separate analysis is given to the important Impressionist exhibitions and their contemporary critics like the writer Baudelaire. Among key topics covered are the public and private worlds of Parisian modernity, life in the countryside, the new leisure class, and the influential legacy of Impressionism.

Dr. Brettell, Professor of Aesthetic Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas, is a teacher and curator of international renown and is widely published on 19th- and 20th-century art. His lectures are designed as a way for you to view and discuss the Impressionist revolution with a deft mix of history, biography, and art:

* You’ll learn how the Impressionist aesthetic was driven by the rise of the railroad and suburban tourism.
* You’ll learn how Mary Cassatt painted the lives of wealthy expatriates, while Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec scoured the dives of Montmartre to draw Paris by night.
* You’ll learn about technique: Degas’s use of lighting effects. Renoir’s plump, sensuous brushstrokes. Pissarro’s use of slabs and pieces of paint. Gauguin and Van Gogh’s bold, bright colors.
* You’ll see how Berthe Morisot could convey women’s sense of boredom, sadness, and frustration.
* You’ll see how Monet’s approach changed in his later years from one in which the subject was in flux and motion to one of constancy and stability.
* You’ll learn what happened to this radical movement as its leaders grew older—and more successful—by century’s end.

"We will take a chronological, and oftentimes biographical, approach to studying the artists rather than looking at each career separately," says Professor Brettell. "This is due in large part to the fact that there was a certain amount of collectivity among them, visible not only in the Impressionist exhibitions but in the artistic tours/retreats that pairs of painters took in order to study modern life and its environs.

"As the life and career of each painter unfolds, we are introduced to their families, friends, and colleagues, all of whom become subjects in and influences on their work. The careers of many of the artists are discussed from their early exposure to art, their teachers, travels, and later stylistic influences."
Great Impressionist Works You Will See

Presented with these absorbing lectures are more than 200 vividly reproduced artworks for your study and enjoyment, including:

* Ballet Rehearsal on the Stage, by Edgar Degas. This sepia-toned painting, done in the style of a photograph, was part of the first Impressionist exhibition and raised questions about how visual images were created.
* Impression: Sunrise (Marine), by Claude Monet. This painting of a sailboat at dawn may have given Impressionism its name, along with Monet’s well-known Impression Sunrise. Light, freely painted, about color and immediacy, it is one of the most radical paintings in the history of modern art.
* Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), by Edouard Manet. This depiction of Manet’s favorite model, Victorine Meurent, as a nude on a picnic with two clothed men was considered scandalous. It exemplifies Manet’s tendency to shock, provoke, and raise more questions than he answers.
* The Beach at Trouville, by Claude Monet. Painted on Monet’s honeymoon, this canvas depicts his wife and Madame Boudin at Trouville, on the Normandy coast. The dots on Madame Boudin’s dress are actually grains of sand that blew onto the canvas as Monet painted.
* The Garden, by Berthe Morisot. Morisot executed this work, her career masterpiece, with an incredible gestural abandon that few male artists could match.
* Vision after the Sermon, by Paul Gauguin. One of the most bizarre and powerful paintings in the history of art, this painting combines elements of high art, Japanese art, and religious imagery.

Trace the Beginning of "Modern Art"

The Impressionists were the first formal group of professional artists to include women: Berthe Morisot and the American, Mary Cassatt. Morisot, in fact, participated in seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, more than any other member of the movement except Pissarro.

In their first exhibition in 1874, the "Société Anonyme des Artistes" (the name Impressionists came later) took an approach that was not only modern, but unprecedented.

We tend to think of the history of art as one of individual geniuses who acted as teachers for subsequent groups of artists. But the Impressionists worked very differently. They chose to develop their craft as equals, painting and learning from one another in small groups.

Rather than promoting sameness, this way of working highlighted the unmistakable differences among the groups and artists.

Impressionist painters often painted the same scenes, at times simultaneously, with their easels side by side. These occasions present a fascinating opportunity to compare technique and to see the Impressionist approach at work. Renoir’s and Monet’s 1869 studies of La Grenouillère (The Frog Pond), a well-known spot for swimming, socializing, and renting boats, offer a notable case in point.

One of the legacies of Impressionism is to leave the viewer with a profound sense of life—of life captured on the canvas, through motion, light, and color, and life lived by these remarkable artists, always seeking to experience and to learn, to better capture the reality before their eyes.

This course is an absorbing lesson in the marvelous cultural, historical, and visual experiences that great paintings provide.

ZBrush’s popularity is exploding giving more CG artists the power to create stunning digital art with a distinctively fine art feel. ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting is the must-have guide to creating highly detailed, lush, organic models using the revolutionary ZBrush software. Digital sculptor Scott Spencer guides you through the full array of ZBrush tools, including brushes, textures and detailing. With a focus on both the artistry and the technical know-how, you’ll learn how to apply traditional sculpting and painting techniques to 3D art while uncovering the "why" behind the "how" for each step. You’ll gain inspiration and insight from the beautiful full-color illustrations and professional tips from experienced ZBrush artists included in the book. And, above all, you’ll have a solid understanding of how applying time-honored artistic methods to your workflow can turn ordinary digital art into breathtaking digital masterpieces.

Most of us tend to just solo on the fly, but what if you had a blueprint, something to help you organize your improvising? David Hamburger shows you how to construct ear-bending blues solos by working with the underlying structure of any blues progression or vamp.

Using major and minor pentatonic scales, mixolydian scales, chromatic passing notes and altered tones, you’ll learn how to develop tasty, soulful solos packed with tension and release that gradually build over two or three choruses to a compelling climax.

Instead of playing the same old licks, you’ll discover how to use root targeting, call-and-response phrasing, hybrid grip picking, double stops, triads and chord hits to create dynamic, exciting solos over everything from a Texas shuffle or a blues-rock groove to a New Orleans-style funk feel.

Here’s how Blues Architect is presented …
You will play your way through 10 contemporary blues instrumentals, learning and performing rhythm and solo parts in context against a rhythm track.

All of the rhythm lessons demonstrate the specific pattern and then suggest alternate voicings and fills to expand the rhythm part out over an entire tune.

The solo lessons demonstrate a single chorus solo, breaking them down note-by-note, and then suggest variations and ideas for an extended solo.

Hamburger then performs an extended solo illustrating the variations and solo development ideas discussed in the previous lesson segment.

The lesson concludes with a commentary running over the solo to further illustrate the "blueprint" for the solo and focus on key variations.

Every single solo is fully notated and tabbed in Power Tab! Rhythm tracks, chord charts, text descriptions and other supporting material are included.

Elmore James, Lowell George, Bonnie Raitt, Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, Joe Walsh, Derek Trucks, Ben Harper, Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter and Sonny Landreth are just a few of the monster players responsible for putting electric slide guitar squarely on the blues and rock map. In fact, the expressive and "singing" qualities of electric slide guitar make it almost mandatory to have at least a few tasty and versatile slide chops and techniques in your bag. TrueFire’s Guitar Lab: Electric Slide will get you up and running quicker than you can say "Diddley Bow."

TrueFire’s Guitar Lab: Electric Slide from Geoff Hartwell will step you through all of the mechanics and equip you with an impressive working vocabulary of electric slide licks and moves. "Aside from being an outstanding musician and guitar player, Geoff Hartwell’s skills as a clinician put him at the top of the heap. Geoff’s knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of slide playing is bullet-proof. The master-class he conducted was attended by absolute beginners, professional guitarists and every level in between- No one left empty-handed. Not only do Geoff’s skills as a slide player put him in an elite group of musicians, but his ability to break down those skills and demonstrate them in simple, crystal clear terms make him one of a kind."

Geoff kicks off this intensive with a thorough run down of right and left hand techniques, plucking, muting and best practices for navigating the fretboard and working with scales. Next, you’ll learn how to phrase and articulate one-note-one-string and one-note-two-string licks. Along the way, Hartwell gives you a grip on classic moves including "pull licks" and Allman’s now classic "see-saw" move.

As you progress through the course, you’ll learn a variety of essential licks and how to play rhythm with slide, how to work with major and minor chords, how to "shwonk," how to slap and use harmonics, and how to fret behind the slide and pull off the "harmonic helicopter" in the style of slide master Sonny Landreth.

All in all, enough solid material in Guitar Lab: Electric Slide to move your slide meter to dangerously proficient.

Only a handful of people on the planet can deliver the instructional goods on slow blues as well as Andy Aledort. Andy has served as senior editor for several top guitar magazines, has authored over 200 guitar instruction books, and has studied the styles and techniques of virtually every major electric blues and rock guitar artist in history. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone better qualified to present a more thorough slow blues curriculum than Andy Aledort.

Andy covers a diverse range of soloing styles and techniques within the context of eight different key centers (E, F, G, A, Bb, C and D). Each key center series of lessons features different forms, feels and progressions and includes performances and detailed breakdowns covering requisite techniques, solo development, improvisation and application of theory. The soloing examples demonstrate a wide spectrum of both right- and left-hand articulation techniques, phrasing concepts and the stylistic signatures that are found in the playing of all blues guitar masters, ranging from Albert King, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Buddy Guy, and Freddie King, to the blues/rock virtuosos such as Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Aledort also takes you to grad school on doublestop sixths, sliding sixths, triads, opens strings, vibrato, hammers, ghost bends, pull-offs, fingerpicks, rolls, diminished 7th lines, cascading lines, expressions, forearm vibrato, B.B.’s box, thematic soloing, improvisation, two-to-three equivalency, repeating triplets, anticipating changes, stretching time, repetition, solo development, dynamics, oblique bends, slides, intervallic jumps, tremolo picking, ascending the fretboard, trills, glissandos and applications of composite blues, Mixolydian, Dorian, and major, minor, and dominant pentatonic scales.

Slow Blues Power is an extraordinary learning experience and bottomless resource of insight for any student of electric blues guitar.

Take a 1-4-5, crank up the drive, blow long improvised solos and you’ve got a few of the necessary ingredients to start working on your blues-rock bag. But that’s just the beginning – everything else you need can be found in Deloro’s original Blues Rock Road Trip and now in Blues Rock Road Trip 2, Deloro’s newly updated, eye-opening, ear-bending intensive study program focused solely on lead guitar phrase construction and applications.

At the core of virtually every killer blues rock tune is solid and memorable phrasing. Not to be confused with solos or melodies, short phrases or "riffs" can serve as the driving rhythmic figures of a tune, or be combined as the thematic building blocks of its featured solo. In either case, phrasing is as critical to the composition or solo as the "hook" itself. Could you imagine Suzie Q, Bad Sign, La Grange, One Way Out, Superstitious, Elizabeth Reed, Whole Lotta Love or Abracadabra without their signature riffs?!

Blues Rock Road Trip 2 continues the journey and examines the many facets and geographical influences that make up this extraordinarily popular style of guitar. From London to Chicago to Texas and points beyond, Blues Rock: Road Trip 2 will re-fill your tank with essential blues-rock patterns, licks, techniques and a set’s worth of new grooves to play with.

Blues Rock Road Trip 2 is all about the construction and application of blues rock phrasing for soloing, improvisation and composition. Having transcribed and studied literally thousands of riffs, licks and solos, Joe Deloro is a bona fide expert in the signature stylings of every important blues rock player. In short, Deloro is a walking encyclopedia of riffs, their origins and their applications.

You’ll work through 40 original phrases styled after Joe Walsh, Steve Miller, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Dickie Betts, Duane Allman, ZZ Top, Jimmy Page, John Lee Hooker, Clarence White, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Albert King, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, James Burton and Stevie Ray Vaughan to name just a few.

Demonstrating each phrase over an accompanying practice rhythm track, Deloro will step you through it’s construction, application and variations. As you play your way through the course, you’ll develop a diverse vocabulary of tasty licks and cultivate your ability to form original ideas for 8, 12 and 16 bar solos.

Blues Rock Road Trip 2 features 105 video lessons, text overviews, practice rhythm tracks, standard notation and interactive Power Tab so that you can "see" and "hear" the tab and notation played out at any tempo. TrueFire’s video lesson player features PIP, full-screen, slo-mo, looping and other handy controls.

Beginning to advanced instruction in classical guitar techniques and teaching how to play over 50 songs, including Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, Malaguena, Danny Boy, Amazing Grace, House of the Rising Sun, Lagrima, and many other Esteban favorites.

Video Format: AVI
Resolution: 720 x 540
Genre: Instructional DVD

The Professional Approach to Learn How to Draw

A trained artist must master perspective like a writer masters grammar. This series of perspective lectures is the definitive source for learning how to draw anything that exists in space. They are not slick productions; they are Marshall and a chalkboard. These videos are the best way we know to learn how to draw professionally. Master the content of these tapes and you master everything an artist needs to know on the subject of perspective.

Contrary to popular myth, most artists are not born with the innate ability or skill to draw. Even those that do seem to possess some mystical talent to draw what they see before them without formal art school training have generally been drawing for years, sketching and doodling away in their spare hours. The trouble with the self-taught artist, however, is that many years are lost re-inventing the wheel when they could instead be taught the fundamentals of drawing in only a few months.

Learning how to draw is easily taught to almost anyone. There are no insurmountable obstacles, but like anything new it does require consistent practice and the acceptance that there will be some failures.

As you learn how to draw using the time-tested traditional methods of drawing you will start to see results immediately. You will pass through the levels of skill development from novice to intermediate and then to advanced and onward to a mastery of drawing. At times you may stall for a while as your perception and knowledge advances faster than your drawing skill.

Where does one begin to learn how to draw?

You start by developing new drawing skills. At first your hand and eye coordination will not quite be there. Your first attempts at drawing will be awkward, but every time you draw your brain adds more information to what it knows and stores it so that next time it is a bit easier and your newly developed neural pathways are triggered. Eventually your drawing becomes more masterful, more automatic and fluid.

With training you will know exactly how to go about beginning a drawing, how to analyze a subject, how to measure and sight to establish the proper proportions of your subject, you will understand the rules of translating what you see into drawings that look three dimensional.

Over time and with consistent practice you will learn to master your drawing materials – how they work, what kind of mark they make, the proper way to maintain them and which materials work best for your desired outcome and you will have tons of fun and enjoyment along the way.

Learn how to draw – the first step

In my beginner drawing classes I would pin a variety of rectangles (colored pieces of illustration board) onto the wall as the starting point. Sure, there would be some grumbling in the class – admittedly rectangles are not the most exciting thing in the world to draw – but after only a few short hours the singularly most important lesson in drawing is fully ingrained: the ability to assess and feel proportion.

Well, I do have a small confession to make here. Those aforementioned rectangles that I use in my beginner drawing classes are not just any rectangles. They are actually the nine dynamic rectangles of natural design law (the golden rectangle is one). Every natural object, and many man-made ones, subscribe in one way or another to the dynamic rectangles. This is the basis of good design. It is also the basis of good teaching as I immediately begin to instill in you an appreciation and, again, feel of natural design.

Drawing portraits is generally something that most people assume one must be born with a talent for. Sure there are those for whom portait drawing is a God-given talent, but everyone no matter what their ‘talent’ level must study and acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to grow and develop as an artist.

ArtAcademy – Mastering Portrait Drawing 1

Being able to consistently get a remarkable likeness in your face and portrait drawing can be learned. But there is a skill-set that must be acquired. The first is the ability to strike the arabesque, that is the entire outside shape of the head. The arabesque encompasses the overall shape and proportion. From there, one constructs the portrait by fixing the facial proportions and then blocking in the initial tone.

Even at this very early stage the likeness of the sitter will begin to emerge in the portrait drawing.

The next requirement is knowledge-based: to make sense of and convincingly render the features and supporting cast of cheeks, chin, forehead, etc. you must know the underlying anatomy of bone and muscle.

Anatomy plays a crucial role in conveying emotions. There are different muscles actions for joy and for melancholy. It is more than just a smile on the lips.

Once you attain the skill-set of portrait drawing you will find it to be immensely satisfying and your growth as an artist will accelerate. Seeing the likeness of your loved one or client or model emerging from the paper under your hand is a real accomplishment. Much better than to forever be struggling with the basics of portrait drawing with little or no progress.

You will find all of the tools you need to develop your portrait drawing to a high-level in my Mastering Portrait Drawing 1 DVD Workshop: The Frontal Pose.

ArtAcademy – Mastering Portrait Drawing 2: The Frontal Pose

Mastering Portrait Drawing 2 is the second of my Mastering Portrait Drawing Series of DVD workshops. Part one introduced you to all the fundamental techniques, methods and knowledge you need to successfully draw beautiful realist portraits in the Frontal Pose.

Now we take you on the next step of the journey and teach you all the procedures and know-how you will need to excel at the fine art of realist portraiture in the profile views.

Step by step you will learn in-depth the secrets to the mastery of the 7/8 profile view – the favored profile of Masters for it’s three dimensionality, it’s movement, it’s elegance, emotional quality, and timeless appeal.

If you loved Mastering Portrait Drawing1 and have been studying diligently, you are going to be doubly thrilled to get started on the popular 7/8’s profile view in Mastering Portrait Drawing 2 now that you have the basics down.