Classic Illustration Crash Course with Gary Meyer

Veteran illustrator and Second Master of Art Center, Gary Meyer represents a generation of professional illustrators whose perspective skills were the pinnacle of craft and have now become rare. In this course, Gary will teach you some of the most critical skills needed to create environments from imagination such as linear perspective drawing, working with pencils and acrylic paints, creating scenes from imagination as well as painting different environment, lighting and surface conditions.

1. Perspective for Beginners | Part One: One-Point Perspective

In this series, acclaimed artist and instructor Gary Meyer will impart on you his knowledge of multi-point perspective, light and shadow, and reflections. He will start by teaching you the basics of drawing in 1-Point Perspective. In this first lesson, his rules-of-thumb regarding vanishing points, picture planes, and measuring points will give you a foundation of understanding for accurately drawing the proportions and distances between objects near and far from the viewers eye. Beginning with illustrated definitions and demonstrations of the important guidelines, then identifying these same principles in photographs, Gary will finish by leading you in an exercise of drawing a room in your own house in 1-Point Perspective.

2. Perspective for Beginners | Part 2: Two-Point Perspective

In this series, acclaimed artist and instructor Gary Meyer will impart on you his knowledge of multi-point perspective, light and shadow, and reflections. Gary continues his series with this lesson on drawing in Two-Point Perspective. He elaborates on different techniques for dividing lines, repeating rectangles, and checking for distortion in your perspective drawings.

3. Painting Three Dimensionally in Acrylics

In this video lesson, master painter and illustratorGary Meyer shows you how to compose simple geometric forms such as a sphere, cylinder, and a cube from imagination using correct perspective and construction. You will learn how to block out a framework in pencil then use the acrylic paints to create a three dimensional effect, refining each shape with light.

4. Painting an Urban Scene in Acrylics

Master painter and illustrator Gary Meyer demonstrates an approach to painting a cityscape from a raised view completely from imagination. You will learn how to use correct perspective and simplified forms to construct a complex urban scene that is realistically lit by a parallel sun, as well as techniques for mixing paints and creating correct values and colors.

5. Painting Shiny, Reflective, and Metallic Objects in Acrylics

Master painter and illustrator Gary Meyer demonstrates how to draw and paint several shiny and reflective objects from imagination. You will learn how to consider the sky, ground, and landscape in your reflections using the warm above and cool below. You will also learn how to deal with the metallic paint which shows the highlights on the car.

6. Painting a Reflective Scene in Acrylics

Master painter and illustrator Gary Meyer walks you through the process of painting a scene with a sky, ground, and reflective airplane object. You will learn about construction of the scene using correct perspective, the proper use of warm and cool colors and mixing in acrylic paint, and how to use contrast to pull elements closer to the viewer.

7. Painting a Landscape from Imagination Using Acrylics

Master Painter and Illustrator Gary Meyer paints a landscape completely from imagination with acrylic paints, using a variety of colors to highlight and order different areas of the landscape and teach you how to layer values with a dark foreground and illuminated background. You will also learn how to play simple areas against more complex ones and to use the gradation of value to indicate scale.

8. Painting a Seascape with Acrylics

Master illustrator and painter, Gary Meyer shows you how to create a seascape scene completely from imagination in acrylic paint. Gary walks you through the demonstration focusing on the drama and mood of the scene as well as the technical and practical elements of painting the complex and tradition subject of the ocean.

9. Painting a Head with Acrylics

Master Painter and Illustrator Gary Meyer paints a human head with Acrylics, demonstrating various painting principles such as how to tackle the reflective eyes. You will learn how to use the overhead sky as a light and how to deal with the different tones to create the effect of shadow and highlights on the skin.