Cooley Studios

Every now and again, I am asked what my technique is for making figure drawings. My answer is, I construct a drawing using the block-in method. This is a method I teach at Cooley Studios to my students. I also use triangulation and comparative measure, but for this post, I will show you a few block-in drawings. 

Here are a few of my block-in drawings at various stages. I have included simple straight line block-in drawings and drawings in various stages of shading. I demonstrate and clearly explain the process to students and workshop attendees. Hopefully, you will join us for figure drawing here in Columbus Ohio at Cooley Studios.

After I complete my straight line block-in, I begin to carefully lay in tone. We do not use stumps and tortillions to achieve smooth tone. There is a specific way we shade a drawing at Cooley Studios. Our students learn the shading technique, mass in tone and continue to model the form to a highly refined finished like the image below. If you would like to learn to draw in line and mass (tone), join us at Cooley Studios and we will guide you to artistic success.

Michael A. Cooley, Female Figure Seated 3/4 view, 2016, Graphite

Until next time,
Michael

Michael A. Cooley, Monty, Still Life, 2016, Oil. © M Cooley

Here is a recent still life painting I did. With the exception of the warm blue background fabric, I was interested in white, red and green. One of my students affectionately named this planar faceted sculptured head, Monty!

Along with teaching, I am working on a large series of paintings for a few exhibits I have coming up in 2017. I will post a few of them as I move forward. These paintings will be available for purchase so keep following me. 

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Years. 

Until next time!
Michael

Cooley Studios will be offering a series of drawing and painting workshops during the Summer months of 2017. Our workshops will begin in June and continue through August. Some of the summer workshops include block-in drawing, master copying, painting techniques such as glazing, classical portrait drawing and painting and more. We are also kicking off our out of door landscape painting Fellowship this summer, Central Ohio Valley and Parks Fellowship. This fellowship follows the method and approach to landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School. Keep checking our site for specific Summer workshop dates.

The magnificent painting below was done by 19th Century French painter William Aldophe Bouguereau (Boo grow), one of the finest painters in history. In our master copy workshops, we study and faithfully reproduce painting of the old masters. 

William Bouguereau, The Crab, 1869, Oil

For the list of workshops offered at Cooley Studios, please click here, then scroll down to the bottom of the classes page.

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

Cooley Studios offers both mini workshops and intensive workshops throughout the year. Some or the workshops include drawing fundamentals, color theory, cast drawing and painting and more. 

Here we have a lovely cast drawing of a torso by Heidi Gumm. She is a physician assistant and a Mom who studied at Cooley Studios in preparation to enter the field of medical illustration.

Heidi Gumm, Torso – Cast Drawing, 2014, Graphite

For the list of workshops offered at Cooley Studios, please click here, then scroll down to the bottom of the classes page.

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

We offer instructed and non-instructed figure drawing and painting at Cooley Studios. The figure is one of the most challenging tasks in visual art. The figure poses many visual problems, let alone the inability for the model to stand completely still. We help our students overcome these obstacles by teaching them classical methods of constructing the figure. For more information on figure drawing and painting, please click here.

Michael A. Cooley, Female Figure Seated 3/4 view, 2016, Graphite

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

Some of our painting classes include, anachromatic (black and white), monochromatic (one color plus white), limited color and full color. We teach students how to understand color and how color works through our color theory class. We demystify the complications of color through a series of well designed exercises.

Christine Kwon working on her red and blue cubes in the painting above.  

Here we have a lovely still life painting by one of our students Edi Wadkins. She is a professional theatrical scenic painter here in Columbus Oho.

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

We offer a number drawing classes here at Cooley Studios. It is important for students interested in studying drawing to be patient and willing to work hard. We teach classes from drawing fundamentals to figure drawings and many others. For a list of drawing classes, please click here.

Judy working on a portrait of one of her grand children

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Why not take an art Class at Cooley Studios. We are the premier school for learning to draw and paint in Columbus Ohio and its surrounding suburbs. We take students ages 16 and up, adults and Seniors. A common complaint I hear from students is wishing their high school and also college would have given them a more in-depth art training with more theory and practice. These colleges include all of the major colleges and art schools in and around Columbus Ohio. Unlike most colleges and high school, we don’t put tight time constraints on students. We can afford to give each student time to work slow and meticulously on each assignment allowing them to create a beautiful highly refined work. We take our time never rushing through assignments. Some drawings can take anywhere from 40 to 80 hours and paintings can take 100 hours or more. Students will master each assignment before receiving the next more complicated one. To see some of our students work click here.

Christine Kwon, Atelier student at Cooley Studios, 2015

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

Cooley Studios is offering drawing and painting classes here in Central Ohio. We train artist to see, draw and paint using the classical approach, the same method used to train the old realist European Fine Art Masters. If you are curious about drawing or painting and don’t know where to start, contact Cooley Studios and we will talk to you and start from where you are and help guide you to where you want to go. We teach drawing and painting on a full-time, part-time and on-going monthly basis. To find out more about our classes click here. For more information on full-time or part-time study, click here for our atelier program.

Contact Cooley Studios if you would like to tour our studio (614-547-7900).

Until next time,
Michael

Dear fans, former and present students of Cooley Studios,  I have an art exhibition at Dick Blick art store on High Street in the Short North, formerly know as Utrecht. If you have time or happen to be in Columbus Ohio in the short north, please stop in and view my show. It consist of two figure drawings, portraits and still life oil paintings.

If you are interested in studying with us here at Cooley Studios, please contact Michael at Cooley Studios, 614-547-7900. 

We offer full-time and part-time atelier training for students ages 16 and up and adults who are seeking to become professional artists. We also offer on-going monthly art classes for anyone ages 16 and up, adults and seniors who just want to learn to draw and paint.

Until next time,
Michael