As I’ve been studying drawing this year, I’ve learned a little bit, and I mean a little bit, about doing a Master Copy. Supposedly, by copying an old master drawing, you learn about their techniques and what it takes to draw like a master. You’re supposed to pay attention to the strokes and figure put what they process was to get the result they did. I’ve avoided doing this so far because I don’t know if I would get much out of it. I also could never quite find a master drawing that I liked in a style I want to draw in. But that recently changed. You may or may not remember my “art nouveau inspired portrait” I did a couple months back. I’ve just loved Alphonse Muchas style, and that includes his drawings.

I was browsing a used book store recently and came across this book “Drawings of Mucha”! I snatched it in a second. 

This book is like 4o years old, so I feel lucky to have found it. I’ve chosen a couple of drawings from this book that I loved and would love to try to copy, it’s just kind of daunting.

Has anyone else ever done a master copy? How did you feel about it?