Therefore, the artist must ask himself the right questions in his observation work. But the animal of your choice, whatever it is, will not pose for you. Piet Herzeel is giving us a method that will allow you to grasp the essential shape of your subject before he takes a position of no interest for your drawing.

The whole method is described in the « Discover » section of the module: « THE FIVE VOLUMES ».

First, we must start with an observation work of the five specific volumes of your animal. These first outlines will give you the essential of your subject’s aspect. You will be able to touch it up later whatever position your animal decides to take.

Before practicing on the animals around you, go to the « Practice » chapter in order to make a first attempt on the rocky mountain goat. Piet Herzeel gives you step by step details on what your eye must look for.

But that’s not all. You will find some extra training exercices with the sketch tool supplied in the module. Several animals of different species to draw in a limited amount of time. A little bit of stress at the beginning because of the countdown but you will be asking for more after you’re done.

With this method, you can show Piet Herzeel what you can do in the « drawings to do «  gallery.

You can pick your own model or one of those displayed on Signus.

The question is: will your sheet be big enough ?

This module is full of surprises. A present is actually waiting for you there and one last advice if you haven’t checked it out yet: go to Gallery/museum on Signus and admire « the young hare » by Dürer. The observation work is amazing.

Our free trial on SIGNUS is actually a wonderful entrance hall to the world of drawing. It’s not designed to actually give you a certain level but rather to show you what drawing really means, how much time you will need to reach the level you want or what kind of satisfaction you can expect.

As for the full SIGNUS course, on the other hand, I can say with no hesitation that, for most students, a very high level can be reached. For some, it will take 6 months and for others, 18 months. It all depends on the amount of time invested by each one according to the availability.

Technique as well as creativity are both necessary in any artistic occupation. Those elements play a major role in the student’s improvement and they can be quite different depending on the person.

One will often be more at ease in an area more than in the other and, when both aspects meet, that’s when the work can become a masterpiece. That’s what I wish you to discover if you decide to follow the full SIGNUS course.

The free trial is not a full class, it’s only an initiation. It would not be honest on my part to let you think that it will make an advanced artist of you. You can find, however, plenty of fun and discoveries in the world of drawing. No need to reach for a level, then. It doesn’t have to be a goal in itself. You should, instead, ask yourself what could bring you a good amount of satisfaction and joy in your life. Drawing is practically a way of life. Tink it over…

Piet Herzeel

7 years of development to elaborate an outstanding online drawing class.

Signus is an e-learning  platform dedicated to the art of drawing. Result of 7 years of development, Signus is built on the most innovating technique in order to recreate online the real life of a drawing workshop with communication between students and regular advices of the master, with commented corrections, exercises, animations…
But there is a lot more: The Signus workshop is open 24/7 and students from each part of the world can meet at all times.

Characteristics of the Signus platform

Innovating : This interface owns an e-learning platform dedicated to the teaching of visual arts. Signus was sponsored by the French ANVAR (Research and Value National Agency).

Rich Media Interface : Signus uses all the Web Multimedia tools: remote corrections with a graphics tablet, virtual classes, audio commentaries, videos and 3D in order to create a warm and lively atmosphere. Signus vividly plays the card of the online community and of interactivity.

Full and academic : 104 modules (class) as of today or in other words 2 years of daily class at the rythm recommended by Piet Herzeel, creator of Signus. It represents the equivalent of a 2400 page book. The teaching structure is available by branches (anatomy, shadow and light, perspective, composition, …etc) and has an impressive documentation and library of models.

Accessible to all : The access through Internet and a very affordable fee make it accessible to anybody in the world.

Who is SIGNUS for ?

• Amateurs, from the beginner to the advanced, anybody who wishes to learn how to draw or how to improve.

• Future professionals who can train on SIGNUS.

• Computer graphics designers who want to improve their  skills.

• Numerous professionals in various areas such as design, artwork and art-therapy.

What do you need to draw on Signus ?

What machine and what softwares: An Internet connection, preferably fast, a PC, Mac or Linux, a recent browser (SIGNUS is regularly optimized for the free and multi-platform browser, Firefox), a scanner or a digital camera.

Supplies for drawing:  a ream of white paper, a pencil and an eraser are sufficient to start with. The material needed is always affordable.

What makes the difference ?

With the other courses on the market.

A very progressive learning process with structured modules. Once registered, each member can reach his modules at the pace of one per week. However, each member is free to devote the time he chooses to.

A free trial period with no engagement. Each new member can try Signus for free, before subscribing. A certain number of modules are actually given and he can enjoy them for as long as he wants.

A 100% money-back guarantee. Signus refunds the current month to anybody unsatisfied.

A personalized and active follow-up. Different animations in order to motivate students and help them develop their creative potential, forums on every module, chat between the students…

A multi-leverage giveaway program designed to encourage members to improve and to thank them for their loyalty. Bonuses, presents, a turnkey gallery, contests, surprises…

A few numbers about SIGNUS:

2002-2007 : Development of the Signus innovation program.
January 2008 : Launching of the beta testing period with real users in France. Rising of the community with a progression of a 1000 members average per month.
September 2009 : Birth of the French SIGNUS. About 25,000 French speaking members.
December 2009: Launching of the English SIGNUS.

Piet Herzeel, founder of SIGNUS. An artist who spreads the word.

« Signus is the fruit of 20 years of personal experience and research in three different areas: arts, distance teaching and NICT. First of all, however, Signus is a human adventure.
It appeared to me essential to never let the new technologies used on Signus hide the real stake of such a platform. After puting together all the teaching skills acquired in actual workshops and analysing the real motivations of Internet users eager to learn, Signus is generously using a vast palette of new technologies.
Founded on a very audacious concept, Signus always went ahead of the users daily requests. This proactive stage allowed them to make the most of the many developments and adjustments of the tool.
A whole community of artists make it their daily social, cultural and artistic meeting. Signus is now spontaneously animated by people of all ages, places and social backgrounds. Used to be in constant motion and thanks to the success that we know today, Signus will continue to enrich continuously in order to remain the reference in its own field and allow its members to give birth to talents until now hidden. »

Great is the temptation to go through the Signus lesson on landscape too quickly, to swallow it like a child swallows his candy. Be careful not to miss the essential.

Do you feel like a landscaper?
How do we find the answer to this question?
Having the technique to represent the various elements around us is rather useful, but not sufficient.

The different chapters in the lesson give you the tools that will allow you to identify more clearly your understanding of nature as a model:

Did you ever find yourself in the country with that “breath taking” feeling because everything seems so alive and majestic? Did you ever see the light makes the colours actually vibrate and have you ever felt the atmosphere full of that quite and peaceful spirit? Have you had the impression of well-being that makes you want to enjoy it as long as possible?

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) loved agitated weather like thunder storms, wild oceans and strong winds…

John Constable (1776-1837) thought the sky should be the dominating element of a painting because “it is source of light and it overpowers everything”

David Cox (1783-1859) wrote, in his treaty on landscaping: « the main part in painting landscape lies in communicating to our spirit the most powerful effect that various landscapes can produce.”

What about you?
Do you know what really moves you in a scenery?

The quality of the Signus lesson on landscape lies in making you meet the subject with a strong observation work, true guide line of the Signus course, with a deep introspection, putting feelings into words, identifying what makes our spirit fully enthused.

What can you do? Start drawing, of course! But how? Do you start drawing lines or would you rather go with the masses? Do you outline right away or do you apply shades and fill up blanks? Maybe both at the same time?

So there are two approaches about drawing, LINES and MASSES. Unless you feel at ease with both ways, it is better to be good at one of them at least. Don’t get me wrong, my purpose is not only to allow you to figure out what is your favourite style but also to favour one style or the other according to what you are looking for. That’s the first question you have to ask yourself if you want to make an accomplished drawing.

In his class, Piet Herzeel gives us thinking paths all necessary to the construction of a deep and inspired drawing:

• What do you want to show or outline in particular?
• What tool to use? Which pencil to use and how hard?
• What would be the proper base? In what way can this influence your work?
• How to choose the best angle?

In the “workshop” tab you can practice with a concrete example and understand why, according to the subject you picked, you should choose lines or masses and how you can define and reproduce the right intensity of your masses.

Piet Herzeel shows us, step by step, how to build a scale with different shades of grey and how to sort them out in order to avoid having too many tones.

You can try out both styles in the exercises that Piet Herzeel suggests at the end of this module. You can, for example, make out a drawing according to the chart that you just created.

Pencils ready! Squint your eyes! Start drawing!

If you want to learn how to draw the human body, you will need to respect the “Canons of the Human Body” as we call the model used for reference in order to draw a body with correct proportions.

The first to be known whose proportions are listed in a chart goes back to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. To establish a canon, one needed to decide what was “beautiful” in a body and gather those rules in one single model. Of course, the concept of beauty is quite subjective and discussions are still vivid.

In the Signus drawing course, Piet Herzeel explains very clearly what a canon is and how useful it is in the art of drawing. He introduces different models to us and then shows us how they evolved in time and how to use them.
Piet Herzeel defines what should be a good canon for the drawer.
In the special workshop about the human body, thanks to the step by step explanations, you will be able to draw a person with realistic proportions.
This first approach gives amazing results. In the “drawings to do“ chapter  you can have fun building different bodies using the special charts.

Short, tall, fat and skinny people… You can give the right proportions to all your characters thanks to Piet Herzeel’s explanations developed in the specific module about the human canons.

But even if you think you know what trees are like and even if your eyes feel aware of the general outline of trees or forests, drawing leaves and trees could be very deceiving. When children try to represent trees, even though they have lived among them since they were babies, they tend to misunderstand the basic shape of leaves, branches and trunks. The most common mistake is to consider the branches and the trunk as something of a different nature. It is important to visualize the branches as the continuity of the main trunk.

First of all, most trees don’t grow straight. They are full of curves and irregularities. From bottom to top, they have nothing but unexpected bending and twirling shapes. Almost every tree has a strong and thick base actually needed for its solidity. The roots give an impression of strength and grace at the same time. They sort of counterbalance the top of the tree full of branches and leaves. The roots dig into the ground when the branches reach out for the sky. Sometimes the roots gracefully stick out of the ground giving strength to the tree when it grows on a hillside.

There is a huge variety of trees corresponding of the region where they grow. We all know the heavy and majestic oak tree that grows in temperate climate areas. Of course the pine tree that often grows in the mountains is among the well-known. I particularly love the Mediterranean kind with its flat top and curvy trunk. We also know the birch tree with its silver white bark and of course, the giant sequoia with its impressive size.

The branches are the necessary part of a tree. They give him its majesty. Even though obvious, It is important to mention that branches are thicker at the base and thin out as they grow away from the tree. They don’t always grow up. Some go out horizontally and some, mainly on the lower part of the tree, can even go down. The branches and the leaves follow the same pattern: thick base and thinning motion as it grows from the main stem.

Some species have a lot of “elbow” shape branches. We must not be afraid, when we draw trees, to duplicate (with minor differences) this type of shape. It appears that the same type of trees tends to repeat the same pattern among its limbs.

As an artist, it’s important to make a difference between forests and lonely trees. Even among forests, there is quite a difference between a wild forest where nature follows its ways and a civilized forest where man has trimmed, cut and organized the trees in his own special way. Where trees are planted or kept up by man, the trunks will be straight and strong. In a wild place, trees have more competition and try to overpower each other in a race for light. In the same way, bushes and small plants will tend to be scarce underneath a thick group of trees. Pine forests have their own characteristics: needles on the ground, high branches…

Some trees are very different depending on the place where they grew or on the elements they had to live with. The wind, the soil or the rain can have a drastic influence on the shape of a tree. Just like with people, time and circumstances play an important role.

When drawing a mass of trees, it can be helpful to concentrate at first on the outline more than on the trees themselves. The general light and shade must be the first priority. The details are more precise in the foreground and tend to fade away as we move toward the background.

Trees all participate to the beauty of nature in their own way and I have to say that sitting down in a meadow as you are drawing trees of any kind is a true blessing. It reinforces the impression that you are part of this whole wonderful construction and it gives you a feeling of what it is to be a creator.

• The method:

Piet Herzeel’s program is very progressive. It allows you to fully and deeply improve what needs to be improved.

• The material:

We learn how to use the different tools for drawing and how to choose the one most adapted to your projects and to your sensitivity.

• Ideas and inspiration:

That’s where any creation starts but there is no inspiration without a source. It’s
one of Piet’s Herzeel’s goals to show us how to find that source.

• Time:

Don’t be afraid to let time be your ally in the learning process.

• Desire and pleasure:

That’s where the motor of the whole process lies and as such, it needs to be regularly trained.

• Develop your skills:

Your brain, your eyes and your hand must learn how to work together toward the same goal: drawing.

Finally, with the exercises to be done at the end of each module, Piet Herzeel gives us a practical demonstration of the many differences between the images we engrave in our memory and the reality.

The concept is a little more subjective than line perspective or tone and shade perspective. Nobody likes to follow rules about the use of colours. Where to use them and how to use them is very personal. Nevertheless, it is important to know that some colours tend to stay in the background of a painting or a drawing when others tend to move forward. Once you are trained or if you have a natural sense of perspective, you will be using the right colour with the corresponding subject. To summarize, a warmer colour would be more adapted to an object in the foreground and a colder colour would be more adapted to the background.

The painter’s palette is often divided into “warm” and “cold” tints. It is actually not that simple. For example, purple is hard to define as warm or cold. It is admitted though, that yellow or orange would be placed among the warm colours when blue or green would be placed among the cold ones. It makes sense to associate the yellow, red and orange with fire or sun and to associate blue and green with ice or with the ocean.

When painting, of course, the general rule can be bent to some extent. If you want to represent somebody with a bright sweater in the background of your picture, you might want to reduce that colour with a little white and if you want to represent somebody with a light colour coat in the foreground of your picture, you have to strengthen it with a darker tone. Nevertheless, the general rule is to use brighter colours in the foreground and lighter colours in the background.

Here is an exercise you can try. First imagine this scenery with an old castle, trees, a river and a few people walking around.

Divide the scenery in three views: the foreground, the middle ground and the background.

In order to be able to see the three views as you superpose them, you need to cut a good size opening on the middle view and a bigger opening on the front view.

On the background, you can draw or paint the old castle with people standing by and the sky  and clouds above. On the middle view, you can draw the river with trees along the banks and maybe a boat on the water.

On the foreground, you can place a group of trees on both sides of the scenery.

For the background, you have to limit yourself drastically with the use of colours. The castle, the trees and the sky have to be relatively dull. That means the colours you are using have to be restricted to grey, blue, green and cold or dull tints in general. In any case, when you have to represent something bright in the background, you have to dilute your bright or warm colours with a whitish blue or green. We could say that the colours for a background are close to pastel colours.

For the middle view, you can allow yourself to use a little more yellow or brown or dark green. That would be perfect for the river and the trees.

As for the foreground, if you want to represent trees and flowers, feel free to use all the bright colours you have in mind. You can also paint somebody with colourful clothes. The scarlet red, the orange or brown are welcome.

Now, as you superpose all three images, you will be amazed by the impression of distance between the three different views. As mentioned previously, colours also, are ruled by the laws of perspective; a different kind of laws, but important whatsoever.

Of course, once you are totally aware of this principle, you still remain the creating artist. If your inspiration tells you, for any personal reason, to divert from the rule, you are the master.

When the weather is unsuitable for sketching, when there is no person available as a model, time may well be spent on a little practice in drawing drapery. Take any piece of material, a handkerchief for lack of anything better. Pin it up on the wall or to a curtain—anywhere so long as it falls in natural folds—and make a sketch of it. Notice the tendency to trian­gular forms, the way in which the folds radiate from the pin, and the foreshortening of the curves which form the bottom edge of the handkerchief. Having satisfied yourself with that sketch, take the handkerchief down and throw it over some object such as a book standing on edge or an inverted flower vase, and make another sketch. Notice the arrangement of the folds; they will end abruptly at the top if falling from a sharp edge, and will fade away gradually from a rounded shape. Something of the underlying object should be obvious from your drawing of the handkerchief in the same way that clothes should suggest the limbs and body they cover. Then make a sketch of it, knotted, or tied around something. As you tie the knot (which makes the best study if not tied too tightly), notice which fold passes behind and where it reappears, and be on the lookout for this continuity when you come to draw it.

Fig. 117 to 123 show outline studies of drapery. Fig. 117 shows it loosely looped around the figure in natural folds. Long, sweeping lines predominate. In Fig.118 it is more bunched, and the long lines are disturbed and irregular. In Fig. 119 the fluted line of the edge of the material is noticeable. Fig. 120 shows the abrupt change of line where the drapery trails on the floor. In Fig. 123 the triangular form of the folds is again plain, and also the fluted edge. Fig. 122 emphasizes the under­lying human form even though the drapery is voluminous.Fig. 121 shows the flowing lines and repetition of form in material blown by the wind. The usual tendency in drawing drapery is to shun straight lines and make the folds too rounded. The angularity in Figs. 120 and 123 should be noted.

Figs. 124 and 129 show how the lines of material, in one case loosely and in the other more closely draped, follow and suggest the form they cover. Fig. 126, a sketch of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, shows the charm of simply interpreted drapery; Fig. 125, the elaborate arrange­ment of a bygone fashion. Fig. 127 is given to show that the ragged, careless effect of old clothes may be accentuated by ragged and somewhat carefree lines. Fig. 128 gives folds of a thick, rich material. The broad folds show the thick, com­parative stiffness of the drapery and the reflected light in the shadows suggests the sheen of brocade. Thick material will not fall into narrow folds unless artificially arranged, and will tend to straight lines and angles. Thin material falls in narrower, less clearly defined folds with more flowing lines and rounder corners.