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Regarded as one of the foremost masters of figure drawing in America, Daniel Maidman has spent several decades grappling with the challenges and opportunities of drawing from life. Read his advice for drawing on toned paper in this guest blog post.

"Finding a clever connection between objects and observations can be exciting but it’s important to avoid the pitfall of letting the message overwhelm the mechanics." Katharine Krieg explains why the constant underlying job of any painter is to make a structurally sound painting with building blocks like balance, value, and good drawing.

For five years, three days a week, Bradley Stevens participated in a "daunting" program for artists that allowed him to study and copy Old Master works in prominent museums. Learn about his "Museum Studies" series here.

"After getting clean and sober, the haze lifted and I was able to use that life experience of sad emptiness to feed my artwork. The struggle then had meaning." Annie Murphy Robinson explains.

Contemporary artist Terry Norris takes us through the concepts that inspire her traditional still life paintings, and the quickest and most effective way she has found to develop one's own vision and practical painting knowledge.

With much study and years of practice, Laurel Daniel has discovered a number of ways to create the illusion of depth in an oil painting, which she shares with you in this free article.

"Drawn from lived experiences, the work I make records moments as a diary but also points as a metaphor for larger issues," says Charis J. Carmichael Braun.

Meet this week’s top Realism Today Ambassador, Paco Martin.

On being an artist: "I studied, worked hard, and often failed again and again to get at what I was looking for," says Nancy Depew. "But mistakes are invaluable teachers..."

What if you had to pay for every line you drew? Learn how this artist uses "Penny Lines" and "Dollar Lines" to give each mark a hierarchy of importance.