Copying the Barque Plates has drastically improved by drawing

I have been utilizing my commuting time on the train to improve my drawing skills by drawing one image per day from the Charles Barque Drawing Course text book. You are expected to spend a minimum of 14 hours or so on each drawing by meticulously copying the plates exactly as they are in the book but I've been trying to copy one plate per trip which equals to about an hour to and from work. Even copying the plates during my commute has drastically improved my drawing skills so I would highly recommend you make this part of your regimen. If you have more time then by all means work on one plate for the entire week.

I couldn't get a loan large enough to purchase the book so I borrowed it from the library. C'mon you know, it's that large building in your town with all the books in it. When I read a good review on a book I usually start with the library - it saves me lots of money, especially when this particular book costs $100 or more on Amazon on most days.

If you're not familiar with the Charles Barque Drawing Course book then you should immediately do a Google Search and look it up now if you're serious about improving your sketching and drawing skills. The full title of the book which weighs the same as a small anchor is "Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gerome: Drawing Course" by Gerald M. Ackerman and contains tons of full page plates of images of casts of body parts, statues, figures in various poses and angles.

The text also includes lots of information on the drawing process as well and is the staple text for a lot of drawing courses.

Good luck