Julie's Book

While the best way to learn is to attend workshops, sometimes it’s just not possible - but creating a regular habit of drawing and painting can be very challenging when working at home. Even students who do attend classes regularly can struggle to retain the information, so I began sending notes to students after some workshops, as a reminder of what they’d done in class. Eventually it seemed logical to keep going with this and make the notes into a book.
‘Notes From The Atelier’ is a collection of 32 ‘classes’ with additional Do’s and Don’ts, supplying strategies and game plans, fully illustrated by myself and many of my students.

It’s a big (hard backed) book - over 250 pages designed to build your skills using a variety of subjects and different media, including pencil, charcoal, water colour and oils. I give practical advice on the creative processes to empower you to enjoy the learning experience and draw and paint better than ever before. Each exercise was written after real classes with real students, and reﬂects students authentic difﬁculties - and how to avoid them. Uniquely, the book includes information on posture, personal space, deals with self criticism and promotes a kind and supportive attitude towards yourself.
It is for everyone who wishes to improve, no matter what stage you are at now.

From the foreword by illustrator PJ Lynch, Laureate na nOg:

Notes from the Atelier’ is a feast of a book, packed full of personal insights and great practical advice all beautifully presented and illustrated with instructive photographs and gorgeous scans of Julie’s and her students’ work. Julie demonstrates with great clarity and detail how the reader can work towards achieving the same impressive results. She is exact and thorough in her teaching method...this is very much a book for the twenty-ﬁrst century representational artist.