Star Wars!

Ha! I bet you thought this week's assignment would be Christmas oriented. Surprise! This week, the assignment is to pick a Star Wars character or image and draw it. There are plenty of magazines with stills from the set and film, so find one that inspires you and draw/sketch/paint it.

Reflections

Lake/pond pictures are lovely. One of their charms is the reflections of the surroundings, broken by small ripples. Here's one for you to try. My inclination is to do this in acrylics or oil, but choose whatever medium you find most pleasing to work with.

(Photograph credit: Amy Difar.)

Paparazzi

I've been working on my portrait skills lately, so this week's assignment is to make like a paparazzi and draw a celebrity. Personally, I bought a People magazine and proceeded to draw a number of the pictures. I'm only halfway through so there is still lots of practice to be had.

The 'Eyes' Have It

Eyes can be fun to draw. They are the make it or break it of many a drawing. How many times are you sketching a person or an animal and the picture is sort of lackluster until you add the eyes - and then it springs to life. This week, do a close up of one or two eyes. Pay attention to the folds of skin (or the direction of the fur, depending on your choice of subject). The details of the iris are amazing with a depth and dimension you've probably never noticed before, but might want to incorporate into your sketch.

Foodies!

Well, if you live in the US, you're getting ready to feast on Thursday. So this week's assignment is to draw food. You can opt to draw just one dish, or a mouth-watering table full of tasty dishes. If you're not in the US, draw or sketch a food closely associated with your region. If you don't eat meat, select a vegetarian dish that you enjoy. Personally, food is not the easiest thing for me to draw to my satisfaction, but I'll probably give a pie a go.

to Honor France

There are no words to express the sorrow felt by the world at the senseless violence in Paris. This week, draw something of France. Their flag, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, a bottle of French wine ...

Less is more

This week's assignment is to create a simple drawing. Without using shading or even lots of detail, draw something - anything - but make it realistic. For example, don't draw a symmetrical apple. Make sure that its shape is one that would realistically occur in nature.

Pencils Only

This week's assignment was inspired by my attempts to draw this picture taken at the beach. Using a pencil only, try to draw the crashing wave. Using only a regular pencil may present challenges that would have been easily met with color.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone

Everyone has subjects that they enjoy and excel at drawing. This week, we will leave our comfort zone. The assignment is to draw someone of a different race. Pay close attention to the features that your brain would use in a black & white photograph to determine the ethnicity of the subject. The trick will be to render them realistically so that they may be properly identified. Avoid creating caricature-like drawings with exaggerated features. This should be as realistic as you can make it. Your subject can be male of female, adult of child, although you may want to avoid going too far out of your comfort zone in your choice. If you are not used to drawing children, for example, stick with an adult.

Colonial Times

This week's challenge is to draw a figure from colonial times. Pay close attention to adding detail to the clothing. Lots of ruffles and maybe even a wig!

Shading

Incorporating shadows into a drawing is so important to making it look real. The visual cues of shadows trigger our brains to see things as we normally do. Render it wrong, and even if we can't figure out why, the picture won't look right. This week's assignment is to draw something simple, e.g. a box with a cover, a book, etc., and then move your light source around to change the shadows on the item. Do at least three or four, changing the light source, but not the angle from which the item is viewed..

The Apple of Your Eye

This week's assignment is to draw something that depicts your thoughts when you hear the expression "The Apple of My Eye". It might be a loved one, an adored pet ... hell, it could be an apple. or you could try and come up with something creative. Have fun!

Basic Geometry

This week's assignment is to draw something that incorporates three basic geometric shapes: the square, the circle and the triangle. This is your chance to shine! Don't be afraid to try something different or abstract.

Blur the background

This week we'll try to recreate the photographic effect of a sharp focal point and blurred background. I find it easier to achieve that with color, whether it be paint or pastels, but the choice is up to you.

Stuffed Animal

I love cats and dogs and spend quite a bit of time drawing them (although I find dogs harder than cats). At any rate, I thought we'd try drawing a stuffed animal for a change. The challenge for me will be make sure that it is apparent that my subject was a toy, rather than an actual critter.

DIY Photoshop

We all know (probably) that you can use Photoshop to fix/alter an image or even create something different from a photo. How about trying your (own) hand at it? Forget the software.Use your own ingenuity (and hand and pencil) to find a picture of something that needs fixing. For example: a picture that shows a wardrobe malfunction - but your job is to draw the picture the way it should be - without the malfunction. Of course, the most obvious solution is to show the clothing as it should be. However, you can also take a cue from Hollywood and have something strategically block the view (as was done in the Naked Gun). But it doesn't need to be a person. You could choose to fix a photo bomb or any other image that just doesn't seem quite right to you. How about one of those ridiculous air-brushed photos that show an impossibly thin person who is missing curves? Perhaps you want to make the model appear more realistic. Or if you prefer an inanimate object, check your magazine collection for weird advertisements. Quite often ads contain mistakes because they were put together using something like Photoshop, but the artist missed something. Just don't get frustrated. Try to have fun with this.

Room for Improvement

So, if you're an artist, I know you have one of these lying around ... a really crappy sketch or drawing that is so bad you can't believe you are actually the same person who just last month created an astonishingly beautiful work that you were so proud of that you framed and signed it. This week's assignment is to work on that crappy sketch. Change a few lines, add some shading, erase the whole thing and start again ... whatever it takes to make something of it.It doesn't have to be perfect. It only has to show you that you're a better artist today than you were last week/month/year.

Under the Sea

You know, we all have our favorite subjects to draw. I like cats. But every once in a while, we should step out of our comfort zone and draw something different. This week's assignment/theme is Under the Sea. You can draw a fish, a shark, a coral reef or even a shipwreck. Just make it something that dwells beneath the ocean waves.

Life's a Beach

Here we are in the dog days of summer, so this week's assignment is to draw a beach scene. You probably won't want too much detail, but use some iconic beach items - such as umbrellas, lifeguards, seagulls, etc. Incidentally, this came to me while I was staring at a very pleasing line of umbrellas in various states of leaning, but whose vertical poles were all perfectly aligned along a horizontal axis. This is your excuse to spend a day in the sun, folks. Do your sketch at the beach (I did), it's lots of fun.

Put the Phone Down ... and Draw it!

There's something you should know about me. I am fairly anti-phone. I think they are destroying our ability to interact socially with the world around us. So your assignment this week is to put the damned phone down and draw it. This will probably say a lot about you - is it a smart phone? Or an antiquated flip phone like the one I carry? Anyway, draw the phone, its display and its shadow from any angle you choose. Heck, you could even cartoon-ize it and give it arms, legs and a face.

Negative Space

Last week, we drew a window. Some opted to show what was seen through it; others did not. This week, we'll draw the negative space, that is, don't draw the window, draw only what is revealed through its panes of glass.

Windows

Since I have just had a new beautiful bow window installed, I have 'windows on my mind.' So, this week, we will draw a window. You can opt to sketch a small kitchen window with lacy curtains or go for a large picture window. Whether you choose to position yourself on the inside or out is up to you, but show enough detail in the window to indicate from where the window is being viewed. If you don't want to worry too much about what is being see through the window, try having sunlight reflect off it, thus obscuring the view.

Book Study

This week's assignment is to draw a book. It could be a paperback novel, a graphic novel, a reference book or even an e-reader. Try drawing your book from different angles - flat on a desk or standing on a shelf. Draw it both open and closed. Include cover or inner page detail, if you'd like. That would probably be especially fun in the case of a graphic novel where you could make the POWs and ARGHs really pop from the drawing.

Waving Flags

This week's assignment is to draw a flag. Any one you want, but it should be waving. Be sure to show the movement with shading and angles, etc. This is a good opportunity to use color, whether it's pastels, pencils, oils, acrylics, crayons, etc.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Guess what this week's assignment is? Shoes! Any kind of shoes you want: rain boots, sexy high heels, cleats, hip waders, slippers, flip-flops ... take your pick. Pay attention to signs of wear, laces, etc.

Dance Like No One Can See You

Dancers are beautiful. I'm not talking about the spastic guy who tries to do the latest dance moves at crowded dance club and ends up looking like he (or she) is having some sort of seizure. I'm talking about a real dancer. Find an image of a pose that clearly shows the subject is a dancer and draw that person.

An Iconic Image

This week's assignment is to draw an iconic image. Could be a famous photo, a landmark, even a meme. Make it as close a rendering to the original as possible.

Random Patterns

Make something from those pesky patterns you see everywhere. If you're into art in any way, you'll know what I'm talking about. Whether it's a cloud, or pet fur on the floor, you'll have looked at it at some point and seen a face or a car or some other object. For me it's the fantasy-style dwarf that stares at me from the bathroom tile. This weeks' assignment is to draw it. First do a rough sketch. Then work at it to turn it into the item your brain sees all the time.

The Long and Winding Road

This week's assignment is to draw a path. Any path. A road. A walkway. A promenade. Nature trail. But it should have enough background detail to make it clear what type of path it is.

Memorial Day

Since yesterday was Memorial Day, let's make this week's assignment something that shows honor for the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect us, our rights and our way of life. It could be a flag, a soldier's headstone, or the classic boots and rifle. Just make it respectful.

The Kids Are All Right

I drew a manual can opener for last week's assignment. It must have come out okay because my hubby saw it from across the room and said, "nice can opener." (As soon as I heard 'opener' I knew it was the drawing he was referring to and not some silly come-on.)

Now for this week's assignment. I read once that dogs that aren't raised with children don't necessarily recognize them as the same species as adult humans. Think about it. When you get down to it, they really are shaped differently than adults. A few changes to the lines of a drawing of a person can age the subject substantially just as adding "baby fat" can make them appear younger. Then there's positioning. The awkward splay of the legs/feet/paws is as strong an indicator as wider pupils are.

Sooooo, this weeks assignment is to draw the young of a species. Take your pick. Kid (human), kid (of the goat variety), kitten, puppy. Hell draw a joey if you want. Just make sure that anyone looking at it is aware that it's not a mature specimen.

Kitchen Art

Kitchen Art?

How'd you do last week? I never did finish a fruit drawing to my satisfaction. I did it. I just didn't like the results. Oh well. Better luck this week!

New assignment:
Draw a small kitchen appliance. It can be a blender, a toaster or perhaps the elusive (for me, I've always wanted one) Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Or go 'old school' and draw a manual can opener or potato peeler.

A Simple Task

A Simple Task

We'll start simple. Draw A piece of fruit. One single item and its shadow. No bowls, no baskets, no funky cornucopias. As Sgt. Joe Friday would say, "Just the facts" ... or in this case fruit. Use whatever medium you're comfortable with. Or do it multiple times - sketch it, paint it, color it with pencils or pastels. Whatever floats your (banana) boat.