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.