Daily Sketchbook 3/31

Get out your pen and ink (yes, that classic dip pen).
Get ready to use stipple only.
Get ready to NOT draw out your image ahead of time in pencil (or ink, even).
So...
working straight with ink, and from your imagination/memory, draw an image based off one of the following "F" words:

Flower
or
Face
or
Fowl

Have fun and Draw!

Yes, I understand that you won't "finish" this in 15 minutes, but it gives you an excellent start for a future daily sketchbook page!

Also, since tomorrow is the spirit rally and the last day of the grading period and Friday and all of that and so much more you may choose to not do the daily sketchbook and I will not penalize you for it so you can say thank you and smile and be happier than usual because you are awesome and you like to make my life happy too :)

Daily Sketchbook 3/29

Create a list of objects that start with the letter "M". Brainstorm with your table mates and try to get as many as you can in just one or two minutes.

I will release the remainder of the information as soon as everyone has their list done and is in a position to let me know they are ready to go.


Take the idea of one of these objects and draw one of them for your daily sketchbook from memory as detailed as you can.

Some New Creativity

I've run across a couple more fun creative projects/artists recently that I thought some of you might find interesting.
First up there are these wonderful and funky birdhouses. They come from Thomas Dambo and are primarily using recycled materials. If you search around his website you'll see that he has been working on this project for a while and clearly has others supporting his creativity and endeavors.
Pretty great stuff.

Next up are The Coffee Monsters. I mean, you know that I love coffee, so wandering upon this work was just fun. Pure pleasure. If you take some separate things that already exist and combine them in a different way, that's all creativity is. You don't need fancy materials or expensive media. You do need the willingness to be aware and with what is in front of you though, and that is probably my favorite thing about these little pieces.
If you are interested you can follow along with Stefan and his Coffee Monsters HERE.

Daily Sketchbook 3/25

Get out your pen again.
Or...
get out some of your acrylic paint or watercolor paint.

Go back to your sketchbook page from Monday and Wednesday and add more to it.

Will you draw something additional? Will you lighten something with white paint and color? Will you make the the whole scene look like it is under water?

Photograph your third and final installment of this image and upload it to Canvas.

Shoes and Doors

There is the Downtown Doors deadline that is coming up, so if you want to be part of the submission process READ THIS and then communicate with me so that we can get a good image taken for you before the April deadline.

Then there is the Vans Custom Culture contest we are part of again this year, and look how great this Bowie shoe is looking so far.
Nice!

Daily Sketchbook 3/23

Take out your image from Monday (the pyramids and pine trees) and take out your watercolors. Add color and texture to your imagined landscape in a visually interesting way.

Daily Sketchbook 3/21

Please orient your sketchbook in a horizontal fashion (this may be a double page spread if you like, btw).
In pen, create a landscape of pyramids and pine trees.

Think about space/depth, size, overlapping, texture, etc. Make sure you utilize the full 15 minutes of devoted daily sketchbook time for

Make it awesome. We will be revisiting this image again later in the week.

Daily Sketchbook 3/17

Think for a moment(s) about what you ate yesterday. Make a quick list in your sketchbook if you need to, but today's sketchbook is all about food. Think about one of those things/meals and choose a complex-ish item or items and draw it/them from memory.
Your drawing should be detailed - so a slice of plain toast is probably not the best option. Ideally I would see you draw straight in pen, but if that makes you totally uncomfortable a pencil is just fine.

A Wonderful Student on KQED

We have a wonderful addition to our student body this year, and while she has done great things in class, she has also done great things outside of class.
This isn't unique to her, I mean, a lot of you are amazing both in and out of the classroom, but this is a little different.
Have you ever been featured on the radio? I know I haven't.
I wanted to share THIS little audio clip with you because it is rad in its presentation, idea, and thoughtfulness.

Enjoy!

Daily Sketchbook 3/15

Mike Lowry - the illutrator, that is - makes some pretty cool things. I'm a fan of his insta account, and one of the things he showcases there is a series of random facts. Go HERE and recreate one of his random facts in your sketchbook.
Alternatively, you can take one of the facts and create your own illustration to go along with the fact.

p.s. If you want to know more about Mike Lowry you can google him, or just go HERE.

Daily Sketchbook 3/11

It's a Mindful Moment kind of Friday :)

Please sit quietly (feet on the floor if possible) and face me. Push yourself away from your desk and use that good posture of yours. I'll start as soon as everyone is quiet.

Afterwards, as usual, take a photo of your Mindful Moment text and submit that for your daily sketchbook.

Daily Sketchbook Excerpts

There is a lot of good that comes out of the daily sketchbook, and I see a lot more than most do since I am the once looking at each photo online to "grade" them. Today was a day when a lot of that goodness was happening on the third day of working on the same page.
In my view it is/was a good way to take something that is already in existence but make it personal by having a "random" background.
Here are some of the in-process images from this morning.
Enjoy.

 

Daily Sketchbook 3/9

1) Go get the ipad you were using on Monday
2) open up to the drawing that was on top of your watercolor layer from Monday
3) begin inking (pen & ink, sharpie, uni ball pens from my desk, whatever works for large and small areas) the image
4) photograph it and upload it to Canvas

5) smile

p.s. Don't rush this. Try to make it accurate and well crafted. As is always the case I want you to spend a productive 15 minutes on this but you will likely not "finish". It is obvious the amount of time/effort that you put in, so that is what I am looking for.
Oh, and don't forget step number five.

Daily Sketchbook 3/7

German Expressionism.

We have looked at a little of this art through our artist of the month series in the past (remember Kirchner, for example), but I want you to follow THIS LINK and choose one of the first 20 or so images that comes up and then follow the below steps.

1) look up this prompt on the ipad if you have not already begun to do so (no phones today)
2) enlarge your chosen image as much as possible
3) save it to the photos of the ipad
4) go way back to the watercolor layer you created on 2/11
5) spend today drawing out the image you have chosen, lightly, in pencil
6) photo your image and upload it to Canvas
7) remember which ipad you are using

Be specific with this, and mark what parts are supposed to be black. We will come back to this image again later this week.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Alternatively, and you can thank Abbi for this, you may create a pencil drawing of a hot air balloon carrying a rooster. This will ultimately be something like a fill-in ink piece so keep that in mind as you draw out your image(s).

Adonna Khare– Images of Loss and Consumption

I thought this was some really interesting drawing. A great combination of realism and imagination. You can easily use photo references to aid in accuracy while also creating a unique to you design, idea, and finished piece.
Enjoy.
If you are interested, you can find more photos of her work HERE.

Daily Sketchbook 3/3

Step 1) draw one of the below moose images in the next blank page of your sketchbook.

 

Step 2) with your moose drawing from above, combine either

1. a minimum of three eggs or
2. the below photograph in some visually interesting way

Have fun with this and be goofy. I sort of got this idea from THIS GUY.

More Art to Look At

It's one of those random things that I'm not really sure where it came from, but that's part of the beauty of the interwebs. Maybe it was from Booooooooom, I'm not sure, but I've recently come across the artist David Slone.
He uses some color in some interesting ways so I thought I would pass it along to you. Search around his site and I think you'll find some color and paint use within his portraits that you find kind of cool. Well, maybe. Check it out.

Daily Sketchbook 3/1

AOTM, AOTM, AOTM. You love it. I know you do.
Grab your sketchbook and a pencil and join me at the front of the room so we can get going please.

As always, if you are absent you can find all the info you need in Canvas. Go. Do. Be Happy.