Daily Sketchbook 5/17

Those antlers. Give me a sloth hanging from them somewhere/somehow.
Smile. Enjoy.

Daily Sketchbook 5/15

We will start today's image, and then add to it on Thurs., for now just draw some deer antlers.
You can use the ones below, or find your own, but begin right away.

Don't wait to plug in to your music or spend this time catching up with your peers please. Just begin.
I'm less interested in the texture at the bottom, or any shading, than the overall shape for now. But in truth the shape shouldn't take long, and then you can begin adding values.
Use pencil only for this.

Daily Sketchbook 5/7

Our d.s. today is the scheduled Gallery Walk of I.P. pieces from this semester. Please follow the directions on the board and I will begin passing out the necessary handouts.
The more we work together on this the faster it will go and the more time you will get for your project, so please help police each other and help get everyone on the same page as quickly (and quietly) as possible.
I'll be ready when you are.

As a side note, the 2's def had some issues following the directions on Friday, so hopefully you will be more on top of it today :)

Daily Sketchbook 5/3

Last time you should have gotten a decent start on the egret.
Did you work on it yesterday even though you weren't required to upload any sort of update?
Did you work on i.p. instead?

Today I want you to add some colored pencil to the negative space.

Maybe it is mostly monochromatic and blending in value from light to dark?
Maybe it is proportionally appropriate stripes of contrasting colors adjacent to one another?
Maybe it is a rectangle of color somehow?

Just pick a color or two and go. Don't think too much. Do make it visually interesting.
Remember, this isn't a "finished" piece. We are just experimenting.

Also, remember the expectation is that you are starting within just a few moments of the bell ringing in order to be efficient with your time :)

Daily Sketchbook 5/1

We will begin today with the below image - one random bird from the natgeo instagram page from ages ago.
We will also continue to work on this on Thursday (to get even more practice at building up one image over time) in class, but more directions for that will follow at a later time.

Since we are also at the beginning of May, I want to throw a few more things out there, so please read carefully.

We are all, I'm sure, ready for summer. The truth is that we have many weeks of school left in us. With that said, I want to reiterate that in an ideal world, you are working on independent practice pieces as your daily sketchbook on those days that we don't have class. As I have reminded you many times, this makes this kind of a two-for-the-price-of-one kind of a deal.

However, I will not be requiring you to submit a daily sketchbook for non-class-meeting days for the next few weeks. When we are ready to pick this back up again, I will let you know. The hope is that it gives a wee bit of relief, but the hope is also that you have that daily practice instilled and that you keep drawing/working for a minimum amount of time each day - you just don't need to document/upload for non-class days after today.

We will keep doing the daily sketchbook in class though, so make sure you get started each and every day as soon as you come in the room!
:)

Daily Sketchbook 4/25

Please get out your pen and ink.
If you go back to your backpack image, from Monday (yes, this is the last time we'll address this image) I want you to find a way to draw attention to the backpack, or more ideally, a specific part of the backpack.
This could mean adding detail or shading to a part of the backpack.
Alternatively this could mean adding some sort of "contrary" element to the images (such as a series of straight lines in a defined shape around a particular part).
You could just address the negative space and add too what should already be there.

I'm not sure the best path forward for you but please keep adding to your image until I ask you to stop.

Once we are uploaded here please come close to my desk so that we can look at some examples together.

Daily Sketchbook 4/23

We are returning to the backpack image again, so when everyone has a pen and their sketchbook out (and is quiet and ready for directions), I'll let you know what we will be doing with that image.

Daily Sketchbook 4/19

Open back up to the backpack image that you began last time, and let me give you additional instructions before you get started.
Please get out the following supplies:

• self-healing cutting mat
• x-acto knife (at least two per table) you will need to share
• watercolor palette
• watercolors
• water
• paper towels

Additionally,  please get out an 18"x24" piece of drawing paper and make sure each table has a roll of masking tape to share.

I'll give you a couple of minutes and then ask that you join me in the middle of the room so we can go over directions.

Daily Sketchbook 4/17

Please make sure you are not sitting at a table by yourself.
Next, have one person from your table group place their backpack in the center of your table group.
Yes, we will be drawing this, but I don't want you to begin yet. Let me guide you a bit further and give some additional instructions before you begin.
Also, welcome back. If I haven't said so, I'm happy to see your beautiful mug in the studio :)

Daily Sketchbook 4/2

Good morning!
I'd like to walk backwards a little bit today and look at the week as a whole as we get started.

Friday: mindful moment; wrap up and self assessment of current painting; looking back at what we have created during the month of March (this will require you to have all of your independent practice or self-directed pieces here this week (I would bring them earlier vs later). You'll need to have your sketchbook here on Friday as well.
Remember you should have been doing one or the other during March.
Hopefully we have time to begin towards our next work.

Wednesday: daily sketchbook - this will be our self assessment at the end of the grading period as we typically do; finish and turn in painting

Monday: daily sketchbook of which you have two options today. Option One: continue working on the negative space you began with your blackbird last week. Option Two: get a mirror from the tool cabinet and create a contour line drawing of your face resting on your hand (not a blind contour drawing).
Please spend a min. of 8 min. and a max. of 11 min. on this.
Continue working on your acrylic painting - due Wed.

Daily Sketchbook 3/27

For the last week of March, if you are not actively engaging in your self-directed project - which we will talk more about, I want you to work on the below image.





Please begin by drawing the outline ONLY of the above blackbird.
Next I want you to work on the negative space around the bird.
What can you do to make it visually interesting?
What object(s) or pattern or use of shape or use of color or...will make it interesting?

Is it something geometric? Is it something organic? Is it a combination?
I would ask that you do not do a tree branch. I would ask that you experiment.

Since you'll have two days to work on this, what can you do that is visually appealing?

As an alternative, you may use the slightly different view from below if you like.

Daily Sketchbook 3/14

This is another day I will request you work on your elephant image (if you are not doing a self-directed March project based off the answer to your question from before), so think about the following two options.
Is there a way to fix/finish/alter the elephant itself to make it significantly stronger and/or more refined?
Is there a way to consider the idea of repetition/multiplicity with your stacked elements from Monday (donuts and/or paper boats) to give additional visual interest to the drawing?

Please be productive and upload your drawing after about 12 solid minutes of drawing.
Cheers!

Daily Sketchbook 3/12

Back to that elephant.
Continuing to add on, alter, or change an existing page makes for images that can be unexpected.
They don't always have to make sense, and sometimes the pages that have less energy devoted to the items on the page can be the most interesting.
Below is a pretty simple donut. You could add some shading today, or tomorrow.
You could have this balancing on your elephant's head or back. Up to you.




Or what if you did something with the boat below?

If you used the boat below, what else would you put on the flag?


What happens if you do multiples of something? Or if you have the elephant balancing on one set of things while it is simultaneously balancing other things?

Daily Sketchbook 3/8

How about you go back to that elephant from last week and make it better and on the way towards complete?
I think that a good idea.
We will balance some things on its back later (as was said before).
Like a donut, maybe.

Of course...you have the option of working on your self directed project for the month of March if that is where you are heading.
What is fun/interesting for you to draw.
Is this a series of drafts in your sketchbook? Is this on a "final" piece of paper/canvas?

Daily Sketchbook 3/6

You know that you have been given options for the Month of March, and while I have said that you will still get the first few minutes of class every day to work on something (and that I will still add prompts here), you have options of what to work on.
Sort of.
Today we will all work together on the AOTM.
This is a particularly good one as you begin to create your own work/topics as you can see how very little can be used to maximize variety at times.
Come up to my desk for the presentation of Mike and Doug Starn.

Daily Sketchbook 2/28

Below you will find an elephant.

I know, cool.

Today's task is to draw this elephant. Sure, you should pay attention to proportions, and IF you get to the point of shading, pay attention to values as well. Remember, though, that I do not expect you to "finish" a drawing in 15 minutes. Please don't race through this to have it "done" - you can always come back to it later.
Please draw the elephant above in such an orientation that you can draw other things balancing on its back in the future (so I would draw it lower on the page myself).

But first, please click on THIS LINK and read what I have to say there (which is a work in progress, and without all of the answers - so keep that in mind please).

Daily Sketchbook 2/26

Good morning and welcome back all!
I would be fooling you if I didn't say I'd rather be NOT here right now, but I'm always happy to see your faces, so I guess it's just a balance.
After today's sketchbook, Art 3's, you should be drawing your image on your canvas, and Art 4's you should be somewhere along your painting process (remember, you've already had two days to work/draw on your final canvas).

Today's theme, direction.
I've been thinking a lot about this during our time off for my classes (and how I'd like to experiment and see some things change) and for my personal work.
You have two options, draw something that comes to mind when you read the word "direction"(maybe the first thing you think of?), or draw one of the images below.
As always, don't forget to upload when you are finished.

Daily Sketchbook 2/13

Set yourself up with your sketchbook and pencil across from a peer. Yes, you may need to move to be directly across from them.
You each need to situate yourselves across from one another in such a way that both of your hands are relatively near each other.
I know one will be drawing, but the other one should be in close proximity.
Your task is to draw the hands of the person across from you.
Remember that context may be helpful.
Remember that being done in a very rushed looking manner isn't of primary importance. If you can get some good drawing quantity, cool, but balance quantity with quality.
If you are really focusing you won't be involved in discourse or logging in to listen to music.
Please just be present and focused.
And have fun.

Daily Sketchbook 2/1

It's Feb. already. Wow.
First, don't forget that they reception for the AICC show is tonight from 6-7:30. I hope you and/or your parental units can make it!
Second, let's have a whale of a time. Don't spend much time looking, but quickly begin drawing from one of these images.

Daily Sketchbook 1/30

Let's go all the way back to two weeks ago, shall we?
The multiple hands you drew that were at least partially overlapping is what I mean.
I want you to draw some sort of consistent pattern in the negative space surrounding the hands now.

I'll put an example below of a pattern-type use of line that would work. Of course, yours doesn't have to be just like this, and strictly speaking this isn't a "regular pattern", but I really want you to focus on making the negative space interesting.

Example: