Monday, October 17, 2011

Monday Art Class: Drawing Exercise #1

Today we are going to be doing a quick simple drawing exercise. This will loosen you up if you’re about to start a harder drawing, and put you a little bit out of your comfort zone. But, it will also teach you to look at things in different ways. The materials that you need are: a blanket (something smooth, nothing intricate). a chair, paper and a drawing utensil. I will be using some charcoal and newsprint.

First set up the blanket to that it’s hanging off the chair. Make sure to arrange it so that there is a good number of folds. Here’s how I arranged mine:

Next you are going to draw the blanket following specific drawing instructions (we are not focusing on the chair today, so just ignore it. That being said: it’s best if you arrange the blanket to cover most of your view of the chair).

Here’s the drawing instructions: you are to draw your blanket using

one continuous line

That means: you cannot lift your pen, marker, charcoal – whatever! – until you are done your drawing. To do this, you will need to observe and ponder how you are going to approach your subject. Also,

you will not look at your paper

– that’s right! NO PEEKING! You can look to see where you place your pencil down in the start, but once you start drawing, life those eyes up to the subject and don’t look down again until you’re done.

Here are mine:

Yes, these are most definitely not pretty pictures. They do just look like scribbles. But that’s not the point, and not all beneficial drawing exercises look pretty – but they can be effective. I did it a couple times (and I recommend that you do the same), trying a different approach each time. Sometimes worked out better than others. Also, as you re-attempt the drawing each time: you ‘learn’ from it, and get a little better each time.

If you joined me today with this exercise, please post a link to your blog or picture to share with everyone your experience. Happy scribbling!

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