Plus Drawing Exercises

 

#152 - Draw On Small Cards For Practice, Easy To Carry Along And Sell Or Give Away, Fun To Do, Switch Up Your Drawing Routine!

A versatile drawing practice you can do instead of filling sketchbooks.

I wanted to try it, too. I took a relatively large matchbox, removed the matches, cut paper to the size where it would fit in the matchbox, and drew on these little cards for a few days.

#151 - The Artist As A Collector Of Beautiful Things

One way to look at what we do!

It dawned on me that I do the same thing. I collect beautiful things, too. It’s just that I copy them into my personal sketchbook. It’s my personal collection of drawings of things I find beautiful.

#150 - What Artists Can Learn From Reading Comprehension

We can learn to learn by observing how children learn.

They have what they call the four Vs. I added a fifth V, and it is telling that the schools leave that out.

#149 - Why It Is Good That Your Drawings Do Not Come Out Well

Learn from the things that don’t look good in your drawings.

You get to see which parts you need to get accurate for it to look good and which parts you can wing a bit.

#148 - Stick Figures Are Actually Good If You Want To Draw Dynamic Poses

And so I am going to make you draw stick figures. Find out why.

Stick figures are easier because you don’t have to get cylinders to suggest the limbs.

#147 - How To Develop An Instinct For Proportions

Develop an instinct for proportions while having fun drawing.

I’m not a fan of measuring while drawing. I find it boring. I like to eyeball it, do it by sight, and feel where something needs to go on the page.

#146 - This Is Why Pinterest Is Great For Artists (Right Now)

And this is how social media should work for artists.

Other people can see and browse through such boards if public, and an image that is pinned to boards proliferates.

#145 - An Interesting Way Our Survival Instincts Influence Our Art (Part 2)

How our survival instincts make it harder to create art.

We are also a social species, and status matters for procreation. If you have a high status, you will attract more attention from the opposite sex, so your reptilian brain will try to prevent you from taking risks that lower your status within the group.

#144 - An Interesting Way Our Survival Instincts Influence Our Art (Part 1)

How our survival instincts benefit our art.

Use this freedom in your art! It is okay to deviate from realism in search of beauty in idealization and simplification.

#143 - Things To Be On The Lookout For If You Want To Stay Motivated To Draw

It is sometimes a miracle that we draw at all.

Sometimes, it’s a miracle we draw at all!

#142 - Art Is Not Just Pretty Objects, But Also A Conversation The Artist Has With Their Audience

And that is good news, even for us introverts.

There have been Kickstarters I didn’t want to support because I didn’t like the creator behind them or the group they were a part of.

#141 - Artists, Remove Yourself From Fast-Paced Scrolling On Social Media, Slow Down And Notice What That Does For Your Creative Routine

The anti-dote to social media induced short attention spans.

As I repeatedly try to draw it in different ways, the reference image slowly reveals its secrets to me. It tells me which landmarks I need to get exactly right for the drawing to look right and which aspects of a drawing I can have fun with.

#140 - Does Theoretical Knowledge Hamper The Creativity Of The Artist And Prevent Them From Coming Up With Original Ideas?

And is ignorance bliss?

I once had discussions with fellow students about whether knowledge hampered creativity. We were learning all these theories, and would that prevent us from coming up with original new theories?

#139 - While Drawing Should I Measure And Construct Accurately, Or Should I Freehand-Draw?

Which method is “better”? The Answer is yes.

If you have questions you would like me to answer, don’t hesitate to contact me!

#138 - Drawings You Want To Make Versus Drawings Others Will Like

Can what you want to make and what others like be the same?

You will run into this sometime. For example, you’ve drawn in a “realist” style, and now you feel it isn’t as challenging, but people compliment you on it, so you keep drawing in that style, even though secretly, you’d rather draw something else.

#137 - Insane Advantages Of Copying Other Artists

Rembrandt did it!

When you copy masters, you learn what things look like and how the masters went about composition, simplification, and idealization. You discover their thought processes. You learn how they thought while they drew. And THAT you take with you when you start making original work for an audience.

#136 - The Difference Between Evolutions And Revolutions And What They Mean For Your Art Process

When is something revolutionary, and when is it evolutionary?

Deciding you want to develop a drawing habit is a revolution for you, even if others have gone that path before you. Improvements to that habit are evolutions.

#135 - Do Not Make Topical Sketchbooks, Because That Is Too Ambitious, And Sketchbooks Should Be For Fun And Play

Do This Instead!

Do this instead: dedicate each page spread to a specific type of practice. The page spread will look good, as will the sequence of page spreads.

#134 - THIS Is Part Of Your Creative Routine Too

When you do not feel like drawing, do this instead.

On the desk, you see a sketchbook, my favorite pens within reach, reference images, an iPad for putting on reference images, YouTube, Netflix, or Spotify, a headset, an art book that inspires me to draw if I need it, reading glasses, and there is a comfy chair.

#133 - As You Create Art, Consciously Notice How Various Aspects Of It Make You Feel

And what makes you feel better!

You’re an adult, and you want to learn a new skill. You go in search of information. Say you like to learn to draw. The advice you see everywhere is to draw every day and practice fundamentals.

#132 - Seek Not To Create Beauty, But To See Beauty In What You Create

Curate what you pay attention to.

You can choose the stories about your art you want to listen to. Listen to the ones that you control, the ones that make you happy and keep you motivated.

#131 - The Opposite Of A Good Rule Can Also Be A Good Rule

Or What happens when you “break the rules.”

I see attempts at rule-following in art a lot. People want to know the right proportions of humans and such, the idea that if you follow the rules, you will make great art.

#130 - Do Not Just Look Up Art Tutorials Online, Also DO Them If You Want To Become A Better Artist

Bookmarking tutorials is just a form of procrastination.

Rembrandt just had access to a few prints his master owned. He learned by copying these. Look at all the information we have at our disposal now! Any image ever made is one click away, as are all the books ever written. Teachers put out vast amounts of information.

#129 - A Free New Drawing Workbook Is Now Available On My Website

A workbook with great warm-up drawing exercises that are short, fun, help you improve quickly and result in great sketchbook pages.

The drawing workbook is centered around daily warm-ups and quick memory drawing exercises to start the creative day, which should take only fifteen to thirty minutes each day. It consists of twelve types of assignments that get progressively harder, and you can go through them at your own pace, staying with one assignment until it becomes too easy or boring, in which case you should move to the next assignment.

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