Carla Sonheim - Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun

ANIMALS ENRICH US in so many ways... the facial expression of an irritated house cat or the sheer bulk of a hippo inspires and nurtures our souls. For me, creating my own menagerie of animals has a similar soul-healing effect.

In this unit you will draw from life, from photo references, and from your imagination. Drawing from life is always preferable, but many people do not have easy access to a lion or a bear. Start collecting pages of animals that interest you, torn from magazines or newspapers. Its best to find imagery that is fairly genericyou just want to get information about the appearance of the animals at this point, rather than picking photos for their compositional values.

The more you draw from life or photos, the richer and more authentic your imaginary animals will be.

This mixed-media Rabbit-Turtle is created with gesso, watercolor, collage, and, of course, line.

Materials

several sheets of white card stock

colored extra-fine-point permanent marker

At a very young age, I got in the habit of making things up. I have to feel that Ive had my dose of invention for the day.

John Irving

DRAW ABOUT THIRTY CATS from your imagination while sitting or lying in bed. If you are unsure where to start, go ahead and copy some of the cats on these pages. Or, better, spend some time just looking at a real cat before you do this exercise.

The soft surface of the pillow or mattress will force a looser line quality.

1. Gather your materials and get into bed... you can either sit up with your paper propped on a pillow, or lie on your stomach with the paper on the mattress.

2. Think about what a cat looks like: ears, face shape, body shape, tail, and just spend the next ten minutes or so drawing as many cats in as many positions as you can think of.

3. Try to keep your lines simple and expressive. If you find that you are feeling tense, switch to your nondominant hand.

4. Dont fret if you dont like many of your cats. It takes many, many drawings to get that one that you love.

Taking It Further

Pick one or two of your favorite drawings and render them again in several ways.

Example 1: Paint your cat on wood or canvas using acrylics, oils, or a mixed-media combination such as gesso and watercolor (shown).

Example 2: Redraw your cats using colored pencils (left) or ink and colored pencils (right).

Example 3: Scan your cat into the computer and add a solid color to the inside of your cat, offset slightly, (left). Or use the side only of a -inch (1.3 cm) piece of vine charcoal, (right).

Materials

photo references of giraffes

510 sheets of white card stock

black extra-fine-point permanent marker

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.

Pablo Picasso

BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING is a classic drawing exercise that emphasizes careful observation rather than a finished product. It is used by many artists as a way to improve handeye communication (and, sometimes, as a nonthreatening way to just get the pencil moving). In this exercise, you will draw a series of giraffes without looking at your paper.

By using photo references, you will be reminded of positions that you might not have thought of on your own.

1. Find some references of giraffes, either online or at the library.

2. Pick one and fix your eyes on the outline of the giraffe, and start drawing. Do not look at your paper. Look at the giraffe 100 percent of the time.

3. Try to match the movement of your pen to that of your eyes running along the edge of the giraffe. Draw every curve and bump.

4. Blind contours are usually done quite slowly and in a single, continuous line; think about your speed and consciously adjust it if you think you are going too fast.

5. If you get stuck or would like to move your pen to start an internal feature, its fine to glance down at your paper to reset your pen to the right area, but dont move the pen while looking at your paper (think of it as drawing freeze tag).

6. Continue drawing different giraffes for about ten minutes or so.

7. While doing this exercise, you will learn several things about giraffes that you might never have noticed before (such as that their horns are hairy and they have a large bump on their forehead).

Taking It Further

Of course you can pick any subject matter you wish... cats, elephants, birds, horses, dogs, rats...

Inanimate objects such as chairs and cars make interesting blind contours.

Try layering three or four blind drawings on top of one another on one paper, not worrying at this stage where the drawing is going. Now see if you can pull the drawing together into a cohesive piece by adding lines and color (from your imagination).