Week Three: Sketchy's Challenge

It was awesome that so many of you took up the challenge to draw the egret! The background space around the egret is called negative space. The space that the egret occupies in your drawing is called positive space. Where the negative space meets the positive space shows you the edges of the bird. This is very helpful when drawing the edges of something. We'll learn more about positive and negative space in our next lessons.

Here's some info about positive and negative space: Click here

Here's the reference picture from Sketchy's Challenge so you can compare your drawing: Click here

And here are your drawings of the egret:


Craig
Overall, you captured the egret's body and curve of its neck. Great job on the facial features and showing the contrast between the shadows and highlights of the body. You've done a good job of getting the angle of the area where the legs meet the body. Check the angles and natural curves in the reference picture. How do they compare to your drawing?


Elvis
Good job of showing the proportions and overall angle of the egret's body. The angle and form of the legs are well drawn. Excellent how you included the gray tones for shadow areas and highlights. I like the way you've shown the delicate edges of the feathers on its shoulders. Compare the curve of the neck in your drawing to the reference picture. is the 's' shape the same? If you have time to do a quick study sketch of only the neck area, I'd like to see it.


Gage
Good job of capturing the overall proportions of the egret. The gray tones you've drawn show the form of its body. The contrast of the dark gray legs compared to the body helps make the bird look more realistic. Your confidence in using bold lines is showing in this drawing! Also the contour lines and angle of the legs look natural.


Jaime
You did a good job of drawing the overall form and proportions of the egret. The form of the beak looks very natural. I like how you added the feathers where the legs attach to the body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Does the curve of the neck look the same?


Jared
Overall, you did a good job of drawing the proportions of the egret's body and head. You did a good job of drawing the form of its head and the 's' turn of the neck. I liked how you erased highlights on the body and head. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Is the length of the neck the same?


Leif
The background, plants in the foreground, and form of the egret make for an excellent composition. You did a great job of drawing the bird's beak, head, and 's' shape of the neck. I like the gray tones and highlights that form its body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Does the area where the neck joins to the body look the same? The way you've drawn the legs makes them look natural.


Michael
The control of your lines has improved a lot! Excellent job of drawing the proportions of the egret's head and body. You did a very good job of drawing the beak, eye, and curve of the neck. I like how you took the time to show the shaded tones and highlights of the body.


Ricky
Good job of drawing the overall proportions of the egret. You captured the curve of the 's' curve of the neck and the area where the neck attaches to the body. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Are there places where the neck could be wider or narrower? Good job showing the contrast of gray tones and highlighted feathers.

It was cool that our two teachers, Hilda and Patty, joined in Sketchy's Challenge, too!


Hilda
I really like how you blended the gray tones in the background, bringing the plants and the egret to the foreground. I really like the subtle contrast of the gray tones of the bird's body with the highlights of the feathers.


Patty
Excellent contour lines that show the form of the egret, especially the head and facial features. I really like the detailed line work used for showing the feathers, eye, and beak. Also like the flowing lines you used to indicate the plant. Patty, I look forward to seeing any details that you've added to the lighthouse drawing you're working on.

Drawing Challenge: Outlines and Contour Lines

Many of you took my suggestion and while looking at Pablo Picasso's "Two Men". This was your introduction to drawing outlines and contour lines. Can you describe the difference between and outline and contour line?

Craig
Very clean outlines! The contour lines of the hat of the man standing are drawn well, particularly where the brim of the hat meets his forehead. Overall, the proportions of the two men turned out well. You did a good job of capturing their facial expressions. Check the proportions of the face of the man seated. Are they the same in your drawing compared to the reference picture? Craig's comments: "Thank you for showing me how to draw."



Elvis
The contour lines of the two men are drawn very well, particularly the vest area of the man standing and the form of the body of the man sitting. I like the contour line for the chin of the man standing. You did and excellent job of drawing accurate proportions of the men's bodies, heads, and hats. You also did a superb job of including all of the details such as buttons and facial features. Check the curved contour lines of the men's hats and the neck area of the man sitting. Elivs' comments: "Thank you for commenting on my Picasso drawing. I am trying to work better on my outlines. And I think I did good on my challenge this week."


Gage
It looks like you ran out of time on your drawing of the two men. What you've drawn shows sharp outlines and good overall proportions of the man standing. You show the curved lines of his hat and contour line for his chin. Take time to compare your drawing to the reference picture. Do your contour lines show the outside edges of the clothing? You may want to take some time to finish this drawing. Gage's comments: Thank you, I really like your class and I'm excited to come back on Friday."
Jaime
You got a good start with drawing contour lines. Looks like you needed more time to finish. The contour lines that you drew are showing the form of the man's arm and clothing. Since you started out good contour lines, you may want to take time to finish this drawing. Jaime's comments: "Rob, I like your class a lot and I think I'm going to learn a lot. Thank you."


Jared
Looks like you ran short of time while drawing the outlines of the two men. You captured the basic proportions of the man standing. His head was looking pretty good but you erased your guidelines. Keep practicing sketching the contour lines of things. If you can, take some time to finish this drawing. Jared's comments: Thank you very much for the opportunity to learn how to make beautiful artwork. I really enjoyed our last session together and am really looking forward to the next one. I hope to learn a ton from this experience and maybe make a living out of drawing."


Leif
Great job of including the details of the two men. Very good job of drawing accurate proportions of both men with clean lines. Practice taking time to draw light guidelines then carefully drawing the contour lines, like you did on the egret. This will help to make your drawing look more realistic. Leif's comments: Thank you for teaching me how to draw sea creatures 'Kenny'. Don't worry I know your name is Rob. I just feel more comfortable calling you Kenny."

Michael
Your drawing of the Egyptian hieroglyphics shows your improvement of controlling your lines. Since you're interested in hieroglyphics you may want to finish this drawing--you've got a good start! If you'd like to continue Click here. Michael's comments: "Thank you Rob for teaching me how to be a better drawer."







Shaylah
Excellent job of drawing the details of both men! You did a very good job of sketching guidelines before finishing with darker contour lines. The contour lines for the chins shows the form of their faces. The contour lines of the vest of the man standing are particularly well drawn. Also, the curved contour line, where the forehead of the man sitting meets the brim of his hat gives depth to your picture. Does the hat of the man standing show accurate curved contour lines? Your line work is improving a lot. Keep practicing drawing accurate contour lines that show the edges and roundness of things. Shaylah's comments: "Well thank you, I'm excited to learn more techniques in your class. I enjoy being in your art class."

Very good job of drawing the details of the two men. You took the time to draw accurate contour lines for the men's clothing. Your ability to draw proportions is improving with each of your drawings. Ricky's comments: "I took a lot of your advice about the shading on the crab and blowfish. I first started out drawing the shape of the blofish, then I made sure that it wasn't too dark because then it's hard to erase even though you shouldn't be erasing. Then I started to doodle more with the details of the blowfish. The way that we have to hold the pencil is different than normal. After my attempts of drawing the blowfish I started to work on my crab. But the crab is harder to draw than the fish. I really enjoyed the first class and hope to have many more classes with you teaching."

Drawing Challenge: Let's Get Abstract!

If you're ready for some sketching today, here's this week's drawing challenge:

Let's Get Abstract!
If you're up for the challenge, use the techniques you've learned during the past few weeks to create an abstract drawing. An abstract drawing doesn't represent things (people, objects, places, nature, etc.) in the real world. Instead, you're going to use combinations of lines, shapes, patterns, tones (shading), and textures to make a picture from your imagination.

Think of it as composing music. Use the repetition of lines and shapes to create rhythm in your composition on paper. Get bold with swirling movements of your arm like a conductor of an orchestra. Express your emotions and feelings through the lines that you draw.

You can use all different kinds of lines (thick, thin, curved, angled, squiggly, etc.). Try overlapping shapes. Throw in a bunch of patterns and textures to make designs. The only rule: Don't draw any people, places, or things from the real world.

left: Gage has some abstract designs in the background of last week's lesson about patterns and textures.







Here are more examples of abstract art:

Wassily Kandinsky was the guy who created the first abstract painting, about 80 years ago. Here's some of his work: Click

Juan Miro was another big time abstract artist. Here's his work: Click

Although these artists from a group called Wee Will Doodle include things from the real world in their doodles, I think you'll get inspired by there approach to drawing. I think you'll like their drawing styles: Click (scroll down to see photos of the artists drawing)

Okay. Do some quick warm ups, then get into the "Zone" (a little music?), and start drawing an abstract composition from your imagination. And don't forget to check back here tomorrow to see your drawings and comments from last week's lesson. --Rob