Two Junky, Blobby Classes Start Tomorrow!

Hi! I wanted to remind you that I have two classes starting tomorrow:

Junk Mail Artist’s Book

and

Blobimal Artist Books

Both of these classes were originally held over a single, intensive week, but I’ve decided to spread them out so that the lessons go live over a two-week period. This means that each class will have a new, BONUS 6th lesson!

Click on the above links for class descriptions; classes are $35 each.

And as always, if you have previously signed up for either class and would like to play again at no additional cost, just email me and I’ll get you on the list.

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are having a wonderful day! :D

Day #10 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Last chance!

“Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“

Hello!

Thank you so much everyone for all of your wonderful comments all through this Giveaway celebration!

The above painting is reprinted on the inside of the kit box (click to enlarge). 😀

I started out teaching art to kids (in my sons’ elementary school classrooms), and found that the more fun I made the assignments, the happier everyone was! When I started teaching adults some years later, I kept the fun part in.

If you think you need this kit to start drawing, please don’t! Just pick up a pencil or a pen and start. Be gentle with yourself if your inner critic kicks in, and embrace the imperfections, errant lines and “mistakes!” Make it fun for yourself!

Leave a comment for a last chance to win a ““Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit.” I’ll pick the winner at 6pm, Wednesday, 11/26.

Today’s winner was #33, Merrie Jo!

Have a wonderful holiday season, and please sign up for my NEWSLETTER to be the first to know about new tutorials, online classes, and special stuff!

Thanks again, everyone!

Carla

Winners:

Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria)
Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie)
Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn)
Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani)
Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele)
Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise)
Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne)
Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn)
Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked!
Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo)

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So leave a comment above (click the # comments link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀 

Day #9 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Blind Contour Drawings

Assignment #2 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“

Hi today!

Today’s Lab is blind contour drawings. Blind contours is a classic drawing exercise which has you VERY SLOWLY drawing the contour edges of your subject, drawing every curve and bump along the way. But! You can’t look at your paper while drawing (at all). You need to look at your subject (in my case, a bird paper mache sculpture from my studio) 100% of the time, and your paper 0% of the time.

And did I mention this needs to be done slowly? Like, in slow motion.

This exercise trains you to observe carefully, to get your eyes and hands working together, and are not meant to be “good.” These are truly practice drawings!

That said, sometimes it’s fun to “take it further” with your eyes open and see what you can do. Here is the above bird after I took some water to the marker (I used one of the pens from the kit, and it dissolves beautifully!):

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Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀 

Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Tuesday, 11/25.

Winner is #116, Monica!

Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!)

Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria)
Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie)
Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn)
Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani)
Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele)
Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise)
Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne)
Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn)
Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica)
Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo)

And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!

Day #8 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Coffee Shop Drawings

Assignment #7 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“

Hi!

Today’s Lab is from a British guest artist, Sarah Wilde. Sarah has the most wonderful sketchbooks filled with drawings of people in coffee shops. Reminiscent of blind contour drawings (tomorrow’s lesson!), Sara gives tips on how to do these “Direct-Response Drawings,” which start out as blind contours but are drawn from a distance and focus on the shape and form of the subject (rather than every curve and bump).

She writes, “Direct-response drawings are both process and product for me. Long term, [these drawings] have improved my overall drawing immensely; they have also proved fertile ground for ideas for other things. But the end result also pleases me. I like looking at these drawings.”

The above gentleman was drawn several days ago at a coffee shop!

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Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀 

Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Monday, 11/24.
And today’s winner is Lynn, #8!

Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!)

Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria)
Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie)
Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn)
Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani)
Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele)
Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise)
Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne)
Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn)
Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica)
Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo)

And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!

Day #7 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – 100 Faces Project

Assignment #10 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“

This lab is one of those that can take a few days or weeks to complete, but the idea is that you create 100 faces in as many different ways as possible.

Now, faces can be scary! (I’ve drawn a lot of faces, and they still scare me!) So the best thing I know of to help get you over the scary hump is to just give myself an assignment and do it.

You can draw faces from life, from photos, and from imagination. You can draw them fast, slow, scribbly, neat, with- or without shading, and using one line only.

The above two faces are a modified one-liner using the chisel point pen from the kit and adding water with a brush for the shading… isn’t it cool?

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Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀 

Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Sunday, 11/23.

The winner is Anne Liddel, #96!

Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!)

Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria)
Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie)
Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn)
Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani)
Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele)
Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise)
Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne)
Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn)
Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica)
Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo)

And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!

Day #6 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Index Card Multiples

Assignment #12 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“ Hi! Lab #5 involves drawing the same design over and over, trying to get “the one” that we love the most! I drew this bunny design 12 times using the chisel-point pen in the kit. Here they are in order: And the one I liked the best happened to be the last one! The point of this assignment is to underscore that, when you work loosely and spontaneously, it might take many versions to get to “the one.” Have fun, and we’ll see you tomorrow for another chance to win! * * * Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀  Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Saturday, 11/22. Today’s winner is #59, Denise! Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!) Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria) Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie) Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn) Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani) Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele) Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise) Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne) Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn) Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica) Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!

Day #5 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Picasso Dogs

Assignment #12 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“ Hi! In Lab #12 we try to channel Pablo Picasso with a “Cubist-inspired dog! So get a piece of paper, a pen or a pencil, and follow along the video below (one of the assignments from my “DRAW!” online workshop):

Draw 9.0 from Silly U on Vimeo. Have fun, and we’ll see you tomorrow for another chance to win! * * * Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀  Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Friday, 11/21. Today’s winner was #32, Michaele! Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!) Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria) Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie) Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn) Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani) Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele) Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise) Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne) Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn) Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica) Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo) And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!

Day #4 – Drawing Lab Kit GIVEAWAY – Gesture Drawings

Assignment #3 from “Drawing Lab: A Fun and Silly Art Kit“ Hi today! In Lab #3 of this kit I have you drawing your pets with a classic drawing exercise, Gesture Drawings. These are even faster drawings than the one-liners from yesterday, and are meant to capture “movement” or “the essence” of your drawing subject. Since you’ve already seen our cat Natalie, I did these gesture drawings while watching a TED Talk by Isaac Mizrahi: Fashion and Creativity (you should watch it, too!). These drawings were all done in 30 seconds or less, and I spent almost all of my time looking at the Mr. Mizrahi (and very little time looking at my paper). Gesture drawings train your eyes to see and your eyes and hands to work together. But the main point of this exercise, I think, is to underscore that drawing is as much about how something FEELS as it is about how something LOOKS. * * * Leave a comment above (click the “# comments” link on the top right) for your chance to win a copy of the new “Drawing Lab Kit!” International entries welcome. 😀  Today’s winner will be picked at 6pm PST Thursday, 11/20.  Today’s winner is #100, Lani! Here is the blog schedule. Come back each day for a chance to win! (And please tell your friends!) Sunday 11/16 – First Day Giveaway!  Winner picked! (Victoria) Monday 11/17 – Cats in Bed  Winner picked! (Marcie) Tuesday 11/18 – One-Liners Winner picked! (Dawn) Wednesday 11/19 – Gesture Drawings Winner picked! (Lani) Thursday 11/20  – Picasso Dogs Winner picked! (Michaele) Friday 11/21 – Index Card Multiples Winner picked! (Denise) Saturday 11/22 – 100 Faces Project Winner picked! (Anne) Sunday 11/23 – Coffee Shop Drawings Winner picked! (Lynn) Monday 11/24 – Blind Contours Winner picked (Monica) Tuesday 11/25 – Last Giveaway Day! Winner picked! (Merrie Jo) And for all the news, including new tutorial and class announcements, giveaways and more, sign up for my NEWSLETTER here!