Draw, Draw, Draw!

Each drawing should take a minimum of 30 minutes. These should show some skill and thought, but do not need to be masterpieces. You may use any medium you are comfortable with.

1. Draw something from observation

  • You must be able to look at it, in real life! NOT on your phone!! (And not someone else’s artwork!)
  • Could be… an object, a person, a piece of furniture, the view out the window… anything you can look at and draw
  • Choose something interesting, and look for contrast in light/dark and interesting shapes, e.g. a jacket draped over a chair, a crumpled piece of paper, a series of drawings of your hand in different poses, a portrait of your friend drawing… 

2. Draw something from memory

  • No looking at pictures, just draw what’s stuck in your brain
  • Could be… a place you loved as a kid, a room in your house, your favourite meal, somewhere you went this summer, etc.
  • Try closing your eyes and seeing what pops into your head

 3. Draw something from your imagination

  • This should be something unique to your brain, not borrowed from someone else’s
  • Could be… well, it’s your brain, so you tell me! An imaginary creature, an imaginary place, a machine that picks up your socks for you and makes you smoothies for breakfast…

4. Draw a feeling

  • This is probably going to be abstract… just go for it!
  • Once you’ve picked the emotion, think about line (swirly lovey-dovey loops or angry sharp angles?), colour (calming colours? angry colours?), shapes (soft gooey shapes or hard edges?)

Check out this work by Hong Chun Zhang that combines observation with imagination – amazing! Creepy!