Whoa! Our 2nd Annual Summer Sketchup Party was a huge success. On June 7th sketchers from all walks of life–young and old, folks from San Jose, Monterey, and local Cruzians–drew until 11:30pm! Thanks to all First Friday Art Tour and Meetup participants for making the night an extra special sketchy affair. Continue reading SketchTribe Party and iPad Meetup Bring Lots of New Faces!
Doodling is very much a part of life in school. Students the world over indulge in this meditative activity, often during class. As a drawing coach in high schools, I encourage doodling as a way to explore spontaneous expression and creative problem solving.
Continue reading 2 Local High Schoolers Take Doodling During Class Very Seriously
Japanese manga comics are a popular form of entertainment and creative expression. Two of our high school Drawing Lab students wish to take this form of artistic storytelling by the horns and draw their way to having an audience of loyal readers. Matthew Acuna and Daryna Reyna have spent the 2013 spring semester starting to build college level portfolios with Rob Court, drawing coach. They were given assignments such as creating character model sheets, story layouts, and studies in movement and expression.
Both Matthew and Daryna are prolific storytellers, highly skilled drawers in various media, and they fill sketchbook after sketchbook with fantastic concepts. They can quickly shift from manga to a traditional drawing style that accurately depicts real life objects and scenes–a rare skill with young artists. Furthermore, when adapting their ideas to digital media, drawing with a stylus is second nature to them.
Let’s take a look inside the creative minds of these two budding manga sketchers.
Continue reading High Schoolers Matthew & Daryna Draw Their Stories to Life
Variety is the spice of still life drawing. Whether drawing apples, oranges, or skulls, students in the Scribbles Institute Drawing Lab were very engaged this winter. Our in-depth sessions allowed students time to study composition, form, and techniques from a wide variety of objects. The apple shown above is by Jennifer, one of our Level 3 Drawing Lab participants. Using only primary colors (red, yellow, blue) she layered and blended Prismacolor pencils to achieve vibrant colors. Continue reading Comparing Apples to Dolphin Skulls: Day in the Still Life of Drawing Lab Students
Trying to inspire high school students can sometimes become exhausting. But when I receive one of these hand-drawn, collaborative cards, inspiration floods back to me ten-fold. Shown above is a beautiful colored pencil and marker Christmas card by Daryna at Natural Bridges High School.
Below are Birthday, Christmas, and Thank You cards from my collection. Alternative Education schools include Monterey Community School, Rancho Cielo Youth Campus in Salinas, Monterey County Youth Center in Salinas, and Natural Bridges High School in Santa Cruz. As I read the sentiments by students and teachers, remembering the many hours spent together learning about drawing, it’s easy to get a bit emotional. I would like to offer my thanks to them for being an inspiration to me in my teaching and my artwork. (Click to enlarge images.) Continue reading Inspiration is a Two-Way Street: Cards From High School Drawing Students
Rob Court, drawing coach, has a friend who recently moved to the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, to teach math. Rob’s friend, Harry King, suddenly found himself teaching an art class to 7th and 8th graders at the Singapore International School. The new responsibility prompted Harry to email us, asking for basic drawing lessons he can use for the class. Turns out to be great timing. Continue reading SI Currents: Drawing in Vietnam; Scribbles Institute and MAH; Save the Frogs!
After spending time building observational drawing skills in previous sessions, everyone was up for a fun summer session of character design sketching. While working from their sketchbooks and online references, the SI studio crew went right to work–if one can call it work. Afterall, drawing characters from their imagination is what these kids love to do. Rena (above photo) busts out a sketch of a very famous, villainous comic character. Below are highlights from the classes. Continue reading SI Youth Sketchers Build Character
One Saturday morning, three women set out to conquer fear of drawing from the imagination. Like brave creative warriors with swords in hand, they embarked on a 4-hour adventure into uncharted territories of the mind. In fact, they were holding long wooden dowels with various drawing media attached, participating in one of several exercises in our first Experimental Drawing Workshop for adults. And judging by the work produced and the smiles on their faces, the journey was successful. Continue reading Getting Abstract: Experimental Drawing Workshop For Adults
