Above left, Deb uses charcoal to study form, contours, and shadows of an acorn squash and pumpkin. And to the left Deb is shown measuring proportions of a plaster cast hand during another evening session.

Above left, Judith studies the proportions and tonal values of a skull. Above right, Jack maps out a large composition as he studies the shapes and textures of an antique iron.

Level 3 students Karla, above left, and Judith, above right, explore new territory as they study folds and drapery. Students started by blocking in large, basic shapes; then continued by finding contour edges for folds and lighter and darker values for shadows.

Judith, above left, and Karla, above right, also put together amazing drawings of flowers. They started by doing a number of gestural line studies to find natural contours of the flowers and stems. They began their final drawings by blocking in shapes and positioning of the flowers; then finishing with accurate, natural looking contours in charcoal.

Throughout our Expression Sessions a genuine sense of comraderie develops between sketchers. The highlight of the evening is the lively discussion following two hours of drawing. In the photo, above left, students (left to right) Ken, Judith, Deb, and Jack talk about the challenges of perspective and proportions. To the right, Judith (foreground)and Allison attack a vase a flowers with a strategy combining blocking-in and gestural drawing.

The Scribbles Institute offers free studio time to high school students Rob teaches in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Above left and right are Melissa and Emilio from Louden Nelson Community school. Elizabeth, their teacher, brought them to one of our adult evening Expression Sessions.

And now for the work from our adult Expression Session for the Winter, 2012…

Ken

Jack

Judith

Dan

Deb

Jon

Karla

Click on images to view larger details.

Above left, as the music blasts, our youth sketchers are deep in the zone as they go big with charcoal. On the studio floor are drawings from the previous week’s observations of flowers. For this session they had to use the flowers as a point of departure; then launch into a large scale spontaneous composition from their imagination. The photo to the right shows Rena as she begins adding tones to her line sketch.

Super-size drawing session. Left to right: Hannah, Helen, and Rena

The above photos show Megan learning to use a brush for creating tonal values. She decided to take one of her character drawings to the larger format with huge success.

Students spent a session learning about folds and drapery. Shown clockwise, starting upper left: Hannah and Helen block in large shapes; then add contours and shadows; photo of finished drapery study by Helen; pencil sketches of folds and movement for clothing by Hannah; the crew hard at work (fun) studying folds for their own characters.

We also had a super fun abstract session. Sketchers were given words for human traits or emotions that they had to depict using only lines, shapes, patterns, tones, and color. The photo to the right shows Helen’s finished drawing.

And now for some of the work by our youth sketchers during lessons…

Hannah

Helen

Megan

Rena

Gianna, a senior at Natural Bridges High School, is one heck of a gifted sketcher. Her ability to quickly shift from observational drawing to working from the imagination is extraordinary. One afternoon, with a half hour left in class, Gianna struggled to find something to draw. She opened the box of pastels and shifted gears to a spontaneous, expressionistic rendering of the plaster hand and sphere. During the last part of another drawing class, she shifted from charcoal to pastels, transforming a study of a white plaster cast eye into a colorful, expressive delight.

SI youth sketcher, Rena excels at drawing fantastic creatures from her imagination. During the last half hour of drawing a plaster cast of a human bust with charcoal, we changed it up—time to free draw everyone! Rena dove into the pastels and, with sweeping lines, put together a brilliant character sketch.

Another talented sketcher, Megan, was working at getting into the Zone during this face session. But as soon as brightly colored pastels were put in front of her she transformed into an abstract expressionist extraordinaire, adding a whole new range of creative possibilities to her solid drawing skills.

Helen is a wonderful story tellin’ kind of a sketcher. After a few weeks of intense sessions of drawing faces, when it came time to free draw with pastels, she launched right into illustrating the morning’s story about a mysterious lemon drifting in the clouds. You can see in the photos above that she transitioned from drawing a Roman bust to a whimsical fruit in a matter of minutes.

There’s just something about pastels that brings out the best in these young artists. But whether working in charcoal, graphite, or pastels these remarkable sketchers consistently merge solid skills in observation with exceptionally active imaginations. Their ability to spontaneously transform blank paper into a wildfire of color and compelling subject matter is inspiring to watch. As a drawing coach, during these highly combustible creative moments, I’m just along for the ride.

Scroll down to see everyone’s work.

Allison, shown in the above photos, has been drawing with Rob for almost two years. She managed to log in some sketch time during the fall Expression Session and produced some very impressive charcoal studies.

Level 2 sketcher Karla advanced quickly in learning to block in tonal values of a bowl of apples with charcoal, shown above.

Level 2 adult students ventured into learning about basics in composition and still life drawing. Above left is Karla’s drawing and to the right Casey puts finishing touches on her wonderful charcoal still life.

During Level 1 lessons students study a landscape drawing by Vincent Van Gogh. The photo above left shows Linda mapping out her Van Gogh sketch. Above left is Sue’s expressive line work inspired by the energy of Van Gogh’s sketch strokes.

Above left, Santa Cruz Mountains fine artist, Dana Wiegand (sitting to the right of Jon) stopped by the studio to join an evening Expression Session. Above right: Turn up the house lights, roll up the drawings, and another evening of sketching fun comes to an end. Want to join the fun? Expression Session Info

And now… check out the work by our Expression Session adult students…

Jennifer

Casey

Andrea

Jon

Sue

Chris

Judith

Penny

Linda

Kate

Allison

Karla

Scroll down to view everyone’s work.

Each lesson emphasized blocking in basic shapes of the face and head, measuring proportions, placement of facial features, and contour lines. Students then adapted the lesson to concept art exercises and their own free drawing.

Plaster casts make great models because they never move! In the above photos, our youth sketchers study realistic, accurate proportions while using charcoal.

Our first lesson focused on drawing profile views of the human face. We started by doing study sketches of a skull to learn about the overall shape of the head and how to sketch guidelines to place facial features. Then everyone sat on the drawing horses to draw the profile views of each other, a great introduction to drawing people from real life.

As they faced each other, students had 40 minutes to draw accurate proportions of the head and features of the model’s face. Because the model was always moving, capturing a likeness was a fun challenge. Megan kept telling Hannah to hold still! Above left is Helen capturing a likeness of Rena, hat and all. Shown above right is a portrait sketch of Helen drawn by Hannah.

One of our most interesting and challenging lessons was to ‘morph’ a face of a human character into an animal; then animals into other animals or creatures. The imaginations of our young artists really shined through in their sketches! Shown clock wise, starting above left: Rena cranks out amazing morph and face study sketches; Rena character morph sketch; Helen’s realistic dog to cartoon cat; Hannah’s favorite musician turns into a gazelle.

Students drew from work by Leonardo da Vinci and Corot to learn about measuring proportions and feature placement of front and profile views. Then students were told to pretend they had 20 minutes to create a storyboard for an animation director. They had to include the sketch of the Girl with the Beret (by Corot) in a visual story using different camera angles and zooms. It was really fun to watch these future concept artists in action.

And now… for studies and drawings by our SI studio youth sketchers…

Helen

Hannah

Megan

Rena

More advanced students learned about drawing 3D form, realistic contour edges, and tonal values as they drew from real life objects. Above left are Gerardo’s pencil study sketches and finished charcoal drawing of a shell. To the left are Cindy’s study and final charcoal drawing of a pumpkin.

Students also learned about positive and negative space, contours, and 3D form as they drew an egret. Above left are Gerardo’s pencil study and large-format charcoal drawing. To the right are Jesus’ studies and final charcoal drawing.

Learning to measure simple shapes of a dragonfly, then finishing with accurate, realistic contour edges is an important lesson in basic skills. Students also learn to draw the dragonfly on large-format paper while maintaining accurate proportions. Drawings shown clockwise, starting upper left, are by Angel, Gerardo, Ricky A., and Elijah.

All students, in the first day of class, learn how to grip the pencil and do basic warm up exercises with curved and angled lines.

And now… amazing drawings by the Salinas Community Sketchers…

Ricardo

Jesus

Marcella

Josh

Adam

Ricky I.

Bianca

Vanessa C.

Elijah

Anthony

Brandon

Ricky A.

Ricardo

H.

Heather

Martin

Cindy

Marcelo

Bianca

Vanessa S.

Giselle

Angel

Noe

Monserrat

Joel

Danny

Gerardo

Ricky I.

Chente

Jose

Priscilla

Jesus

Kevin

Heri

Adrian

Sketchers tried their hand at a variety of different media including Prismacolor pencils, pastels, and charcoal.

Students also studied proportion grids, contours, and tonal values of faces. Above left is Melissa’s drawing of dog. To the right is Amanda’s drawing of a woman’s face.

As students advanced in their skills they delved into realism. Above left are Maria’s pastel drawings of a plant and flower. Above right are Melissa’s study sketches of the contours of a pumpkin drawn from real life.

Above left are Corey’s pencil and charcoal studies of an egret (positive/negative space lesson) and a fox (cross-hatch pencil technique). To the right are Rafa’s positive/negative studies of an egret.

Some students began animation character design. Above left is Rielly’s charecter sketch and to the right is Stormie’s tonal value concept sketch.

Above left is Michael’s 2-point perspective study sketch. Above right is Maria’s atmospheric perspective drawing.

Above left is Mayra’s pastel drawing after the artist Picasso. To the right is a page out of Arastas’ abstract art sketchbook.

And now… for all of our student drawings…

Emilio

Stormie

Nicole

Rafa

Vanessa

Michael

Oscar

Maria

Jorge

Corey

Forrest

Mayra

Rielly

Melissa

Arastas

Azalia

Anthony

Cristian

Ashley

Daniel

Scroll down to see the outstanding work done by our sketchers. Click on images to view larger for details.

Working from a measuring grid, students learned to enlarge a face while maintaining accurate proportions. Drawings shown clockwise starting above left: Adrian; Rohsaan; Michael B.; Gerardo S.

Shown above are large-format compositions by Cristian. While using an easel he explored charcoal, graphite, and pastels as he drew from photos and cubist artwork by Pablo Picasso.

Ink stipple technique and pencil studies of eyes. Drawings shown clockwise starting upper left: Rohsaan; Castro; Jorge; T.J.

Students learned to layer red, yellow, and blue Prismacolor pencils to create a realistic apple. Above left is an drawing by Gerardo S. and to the right is Sergio’s drawing.

Youth Center sketchers also experimented with pencil techniques to create tones and textures. Above left is Castro’s cross-hatched line drawing of a fox. To the right is Sergio’s drawing after a landscape sketch by Vincent Van Gogh.

As students continued exploring realistic form, proportions, and tonal values they used a measuring grid to draw a dog. Drawings shown clockwise starting upper left: Michael B.; Salas; Josh; Rohsaan

For the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays our sketchers drew from real-life pumpkins. They learned to do study sketches of contours and tonal values before finishing a large-format charcoal drawing. Above left are pencil and charcoal drawings by Roberto and to the right is a charcoal drawing by T.J.

And now… for the cool drawings by Youth Center sketchers:

Josh

Abram

Mendez

Trinidad

Salas

Castro

Jorge

Ramon

Michael L.

Roberto

Juan G.

Oscar

Alberto

T.J.

Cristian

Sergio

Adrian

Rohsaan

Michael B.

Jose A.

Kevin

Martin V.

Victor

Dominico

In the above photos, students from last year continue with their interests in subject matter and media while new students learn about lines, shapes, patterns, form, proportions, positive/negative space, and tonal values.

Shown above, Natural Bridges sketcher Gianna continues her studies of plaster casts of faces and hands.

Students learn how to use charcoal to depict 3D form while looking at real life objects. Above left are Briana’s pencil studies of a pumpkin and larger finished charcoal drawing showing contours and shadows. To the right are realistic drawings of a pumpkin by Jade.

As students move from beginning level skills to exploring color and experimenting with various media, we’re beginning to see amazing results. Above left is Grace’s work-in-progress drawing of a peacock using soft pastels. Above right is Briana’s soft pastel drawing after a painting by Picasso.

NB Sketchers explore subject matter and drawing techniques. Above left is a character design sketch by Emilio. And to the right is a tightly rendered drawing by Jade showing accurate proportions and detailed line work.

We tried a fun assignment in abstract drawing and using lines as a language to express human traits and emotions such as anger, human energy, depression, and joy. The photo, above left, shows how Erik used the artist Kandinsky to launch into an abstract drawing. Above right is Frank’s abstract composition and his line studies of human traits.

And now… for the gallery of awesome drawings by all of our students…

Keyah

Erik

Gage

Grace

Ivonne

Briana

Frank

Emilio

Jade

Gianna

Elijah

Scroll down to view everyone’s drawings. Click on images to view larger.

In the photos above, Rancho Cielo sketchers, Monterey County, enjoy learning how to use a variety of drawing materials.

Shown above are excellent examples of study sketches and final, large scale charcoal drawings showing the form of pumpkins. To the left is Karina’s work and to the right are drawings by Yessenia.

Students learned about positive and negative space while drawing an egret. Above left are Osvaldo’s studies and his final charcoal drawing. And to the right are studies and charcoal work by Vicente.

Above left is realistic dragonfly drawn by Janell. It’s proportions and contour edges are very accurately drawn. To the right are drawings by Bryan showing how he drew a large scale dragonfly while keeping accurate proportions.

Shown clockwise, starting upper left: Jazmin’s study of a fox while using a cross-hatching pencil technique; Cristian’s drawing after a painting by the surrealist artist Ferdnand Leger; Joey’s color drawing from math class; Isaiah’s perspective sketches.

Above left, students learn to use a line grid to measure proportions; Juan, last year’s spotlight sketcher, stops by the gym while on a break from work to check out this year’s artwork.

And now… for the amazing drawings by Rancho Cieloo students…

Julian

Janell

Cristian M.

Yessenia

Jazmin

Kaela

Vicente

Jorge

Cristian

Karina

Bryan

Arisdelsy

James

Joey

Isaiah

Osvaldo

Samantha

Veronica

Cesar

Cristo