Sketchbook Lessons 25-36




Remember...you can earn an extra point for each of these if you write a paragraph explaining your decisions, your process, or your thoughts about your drawing!

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Sketchbook #25: "Through a Glass Darkly..."

Points: 3 (Can be repeated with different objects and setups).

Materials:  Pencil, black fine-line marker, or ballpoint would be easiest to do, but you can use any drawing materials you wish.

Looking at objects through glass and water changes how we see the object.  Glass "refracts," or bends the light  that passes through the glass.  

This exercise should be drawn from life---set up the objects and draw what you see.

For this exercise, find a plain drinking glass (plain will be easier, but you can use any glass) and fill it at least partway with water.  

Put the object you wish to draw behind it--preferably an opaque (NOT see-through) object, like a ceramic mug, a shoe, a stack of books, another simple drawing, anything.  Alternatively, you could put a pencil or other object IN the glass with water in it. 

Draw how you see the object(s) while looking THROUGH the glass.  If you wish to draw part outside the glass and part in (see examples), that's okay, too.

Another alternative: draw LIGHT through the glass, without another object.

See examples!

These are all tricky! 


Sketchbook #26: What About the Environment?

Points: 3

Materials: any

Create a sketch, using whatever media you wish, that sends a message about The Environment.  Water, land, littering, air quality, forests, etc....the sky's the limit (and the sky can be a subject!).

Your "message" is up to you. 

Use up the entire page, even if you have negative space somewhere in the sketch.

Use shading, or cross-hatching, or different colors, to bring your sketch to life.  

You can add text if you wish, but not required. 

Sketchbook #27: Crumpled 


Points: 3

Materials: Pencil or black pen

Take another drawing (not from your sketchbook, but elsewhere), OR a magazine ad, or a printed out photograph, and crumple up the paper.

Let the paper rest a few minutes (it should open up a little), and then--sketch it!  

Sketch what you see, how you see it.  Try to get as detailed as you can!  Look for the shadows and lines.  Draw the crumpling more than what's on the paper.  See the crumples as objects themselves.

For a somewhat simpler sketch, just take a blank piece of paper and crumple it up--and then do the same.





Sketchbook #28: Three Unlikely Objects


Points: 3

Materials: Any drawing media you wish, pencil or colored pencils or pastels or ink.


Gather three objects that have NOTHING to do with each other (ex: a pencil, a sock, a novel). 

Arrange the three items into an interesting, pleasing arrangement.

Choose your point of view: straight on?  From above?  From below a little bit?

Draw.  Remember to view all the areas not as lines of things you recognize, but as shapes of various shades, and draw what you see, not the whole.  Pretend you have no idea what these objects are as you draw.


Sketchbook #29: Tattoo You

Points: 3

Materials: Black ink

Design a tattoo you would like to get some day. Look for balance of design (doesn't look lopsided) and detail.  Clean the edges and erase any pencil lines. 


Sketchbook #30: It's a Piece of Cake

Points: 2

Materials: Any; this sketch needs to be in color

Draw a piece of cake and make it look DELICIOUS! 

This sketch needs to be in color.

The piece of cake can be on a plate or not; can be with a whole cake or by itself, can be upright or lying down. 



Sketchbook #31:
Visual Emotion 

Points: 3

This is *sort* of like Sketchbook #4, Moody Colors, but not quite the same.

Think of any strong emotion: love, hatred, joy, misery, fear, etc..

Then, sketch what that emotion looks like to you.

Maybe you'll draw...



Sketchbook #32: Light and Shadow

Points: 5

Materials: Pencil (regular or art/charcoal pencils)


First, look at this webpage explaining about drawing objects with a single light source.

Now, find a semi-darkened area to draw in and set up a single light source (phone, lamp, window, etc.).

Arrange 2-3 various objects in front of you and notice how the light falls on the objects, and the various types of shadows the objects create--and what shapes they are in.

Draw what you see. 

Use an eraser for extreme highlights.



Sketchbook #33: Photo Redux

Points: 4

Materials: Any

Find or print a photo of yours.

Cut the photo into several small pieces.

Rearrange the pieces in a totally different order.

Draw what you see (either in color or black and white). 

Sketchbook #34: Dream House

Points: 4

Materials: Any

Sketch a home you'd like to live in one day.  It could be a house, an apartment, a cottage, a treehouse...whatever.

Include a lot of detail!


Sketchbook #35: Breakfast of Champions

Points: 3

Materials: Any

Imagine the best breakfast ever.  Draw it, including the dishes it comes on and the napkins or table linens you expect it to be served with.

Sketchbook #36: It's All Point of View...

Points: 3

Materials: Any.

Place any object on the table in front of you.

Draw  the object THREE times on the same page, but looking at it from three DIFFERENT angles/ points of view.  You can move yourself or move the object to find the different points of view.