More Than Just Stick Figures

I drew a lot of stick people on the chalkboard to illustrate physics topics in my classroom. I enjoyed posing those skinny characters. The students seemed to like them.

I wondered if I could draw more realistic things. What techniques would help me do that? I enrolled in a drawing class from Craftsy to find out.

The class was in 10 video lessons covering topics of pencils, charcoal, perspective, tone, shading, contours, value, and color. In each lesson, the teacher illustrated the topic and suggested assignments for practice. As my starter lesson, I chose to draw this note clip made by my dad.

My drawing was a bit short and squat. More practice and lessons were needed. I tried regular geometric shapes , then a space scene. Better.

Our 7 year old grandson loves dinosaurs and his older sister loves her kitty.

The works of sidewalk chalk artists in 3-D inspired this cat and mouse scene.

One lesson suggested the use of a grid to help get proportions correct. That technique helped on this photo of Dad holding tight to Mom’s hand.

The last class lesson explored the use of colored media such as crayons, watercolor pencils, and chalks. I used a photo of a pansy as my subject. It took a few days to finish the drawing.

I wondered how it would look if I added less detail and finished quicker? The left one took 15 minutes. The right one 5 minutes. I like the right one a lot.

I convinced myself that I can draw more than stick people. It is a soothing activity allowing mindful attention to the task. I’m as happy as this stick man.

There are more drawings to share. Come back if you are interested.