In my first adult drawing class about 9 years ago, Eva, the instructor, had us bring in a pair of shoes to draw. I brought in my youngest’s baby shoes. I followed that up with a drawing of my daughter’s ballet shoes, and then one of my other son’s cleats. I still occasionally sketch my shoes. The angles, the foreshortening, the perspective – they are such a great subject to practice on!
Recent shoes
My first shoes
Please excuse the large watermark 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAY1K5H6Q4/
The other night, as I spent important time catching up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I practiced drawing portraits. I couldn’t do it on the fly. I paused the tv and took a couple of photos of each of the women. I can see a glimmer of the woman in each sketch – some more faintly than the others. 🙂
I really enjoy sketching in front of the tv. I wish I did it more. It turns non-productive time into productive time. Give it a try!
Sounds awfully dramatic when put this way – “Realizing a Vision.” But, having the ability to translate what I imagine in my head, onto paper, is still a big deal for me. Often things don’t turn out exactly how I envisioned them – but not always for the worse. Once I start drawing and designing things often take on a mind of their own.
With this project, it came out exactly how I envisioned it. It really made me pause. A few years ago I would not have been able to do this. I wouldn’t have been able to create what was in my head. There were a variety of reasons for this – lack of confidence, not persisting enough, and not having practiced enough to achieve what was in my mind – I guess you can call that lack of skill.
It’s kind of funny that I’m making such a big deal about an illustration for a garage sale flyer. But, I think it’s important to recognize milestones.
A friend asked my to design a garage sale flyer for the school. I’m a graphic designer so it wasn’t surprising that she asked, nor was it a big deal for me to bang out a flyer. But, in my mind I immediately saw it as an illustration project. Since I’m currently sketching “everyday objects” every morning – I began to think of all the things one would sell at a garage sale.
I pulled out paper and began drawing. I focused on the individual elements – not on how they would be arranged. I drew the way I do in my sketchbook in the morning – objects going this way and that, repeating an element a few times to get a better version. Then I scanned every page and arranged the objects in Photoshop. I designed the flyer (not shown) in Illustrator.
Kind of makes you want to pull out your junk and have a sale, right?
I’m already noticing a difference in my level of creativity, just a week after restarting my creative habits. It’s amazing how sketching every morning – often for just 5 minutes – leads to more sketching and painting later in the day. As Maya Angelou said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
My creative habits were derailed a month or so ago, when I was busy with a work project. I forget how much I need my own creative projects. Working as a web and print designer, I have the pleasure of being creative with work. The downfall for me is relying on work as my creative outlet. Last month’s work project was very consuming and creatively fulfilling. I barely drew or painted during this time. Everything was great until the project wrapped up, and a new work project didn’t immediately replace it. I was out of the habit of working on my own stuff, so I was left feeling somewhat empty. As I wrote about in this post, I was having a really hard time motivating myself to work on my own projects.
Thankfully I was able to get back to it, although it’s not always easy to stick to it. I need to remember this lesson next time work gets very busy – to make time for my own creative projects, and to stick with my creative habits.
After seven days straight of working in my sketchbook every morning at the same time, this morning I said to myself, “I don’t feel like it. Maybe later.” So, I grabbed my kindle, which opened up to Gretchen Rubin’s book, “Better than Before,” and the words,
“Scheduling makes us far more likely to convert an activity into a habit.”
How could I not put down the kindle and pick up the sketchbook? So today, I’m celebrating and sharing my eighth day in a row of sketching. Here’s to my new creative habit (almost).
Read this post to learn why I’m working hard to cement my creative habits: Creative Habits and Gretchen Rubin’s book
Hope you enjoy this beautiful Easter Sunday with family and friends! – Eileen
I have really fall in love with my sketchbook. For me, it isn’t so much a place to practice, but a place to come up with ideas and explore them. It is the epitome of no pressure, just playing. Often a new idea from my sketchbook becomes the inspiration for a painting or a pattern design. I’m trying to get back to a more regular sketching schedule. It leads to more paintings.
If you are wondering where I’ve been lately, my business has really been picking up. It’s really exciting to grow and nurture something and see results. You can see my latest graphic design projects on my Facebook page or visit my website www.eileenmckenna.com.
I’m totally obsessed with the Walking Dead. I started watching on Netflix in December and quickly plowed through the seasons to catch up. I originally tried to watch it on two separate occasions a few years back and both times the “walkers” gave me nightmares. I laugh about that now, because they are almost secondary to the story. Of course they are always around and a threat, but I’m barely phased by them now.
Michonne, who I doodled the other night while rewatching an older episode, is one of my favorites. She is so tough. I just love her. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it!
A while back, I worked hard to learn about illustrating in a “children’s book style.” I really studied up on it. (See below for the links to the posts I wrote on my progress.) This week I wanted to do a cutesy illustration of a boy with a box of chocolates and a little girl. I first bought a box of chocolates – we all need a little chocolate, right? Then I had my ten year old, pose with the chocolates under his arm and then as the opposite figure. I didn’t want the illustration to be realistic, but I figured having some reference photos would be helpful.
I went straight to my watercolor paper (taped down on a board), and drew with pencil. I didn’t like it at all. My son looked more like a man than a boy, and there was nothing cutesy about the illustration.
I remembered how drawing something over and over, can really help me arrive at the results I want. So, the next day I pulled out my sketch book and did several versions of the little couple. I remembered the things I learned from observing children’s book illustrators:
Following this advice, I made the heads bigger and rounder, and the bodies smaller. The illustrations definitely looked cuter.
I went back to my watercolor paper, erased the original illustration, and started over, following the style from my sketchbook.
I thought a heart behind them would really emphasize the theme, so I painted a pink heart and a red background. Then I used my pen to create the ink outlines, using the pencil lines as a guide. I waited a bit, so I was sure the ink was dry, and erased all the pencil. I thought about the color palette I wanted. Instead of using blue from the tube, I added pink to it, to mute it, and make it work better with the pinks and reds.
I’m happy with the results, especially compared to my original illustration.
Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Lots of love from New York! And if you are also in the Northeast – stay warm!
Eileen
Other posts I’ve written about children’s book illustration style:
mycreativeresolution.com 