Project Idea: Object Sketchbook

Are you looking for a way to jump-start your creativity? Get a small sketchbook and devote it entirely to studies of a single object. Draw (or represent) your object as many ways as you can think of, using as many media as your book will hold. Here are some ideas, with links to examples, mostly of my work, some from other artists:

Mary, figure session 2, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

Mary, figure session 2, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

STYLES AND TECHNIQUES gestural, blind contour, continuous line, sketchy, graphic or hard-edge, fat lines, thin lines, no line, busy, calm, realistic, abstract, cartoony, calligraphic, using your non-dominant hand, local color, non-local color, cross-hatching, rectilinear, curvilinear, verbal description, typographical illustration, dark, light

Two sketchbook heads, acrylic on paper, June 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

Two sketchbook heads, acrylic on paper, June 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

MEDIA AND TOOLS pencil, pen, marker, colored pencil, conte crayon, crayola crayon, charcoal, digital, photograph, collage, frottage, xerox, watercolor, pastel, ink wash, fabric, thread or stitches

Valuables in here and Non-tweets, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

Valuables in here and Non-tweets, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

POINT OF VIEW close up, far away, all positive space, all negative space, static, dynamic, alone, with other objects, from above, from underneath, in profile, on edge, repeated or in a pattern

That should keep us busy for awhile, yes?

Date: Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Category: creativity, drawing, process, sketchbook

 

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