Drawing Lab: Cheater Blinds

IMG_8560, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Dragged my sketch book and pens and an old photo album out to the playground and got my cheater blinds done. These were fun. They ended up being very caricature-ish. Especially this one. Jason isn't really leering at Jessica as much in the photo as this looks - but it makes for a kinda fun drawing :) I also drew my brother and I with a snowman and my sister holding a cousins new baby.  You can see those ones on flickr.

Drawing Lab: Drawing in Coffee Shops

IMG_8544, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

I dreaded this week. I forced myself to go ahead and do it anyway - because it's good to do things that make you uncomfortable sometimes. But I ended up hating doing it as much as I feared I would. Drawing animals at the zoo is fun. They are used to being stared at all day. Drawing people in a coffee shop makes me feel like a Creepy Person. And not just drawing - Blind Contour Drawing of all things. So I'm not even looking down at my paper. I'm just staring at a stranger and drawing in my little book. CREEEPY PERSON. So ya - I just have too many social anxiety issues to enjoy this project. But I did it.
To avoid being too much of a creepy person I mostly drew people's backs and people who were sitting outside (foolishly I chose a seat with a bad view of the people outside - so those drawings are kinda cramped) Anyway - It's done. I don't have to worry about it anymore. Moving on to next week - drawing from photos - nice and comfortable!

Click the photo to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr.

Drawing lab: Left Handed Faces

Jesse Sleeping, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

This begins the "inspired by people" section - which is more challenging than animals, because I have to do this when I'm around other people. I finally found a time when Toby and jesse were around. First while Toby was eating breakfast - his eyes are looking down at my drawing on the right. His mouth got strangely enormous so I drew him again today while he was watching Star Wars and I also got Jesse while he was sleeping through Star Wars. Left handed drawing is fun. It's a lovely excuse for imperfection.

Drawing Lab Week 8 - find the creature

Maltese Cat and Bird, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Better late than never - We painted random red, blue and yellow lines then looked for the hidden creatures.

Click the photo to see the rest of my creatures on Flickr

4 media monkey

4 media monkey, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

The assignment for this was to draw a monkey using only 4 preselected different media. I chose a pink sharpie, a green fine point sharpie, a pencil, and crimson watercolor applied with one of those chinese bamboo brushes. I hated drawing my monkey with a sharpie to start with. As you can see by the random line going through the middle of his head and that mess on his hand, I clearly needed something I could erase while I was feeling out my proportions. but I did enjoy the process of mixing the different drawing media. I like working in a lot of different media- but I rarely mix them together so this was fun.

A Bunch of Dogs

IMG_8382, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Drawing Lab: 20 Dogs
We were supposed to draw the same dog 30 times. I didn't really like my dogs much, but then I tried drawing a mouse and I like that even less.
Click the photo to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr

Zoo Day 2

IMG_8432, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Drawing Lab: Zoo Day 2
Went to the Nature Center instead of the zoo :) This Barn Owl was my favorite. So I drew him a lot. Found out I actually like hard pencils for sketching better than I thought. The super soft ones made me commit to a line before I was ready :)
Click the picture to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr.

Zoo day

Zoo day, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

For Drawing Lab this week we went to the zoo to draw animals.
Sleeping meerkats - and Toby wanted to be in art club too - so he drew a monster dreaming about a robot. :)
Click the picture to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr.

Gesture pets

Gesture pets, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Drawing Lab: Drawing our pets in motion.
Fed the cats some cat nip, armed Toby with some string and pipe cleaners and went to work
Click the picture to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr.

Expanding on contour giraffes

Expanding on contour giraffes, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Drawing Lab: Contour Drawings of Giraffes
I'm having paper issues. I hunted and hunted for a nicer piece of paper, but in the end, settled for the hideous pink card stock. I clearly need to get to the art store. Nevertheless, I'm happy with how this came out.
Click the picture to see the rest of my contour drawings on Flickr.

30 Cats

Expanding, a photo by Steph Toth Kates on Flickr.

Drawing Lab Week One : We drew 30 quick cats - then expanded our favorites.
This one is my favorite - a collaboration with Jo. I think he adds a lot of movement to the drawing :)
Click the picture to see the rest of my drawings on Flickr.