I love art challenges. For me, it's a good way to shake things up in my sketchbook, and it's good exercise for the brain/hand coordination. It takes you out of your comfort zone and sometimes magical things can happen. In my college days, I found these silly little "challenges" to be soooo frustrating and pointless.
"I don't want to draw with my eyes closed, what good is that! Just teach me how to DRAW already. I don't want to play your silly games!"
Ha, I realize now how good those actually were, no matter how much I hated them. In hindsight, I think it was the fact that, with a challenge exercise, your drawing outcome is usually "not so pretty". And who wants an ugly drawing! Over the years my tastes have changed from working towards "perfection" to working towards "imperfections" and capturing more character and emotion than anything else. It's oddly more satisfying to me.
Since I'm rambling on, let's jump back to my present challenge - the "no-lift" technique (I can't remember if it has an actual name - so this is what I shall call it). It's one I haven't practiced since college, but I've really been enjoying these quick little sketches. Basically, you DO NOT lift your drawing tool at all until you are done. I spend just a couple of seconds on each figure, giving up control and just going with the flow. I'm loving the outcome of some of these - nothing that I could have planned to happen normally. Plus, I can tell it has really loosened up my other sketches. Less thinking and more confident line making!
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| ©2015 Jessica Twilbeck | The Pen and Ink Project |
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| ©2015 Jessica Twilbeck | The Pen and Ink Project |
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| ©2015 Jessica Twilbeck | The Pen and Ink Project |
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| ©2015 Jessica Twilbeck | The Pen and Ink Project |
Don't judge your outcome! It's not going to be pretty - and that's the point! Just be free and loose and wonderful things will happen because you've given up some of your control. I didn't like the first few I did, but after a few more it became fun and now I look forward to it!
Work small to start - it feels less threatening/overwhelming and a little more private
Pick a medium you're used to using - something new will only make it harder (unless you like the extra challenge)
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