Drawing Basics 102: Class 2 - Creativity with Mary Lelevier

Ever thought you'd like to be more creative with your drawing? If you have, then you might want to think about joining the students in the The Classroom sub-forum of the Drawing and Sketching Forum of Wet Canvas who are currently half way through a two week class on Creativity. For an introduction to the class and more about Mary Lelevier, the tutor (and Forum Moderator) and her credentials and artwork read this link.

The aim of the class is to help drawing students to awaken and find their creative spirit and learn something about following the path to abstraction.

There are two assignments in the class:

• the first challenges the conventional format used to create pictures and uses a viewfinder with a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio to create images with a vertical or horizontal orientation - or a 'slice of life' as one of my friends calls it. If you'd like to see what one might look like, visit the Art Journal of Nicole Caulfield who took a geological survey approach to a sundae recently - you can see the result here.
• the second assignment is about trying to create something distorted and abstract from something realistic.

Mary is using 100 Creative Drawing Ideas as her reference book for the lesson (having got permission from the author, Anne Held Audett). I've popped a link in the drawing books section of the side column for anybody who wants to know more about it.

The way the drawing classes in The Classroom work is that people with limited drawing experience are asked to do the Drawing 101 series first - with Drawing 102 operating more at an Intermediate level. The classes never actually end, although they have a period when there is active learning as part of the first group to do the class - which is what is happening now with this class. People can join classes anytime and always get a friendly welcome in both of the Forums.

You can read about the scope of the 34 lessons in Drawing 101 here.

Meanwhile, as I'm tutoring Class 3 on Sketching I need to get on with writing my class prep. as it starts next Monday! More information about this class will be posted before Monday.

Technorati tags: art , creativity , drawing