Saturday, September 25, 2010

Challenge!

When first entered the creative blogosphere a few months ago, I almost immediately stumbled across Carla Sonheim . Not so much herself, but her book, 'Drawing lab: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun'. It was all the buzz amongst arty bloggers and it caught my curiosity.


I now have a copy in my grotty little hands and have been drooling over it ever since.

Just over a week ago, I stumbled across Carla Sonheim herself and her online workshop 'The Art of Silliness'.  After some decision making (I've never done an online workshop before), I jumped in head first and have been having a great time drawing things that I wouldn't otherwise have considered drawing at all.

So....

I want to do the 52 creative exercises in the book.  I want company so we can all cajol each other and share the experience. I wanna have fun (I am a girl, after all :D).

So I'm declaring a Challenge!
  • Every Friday for four weeks I will be choosing an exercise from the book, 'Drawing lab: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun'. We will have a week to complete it (but late work is always accepted, RL can be evil, I know).
  • On the fifth week, there will be no exercise set, that week being used to either catch up, or complete a finished work directly related or inspired by one of the exercises.
  • The following week will then start up a new cycle of four exercises over four weeks followed by catch up week.  This pattern will continue until we either run out of exercises, or steam (though wouldn't it be great to complete them all????).
  • All that you need is a copy of 'Drawing lab: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun', access to the internet, a variety of art materials, and determination to have fun.

The finer details
  • I will be issuing the weekly challenge by Lab number (exercise number in the book) and page number only in order to protect the author's copyright, so you will need a copy of the book.
  • When you've completed the exercise, either post a link to your creation here on the weekly challenge post or load it up to the Flickr group

www.flickr.com

items in Drawing Lab "flickr" More in Drawing Lab "flickr" pool
  • Some of the exercises are specific in a way that might not be possible for everyone, eg. a visit to the zoo, or drawing a pet, etc. I'm thinking that as long as we follow the spirit of the exercise, then an alternative version of the assignment is totally acceptable, eg. couldn't visit the zoo, but the exercise required drawing moving animals, so the artist drew people in the street, or kids, or a bird that flew into their backyard; didn't own a pet, so the artist drew their children, next door neighbour, a plant moving in the wind.
  • I'm also a big believer in following inspiration and using everything I create. So if you get inspired by an exercise and want to create a grand masterpiece, go for it! If you want to bend an exercise to an idea that has suddenly reared up and thwapped you across the head, do it! It's great to have a finished piece of work that you can hang on the wall, exhibit, or give as a birthday pressie. This is the reason for the fifth week. Time to review the ideas generated from the previous four weeks and polish them up.
So, would you like to join me? I'd love your company. I think we all work better with a cheering squad. Comment here so I know who is daring enough and we can meet each other.

Challenge No. 1 will be issued on Friday 1st October. I hope to see you there.

Best wishes,
Nutty
(I dare ya)

Update: You can find the full details for the challenge on a permanent page of this blog, it includes a list of the challenges both current and past, and also a list of all the valiant challengers participating.  Join us!

17 comments:

  1. Yay!
    You know I'm in ;)

    xo
    Kristin
    (off to enjoy a silly weekend...)

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  2. Me too! :) Off to tweet about it, etc! :D

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  3. Maybe in future but not right now - with two LAS communities and NaNoWriMo staring at me from November. Good luck!

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  4. I am in, too. I have never, ever, ever drawn anything because I draw like a three year old. Carla's workshop is showing me that it doesn't matter if I draw like a three year old 'cause I'm on a journey. I went to your Flickr page and see lots of pictures by different people. What are those drawings from? I hope lots of people sign up. I'm psyched.

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  5. Love to do it, too. Just took Carla's Whimsey class and had a blast.

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  6. Great to have you all here. The first challenge is up!

    http://ffacets.blogspot.com/2010/10/first-drawing-lab-challenge-exercise.html

    Let the fun begin!

    Nutty
    (excited)

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  7. Hey there. I adore your idea and congratulate you on organizing this community. I can't participate this time around, but would love to do so in the future. I'll be popping in from time to time to check out your creations!

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  8. Oh my goodness, I can't believe it! I just got my copy of Drawing Lab in the mail this week, having put it on my birthday list (but didn't receive it), I finally bought it for myself. This challenge is perfect for me and I like that the fifth week is catch-up week. I'm in! And I'll share my nuts! Must totter off to see what the challenge is this week since it was posted yesterday.

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  9. Ooooo it's Saturday! Can I still join in? I'm doing Silliness2 as well, but that will end in a couple of weeks. I think I can handle both groups for two weeks! Count me in! :-D

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  10. oh fabulous! i am also in the silly class and have been thinking of picking up the book. now i truly shall so i can play along with the group here. thanks. xo michele

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  11. Anyone can start at anytime, and welcome! What a wonderful bunch of enthusiasm to wake up to this morning :D

    Great to meet you all.

    Nutty
    (who just encountered an early daylight saving changeover so it is much later now than expected)

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  12. I LOVE this book. It's made drawing fun for me again.

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  13. This is really a fantastic idea, and thanks for putting your thoughts out there. I just bought a copy of the book a couple weeks ago. I'm also in Sillyness 2 and will hope to be able to do both at once

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  14. Great! More to share the fun.

    Robyn, will you be participating?

    Nutty
    (still having fun)

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  15. I would like to join too. I bought the book months ago and couldn't get started due to a huge amount of work. This challenge will help me to finally start drawing. I am really looking forward to all the chapters we will draw.
    Greetings from Vienna, Austria,
    Karin

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  16. Hello Gumnut! I would like to join too please. I too bought this book (and I love it!) a couple of months ago and would love to explore the labs with you and the group. Thanks Patty from Maryland.

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  17. Hi! I would love to join - I love this book! Thanks - Patty - Maryland

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