Learn to illustrate with Danielle Donaldson

Creative Girls with Danielle Donaldson

I have been taking Danielle Donaldson’s delightful class at the Jeanne Oliver network. I have always loved drawing little characters and I have been trying to learn to illustrate by taking classes with as many different people as possible so that my own characters eventually find their own style. I am enjoying watching how my girls morph from Jane Davenport girls to Juliette Crane girls to Danielle Donaldson girls. I think with each transformation they retain a little something from each experience. I am fascinated to see how they end up. Maybe there is no ‘end’. Perhaps the point is that our drawings taking on a life of their own and perpetually evolve. I like that idea.

What is in the class?

This course covers character building, journal making, a little lettering and perspective and is mainly using watercolours which I am currently in love with. (Mercifully, as I was off to a bit of a rocky start with an early attempt at ‘traditional’ watercolours!)

Here are my Danielle-ish girls. I even played with my twinkling H2Os for the first time. Danielle doesn’t use those in the course - I just couldn’t resist giving the girls a bit of bling in a rather subtle way. Hmm.. Is that possible?…subtle bling?

Creative girls with Danielle Donaldson

Themed journals

I love the idea of a themed journal like this one that Danielle teaches you to put together. I didn't opt to bind my own journal although I do love doing that too. At the moment I have set my book up as Danielle instructs and I am trying not to feel scared of messing it up… I’m working in pencil like Danielle which is unusual for me - never been a fan of graphite but… yippee, you get to erase!

Cover Girls

Danielle’s cover girl is a character called Bad Penny. She is super cute. However, I couldn't quite bring myself to call any of my characters ‘bad’ … so I have a different Danielle-ish girl. I have popped her on the first page in my journal. I might recreate her on a separate sheet and stick her onto the cover of my journal eventually.

Working small

The course also teaches you to work small to build up confidence in developing illustration skills. This is an idea close to my heart, as I first learned the appeal of working in a teeny journal when I took one of Joanne Sharpe’s classes Draw Your Awesome Life, which I also highly recommend.

Perspective

Another part of the class I have really enjoyed is learning perspective. Danielle incorporates just enough of the technical skills of perspective to really help make more lively, realistic (and yet still whimsical) drawings. There is not so much of the technical skill building to stop the class feeling like fun as opposed to school. Look at my chairs… who knew drawing cute little chairs could be so fun?

This class is Danielle’s second creative girls class on Jeanne Oliver's network. I never took the first one, but after taking this class I think I might have to.

Art and the importance of play

The importance of play

Quite a few years ago I was in the middle of a very long study programme. I was working. I had two small children. Every minute of my day seemed scripted. It also seemed to be mostly for satisfying other people’s needs. Then, seemingly out of the blue, I got it into my head that I wanted to learn the piano. I had never played an instrument before. I didn't have a piano. And I was very busy doing other ‘important’ things. But for some reason I heeded the call. I hired a digital piano, bought myself an online piano course and started to learn.

I’m so glad I did - despite that little voice in my head that kept saying What are you doing? This is so silly… Isn't it a waste of money? You really don't have time for these needless things…

But that was just the point. I needed exactly that. Something needless. Something just for me, that didn't really matter. I could be good at it or bad at it. Do it often or seldom. It was just for fun. I wanted to play.

What is play?

In his TED talk, Dr Stuart Brown used the word needless to explain what play is. He describes play as an activity that is more about process than outcome, that is done purely for enjoyment. He also says the opposite of play is depression. Play is vital.

Play is not just something children do in preparation for adulthood but a biological process necessary in all phases of life. Neuroscientists have worked out that play lights up our brains - there is even an entire scholarly journal dedicated to it, The American Journal of Play!

We all need to make time in each day for a bit of fun - a chance to play, even adults. In fact, I want to say, especially adults. Everyone agrees fun and play is important for children but we tend to overlook these things in adulthood. It was in watching my small child drawing that I realised grown ups need to play too - in fact that is what started my art journey.

Art is play

For me, art is play. According to the National Institute for Play, there are seven types of play:

• attunement play
• body play and movement
• object play
• social play
• imaginative and pretend play
• story telling and narrative play
• creative play.

Making art encompasses several of these.  Artists work with their hands, manipulating objects such as pens, brushes, clay, paper. Working with our hands (object play) has been identified as an important way in which our brains develop problem solving abilities

Making art is a chance to escape into a fantasy world for a brief time, satisfying our need for self expression and developing the neural pathways required for innovative thinking (creative play).

Anyone who has every kept an art journal will be in no doubt that this process helps us to explain, describe and make sense of our world. This is what story-telling and narrative play is all about.

Daily play

Dr Dan Seigel recommends dividing our time between seven essential mental activities every day, for optimum health:

• sleep time
• physical time
• focus time
• down time
• time in
• play time
• connecting time

These things make up what he describes as our healthy daily platter - the mental equivalent of healthy food plate. Alongside things like sleeping, working and exercising we should be consciously setting aside play time.

How funny it is that once we become adults we need to be told to go and have some fun every day…

“Play is the gateway to vitality.

By its nature it is uniquely and intrinsically rewarding. It generates optimism, seeks out novelty, makes perseverance fun, leads to mastery, gives the immune system a bounce, fosters empathy and promotes a sense of belonging and community.”      National Institute For Play

So what are you going to play at today?

A peep into my 10 minute journal

A little while ago I wrote about using this 10 minute journal to get creatively unstuck. I decided to challenge myself to do a daily page in this journal and post it on Instagram. It has been a great way to make sure that I get a chance to fit in some art - even on a really busy day. Here is what I have been up to...

Perseverance pays...

You know, there just might be something in this 10 000 hour rule.

Early attempt at a  face using alcohol markers

Early last year, about 400 art hours ago, I was introduced to Spectrum Noir Markers. They are alcohol based markers, which (when used with the right bleedproof paper or card) blend the streaky marks you inevitably make, all by themselves. So they are nothing like the markers we used as kids. They come in glorious colours and enable the production of beautiful, creamy skin tones. They do take some getting used to though. I remember being rather pleased with myself for being able to draw something resembling a face, under Lovely Jane's gentle instruction. Here is a face I drew back then using these very markers. I feel very brave revealing her, but she illustrates the point!

Another face, still using alcohol markers, but about 400 hours of drawing practice later!

I haven't really used these alcohol markers much because they are so fussy about the paper, and I am rather enjoying working in art journals at the moment.  But it is week 1 of 'Express Yourself'  another one of Lovely Jane's classes. Our warm up assignment was a shaded face using alcohol markers.

I think this face is much better than my earlier effort above, so I feel jolly encouraged and enthusiastic about doing more. It seems that we can learn new things, at any age.

I think there is a risk of being so focused on an outcome, the place you would like to get to, that you forget to notice where you have already been. It's a bad habit I am prone to, I think - the tendency to be more mindful of what I still can't do rather than acknowledging, or even observing, the current progress.

So here I am, pausing to take heart that practice does indeed seem to work, and ready to put in many more joyful hours of drawing.

In the midst of my self-appreciation, Beloved offered the observation that it looks as though she got smacked in the top of the head with an iron. Well. Yes....I see what he means. Luckily, I have 9 400 hours or so to work on that....

It's all about me....

Last week, the Lifebook 2014 lesson over at (willowing) was entitled "Be True to You".  They say that it is the exercises that you resist that have the most to teach you. To be honest, I'm not terribly keen on collaging (is that a verb? let's assume so...) ephemera - I would rather learn to draw a whimsical face, a leaping figure or distant buildings in perspective.  But I have promised myself I would do every single Lifebook 2014 lesson, and now I am glad of that.

 

The first step was to think of  three elements or symbols that are true to me. After getting over the initial surprise that I didn't know the answers to these questions automatically,  I noticed how nice it was to be forced to spend some time thinking about just me. How odd not to have instant reflexive answers to such a simple personal question. The colour scheme was easy. I have always been the Queen of Cream, as my interior decorating choices have long borne witness.  But as for what I like... hmm. I know what my children need from their mum, what their school requires from me as a parent, what my students want to take from me as a lecturer, what my academic colleagues expect as a researcher, and so on. But me, just me as me? I don't think I have ever thought about that too much before. So after some consideration,  here it is: words, music (my beloved ukulele - cream, obviously) and the simple elegance of a white tulip. C'est moi... apparently. 

 

 

 

There is nothing more delightful than a cartoon, is there?

I am drawing because it is fun. And I can't think of anything more fun than a cartoon. Cartooning is something of a long held ambition for me. I am  a perpetual student, and have this habit of acquiring books on random subjects that usually don't see immediate use.

My drawing of 'Screaming Mimi' from Jack Keeley's 'Cartooning 1'

In my stash I have found two favourites, both Walter Foster books, 'Cartooning 1', by Jack Keeley and 'Cartooning', by Hal Tollison.  The former includes a section on 'Crazy Characters'. This really speaks to me. No matter what sort of day you have been having, 'Screaming Mimi' can only make you smile, don't you think?

She was delightful to draw, but the delight is somewhat tempered by the fact that I am copying her. There is something uncomfortable about that for me. I remind myself that I am a beginner, and one has to start somewhere. I found some lofty support for that notion, too:

"If one knows how to copy, one knows how to do" Leonardo Da Vinci

And here is another drawing copied from the same section of this book. I love the minimal lines and careful use of positive and negative areas. I would like to say this is something of a self portrait, but I fear 'Screaming Mimi' might be closer to the mark in that regard...

Grown ups need to play, too

I am on holiday in Australia's sunshine coast with my delightful young family. I am watching my daughter, age 5, totally absorbed in her drawing. "I want some of that", I think. And why shouldn't I? Grown ups need to play, too. So, I pop down to the newsagent and return with something called a 'Visual Diary'. Hmm, looks like a sketchbook to me. Now. What to draw? Later that day, in a bookshop, I happen upon a book on special, for $5. Bargain. It's called 'Funky Things to Draw', and it's a sign. Turns out, it's written for children. Never mind. Given my earlier observation, that seems most appropriate. One of the problems of taking on something like learning to draw as an adult is that it can be rather intimidating. As an adult, shouldn't I already know how to do this well? And, come to think of it, should I even want to do this at all? I mean, don't I have laundry to do, dinner to cook and taxes to file? Luckily, I'm on holiday, so I ignore these voices and draw a flamenco lady in pencil. My lovely new book gives me step by step instructions. Here she is....