Win a set of Beanys
A big thank you to Susan Burch for sending me this photo of a copy of 75 Ways to Draw More that she printed out and made. I got a huge kick from seeing the little booklet in situ across the Altlantic (it feels a little like magic).
It occurs to me that I could turn this into a small competition. If you’ve printed out your own copy of the booklet (or even bought one) then put link to a quick snap of it, that you’ve posted somewhere online, in the comments below. In a couple of weeks I’ll put all the names into my sparkly cowboy hat, and pull out one. The winner will be sent a set of Beanys.
In today’s micro-podcast I’m talking about trying to stay focused. I’d love to hear what you do to try and keep on track with what you’re doing.
Focusing on the one thing I’m doing is a struggle for me as well and is made even more difficult because I find such richness in the meeting of different types of thinking, so I can rarely even resolve to block everything else out mentally. I have, though, found that writing things down I want or need to remember is a really helpful way to keep the synapses a little less cluttered—I now carry a tiny little notebook with me in my back pocket at (almost) all times, along with a mini pen in my front pocket. I will also turn my IM and email app off sometimes if I really need to focus, and music without words is helpful sometimes as well.
Thanks again for your super-fun “75 Ways” booklet — I really did need the motivation to draw again. I hate that I’ve become such a pixel-pushing ‘puter monkey now that I’ve been out of art school for a while! As you said in your podcast: when you draw, you REALLY see something in a way that you don’t normally. Whoever said that it can be like meditating is onto something too. On the rare occasions that I do focus, it’s when I’m really involved in something, then I sort of get out of myself and absorbed. I can sometimes emerge 3 hours later wondering where the time went. But more often than not I’m a dabbler. Here is what I’ve produced in the couple of days of my personal sketching challenge: http://susanburch.posterous.com/sketching-5
Thanks for making 75 Ways to Draw More available for print. I’ve been drawing a little bit everyday. I’ve always wanted to draw but always told myself I couldn’t. I think now I’m going to stick with it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28009723@N03/3508565507/
Dave, that’s quite an impressive library of books! The only one I don’t recognise is Drawing from Within. Has it been useful?
I love books. I think one of the reasons I wanted to start drawing, was to have one more excuse to buy books. The DotRSotB is the librarys. I just picked up Drawing from Within last week and I have only read through the first chapter. I very much like what I’ve read and there are lots of great drawings inside too.
here is mine. i think it is a really easy and encouraging way to start drawing. thank you so much!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anactahara/3512817824/
I keep a daily sketch blog, but my time and energy for artistic output are in short order during the summer with two children at home and 110 degree temperatures looming. So I decided to draw my way through your booklet as my summer art project. Thanks for the creative inspiration, Michael Nobbs!
I’m melting at the thought of those temperatures, Susan! Happy drawing.
Thanks! That’s, by the way, summer in Tucson, Arizona (USA). Sounds like we’re hailing from two very different climates!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hiwendee/3506834757
Hi Michael – Here’s mine (hoping the link will work). I must say, I’ve lived very happily without a color printer for a few years, … until I printed out your booklet. Seeing these other booklets, in color, makes me feel awfully… monochromatic. Enjoying going through it, though, and seeing everyone else’s sketches, all the same.