By Irene Brady
I love giving workshops. It is a real high to help people discover that they’re unimaginably good artists, or share with them “aha!” tricks and tips that I’ve been using throughout my 40-year art career. But when the economy tanked, I had to stop giving workshops due to low enrollment in this non-urban area.
An important part of my workshops were the heavily illustrated workbooks I designed for my students to take home, filled with advice to keep them going once the workshop was over. So I’ve spent the last few months writing, re-writing, and illustrating tutorials and step-by-step exercises to make those workbooks into stand-alone lessons – then putting them up on my Workshop Workbook web page for download. I’m not done yet, but here’s what I have so far:
Nature Sketching Basics (Special! $9.95) – A right-brain guide to teach you how to sketch what you actually see. This is the foundation book, and since all the others build upon the right-brain skill of transferring what you see to the paper, I recommend it to anyone wanting to draw realistically. There’s a lot in its 26 pages, from an introduction to right-brain techniques, to exercises in free-hand drawing of leaves, shells and pinecones, ways to create left-brain templates to allow the two sides of your brain to work together, then shading, blending, and 3-dimensional effects. The book includes a tutorial on drawing a turkey feather, with step-by-step instructions, and it ends with advice on how to critique your own work.
Nature Sketching Details (Special! $9.95) – Advanced techniques for 3-D shading, ways to tackle difficult subjects, and shortcuts to great effects. This workbook starts where the Basics workbook leaves off, with ways to draw textures, symmetrical subjects, and shade white objects. There are several tutorials: drawing a cattail (with life-size cattail photos), tricky ways to create fine white lines against a in dark background (think “cat’s whiskers” or “leaf veins”), lizard and snake scales, and my own invention of “drawing” white on black (and not with white pencils, either).
Sketching Wildlife Basics (Special! $9.95) – Wildlife sketching techniques and time-tested tips for every situation. In this workbook, I show you ways to develop left and right-brain templates to help you draw moving animals, how to use several models to draw a single sketch, or one model to draw several concurrent sketches. You’ll learn to develop your “visual snapshot” skills, then apply your pencil to get the tonal values you need to create fur and feathers. You’ll learn how to draw an eye with speed and skill, and the principles of drawing and shading fur, nestling down, and hair. There is a tutorial on sketching moving birds in the field, and techniques for drawing and shading realistic feathers. Find out what to do with birds that hit your window (sketch them, of course!), and ways to use your camera as a backup when sketching. Making useful labels and notes is discussed, as well as paper weight, electric erasers, and using a ballpoint pen when sketching. There’s even a tutorial on how to attach a pencil loop to your sketchbook!
Nature Sketching With Watercolor Pencils (Special! $9.95) – Fill your sketchbook with beautiful, satisfying color. Adding color to your sketches is incredibly satisfying (and a bit scary to some). This workbook takes all the fear out of it, introducing the waterbrush and its care and watering, and the skills you need to work like a pro. There’s a lovely color wheel exercise, instructions for making color charts if you want to, EIGHT ways to get the color onto the paper, a tutorial on applying a mask, and a tutorial on how to hold and use the paintbrush effectively for different results. This is not a sketching book – it concentrates on using color. So there are lots of sketches on which you to try out step-by-step instructions: a bobcat kitten, a mountain scene, trees and shrubbery, hemlock cones, a fawn, a skull, and a conch shell. There is a full-blown tutorial for painting an orchid, from delicate shading and bold spots on the petals to a striking background that you could use anywhere. I’ve also included a tutorial by Susie Short on how to paint raindrops or dewdrops, because she says it perfectly. This workbook will have you applying color in no time at all.
Observing Nature ($24.95) – A journal sketching guide to discovering your natural environment. If you would like to encourage your kids to go out and sketch/journal, you can jump-start the process with this curriculum developed in conjunction with three nature centers to use with students from middle school through high school. If you go out with them to sketch, you’ll get as much enjoyment as they do. Purchasing this download gives you permission to print out as many as you want for your students. The course emphasizes quiet observation, developing curiosity, improving drawing skills, honing interpretive skills, practicing writing and descriptive skills, and developing self-confidence, self-reliance and independence. Kids absolutely love this course. See also the Teacher’s Manual.
Observing Nature Teacher’s Manual ($24.95) – Teaching children to develop observational, writing and drawing skills as they discover the natural environment through sketching and journaling. This is extremely useful tool to help you implement the course for children, even if it’s only your own kids. It features creating Observation Boxes filled with natural items to examine, draw, and journal about: acorns, leaves, seedpods, and whatever natural curiosities you find in your area. This manual also has a class plan and everything you need if you decide to try your hand at teaching a group of children these skills in a more formal setting. This goes with the Observing Nature book described above. Buy Now
Workbooks In-Preparation: Drawing Raptors (almost ready), Basic Landscape Sketching, Travel and Nature Journaling. Additional titles to be announced.
Question for EE Week Readers:
Do you use drawing as a learning tool? If so, how do you incorporate drawing into your activities?
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