Some time back, we had a sketching thread. This was based on drawing subjects from life.

Sketching is likely THE most valuable exercise you can do to improve your drawing skills. Also drawing from life is another. If you sketch daily, you'll soon see your ability to render form and light grow by leaps and bounds.

I will post a list of items that you can choose to draw. The rules are:

1. You MUST draw from life. No photographs!
2. You can choose to draw one item or the whole list.
3. Post your sketches as you do them.
4. The list will last for one week, then be replaced with another.

Remember these are sketches, not finished drawings. Of course you can make them as detailed as you like, but normally sketches are looser, unfinished drawings.

Its that simple! Have fun!

The List

An egg
A shoe
Your toothbrush
A spoon
Something red
Your favourite chair
A salt shaker
Your breakfast
The view from your living room window
A fallen leaf

Just bought some new baby shoes today.

Excellent sketch Mindy. those little shoes are so cute.

I'm so happy to read this topic. Here is, by chance, a sketch (on an old envelope, with my stylo). In a public space, where I waited for a friend. Happy not having thrown the envelope away.
An

One of Danielle's sneakers.
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While waiting for my sister - pen and paper

NVA, its good to sketch in public. I so so continually, almost a contest with myself to see how much information I can get down before the person moves.

Lots of detail in your sketch Ernest, great stuff.

Lance, sneakers are so appealing to draw for some reason, aren't they?

Eek!
I guess this is a good thing to do, I felt like I was picking up a foreign object.
Here is my sorry spoon.
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Looks like a good spoon to me Paulette I like the reflection too

In the street, I think one must grasp everything in one glance, because when you look up the second time, the person is gone.
Here is another sketch at home. I looked around and draw on the paper what I see.

Hi, Mr Hill and Lance500: I'm collecting shoes for my challenge:
Drawing Shoes
Can I put Danielle's and Lance500 shoes in my collection ? Thank you!
NVA

Can't upload images in any forum thread. This is a link to the gallery image.
Need to practice more with drawing containers.

Ohhhh.. I always loved the drawing from life thread. I'm glad it's back. Thank you Jeanette.

I am still in therapy for my eye that I lost the vision in when I was in the auto accident, so I haven't drawn much for months now. If I get a chance I may try one of these anyway.

Great drawings every one. They are wonderful.

Nice work on these Elena. Ellipses are tricky to draw but like everything there is a method to help you achieve perfection. I believe someone gave a good explanation in one of the threads about it. I'll have to do a search and see if I can find it and add the link for you. Perspective factors into viewing and drawing ellipses that are believable and I can rarely draw one freehand without having to resort to creating my perspective box to put it in. Practice does make perfect however.

Cyn, how are you? How is your eye and the vision now? Terrible thing to happen that accident, I hope things are going well for you now. I look forward to seeing your lovely work again soon.

Well I was feeling ambitious, so I did all the suggested topics

Wow, you have indeed been busy Trish! Very impressive.

Thank you, Jeanette for the thought. But you know me by now. I wouldn't be impressed by someone who can produce a perfect drawing of a cup done with tools and measurements. Why in the world all the fuss about developing artistic skills then? An artist should be able to see and render that ellipsoid with his own eyes and hands rather than with help from measurement and tools.After all there is a difference between technical drawing and fine arts.

I did more exercises of the same tea glass but i cannot upload. Hope the administrators would take pity of us who still have problems with image uploading.

galley link

My husbands red lunch bag.
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Wow, you all have been busy! What great practice this gives, drawing the things we see everyday in our lives! This is a 30-minute sketch of my husband napping with the baby today. Priceless.

very good sketch Mindy.Through your sketch i see peace in your home.

Thank you Elena. Yes, how perceptive of you. The problems we had are being worked out, we're seeing a marriage counselor, and I'm very hopeful our family will be stronger than ever.

Good girl. I am happy for you guys.

I can't wait to do this...I was on an artistic low after completing my art trade cards....

Nice capture Mindy. There's always something so vulnerable people asleep. Its lovely to draw them.

Please feel free to take my shoes

Jeanette, this is the coolest idea! Sorry it's taken so long to chime in - weird week.

Here's my contributions so far

Combined fallen leaf and something red to draw a leaf that happened to be red. Can't tell it in this sketch, but really - it was red. I drew three views, the leaf was getting blown around as I was sketching.
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This is breakfast today - coffee in my travel mug and Frosted Mini-Wheats. I drew only the wheat biscuits that Jack fished out of the bowl and was playing with. Mini-Wheats don't last long in milk, so I went ahead and ate them.
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After a big project I feel a little lost sometimes too, it's hard to restart, but smaller informal drawings like this help get us back on track. This is a good way to get back into drawing habit.

I drew this same object back in August 2007 for this same thread. The little candle lamp moved since, someone must have dusted since then, so it is at a different angle from where I sit. Where I sit hasn't changed.

From 2007
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Today's drawing
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rjblanchette: Beautiful today lighting and lines drawing! Your art has much changed from 1997 up to now!
Here is a old sketch. These objects are very familiar to us, people from Asia!

NVA that is very good. The elipse and perspective are well done. That is what I find the most difficult with measuring by eye. For the next drawing from life sketch I'm going to lay down some free hand prespective lines to help me get better proportions.

NC, great sketches. I especially like the leaves. I must gather some before they go to mush as they are lovely to draw.

NVA, very well drawn sketches of the pot and bowl. Drawing ellipses is always challenging. Well, getting them right more than drawing them

RJ, I love the sheen of the glass on the second sketch. It makes it look fragile.

I tried a quick sketch at lunch of my shoe . I gave myself a 5 minute limit to get the lines down. I find its interesting to have some self imposed time lines for sketching. That way it forces me to concentrate and prevents me from fiddling around with the sketch too much with details.

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CURIOSITY : Where do you live to have lunch shoes like these ?

Absolutely anywhere!

Somewhere in this earth, late in the night :

From the radio :
- President elected Obama went to have his hair strimmed, the same barber since 14 years, cost: 21 dollars.
- The American City Bank in big storm.
- France is electing a woman as chief of the socialist party….
- Very cold weather this week end.

Quick DS-draw of a bottle, sharing the page with some baby shoes…

Life is going on….

Nice thread Jeanette, I hope to join in soon, I need the practise on live objects.

Lovely sketches everyone

Lance, Nice to see you around

Cyn, nice to see you too, how is your eye? hope you are feeling much better.

RJ, I like your new avatar, I like to see peoples faces

Mindy, nice to know things are beeing worked out hope everything turns how you wish.

more of the same;5 minutes for my coffee mug and a small vase with a dried rose on my desk.
I use a sketch all purpose grahite pencil watersoluble (in this case dry)

Hi everyone..

Jeanette and Clara, my eye finally sees a little light and this 4 month headache is finally gone. It turned out that the eye is not injured, the loss of vision is from the whiplash in the accident. It's my neck. Who would have known you could lose your vision from whip lash.. I get massage therapy twice a week. They realigned my jaw, straightened my back and my cranium and are working on my neck. All this damage from hitting my face on the side window. But the massage is wonderful.

I love all the drawings. Everyone is doing so great. I may try something this weekend.

Hello!

I don't if I'm too late... I'm quite new here, and french by the way (how good that you cannot hear my accent when I write...), and have try to draw some of the elements: here we are...
Click to view attachment that is really red, this is a sharpener.

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Ok, I don't know if my upload works, but I hope so!
Please be critical...
cheers!

Hello,
You are lucky we don't have to rely on the French I learned in High School to communicate. Your upload worked. I think you did very well on the three elements you drew. The only thing I would say is: be bold, go darker. Your drawing is so light it gives the idea that you are hesitant/tentative. Don't be afraid to push the darks.
I am glad you found Drawspace. I think you will find everyone here friendly and helpful and encouraging. We have some wonderful teachers here who are very generous with their time and usually will help you if you ask them. Did you know we have a Weekly Drawing Challenge? Look for it under the General Forums. The thread is clearly marked. The host of this week's challenge is a very fine teacher here. Most of all, have fun, if you like, and you just feel like talking about anything, doesn't have to be art related, there is also a Drawspace Cafe.
Welcome, and I look forward to seeing you and your drawings here.
Regards,
Trish

Meltingpot,
Welcome to Drawspace! These are nice sketches. It looks like you used a silver metallic pen? I bet it would look beautiful on dark colored paper. You're never too late to join in, this thread has no time limit. However the list might change from time to time to keep everyone motivated to try new things. Hope you continue to participate and have fun!

Quick sketches , where does time go...got to get a haircut in a few minutes, but enjoyed picking up the pencil.

> Trish
Hello and thank you very much for your nice welcome, I already saw how helpful and nice people are on this site, it cheers up... Oh God my english is so poor, I'm really sorry. However I saw the Weekly Challenge and have already drawn 2 pigs, but I have to photograph and upload them. I draw them unfortunately before I read your critic and will put it next week into practice (no time this week any more). If I can help with french, let me know about it, I can french better than drawing (and english)...

> Mindy
Hello and thank you too Mindy, the first time I was here I saw the lovely picture of your husband with the baby asleep, so cute and so well-done!! I hesitated here to post, but I hope I'll improve my performances... I have two children, 4 and 3 years-old. I would like to draw them, but they're running too fast

This was fun - I haven't been doing enough drawing lately, so thanks for inspiring me!


...Though, I got bored of this picture, so I didn't finish it. The only cool shoes I could find were being worn by my mother, who had to leave.
(So, I had to draw one of my brother's biking shoes...)

Drawing moving kids is a challenge, but it's really fun - try doing some quick gesture sketches of them. You can also attempt to quickly sketch them from memory, or photographs. Or, you could just wait untill they fall asleep, and sketch them then. Children tend to move a bit less when they're sleeping. (But they still move a lot - at least, my little sister does. Still, she stays in one place long enough to do a decent sketch of her - Click to view attachment )
lol - kids are cute.

Hi, ElectricTypeWriter, wellcome to DS. Your shoe is quite good, anyway, this is a sketch. By the way, I've an incurable disease: I collect shoes drawn in this site to put in my shoes collection (see the challenge DRAWING SHOES. So, do you mind to post this pic in the DRAWWING SHOES galleries ? All my shoes are already there! Thank,
An

Morning warm-up

Okay - shoes ARE cool. =D

> Hello ElectricTypeWriter,

thank you for your drawings, they are simply great! You really "catch" your sister! I do my best to draw-draw-draw and to practice... Thanks!

> TexasLady,

next time I first look what YOU choose and draw then something else... Great pig! And Jeanette's Grandchild is really lovely...

Well, this is my sandal =) I hope it's not too late to post it.
Seeing your drawings always inspire me.

Hope everyone (who celebrates it) had a nice Thanksgiving with lots of good food and friends. We certainly did.
I managed to find a few moments to sketch a stack of ceramic bowls on the table. Tried to capture some of the highlights and shadows. About 40 minutes using a simple HB pencil (#2).