Lino-cut Playing Card

Create a fantasy version of a playing card.

• Cartoons work best for subject, remember that it’s a portrait.
• Trace your image and transfer it to the lino.
• The working area is 4x5 inches in size.
• Carve out the areas that you want to remain white.
• Be extremely careful when cutting your lino. Always cut away from your hand. Use a “benchhook” for for safety!
• Make an edition of 3 perfect black and white prints. (C grade)
• Improve your grade by printing on colored paper, making mult-colored prints and offsets.

Draw and Shade a Personal Object

Shoe Shine Brushes

Pick a personal object like a cell phone, a set of keys or a brush. Draw the object as realistically as possible. Pay attention to the proportions of the object. How much longer is it than tall? Include all the detail that you can.

Shade the object so it looks 3 dimensional. This is not a quick sketch. You need to put in a least 30 minutes on it.

"New" Animal Scratchboard

If you could be any animal in the world, which would it be - a horse, a monkey, maybe a bear?

• Make a lost of your three favorite animals.
• Collect photo references for each animal. (3)
• Create your composite animal by tracing. Start with the main body and add different parts. (ie. antlers)
• Draw in an environment.
• Draw contour lines on the animal to assist in shading.
• Scratch out the outline of the objects.
• Shade using the crosshatching technique (other techniques can be used).
• Be careful when using scratch tools, they are sharp.

Example of "Hatching"

Example of Cross Hatching

Camera Drawing

Our final drawing will use Oil Pastels and be rendered much larger.

Procedure:

• Do a quick blind contour of the camera.
• Draw a simple line drawing on white paper.
• Draw your final image on large "Bogus" paper. The bogus paper and a rough tooth that will allow the oil pastels to adhere to it.
• You can blend the pastels with your finger, paper towel or a s "stump".
• Pay particular attention to the highlighted areas on the camera. 

Can (Ellipse) Drawing

Circles drawn in perspective are "ellipses". By stacking ellipses you can create cylindrical objects. For this drawing you will select an energy or soda can and draw it with a cast shadow.

Some considerations:

• Each can consists of 4 stacked ellipses.
• Maintain a consistent angle when drawing the can. 
• Text should curve as well.
• Use "Greeking" for very small text.
• The shadow is the darkest area.
• Shading should curve with the shape of the can.

Shoe Drawing

Everyday objects are perfect for practicing your drawing. Our first drawing will be of a shoe. You may pick from the collection or use your own shoe. You will need to wear that shoe for several days. You can not draw from memory. You must have the shoe in front of you!

Drawing 1 

Start by doing a blind contour drawing. This is a loosening up exercise that will help improve your observation. Use newsprint. Remember to only look at the shoe and not your paper. The objective is to see all the detail on the shoe. Don't worry if it looks good. Here is my example.

Blind Contour Drawing

Drawing 2

Using an 12x18" piece of white drawing paper. Draw the show as a line drawing. Include all the detail. Try to draw the show as realistically as possible, but don't shade it.

Drawing 3

Your final drawing should be your best. You've drawn it twice already and know it's detail and proportions. Use  Prismacolor to shade it. You are not coloring! Different colors can be "built up" by blending one color over the other. Remember that dark areas appear to recede.

Shading Detail