DOODLE DAY MAY - Day 6

This is day 6 of the Doodle Day May challenge in which I have challenged artists, writers, parents, teachers, children of all ages, friends and friends of friends to create a doodle each day this month. Doodles can take 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or even up to an hour. If you are spending an hour or more, it is no longer a doodle, it's a masterpiece and it means you are trying too hard or thinking too much. If you want to spend the time to make portfolio quality illustrations - don't let me stop you. I just want to let the casual doodlers who are absentmindedly scribbling daisies and curly-qs down the sides of their pages during meetings or classes that they belong here. Put your pencil to the paper and just see where your arm goes. Turn on music and let the doodle come out.

The doodlers in this challenge are doing a fantastic job. They are posting doodles each day on the Facebook Group page for DOODLE DAY MAY and I am truly impressed. I know that our lives are busy and I think it is great that these 50+ people have made it a choice to take a few minutes out of each day to jot down a doodle - from the prompts that I post or a story idea or just something they need to get onto the page.

Now to explain a little about today's doodle prompt...

I have always been someone who "wears many hats." I am not just referring to the baseball hat collection that I have had since college but also to the fact that I have been a Toy Designer, Circus Performer, Mom, Teacher, Writer, Illustrator, Architect, City Planner, and Summer Camp Director, ... to name a few.

Today's drawing prompt is to draw a HAT.

Any hat - can be a baseball hat, cowboy hat, top hat, derby, birthday hat, visor, sailor cap, captain's hat, Kentucky Derby hat, fine ladies hat, etc... You can design your own hat - anything. Draw something zany or cute, fun, fancy, silly, crazy. Any hat - whether it exists in the real world or just in your creative mind.

Enjoy.

Here are some hats for reference:

 

DOODLE DAY MAY - Day 5

Welcome to the Doodle Day May challenge - Day 5. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Today is a Sunday and outside it is pouring rain. I am ready for summer - ready for warm weather, birds chirping, and beautiful flowers blooming.

Today's doodle prompt is to draw a flower.

You can go outside, look up flowers on Google images, create one from your imagination - anything. Doodle. You can draw a single flower or a bouquet. It can be in a vase, on a table, in the ground, in a hand, or just on the page with no reference to where it is, etc... anywhere. Color or black and white. Any flower, any kind, any creation, any style.

Things to think about when drawing a flower:

Petals - round, pointy, narrow, wide, many or few
Pistol - (the thingy sticking out of the center) long, short, big, small
Stem - long, short, thick, thin, thorns?, leaves?
Etc...

Here is my example - I really love drawing Zentangles so I drew a Zen flower.

 

Have fun!

DOODLE DAY MAY - Day 4

 

This is a doodling challenge for artists, writers, teachers, parents, children of all ages, friends, and friends of friends. I post a drawing prompt each day on my blog but you DON'T HAVE TO USE IT - it is for those who stare at a blank page and have a panic attack or those who just want to try something new. A doodle can take 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or even up to an hour but seriously, if you are spending an hour or more - it is not a doodle, it is a masterpiece and you are overthinking it or trying too hard. Put your pencil to the paper and see where your arm goes - this is a stress free doodle zone. Enjoy!

 

Now for information about today's drawing prompt...

I often take pictures of my kids when they are making weird faces. I think I can use that look on an illustration someday. Ha. Sometimes it is to just capture the moment like when Erin was sure that someone had drawn the "front stoop on (her) forehead." If she tilted in her eyebrows, there was an angled line above her brow - that was the shape of a keystone. She kept frowning at us to show us and I could hardly contain bursting into hysterical laughter. Introducing my co-creator of the Doodle Day May challenge:




Your drawing prompt for today is to Make a Face.

You can grab a friend (to use as a model) or a mirror or your child and make some faces.

In your doodle, try to show in a few simple lines how the eyes change, the mouth shape changes, where the eyebrows go when you smile or frown or look surprised or angry or frightened, worried, etc...

The basic face can be a circle, oval, teardrop, square, rectangle, egg shape, ...

Draw one face.

Don't panic. I'm talking quick here - no shading and figure drawing training necessary just a mirror or a friend to make a face at you. Stick figure, cartoony, realistic - whatever you want that will be quick and easy for you.

 

If you are new to the challenge, here are some helpful links:
Facebook Group
Intro to the Challenge
Doodle Day May - Day 1
Doodle Day May - Day 2
Doodle Day May - Day 3

Have fun!

DOODLE DAY MAY - Day 3

I am really glad that I invited you all to do this challenge with Erin and I. The doodles getting shared in the Facebook group page are so much fun. I can tell that you are enjoying the challenge and not letting themselves worry about the drawing. It is a doodle, after all.

When I do school presentations, I always talk to the groups about the first drafts or "sloppy copy" coming out terribly. The books in the library are fabulous because they have been revised and rewritten a over and over and over until they are final copies. I continue to explain that drawing the illustrations in a book is the same way. I even show on the giant screen that my drawings begin as doodles - pretty sloppy ones - before they get cleaned up. Kids love seeing my messy sketchbook images. I tell them that if you enjoy drawing - do it. I am telling you grown-ups the same thing. If you enjoy drawing, doodling, sketching, painting, carving, weaving, crafting, sculpting - do it. Nobody is out to judge you. Go read ISH by Peter H Reynolds and don't let anyone squish your ish.

THINK OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

 

Now, today's prompt is about circles. Yes, the simple shape of a circle.

You have 2 choices:

1. Grab a circle template, a mug, a glass, a can of soda and trace a circle or two on your page. If you can draw a circle without a template - go for it. It doesn't have to be perfect. Now see what you can turn a circle into. 

 

You can think circular things like a basketball, a penny, a donut, pizza, etc... or you can think outside the box and turn them into things that are not typically circles - animal, chair, car, etc...

2. Finish this picture and turn it into a scene. Just try not to make the circle into a ball rolling. You can definitely come up with something more creative than that.

Look at the circle, what do you see. You probably did this type of exercise in Kindergarten - let's get back there - to pure rich creativity at its core. Go ahead and try something different but if you need to draw an apple or a donut, nobody will think any less of you. : )

Have fun and try to think outside the circle. What could it be?

DOODLE DAY MAY - DAY 2

There were a lot of doodles posted on the Facebook Group page yesterday for DOODLE DAY MAY - Day 1. Great job! Yesterday's prompt was about Zentangles so if you didn't try it, you are welcome to go back to it (or any drawing prompt) on any day. If you missed the first post about this new challenge - click HERE to learn and consider joining us on a doodling adventure for May. These prompts are only to give some inspiration to those who want or need it.

Today's drawing prompt is inspired by a sculpture lesson that I taught to my 6th grade students when I was a middle school art teacher in Colorado. The assignment for the students was to create a sculpture of a monster - it had to have a body, two arms or wings, legs and feet. In addition, it had to have 3 or more other parts built on such as ears, horns, tail, hands, nose, fangs, ... This assignment was pretty open but I never graded on artistic talent, merely on an ability to follow directions. This was my example - my students called him the Hertz Monster and he became the mascot for my classroom.

So today's prompt is MONSTERS. They can be cute and fluffy or prickly and scary - it is up to you. It can be a group of monsters or just one. It can be peaking out from under a bed or inside a closet or just snuggling up with its favorite human. There are no requirements here. If you need ideas for awesome monsters, look up Tara Lazar's book the Monstore or look at the trailer for the new movie coming out this June - the sequel to Monsters, Inc.

How to draw a monster? Ack! Don't know where to begin? My advice is the same for my students when creating a sculpture. Begin with the body. Use a circle, an oval, a square, rectangle, triangle or some wackier shape. Then add some legs, do you want them to be long or short, wide or thin? Add some feet - is your monster wearing shoes or does he/she have big hairy toes? Maybe little dainty feet? Decide if your monster(s) have wings or arms or both. Horns or ears or both. Teeth or toothless? A big slobbery tongue? Perhaps your monster enjoys a hat? It is always fun to look at a photo of a human and turn them into a cuddly monster. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask, "What would I look like as a monster?" Does your monster have a head or is his body and his head all one piece? Are the eyeballs dangling off? Are those eyes giant or tiny, even or uneven? Spikes? Bumps? Hobbit feet? Scales? The possibilities are endless.

I will post my examples in a couple of hours - until then, I have some mommy duties. Have fun!

DOODLE DAY MAY - DAY 1

Welcome to DOODLE DAY MAY!

If you have no idea what I am writing about, click HERE to learn about this new NO STRESS challenge for the month of May.

Grab a pencil, pen, colored pencil, crayon, marker, chalk, craypas, or even a bottle of chocolate syrup and start doodling! If you don't have a sketchbook or a computer program with a tablet, use a notebook, post-it note, scrap paper, the back of your child's homework from last week, copy paper or whatever you can get your hands on.

Your doodle each day can take you 2 minutes (or less) or up to an hour or more. Honestly, though, if you are spending more than an hour on a doodle, you are trying too hard and worrying too much. That is a drawing, an illustration, a masterpiece - this challenge is simply asking for a doodle.

If you are looking at your blank piece of paper and thinking, Oh no! What are I supposed to draw? or you even thinking I can't draw. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler! Well, the good thing is, there is no ruler required for this challenge - no straight lines necessary.

For those who want to learn something new (although you might be familiar with this style) or need a little inspiration, here we go...

Drawing Prompt/Lesson #1. Zentangles

I challenge you to create a Zentangle of your name. If you have never heard of a Zentangle, and you are thinking, What is she talking about?? Help! Don't worry. Here are two different examples and I will share the step by step directions to creating something really great - anyone can do it.

 

 

This style of drawing is called Zentangle. It is a method of creating images from repetitive patterns. When I was little, I was taught that "there are no mistakes in art." For example: If you sneeze while drawing a sun in the corner of your drawing and the line gets all wobbly, change it into a cloud and add a sun to the other side of the page. Go with the flow. Try drawing with a pen - without using a pencil first. Just see where the lines take you.

 

Here are the step by step directions to creating a Zentangle of your name. First, write your name (or any other word you would like to use) in bubble letters, block letters, funky letters, or whatever kind of letters you can think up. Just make sure they are hollow so you can fill in some patterns in a few minutes.

 

In example #1 above for ERIN, I created BIG letters and used a single outline to join them all together after they were drawn. Then I filled each letter with a different pattern.

 

In example #2 above for ALISON, I made the letters small but still open for patterns inside and then I added wavy lines around the page to create sections that I could fill with more patterns.

 

I used a Sharpie Pen for these - once the pen hits the paper, there is no going back, no erasing, no fix. Just go with it. If you want to try a new pattern on a piece of scratch paper before adding it, go ahead but remember this is a DOODLE so don't worry about it.

 

Example of the Steps above:

 

 

Now, just keep filling in patterns. If you want to go with patterns around the word like example number 2 then add like to the drawing and fill them in with patterns:

 

Have fun! If you want to share, post your doodles on the DOODLE DAY MAY facebook page or post a comment with a link to your blog there or here so others can check out what you are doodling.

 

If you enjoy Zentangles (I find them very relaxing), you can Google it and see a ton of more pattrns and designs or take a class at Will Terry's FolioAcademy on Zentangles.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



NEW CHALLENGE! DOODLE DAY MAY!

Self Portrait created by my daughter - age 5

It is in the last page of her sketchbook - when I asked her why she jumped to the last page, she said because "authors and artists always have their photos on the last page." : )

 

DOODLE DAY MAY
I have been creating a Daily Doodle everyday for the past several weeks and off and on since last summer. In November 2012, I participated in SkADaMo - Sketch a Day Month and it was soo much fun. I didn't spend more than an hour from start to finish on any drawing and some of those sketches found their way into my portfolio for a SCBWI conference a few months ago and they were the ones that the art directors enjoyed the most! I could hardly believe it. They said that they were "light and fun." As a former professional Toy Designer - when drawing became a chore and no fun at all. I vowed after SkADaMo that 2013 was my year to make drawing fun again. I have been doodling a ton and posting many of them on my Facebook page - see HERE. You can also see more of my drawings on my website.



This morning, my 5 year old - who LOVES to draw in her sketchbook and paints every day - told me that she would like to do a "Doodle a Day", too, so together we came up with a NEW CHALLENGE for artists, writers, parents, teachers, children, friends, friends of friends and anybody else who is ready to let their creativity shine.

DOODLE DAY MAY! 

 

 

So here is it in a nutshell. From May 1 to May 31, create 1 or more Doodles everyday. These can take up to 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 mintutes or even an hour from start to finish but if you are spending more than an hour on a doodle, you are trying too hard. Don't overthink it. May 1-7 is also NaPiBoWriWee and this will coincide with that perfectly if you are also participating in that challenge. Come up with your story for Picture Book Writing Week, write it and create a doodle of a character, a scene, the title or any other element of the story concept. Easy. For those of you who tell everyone that you are "not an artist" or "can't draw", I say BUNK! It is a doodle! It can be a squiggle, a tree, a flower, a rainbow, a person, a pet, a pancake or anything else you can think of. No one is grading you. No one is judging you. I have created a FACEBOOK GROUP called DOODLE DAY MAY so join the challenge and the group.

 

 

Now, I know that all of you parents have a crazy hectic month starting - for my kids, school ends at the end of May and we have six zillion events happening between now and then and as an involved parent, I have volunteered for many of them. Don't let that make you think that you can't create a Doodle each day of the month of May. If you need the help, I will post a drawing prompt on the Facebook Group page for each day for those who need a little push. As an experienced art teacher, I remember those students who would stare at the paper during free draw time at the end of class and have this blank look with no clue what to put on the page. A brilliant author/illustrator Peter H Reynolds wrote a picture book about that exact problem - THE DOT. As the book says, "Make a dot and see where it takes you."

 

 

 

Parents, get your kids involved in this one. Doodle together. Take a picture with your camera or your phone and post the pic on the FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE that I will created. Leave a comment to let me know you are jumping in with me and join the Facebook Page. Know this - if you do not create a doodle every day, nobody is knocking on your door about it. NO STRESS is the key to this challenge. Write a word in funky lettering or create an abstract picture of shapes and squiggles if you can't think of something to draw. You can use pencil, pen, marker, crayon, paint, or anything else you like to draw with.

 

 

 

JOIN ME FOR DOODLE DAY MAY AND LET YOUR CREATIVITY SHINE!

 

 

 

LEAVE A COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW YOU ARE JOINING ME ON THIS DOODLING ADVENTURE!

 

IF YOU WANT TO POST YOUR DOODLES ON YOUR BLOG OR FACEBOOK PAGE, LEAVE A LINK WHEN YOU DO IT AND I WILL SHARE IT!


Daily Doodles from this Week

This is how I feel everyday - in addition to the "mom" tasks that I do each day.

 

I love the circus - the variety of acts, the different performers, a dozen different things happening at once. I performed in the circus when I was very young and these are some of my fond memories.

 

My daughter told me today that she wanted "to do something relaxing like ride on a giant panda through the sky." I loved the image so this what I created.

Story Starter #13 - National Pet Day

National Pet Day, April 11, 2013

In honor of National Pet Day let's write come up with some ideas for picture books. First, come up with a list of pets - don't forget to include some crazy ones along with those more common pets:

Be specific on breed if you can. It will help an illustrator see the pet you are writing about.
Dog
Cat
Rabbit
Hamster
Fish
Bird
Ferret
Snake
Racoon
Tarantula
etc...

Now create a list of things that happen with pets - think of good things and bad things:
Get a new pet
Lose a loved pet (passes away, runs away, gets lost in the park, etc...)
Pet has babies
Pet is in a beauty pageant
Pet is in a walk event to raise $ for a local shelter
Dress up a pet
Pet breaks something in the house
etc...

Now take list 1 and list 2 and combine them in the most zany way that you can. Don't forget to use those two special words, "What if..." to create the premise for your story.

What if my pet racoon has a birthday party and my neighbor brings his pet dog?
What if I sneak my pet to school (uh oh, this has been done a LOT - skip this one)
What if I enter my pet bird in a local pet pageant but he can't sing? What is his talent?
What if my pet Lionfish gets his fin caught in a _______and our cat is the only one home to help?
etc...

Now write. There are no bad ideas. No wrong answers or combinations. The wackier, the better.

Have fun and post a comment if you enjoy this story starter.

I Remember...

Those who know me well, know that on this day, every year, I write a letter or a story, or a poem in dedication…

 

Nine years ago today I held you as close as anyone can but it wasn’t close enough. I didn’t get enough time. It feels selfish to say, to think, but I still feel cheated. People say it gets easier but it really doesn’t. Those that say it haven’t lost. Life just fills with other things, other distractions, some wonderful, some not, but this day is yours and I will light a candle for you. I’m not wallowing in sadness, I remember your eyes when you looked at me. I remember how it felt when you squeezed my finger. I remember your strength. I remember you both.

 

Mourner’s Kaddish

Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba b’alma di v’ra khir’utei, v’yamlikh malkhutei b’hayeikhon u-v’yomeikhon u-v’hayei d’khol beit yisrael, ba-agala u-vi-z’mon kariv v’imru amen.

Y’hei sh’mei raba m’varakh l’alam u-l’almei almaya.

Yitbarakh v’yishtabah v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnase, v’yit-hadar v’yit-aleh v’yit-halal sh’mei d’kudsha, b’rikh hu l’ela (l’ela mi-kol) min kol birkhata v’shirata, tushb’hata v’nehemata da-amiran b’alma, v’imru amen.

Y’hei sh’lama raba min sh’maya v’hayim aleinu v’al kol yisrael, v’imru amen.

Oseh shalom bi-m’romav, hu ya-aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol yisrael, v’imru amen.

To read last year's dedication - A Lion in the Storm, click on the image below.

You Are Strong, Jedi Renn

Renn,
You are a brave boy. I know that we have never met but I feel like I know you because of the wonderful posts your mom writes and shares about you. I created the drawing shown below and the Star Wars Word Search for you. I hope that you have a way to print them out while at the hospital. Stay strong young Jedi. I promise to wear purple on Purple Day. I hope you know that there are writers and illustrators all over the world who are thinking about you and your family and wishing you well.

To see more links to blog posts created for Renn, go to Susanna Leonard Hill's blog.

 

To learn more about Renns' quest, go to The Brain of  a Jedi blog.

 

To learn more about Purple Day and raising awareness for epilepsy, click HERE.

Writing Wednesday - Story Starter #12

On this day, February 20, 1962, the first United States astronaut orbited the Earth. John Glenn Day commemorates this launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Glenn circled the Earth three times in a space capsule before landing it safely in the ocean.

This day in history can prompt a number of stories for children. Here are some story starters to get the juices flowing:

If you could travel in space, what would you see?
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

To turn this writing prompt into a story for children - namely a picture book, you could ask What if questions. Here are some samples:

What if a pre-schooler snuck onto a shuttle and was still on it when it took off?
What if a Kindergarten class took a field trip to Cape Canaveral and a student pushed the Big Red Button marked "Launch"?
What if a four year old went with his family to see a launch and when the smoke cleared, he something amazing? What did he/she see?
What if the astronauts decided to take a pet hamster into space and from all the kids in America, they chose your pet?
What if you are a dog and you just saw your favorite boy get into a shuttle and take off, you need to find him, what will you do? How will you follow him into space?

Come up with some What if questions of your own or use one of these. Don't think, just write.

Leave a comment letting me know what you think of this Story Starter. I posted eleven of them in 2012, if you want me to post them weekly on Writing Wednesday, let me know.

Sketching My Way Into 2013

As we enter the new year, I begin with creating loose drawings in my sketchbook. Sure, I have stories to write, stories to revise and edit, and stories to send out on submission but my goals also include getting back to a time in my life when drawing was easy.

I used to draw all the time. Bold black lines. I sketched everything and journaled about anything that moved my spirit. I was a professional toy designer and created nearly a hundred sketches a week with more than a dozen renderings due every Friday morning for a meeting where I presented my ideas to corporate management.

I injured my left arm in 1996 and drawing became impossible. A goal that was unatainable. After months of physical and occupational therapy, weeks of "pain plus therapy", and years of rarely drawing, I was presented with an opportunity to illustrate a story for a picture book that I had written and already signed with a publisher. I grabbed the opportunity before it flew by me and held tight. I was in pain every day for 10 weeks. I could barely move my arm at night and had to use my right arm for most other tasks throughout the days. I illustrated FLAP! and it released in Nov 2012. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Since finishing the art for FLAP!, I have been drawing in an effort to build my illustrator portfolio. My style is cartoony and loose. I do not labor over each drawing. I can't. I participated in SkADaMo (started by Linda Silvestri) in November of 2012 and it was wonderful. I created quick sketches and drawing became fun again. Now, here we are in 2013 and I've made a promise to myself that I will not accept projects that cause me pain. I want to illustrate another of my stories but I will insist on a longer timeline than 10 weeks for a 32 page picture book or I simply can not accept the project.

Below are sketches that I created both yesterday and today. Drawings that are both loose and fun. Drawings that do not take a lot of time and do not require a level of motor control that causes a silly amount of pain. Welcome to my 2013.