100 Creative Drawing Ideas

Book excerpt: What art student doesn't groan at the hackneyed problems too often assigned in art classes, such as a still life and chianti bottles, old chairs, and large cloths draped over the whole scene? Here, in the first book ever of its kind, is a collection of interesting and original ideas for drawing projects, contributed by art instructors from all over the United States (and a few from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia) who have invented successful alternatives to humdrum exercises. The accompanying illustrations demonstrate ways in which their students have addressed the assignments and are included to help the reader visualize what might result from the written description. This book will be a welcome resource for art teachers and students in high school, college, graduate programs, and art schools, as well as artists undertaking independent study. Among the 100 drawing ideas are: * Drawing with a piece of charcoal held between the toes--to explore how limitations often bring out great creativity. * Adopting a mouse's-eye view of a still life--an unusual twist on perspective drawing. * Making a self-portrait that does not show the head but tells something significant about the artist through the depiction of other parts of the body--an original way of investigating "Who am I?" * Constructing a figure from assembled objects and then drawing it--for those times when a live human model is unavailable. * Creating a personal visual representation of the blues musical genre--to discover how one art form engenders another.