make art that sells getting started how to do the mini

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1 make art that sells getting started how to do the mini Why do the Mini Assignment? To loosen up and to deeply study your subject matter so that your art is more interesting. Let s dive in! I ve taken some photos of berries from my garden for you. (I m always thinking of you, truly.) Gather some easy drawing materials like colored pencils, pen and ink, fine point markers, a pencil, etc. Print this sheet out. You ll be drawing on here. Let s start with blackberries. What s the vibe of the subject? What do you see? What s the story of the subject matter? To me, it s all about the shiny, bumpy, plump, cluster-y blobs. Anything that comes to mind is fine. I call the gestält (or the thrust) of the piece the story, as in, as the artist, you tell the story of the piece. Next, analyze shapes. The berries have great rounded shapes. It would be fun to render (shade) the rounded forms, with a pop of highlight on each little bump. Notice that the highlight is on the left side of each bump, facing the light source. You ll notice stems with thorns, and under each berry there are little petals (sepals). What s the overall structure of this plant? The berries get smaller and redder as they get to the end of the stem. There is some interesting texture stuff where the berries have fallen off. Colors: Blueish black. Reddish berries with green on some of them. So lovely. Leaves and stems are green. what s the gestält? analyze the shapes, structure, and color Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 1

2 Let s take a closer look at the leaves. Study how the veins are designed. They radiate from a central vein that goes up the length of the leaf. The outer edge of the leaf itself is notched and jagged. The leaf is somewhat narrow and pointed on top. Draw from the berry photos in the space below: Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 2

3 your turn! Now you try an analysis of this branch from my oak-leaf hydrangea bush. What s the story? What is cool about this plant? Anything that comes to mind is fine. What are the shapes you see? List the colors you see: What is the overall structure of the plant? Describe the leaf and its vein structure. Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 3

4 Here s a pretty picture of both berry branches. Be the artist. Draw what appeals to you. These do not have to be finished drawings. We are talking studies, scribbles, doodles, whatever you like. Draw in the space below. I m quite sure your drawings will be so much more informed, more interesting after your analysis. You can be an editor, however; you do not need to draw everything you see! Pick and choose, buffet-style! How about you post your studies on Facebook? Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 4

5 Are there different ways to do minis? Can you do them in any style? A big giant YES! I m going to show you something that may remind you of your younger years. Here, we see work by a very talented teenager, Natasha Dewitz. I want to show you her work process and how she evolved her work through a series of drawings. It s fascinating! First, she does a bunch of careful studies of eyes. She draws a variety of them in pen and in pencil, and even on a stone! The idea is to explore, play and challenge herself. She s drawing very realistically, doing highly-observant studies of the eye, including drawing the thickness of the lower lids, and the varied reflections on the iris, and other observations. She challenges herself to make each eye different, varying the openness of the lid, for example. With this understanding of eyes, she makes another page, but she changes it up and uses a black marker instead of a pen. The pupils are stylized in a variey of ways and she plays more with adding lots of eyelashes. Some geometrics start to emerge. She is able to stylize because she s done studies of the eyes on the previous page. This allows for greater confidence in the work. The hard-edged geometrics add an interesting contrast to the sketchy, organic shapes of the eyes. (Does this remind you of your teen days and the drawing and doodling you did? How about you look at some of those old drawings if you can find them. This may unlock some surprises for you!) Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 5

6 She then gets inspired by the emerging geometrics, and is enjoying the black marker, so she goes with that on yet another page exploring this further. Here, everything gets more stylized and polished. She begins to create some unique icons and in one case, she incorporates the geometrics and an eye, as seen in the upper left. The reflection on the eye is now fully stylized as a triangle and square. This is a very fresh and original design that comes from hours of work and play. Note the variety of line weights and the use of solid blacks. This adds to the impact of the piece. Next, she combines several of her favorite icons and adds some new ones, including a person, to create a doodle type page of art. The figure is in keeping with the style of the icons. She is a teenager with the clothing style, hair and intense eye makeup. The variety of sizes of the icons, and the mix of tilts of the items add impact. She could then go ahead and color this in on the computer and create a piece of art for the teen market. Hope this inspires you vis-à-vis your Minis! Share comments for all of us to enjoy about what was inspiring or helpful to you! And if you haven t left a comment yet, push yourself to say a word or two. It can be scary if you ve never done it, but it s a wonderful part of the course that you ll find you ll benefit from. We d like everyone to join in. xo, Getting Started How to Do the Mini :: 6