SKETCHBOOK ASSIGNMENT: More Than 10 ORANGE Exercises to Try

For these sketchbook exercises and color studies, you'll need the following:

A sketchbook, pencils, black pen, gold pen, colored pencils and watercolor pencils, markers, and -- okay -- an eraser, if you must.  Also, a watercolor sketchbook, if you have one, or small pieces of watercolor paper, and watercolor paints and brushes.




Try a few, or all, of these ORANGE exercises --


1.  PUMPKINS -- Draw a pumpkin, with pencil.  Then, add color with colored pencil.  Layer the colors, starting with yellow first . . .

Now, try another pumpkin -- this time, drawing with pencil, and then painting with watercolors.  Add a patterned cloth at its base.  Once again, start with an underpainting of yellow . . . 

2.  ORANGE FLOWERS 

- Draw a Daylily, or another orange flower, with pencil.  Color it with colored pencils . . . 

Look at a bouquet of orange flowers, or part of a bouquet, and start painting the colors and shapes, without drawing first.  Mix the oranges right on your paper.  Let that dry -- and then come in with a black ink drawing on part of it. . . 

3.  PAINT A "FEELING" OF FALL -- Don't draw first, just paint a simple little landscape, using oranges and other autumn colors . . . 

4.  ORANGE FRUIT -- Buy some orange fruit -- preferably, the kind you like, so you can eat it after you're finished drawing/painting.

- Draw a few pears and an apple on a ledge.  Add a pattern on the "tablecloth".  Mingle your oranges on the fruit.  Paint a violet background, and then paint the pattern.

- Zoom in on your orange fruit and fill up the page with the shapes -- to make it almost abstract.  Draw contour lines with a gold pen, and then mingle the orange colors within the fruit.  Paint some darks in your background.

5.  COLOR MIXING --  

- Flesh-Tones -- Do a page of Fleshtone mixtures -- which is really just pale orange.

Make notations right on the page, so that you remember what colors you used.

- Orange Grid (a la Paul Klee) --  Draw a grid of square, and in each one, make a notation of the color you will try to achieve there.  (Be sure to include one Blue square, for contrast).  Then paint each square, either directly (from the tube, or mix on the palette first); wet-in-wet mingling (use water first, and mix on the paper); 

6.  CARROTS -- Buy some carrots, with the greens still attached.  They are more fun to draw and paint that way.  Draw them, and then paint with watercolor.  Do a yellow underpainting on the carrot and greens.  Then paint the rest of the background a light blue.  Mingle the colors in the carrots, using yellow, orange, and a warm red like Cadmium Red.  Leave some of the yellow showing, especially in the middle of the carrot, to give it a rounded look.  Then use the blue to paint a cast shadow.

7.  ORANGE-LINE DRAWING/PAINTING -- Set up a still-life, or look at your pet.  (Use a photo, if your pet won't sit still.)  Mix up an orange paint with your watercolors, and start "drawing" the shapes with your brush and the orange mixture -- no pencil drawing first.  Keep drawing shapes until you run out of paper.  Then, fill in the shapes with mingled colors -- exaggerate the colors!  Paint up to the orange line, but not over it, so that you get the nice contrast.

8.  AUTUMN LEAVES -- Collect some leaves from outside, and draw/paint a few small leaf studies.

9.  DO SOME DOODLES -- Draw some doodles with black ink, add a patterned background, and color with colored markers, especially orange.

 

10.  FACES -- Paint a few ORANGE under-paintings on small pieces of watercolor paper.  Then, using a black pen, draw a face on each one.  (Either find random faces from magazines, or use my examples here.)  Title and date your faces.

Orange you glad there aren't eleven of these?  

VEGETABLES: 10 Sketchbook & Color Exercises to Try

THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS (according to something I just read on the Internet) -- IS VEGETABLES!  I guess you have to actually eat them in order to truly be happy, but we're going to draw and paint them, too.

For these exercises, work "from life", if possible.  Visit your local market, grocery store, or farmer's market, and fill your cart or basket with lots of interesting colors and shapes.

Now, try a few, or all, of these exercises/studies -- either in your sketchbook, or on scrap pieces of watercolor paper:



1)  PUMPKIN with SCARF -- Set up a pumpkin, with a patterned scarf draped around the base of it.  Start with a wet-in-wet underpainting (use warm colors).  When that's dry, draw the pumpkin and scarf.
Draw a "frame" behind the pumpkin, and paint a transparent wash over this background shape.  Paint the pumpkin and the scarf, adding some darks in the stem, and some cobalt blue washes for the shadows. . .

2)  A BUNCH OF CELERY -- In your sketchbook, draw a bunch of celery, in pencil -- add shading.  Draw two different views of the celery, on the same page. . . 

  

3)  BELL PEPPERS with DARK BACKGROUND -- Draw and paint 1 or 2 colorful bell peppers.  Add a horizontal line for a tabletop, and paint the background dark. . . not black, but dark. . . 

4)  PEPPERS ON A PLATE -- Put several different kinds of peppers on a plate.  Draw a bird's-eye-view of the peppers -- a contour drawing in ink.  Do a wet-in-wet painting for the color.  (You can either do the painting first, and then add the ink contour drawing; or draw it in ink first, and then add the color.)

5)  CARROTS -- Set a bunch of carrots, with the greens still attached, on a piece of white paper on a table.  Draw and paint the carrots, adding light blue shadows . . . 

6)  EAR OF CORN -- Do a contour drawing, in pencil, of an ear of corn -- either fresh, or use Indian corn. . . 

7)  WARM PEPPERS/COOL BACKGROUND -- Set up 2 or 3 colorful peppers on a tabletop, with or without a tablecloth.  Draw and paint the peppers with bright, warm colors.  Paint the background with cool colors. . . 

8)  STILL LIFE IN KITCHEN -- Set up a simple still life in your kitchen, with salad ingredients.  Do a contour drawing in pencil, and then paint a value study, with Burnt Sienna (or Quin Burnt Orange). . .

9)  PATTERNED GOURDS -- Are gourds considered vegetables?  Probably not, unless they're squashes?  Well, for our purposes, they are vegetables.  Find some gourds or squashes, with interesting patterns or stripes.  Draw and paint a few small color studies. . . 

10)  STILL LIFE WITH PEPPER -- Set up a simple still life that includes one bell pepper in the foreground.  Draw the still life with pencil -- adding shading to the pepper, only. . . 

Are you happy yet?  If not, you may just have to cut up those veggies, throw them into a pot, with a little broth, herbs & spices, and salt & pepper, and turn them into soup. . . 

SKETCHBOOK/COLOR STUDY ASSIGNMENT: BLUE -- 10 Exercises to Try

Try a few, or all, of these "very cool" BLUE exercises . . .


For the first 5 color studies, you will need some watercolor paper (this can be a watercolor sketchbook, paper from a watercolor pad, scraps of good watercolor paper, or the backs of your old paintings).  You'll also need your watercolor brushes and paints, and a black felt pen . . .


1)  FACES --

Start with a wet-in-wet underpainting, using all your blues, and a few analogous colors (like green and magenta).  Let this dry completely.

Find some faces from your magazines, and tear them out to use for references.  (For this exercise, I recommend not using photos of people you know, because then you'll be too worried about getting a likeness).

Cut up your painted watercolor paper into 4 x 6 pieces, and do a contour drawing of a face, using a black felt pen, on each one . . .

(The faces above are from my Face-A-Day Project -- my personal 365-day project from 2011.)

2)  A WINTER SKETCH -- 

 Without drawing first, paint a quick color sketch, that gives the "feeling" of winter . . .   

3)  BLUE SKY SAMPLER --  

Draw a grid on one piece of watercolor paper, or use 4 separate rectangles of paper.  Paint a different blue sky in each one -- a) Wet the paper first with clear water; then, paint two different blues.  As it is drying, roll a little piece of tissue across the paper, for clouds.  b) Wet the paper; then, paint a pale blue and a very pale magenta.  Then, lift out some of the paint with a damp brush, as it's drying.  c)  Draw and mask a little circle, for the moon.  Paint the sky with two different blues.  Roll a tiny piece of tissue across the moon for a cloud.  If the sky is not dark enough for a night sky, wait until it is dry, and paint it again with the blues.  Remove the masking after it is dry.  d) Paint a blue wash onto dry paper.  While this is still wet, paint a few "stripes" of another blue.  Roll a piece of tissue for the clouds.

4)  A FISH "OVER" WATER --

Start with a wet-in-wet mingling on a small piece of watercolor paper, using a granular blue (like Cerulean Blue or French Ultramarine) plus a little of an earth color or two (like Quinacridone Gold).  When this is dry, draw a fish, and then paint it, keeping most of the fish transparent, so as not to totally cover up the underpainting.  Finish with a few darks on the fish . . . 

5)  BLUE "WAVES" --

On dry paper, paint some big wavy, watery swaths of color -- mostly blues, with a little magenta and/or red -- leaving just a few bits of white showing.  While this is drying, paint some more wavy lines, using more pigment this time (French Ultramarine and Phthalo Blue).  Finish with a little spattering of red. . . 

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You'll use your sketchbook for the next 5 exercises . . . 

6)  IMPRESSIONS OF YOUR DAY -- Using a blue fine marker, draw a few images of some things in your environment -- and then, jot down a line or 2 next to each one -- all on the same sketchbook page.  Then, date the page. . . 

7) A "BLUE" BIRD --

Draw a bird, either from life or from a photo, in pencil.  Add color with colored pencils (or watercolor pencils), using different blues, and adding a few spots of warm colors, for contrast. . . 

  

8)  BLUE GESTURES --

Using a blue ballpoint pen, fill up 2 pages of your sketchbook with quick "gesture" drawings -- at a dance class, playground, or yoga class . . . 

9)  SAILBOATS SURROUNDED BY BLUE --

With a soft 6B pencil, or a charcoal pencil, draw a sailboat in the water, near a dock or harbor.  With your watercolors, paint some wet blues for the sky and the water, leaving a few white shapes.  Add a few spots of bright warm color, and finish your sketch with some darks (pencil or paint). . .

10)  JUST FOR FUN -- 

While looking at a stone wall, draw just the cracks, with a contour line in black felt pen.  Choose one of these shapes, and turn it into a little creature.  Draw a frame around it with some lines in the background, to break up the negative space.  

Now, try some paint "sanding" in some of the background shapes.  Wet one of the shapes with clear water, and then, rub the end of any blue watercolor pencil on a sandpaper block, so the particles land on the wet shape.  (This only works with watercolor pencils, not regular colored pencils.)

All right!  Now it's time for a cup of hot tea (or hot toddy), to warm up . . .