Transcripts
1. Introduction : 3 Minute Drawing Challenge: Hi, I'm [inaudible] , and I'm an illustrator. I think drawing is a really important part of my business. As such, I practice each and every day. I often draw for pleasure in the sketchbook, or I produce line work for actual briefs. I find one of the most effective ways of producing sketches is to do it in a really short time limit, perhaps three minutes. I actually use the timer on my phone. This may sound really strange, but I find it actually stops me from getting too overwhelmed and bogged down with unnecessary details. In this class, I going to guide you through some really simple ideas that will improve your sketching and drawing skills. Whether you're an illustrator or designer or just doing it for fun. You need a sketch book, some paper, even A4 printed paper is fine, some pens that you feel really comfortable with, and of course, a timer where you can set three minutes. I hope you're going to have really good fun with this class. I'll catch up with you soon. Bye.
2. Observe your object : Now before we begin drawing, I would like to show you some of the reference that I'm going to be using. We have some little cherry tomatoes, some mushrooms that I've also cut up, and also some peppers I've cut up. First of all, before I start drawing, I have a really good look at the shape, maybe even the shading of it at this stage, and I'm going to be drawing from those different angles. I'm looking at how does that stalk curve over in relation to the rest of the pepper. In this mushroom, we're going to see overall, what is the shape of it, and what patterns the gill makes, and also, when you cut it in half, this is the cross-section. I'll probably draw it from slightly different angles, and what other shapes does that bring up. Also, the dynamics of these tomatoes and the light shining off them and the angle of the stalks in relation to the rest of the tomatoes. As I draw, I'm going to take these into consideration and see what we come up with.
3. Set your timer for 3 minutes: Now I've got the timer, just next to me and I've set it for three minutes. So I'm going to start right now. First off, I'm just going to choose a part of this tomato. Not think too hard about it. Remember, we've looked at this vegetable, whatever object that you draw, it doesn't have to be vegetables. It can be whatever you're thinking of drawing as long as you do it within a very short time limit, it really focuses your mind to just getting on with the actual drawing rather than worrying too much about the outcome. So I've just drawn that part of the stalk, and now I'm going to return and draw the rest of the tomato, when it's not quite round, it's a little bit oval. I've observed that. I'm just going to do that. I'm looking at the relationship between this line that I've just created and the tomato behind it, goes around like that. All the time, I'm scanning the page and I'm scanning the object in front of me. The stalks, again, going like that. I'm going to continue with this main stem here, that curves up like that. It's okay to make mistakes because it's only three minutes, and you're going to make mistakes in three minutes. But the actual aim is just to improve your observation skills and half of the time drawing is about observing and making a decision, just within a few seconds, and then moving on. So there is that first one, I'm missing a stalk there. I'm going to turn these tomatoes randomly, we draw it from that angle. I tend to draw from various different angles just so that I feel like I've understood this subject, and I can see the timer is counting down. So I'm going to quickly try and hurry up. I'm still trying to have fun with this and I'm excluding anything that is unnecessary, and just putting in the most important aspects because I've only got a few seconds left. Now I can hear the timer. I'm just going to switch it off, and quickly finish off. Where did we get up to? We get something like that. There we go. A three-minute challenge, have fun. Don't get too worked up, just keep going. We're going to move onto something else now. I've just set another three minutes and I've got the cup pepper in front of me. I am drawing the ring of it, and in that case, run like that. I'm observing the inside, is slightly more textural. That's why I love my brush pen so I can add that element quite easily, and it's quite bumpy. I'll get one of these a bit further and that's still the outside ring. So I'm going backwards and forwards. I haven't drawn a continuous line. I find, well, that that's an exercise in itself, but for this purpose today, I'm not going to do like that. I can see the base of this half pepper just picking three like that, and all the time I'm just looking at the relationship between all the different lines I can see in front of me. The stalk of the pepper goes like that map because in there. I can see the seeds popping out, and that goes like that. There's a ridge, like the pith of the pepper and some more seeds here. Little seeds there. I'm going to move on now to the whole pepper, and the stalk is bending downwards. I'm working really quick, making definite lines. I go backwards like that and this line happening there to emphasize that part section of the pepper. There we get us that there. I think I've got 30 seconds left so I'm going to draw a profile view of this pepper really quickly. See if I can do it. That's the alarm, just switch it off. I'm just going to finish this off because I really like the profile of this pepper. I'm just going to keep on drawing really fast. That came around like that, there we go, and that's the stalk, and it does that business. So it's just a little bit over three minutes, but I still had fun and I got the main emphasis in. I've got another piece of pepper, and I'm going to start on the mushroom. Still mindful of the time, I've had a minute. Here we go. I'm not going to add in all the different lines of the gill, because I don't have time in these three minutes. But if it was for a project, obviously, I'd go back and I'd include that detail because it is a really important part of a mushroom. It's a very distinct wishing feature. There's the alarm. I'm just going to finish this off. Like I said, if I had more time, I would definitely go back and include the gills of mushrooms in a really fine micron.
4. Extra challenge: Now moving on slightly with this video where we're going to draw inanimate objects. So these shapes are obviously much straighter lines, and there's a few more angles happening in here. I've just chosen things that I found around the house, nothing in abrupt, but I'm going to try and attempt all these in three minutes. This is just for fun, and it's just an exercise just to improve my skills just like we all are trying today. I've just started the timer again. I'm going to draw this ink bottle from a fairly basic angle. I don't often draw objects like this, so this is a good exercise for me as well. That's the top of the lid that you squeeze, and now this is the rest of it. I can see ridges on there, which I'm just going to do one there, but I don't really have time to add all that. There's a bit of a glass thing happening there. That's the back of the ink bottle coming through, and the label starts about there. I'm going to draw the sides in now. Split like that, that's a bit skew with, but I'm just going to even it out like that, that's the bottom of the label. Now I'm going to move on to the goulash. Starting with the lid again, I can see that there is ridges on that lid, but I don't have time to include this, just for this exercise. I'm going to just look at the important aspects of this, which is the shape, and try and get those elements in, say this is the bottom of the tube of paint. There's a tiny fold there, and it's got the information in this section. I'm just going to leave it there. Trying to move on to this oriental soup spoon, let's see how that goes. This is going to get tricky. There's a lot of angles working here, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get it right, but I'm just going to give it a go. I'm still looking at the timer, I've got about 30 seconds left. I don't if I'm going to get round to doing the little cup. That's the bottom of it here, it goes up into the handle like so, and you can just see the bottom of that. The handle doesn't go so narrow, maybe I'll do that. Just in closing seconds, this is the little, I love New York mug which I bought for my daughter this year. That's the timer, and this is such a cute little mug, I feel I have to finish it off. I didn't quite make it in the three minutes. It was a little bit ambitious, but four items in maybe 3.5 minutes, that's not bad. The main thing was, I had fun, and I learnt from this. There we go. Four items in three-and-half minutes. That's not bad going, and I really enjoyed that. So I hope you're enjoying your practice too.
5. Final thoughts: I hope you're really proud of what you've achieved and that you'll continue with this three-minute challenge practice. I find that when I'm forced to draw fast, I capture the essence of the object in a much more mindful way, which in turn creates a much more effective illustration. I'm certain your skills will improve every time you undertake a three-minute drawing practice. This will benefit you and your art in a positive way. Why not post your sketches on social media using the hashtag Skillshare three-minute draw? I hope you feel a sense of achievement that you did all this in three minutes, and your confidence will grow. Practice, practice, practice, and always have lots of fun. Bye for now.
Ohn Mar Win, Illustrator Artist Educator
