Omnom and Queer Paper Roses

Hello dearest Steemians,
It’s been a while and I have been keeping extra busy.

I had a pleasant experience with Cartoon Mania, my noon hour program. Can you recognize this video game character from a popular mobile app? Of course, it’s Omnom from Cut the Rope. He is a great subject to learn how to deconstruct characters with basic shapes.

This program is in partnership with an elementary school across the street and this particular group is more focussed then those from the recent past. They come with a will to draw.

After this lunch program, it was time for sketching and drawing and we began drawing hands. I think this one from Jana is stunning.

After this, we drew paper flowers made for an upcoming Senior Queer Prom, I am currently working on a documentary with my partner for this event.

This is how I teach my students to start their drawings, treating the multitude of roses as one mass. The outline of this shape is very helpful to block out each flower afterwards. You can also rectify the larger shape when doing this too.

If you start lightly, those adjustments are easy and you can combine a gesture with more defined elements, rectifying with a darker line.

The lower right flower is a good example of this, can you see how I raised it? I don’t even need to erase the original line which are lighter and therefore do not compete with my intention.

I’m always in a bit of a Time crunch making art while teaching for obvious reasons but darkening the space around my roses is a quick and easy way to push them to the forefront. By showing the group, my artists can decide if they want to do the same or not.

The white highlights on the cream paper must be sparse and speak of a source of light. Squinting helps simplify the lighting scheme to better understand each area’s tonal value.

This is what my students pulled off, not an easy task but most certainly worthwhile.

I love my job, it’s not always easy but I believe it really makes a difference in people’s lifes. It makes them less still... get it? Still lifes XD

In this #SEVEN77 video I talk about how exhausting it can be to work with people, jumping from one group dynamic to another. It’s something that feels like a weakness and so I am glad that I can be vulnerable too by talking about it. It is something I often try to conceal, not so much out of shame but because if I told you every time I am tired, it could get real repetitive real fast up in here XD

Even so, I took advantage of the challenge to make a collection of 3 minute drawings from my phone right before my midnight deadline. I would like to do the challenge 77 days in a row if I can.

Thank you for stopping by everyone, one million kisses from Vancouver to wherever you’re at. Be well!