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More awesome drawing challenges from my friend Kasia... Draw something while looking at the thing, but not at your paper. It's called a "blind drawing." You might surprise yourself!

I've been taking a figure drawing workshop from my friend Kasia here at the University of Edinburgh. She's a truly fabulous teacher and pushes me to try new things. So here's one for you... draw something with one line. Don't pick up your pencil until its done.
     And feel free to share a link to your piece online in my comments, if you like. Or keep it to yourself - these are just exercises after all!

If you happen across a gorgeous Fall day, take your sketch pad outside and concentrate on drawing shadows - especially under trees. They are so dappled and lovely this time of year! Feel free to link to your creations in my comments below!

Pick a favorite illustrator and try to create a small illustration in their style. Feel free to add a link to the finished piece in my comments!

Draw a face you see in a cloud, a fold of fabric, an arrangement of leaves - wherever! (I see these all the time but rarely actually draw them. How about you?)

Draw something upside down. (I mean the image, not you. Could be you. Could do.) :) Want to share? Upload it to your website and link to it in my comments! (Make sure to say something about it so it doesn't get marked as spam!)

Are y'all actually doing these? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment and let me know.
So today, take a painting - doesn't have to be yours and you can actually lay tracing paper over it. Create a line-art version of the painting. It can be super-simple, or complicated with cross-hatch shading. The trick is to get the key elements that give the piece life.

Try to draw something in a completely different style from how you usually do. If you draw tightly, draw LOOSE! If you draw sketchy, draw with long continuous lines. Get the idea?

Remember the image you colored last week? Take the copy you made and choose one point in the illustration where you want the viewers eye to go. Use your most saturated colors and highest contrast in that spot before you color the rest of the image. You have the power!

Choose a drawing - doesn't matter if it's yours - and choose three colors to color it with primarily. (Make a copy of the image because you'll be working with it again next week.) You can use other colors, but not until after you've used those three colors extensively. They can be your favorite colors, or thematic colors (think, 1950s diner or some such). Your goal is to achieve a cohesive look overall.

Create a simple landscape drawing and color it with two different types of light. Imagine one light source in Arizona on a bright, hot day. Imagine the other light source in London on a cloudy, rainy day. How does it change your composition?

We've been playing with light, soft and hard, one source and two. This week, draw a scene using two light sources. But make this one complicated. For instance, if the sun is one light source, maybe it's coming through a window, and the second light source is a lamp. Or the moon and a lamp. Or a star and fireflies. Get the idea?

 Hello fellow artists!

As part of our ongoing efforts to make Illustration Friday more of a community focused on the art of idea generation, here’s our Inspiration Board for this week’s topic of HEART.

You can download, save, drag and drop, print, or do whatever you want with it if it helps you to brainstorm ideas for your illustration.

Let us know in the comments if this is something that you think is helpful or inspiring enough for us to keep doing!

Use that same object from the last two weeks, but now draw it using TWO light sources - one primary and one secondary. Even better if one of those lights can be warm, and the other cool.

Draw an object using a strong light source from above and and an angle. (Compare it to last week's drawing.)

Draw an object using a soft light source from above and and an angle.

Choose a favorite image and draw a small copy of it (about 3"x5") in black and white using all the values in the value scale you created last week.

Draw 10 boxes in a row - about 1"x1". The first box stays white and the last box goes as dark as you are able to get it (hopefully without embossing). Fill in the boxes in-between in a gradient from light to dark. Work slowly, build up the pencil. Keep your edges neat. Keep the value even. This is a value scale which can come in handy for all sorts of future work.

Work on your line quality and bravery at attacking a blank page... use a dark pencil and make swirlies all over the paper while never lifting your pencil. DO lighten and harden the pressure you use, however. And try to angle the pencil as you make the swirlies to achieve variations in line quality.

Draw a horse. Try to begin with the bone structure to make sure you get the anatomy correct. You can use references on this one. :)

Playing off of last week's challenge, this one is again about color. Draw something simple for you - a landscape, a thing, a pretty - it doesn't matter. Then color it using only two colors (using their full value range from pale to dark). Have a go!

Need an idea for something to draw? How about this... gather reference photos of three animals - one must be aquatic, and combine them into one fantastical or monstrous creature. GO! (Feel free to share your images - I'll post them here if you do. Or share on Facebook.Or just draw for yourself!)

If you're a writer who has no trouble banging out thousands of words a day on a regular basis, you can skip my 250, 500 or 1000 Words A Day Writing Challenge.

This post is for others who fit into one or more of the following situations:

- You started NaNoWriMo with good intentions but ended up falling further and further behind until it was way too late to try catching up.

- You've always wanted to try a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo but knew you'd never have the time to write 50,000 words in November.

- You have a day job and need some motivation to squeeze out extra time to do regular writing.

- You have kids, so life is often crazybusy with parenting duties and an unpredictable schedule. You need some motivation to carve out writing time here and there.

- You're an illustrator who is trying to flex your writing muscles. A writing challenge with achievable goals could help you get that picture book or other writing project finished.

- You already make a living as a writer or are a published writer, but have always wanted to try another genre...but your paid/contracted work has always come first. Even with limited time, you want to get that personal writing project of yours off the back burner and make some steady progress.

In my case: I am a children's book illustrator who has just started writing picture books. I love my work and I love making picture books, but I also have not forgotten my roots: I have been writing books for young people for as long as I can remember. None of them have been published, though I have been steadily working on my craft; judging from the gradual improvement in quality of editorial rejection letters, my writing has been getting better. I've gotten close (tantalizingly, frustratingly close) for my latest novel, but "close" is not the same as a book contract. I also had my YA novel-in-progress nominated for the SCBWI Sue Alexander "Most Promising For Publication" Award.

Then a rejection ended up (in a roundabout way) getting me a book illustration contract with Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, and my novel-writing got put on hold. It's ironic but a part of the business: I've since had more than one editor express interest in seeing my novels, but I haven't had as much time to work on my writing because of my contracted illustration work.

With what I've learned since then, I'm realizing why my already-written novels didn't sell and why they SHOULDN'T have sold, and have shelved them. I've started working on a new project which I'm pretty excited about, but don't spend nearly enough time on. It's been a crazy year for me: I illustrated three Judy Blume chapter books, 10 Judy Blume covers, finished the illustrations for my first solo picture book (WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? with Simon & Schuster), illustrated RUBY ROSE ON HER TOES (picture book by Rob Sanders, with HarperCollins), did sketches for MITZI TULANE: PRESCHOOL DETECTIVE (picture book by Lauren McLaughlin, with Random House), some sketches for SEA MONKEY AND BOB (picture book by Aaron Reynolds, with Simon & Schuster), did my first book tour, talks and workshops at conferences, then had family health issues.

But something else I've learned: life is ALWAYS going to be crazybusy, one way or another. I will NEVER have the luxury of time that I had in my pre-published days, and that's not a bad thing. If I want to achieve my goal of getting my novels for young people published, I have to adjust and squeeze out writing time however I can.

Hoping some of you join me in the Challenge! Here's more info about how to participate. Feel free to post below or in my Writing Challenge: 250, 500 or 1000 Words Facebook page. Or you can just participate without letting anyone know...it's entirely up to you.

Any suggestions for a caption? Feel free to post your caption suggestion below, on my Facebook Inkygirl Page, or on Instagram.

Please keep try to keep captions family-friendly, thanks.