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Often during sketch meet ups, I feel torn between: ‘I wanna make a ton of sketches!’, ‘I love meeting and hanging out with other sketchers!’, ‘I want a look into each everyone’s sketchbooks!’… And then I end up with one or two pages with half-hearted drawings, just because I was distracted by my own thoughts or not focusing on either hanging out with the others or my drawings….
Yesterday, though, it went well. The ‘official’ sketch crawl started at 2 in the afternoon, but I hooked up with some early bird sketchers to draw in the hall of the Rijksmuseum for a couple of hours. A perfect place to observe, study and sketch people. I stood close to where people line up for tickets, so sometimes there would be a long line of people waiting, that I could study closely, and then I would alternate that by drawing people from a bit further away when the line got shorter.

I had to ‘collage’ people (especially in the second drawing, in which I wanted to capture a scene), as they were coming and going. So I would draw someone’s coat or hairdo, combine it with someone else’s legs or posture, and use a third, fourth, or even fifth person for the hands, shoes, features…
A lot of fun!

Later we met up with a group of about 20 sketchers and hung out in Vondelpark, at ‘t Blauwe Theehuis, which is one of my favourite places because of the building, its location and the great atmosphere. Oh and pretty good coffee too. The weather was nicer than expected but very cold, so I just enjoyed drawing the bar and the people in the cafe inside.

Later we all ‘crawled’ to the next location – it had to be an inside location because it was just too cold. Great hanging out for hours with this fun mix of people who all have one thing in common: the love for drawing!

The post The Amsterdam Urban Sketchers – sketchcrawl appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Tomorrow, April 23 is the 51st World Wide Sketchcrawl.

‘Sketch-a-what?’, you may ask. A sketch crawl basically is an event where a group of people gathers to sketch. The group could stay at one place or move from location to location, sketching the place and then moving on to the next. All over the world, there are ‘urban sketchers’ groups you can join for these sketch meet ups.

It’s a great way to meet like-minded people and inspiring artists. If you think it’s scary to draw on location, drawing in a group like this can be your first step to many adventures outdoors. It feels safe because you’re not alone, and you will feel encouraged and inspired by the others.

The Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day has an extra aspect: it’s a quarterly event on which sketch crawls are held all over the globe, all on the same day.
You can read more about the World Wide Sketchcrawl here, and find out where a sketch crawl is held near you, here.

Here in Amsterdam, a group of sketchers will meet at ‘t Blauwe Theehuis (one of my favorite places ever since I was a kid) in Vondelpark

Will you be out sketching on location with some sketch pals too?
Or maybe, if you’re in or around Amsterdam, join us!
You can find details on Facebook, here.

The post World Wide Sketchcrawl appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

As a kid in school, I was never really great at doing homework. I mean, I did it – oh yes I was quite the miss goodie two shoes, but I never managed to get super high grades for the subjects I wasn’t into that much. The only homework I never procrastinated on was for art class. Nothing much has changed over the years. I really enjoyed doing this week’s Sketchbook Skool homework in the brand new kourse “Polishing”, in which Danny Gregory shows us how to use everyday things and conversations to create pages in your sketchbook graphic novel style.As headmaster and headmistress of Sketchbook Skool, Danny and I want to learn from the amazing fakulty, so each week, we alternate doing the homework assignments from “Polishing”.

As headmaster and headmistress of Sketchbook Skool, Danny and I want to learn from the amazing fakulty, so each week, we alternate doing the homework assignments from “Polishing”.
You can, by the way, still sign up for it! Sign up at Sketchbookskool.com

The post Homework appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to draw Tip Tuesday!

Here’s today’s tip: always carry a sketchbook with you, and use it. You will create a treasure of memories for yourself, capturing things photos or videos could never do.

Want more videos? Subscribe to my Youtube Channel!

So – use your journal and make awesome art.

The post Draw Tip Tuesday: How To Make Your Drawings Count appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Did you ever get stuck in a rut? I bet you did. We all do, every now and then. getting back into the groove, picking up the creative habit again – that may need a bit of kicking-yourself-in-the-pants, but boy once you are making art again, you wish you never stopped!
Or maybe you find yourself stuck in making art using the same tools and techniques, and you feel a bit bored by it. Or you feel uninspired, looking for new approaches, challenges and ideas.

Well, get ready to polish up your skills and your art journal pages!

I just finished editing my video lessons for the new Sketchbook Skool Kourse called ‘Polishing’.

In my klass, I teach about negative spaces and we’ll go outside for a location drawing.
But _man_, there’s a lot of goodness in this kourse: 5 other fabulous illustrators fill the 6 week online Kourse with a variety of approaches to sketchbook keeping and making art part of your life.

Just this Friday, Danny Gregory kicked off with his lesson, which has a comic book style theme – pretty awesome, so don’t miss out!

To find out more and join ‘Polishing’ in Sketchbook Skool, click here

The post How To Make It Shiny And New! appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

I am thrilled to tell you I am in the Flow. And this time I don’t mean that state of mind where things seems to fall into place when you’re making art and you’re forgetting everything else around you…

I mean: I am. In. Flow. The Magazine.

It’s a special issue, all about illustration. I have a few pages in there, teaching some fun lessons about sketching.

The post In The Flow appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

When I pick up a sketchbook I filled, and go through it’s pages I filled, it’s always so wonderful to realize that each page contains memories. Memories that go beyond that one little sketch. The lines are reminders of other things I didn’t even capture with my pen, but they are tied to the ink lines anyway. I remember where I was sitting, I remember the sounds I heard, even the smells around me… And I can tell how I felt: if I felt happy, grumpy, relaxed, pre-occupied, stressed. It’s quite interesting to see in my sketchbooks what kinds of phases I went through as well. In Sketchbook Skool, we are getting everything ready to launch the new term, on April 15. There is so much work to do for the launch of a new Kourse, it amazes each time. Then I am annoyed with myself that I’m surprised by the amount of work because by now I should know, right? Well, I guess it takes a while, and more experience too, before we are so well organized that we will have everything ready in time. And to be honest I think working hardest right before deadlines is probably part of, and contributing to the creative process.

So. While I am busy doing my last edits for the videos in the klass I am teaching in the brand new Sketchbook Skool, my sketchbook pages get less attention. I’ll make a hasty sketch here and there, or I’ll draw my food quickly – just to get my daily fix of sketching. I’ll be polishing up my pages when I can breathe again. It’s fine, because I am SO excited about what takes up most of my time at the moment!!

Have a look yourself, and join us on April 15 in ‘Polishing’

Six weeks of fun and polishing your art, taught by 6 illustrators from around the world.
You’ll be surrounded by an amazing group of classmates, and you’ll be part of that awesome inspiring, global community.
What are you waiting for? Get ready to polish up your art and sign up for Sketchbook Skool’s ‘Polishing’ today!

The post Shiny News! appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Last week I shared a blogpost about how I am hooked on hatching. Today I read a definition about habits: “A habit is when not doing an action causes a bit of pain.” It’s true! Not making art because other things seem more important or urgent does hurt. So I’ll stick to my healthy addiction and habit and keep on hatching!

The post Not Doing It Hurts appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

Today’s draw tip isn’t mine, and it’s also a bit different from what you may be used to.
By popular demand, here is the video I made for Sketchbook Skool with my dad showing his fabulous invention: the Watercolor Watch!

To make your own watercolor watch, here’s the manual my dad made for you:

Don’t miss out on other great stuff happening in Sketchbook Skool: sign up for a Kourse over at www.sketchbookskool.com

The post Watercolor Watch: Draw Tip Tuesday appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Drawing self portraits might be considered by some people as opportunistic or selfish. I don’t agree. Self portraits are a great way to play and practice, and to also record certain feelings, emotions and thoughts. Each selfie shows a different you, because each time you will actually be different; your mood, your hair, your state of mind – they influence both your reflection in the mirror, and your drawing hand.

I like to make faces and expressions – to draw those I take pictures otherwise my face will cramp up! The pictures will be a great starting point to study features and expressions, look at shadows, colours and details.

With just 2 colour pencils, you can fill a page full of expression

Practicing hatching to create shadows and shades using a fountain pen

Playing with ink and experimenting with white space and a contrasting background

I almost forgot about the fountain pen I filled with brown ink! It had been sitting on the shelf for weeks and I am glad I picked it up! Such a different style and feel, when using coloured ink instead of plain black. I coloured the background using an HB pencil.

The post Selfies appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Sometimes the hours go so fast – before I know it, the day is already coming to an end, even though the work hasn’t. It’s easy to complain about being busy and not getting the chance to draw because of it. However, there are always moments throughout the day that offer great sketching opportunities. Like when you’re on the phone, or when you’re waiting for the computer to calculate or restart.

The two drawings below are quite random sketches, at random times. I will keep doing these kinds of drawings and they will add up to a story taking place in my studio over time.

The post Drawing the mondaine things in life appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Feet. I know people who are totally grossed out by them. Well, by other people’s feet. I am on the other end of the spectrum. I think feet are intriguing.

Like drawing hands, I love drawing my own feet. They are great for drawing negative spaces, for practiciing gesture drawings, or to study shadows, to name a few things.
They are always there to model for me in many poses, and are willing to go naked; that’s when they look best.

Drawn with a Lamy Safari fountain pen, medium nib, filled with Carbon Ink, coloured with watercolours

Luckily, there are more bare feet in our household, so I get to draw them from many angles, using different art tools to play with.

Drawn with a Lamy Safari fountain pen, medium nib

Drawn with green and blue coloured pencils from prismacolor and a red Staedler ergosoft coloured pencil

The post Drawing Feet appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

A lot of people find it hard to draw hands. It takes practice -and what better way to practice, than using your own hand as a model?

Want more videos? Subscribe to my Youtube Channel!

The post Draw Tip Tuesday: How To Draw Your Hand appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Life drawing sessions are fantastic to practice drawing people, and actually, I’d like to attend them more often. Studying proportions, shadows, staring at a person who gets paid to be stared at during 20, 10 or 5 minute poses, being surrounded by others who are also focusing on the same model… it all adds up to a wonderful experience and great practice. However, unplanned drawing and sketching is more my ‘thing’. I bring my sketchbook with me, everywhere I go, because there will be sketching opportunities on many occasions, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Lynne Chapman‘s book ‘Sketching people‘ has reminded me of how much I love drawing people, and I am enjoying filling my sketchbook pages while observing the people around me.

The best places to draw people are where people are pre-occupied, focused on their phone, ipad, laptop, waiting in line for something, or in converstaion with somebody else:

Using a bold, cheap rainbow pencil makes it easier to work quickly and the blunt tip won’t allow me to go into detail.

I often choose an aisle seat when I travel by plane or train; so I can get a good view of my fellow travelers – even when it’s from the back

When people stand in line, they will stay still for a little bit, but you know you need to be quick. Sometimes, if I am not fast enough, I just combine two, three or even four persons into one. If people are sitting down in a coffeeshop, cafe or restaurant, check if they have something to drink or eat. Usually you will then know if they will be there for a while and you can get into more detail when drawing them.

Sometimes it’s a bit scary – I feel like a stalker, watching someone intensely for a while, when I draw them. Most of the time, people don’t even notice at all, but if they do and I feel that it annoys them that they’re being watched, I stop and focus on someone or something else. It doesn’t happen often but sometimes people come up to me because they noticed me drawing (them) and they want to see. Then I may feel hesitant to show them because I often don’t go for the likeness, but rather focus on posture, shadows, gesture and line. But it doesn’t matter to them either – they will recognize something about them in the drawing and are flattered to have been the subject – they won’t judge me for not drawing them perfectly!

The post How To Draw People appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

Today we’ll do an exercise, using color pencils to add depth to a circle and transform it into a sphere.
This exercise is a simplified example of what I teach in my upcoming online drawing course ‘Just Draw It!’
In this 6-week course, you get to learn a lot more about shading, using color pencils, and many other drawing techniques – and you will get my personal feedback on the drawings you make!
It starts March 7, so don’t miss out – seats are limited!
Click here to sign up for $99 today 

The post Draw Tip Tuesday – From a Circle to a Sphere appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Everyone is creative. Whether you realize it or not, each day you are being creative as you make choices. To name just a few: what wil you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner? What will you wear today? How will you articulate the words in that email you’re sending out?

Still, you may feel your creativity can use a bit of a boost. Because you want to get into the habit of creating, but sometimes you get sloppy and before you know it, there are so many other things that need your attention, and you feel there is no more space for your creative habit.

Here are three tips:

1. Empty Your Mind

Quick blind contour drawings to empty my mind and focus on what I see only

There are so many things going on and so many thoughts racing through your head! They pile up throughout the day. You can make it stop by taking a little bit of time to workout, or meditate for example.

For me, drawing (even if it’s just a few minutes) is a great way to empty my mind: it feels like meditation, and it is a workout for my drawing muscles!
Do it every day – not just occasionally. You will benefit from this. Clearing your head will make you more creative during the day, and you will be able to focus a lot better.

2. Look At What You Have Created

Feeling uninspired? Well, take a look at your sketchbook pages, art journal pages, drawings and/or paintings. You may get some ideas AND you will see how much progress you made throughout time.
It’ll definitely make you feel like picking up a pen and put something down on paper to keep developing your skills.

3. Keep Learning

We’re never done learning. This is true in life, but also when you’re an artist.
So, read books about creativity, find how-to videos on YouTube, attend a life drawing class, or learn online and sign up for an online drawing class.
I will shamelessly plug my own drawing class ‘Just Draw It’ here, because it starts March 7 and you don’t want to miss it.

“Just Draw It” is a small-group online art class.
During this 6-Week course, every week you and your classmates will learn a new technique through examples and instruction, step-by-step video-tutorials and photo-tutorials, assignments, and my personal feedback on the drawings you make in class.
It’s $99 and you will definitely catch the drawing bug!
Click here to find out more and to sign up!

If you follow the three steps above every day, you will give yourself a fantastic gift: your daily creative habit!

The post 3 Daily Habits To Boost Your Creativity appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

As a kid in high school, I learned about hatching and cross hatching in art class. I absolutely loved it! A while ago, my dad found this drawing I made in class, for an assignment on cross hatching. I got an 8.2 for it, which is a very fine grade! (homework is graded on a scale of 1-10)

I still really do love hatching and crosshatching. Adding it to a line drawing creates such a fantastic sense of light and depth and volume and shape. Another advantage is that it brings you into an almost meditative state.
The drawings below were done in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I ran out of time on that right hand side page, but I quite like the unfinished drawing. I added a splash of watercolour to bring some balance to the journal spread.

The post Hooked on Hatching appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

I love drawing on location! Lately, I really enjoy drawing interiors, for some reason, and i love the fact that there’s always surprises and interesting corners to draw, when you really take a close look. An extra challenge is also people coming and going, or other things changing while you are drawing a scene. While I was doing the drawing below, the waiter suddenly started to move tables to prepare for a large group coming in later – it messed with my reference points but luckily, I had most of the needed things in there already and didn’t need to bother drawing the tables in their changed positions. It happens, you know – it’s a bit of ‘risk-taking’.  And that’s part of the fun: you can’t always control the situation.

But what if you can’t go to a cafe, a mall, or some interesting place for a drawing? Well, your living room will do just as well!
Each time I draw our living room, I notice different things. I choose different angles to draw from and it never gets boring.

…especially when living with a musician, there are many instruments scattered around. And again: it’s a bit of risk-taking because you never know if any of the instruments you’re drawing is going to be picked up and played on!

The post Places appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
Did you know you can use an eraser to draw with? A great exercise for seeing values.

Want more videos? Subscribe to my Youtube Channel!

Want to learn more drawing techniques? Sign up for my online drawing course Just Draw It! Click here to find out more and enroll.

The post Draw Tip Tuesday: Draw With Your Eraser! appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Because January is now behind us, let’s be honest to ourselves. How are you doing on those new year’s resolutions? Are you still sticking to them?

Last Monday, my online workshop ‘Awesome Art Journaling’ has started. Some of the participants are there because their new year’s resolution was: make more art. They took action by taking the class!

Struggles I see a lot in my classes are things like:

‘I really want to make art, but I don’t have time’, ‘I procrastinate, even though I know I feel happy when I make art’, ‘I think of sitting down to draw, but then I don’t’.

Is any of the above slightly familiar perhaps?

Here are 3 tips to give yourself that extra push and take action

1. Take responsibility

You can wait for something to miraculously happen, like the week suddenly turning into 8 days, life getting less busy, or an hour consisting of 80  instead of 60 minutes. But who are you fooling anyway?

I can THINKabout going to the gym, but that’s not going to make my butt any thinner, is it?

The only person who can make it happen is YOU. Don’t blame circumstances or make up excuses. There is always a way.

2. Stop being scared

Now, of course I don’t know what kind of challenge you are aiming for on tackling, but assuming it’s related to creativity: step out of that comfort zone and go for it. You need to follow new paths to learn and grow. And after all: what can REALLY go wrong? It’s just pen and paper. Or paint and canvas, or whatever your poison is.

3. Just Do it.

With every step you take, you will get such a great feeling of accomplishment. Another result: you don’t need to beat yourself up for making excuses. Because you don’t make them anymore.

Need an extra kick-in-the-butt?

Be quick then! ‘Awesome Art Journaling’ started last Monday, and if you haven’t already, this week will be the last chance for you to join in a whole month of making art every single day!

Click here to join now!

The post 3 Tips To Give Yourself a Kick-In-The-Butt appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

…and then suddenly you catch the flu! Well, I did, in any case. I think it’s been 20 since I caught the flu virus that kept me in bed for over a week. It messed with my body, my brain, my schedule, even my drawing skills… And it meant I couldn’t make any new Draw Tip Tuesdays!
I feel a lot better now, thanks, even though I’m still in recovery mode.

So anyway, that’s why today will be Throwback Tuesday – once again, by popular demand: How to draw buildings without feeling intimidated!

The post Draw Tip Tuesday – Urban Sketching appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
Last week I showed you how to make a colorful background wash ,using your watercolors. Today, we’ll draw on top of it, using colored pencils.

The post Draw Tip Tuesday – Colour Pencils on Watercolours appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Occasionally, in my online classes or in reaction of my Draw Tip Tuesday videos, people ask me questions that start with: ‘What is the secret to…’. Or comments like ’You make it look so easy’.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the simple answer would be: “If you buy this pen by Brand X, you will be able to draw everything you want”. But, as you already suspected – that’s not the case.
Maybe if we were studying on Hogwarts we could make it work, but even then you would need to really search for the right wand that fitted your needs best, before even starting to learn the first small steps towards making magic happen.

Walking the Path
As a kid I had this image in my mind of me behind a beautiful piano, playing music as if it would flow right out of my fingers. Even though I kept hoping I would some day magically be able to play complex classical pieces, I learned that just attending class each week, wasn’t going to get me there.

Practicing every day was the only key to moving forward, learning a piece bit by bit. Eventually I gave up, believing I was lacking the talent, but in fact I was lacking the motivation, endurance, patience and, well… ‘passion’. I wanted to be that piano player, but I didn’t want to walk the path to become one. It felt like an obligation rather than something I really wanted to do, all the time – like drawing.

Years of practice
When people comment on my art and say: “you make it look so easy” or “you are so talented”, I feel quite honored and I take it as a huge compliment. But what they often don’t realize is that what I now draw in half an hour time, took me years and years of practice. And I’m never done learning – which I love!

There are no Shortcuts
Enough about me. What can you do to develop your art skills?
With any form of art, and with developing a creative habit or any habit at all, there are no shortcuts.
You need to take one step at a time, make mistakes, learn from them, explore different tools and techniques and find out if they fit you and your needs. lowering expectations helps on the one hand, but you also need to keep challenging yourself to accomplish new goals and stay motivated. You need to find the balance by not setting the bar too high.

To boil it down for you, here are 5 ‘Secrets to Success’:

Now get your creative habit going!
Starting February 1, in my online art class ‘Awesome Art Journaling’ I will guide you through the weeks, and together we will fill our journal pages with awesome art. You can learn to make memorable daily journal entries with the practical tips and tricks I give you, and through experimenting with materials and techniques. Develop creative ideas and make every day an Awesome Art Journal day.
It’s only $69 for a whole month and at the end of class you will receive a workbook to keep nurturing your art habit for another month. If you haven’t joined already, what are you still waiting for?
Click here to join today!

Whatever you do, I hope you will enjoy walking that path – no shortcuts, just a lot of fun making awesome art!

The post Shortcuts And Secrets For Your Art Skills appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

Last week, on Sketchbook Skool I shared a video I made of my dad because he invented such a clever thing. I posted it on my instagram account and got more likes on the one post than I ever had, and still people are sharing and liking and commenting – it’s amazing. Whenever `i ask my dad ‘what time is it?’, he’s not showing me the time – just red yellow and blue! And to be honest, that’s a lot better than ‘a quarter past 10’, isn’t it?

Because of popular demand, here’s the video once more. You can find the free manual on how to make this watercolour watch on the Sketchbook Skool blog.

The post Time To Paint appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

It’s so great to go through all my travel sketchbook pages again. They contain so many memories!
So these are the last pages of my recent Thailand trip:

Flying back to amsterdam, waiting for a delayed flight in the China Airlines Lounge, and capturing some fun memories from our vacation.

Whenever you take a trip, I can highly recommend doing a page like the one below: drawing from memory and document the highlights of each day. So fun to remember those things you already almost forgot about – especially when you’re with a travel buddy, it’s a lot of fun to go through all the adventures together and capture them once more!

The post Travel Journal Pages #5 appeared first on Make Awesome Art.