100 Creative Drawing Ideas [Paperback]

Anna Held Audette (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2004

What art student doesn't groan at the hackneyed problems too often assigned in art classes, such as a still life and chianti bottles, old chairs, and large cloths draped over the whole scene? Here, in the first book ever of its kind, is a collection of interesting and original ideas for drawing projects, contributed by art instructors from all over the United States (and a few from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia) who have invented successful alternatives to humdrum exercises. The accompanying illustrations demonstrate ways in which their students have addressed the assignments and are included to help the reader visualize what might result from the written description. This book will be a welcome resource for art teachers and students in high school, college, graduate programs, and art schools, as well as artists undertaking independent study.



Among the 100 drawing ideas are:



   •  Drawing with a piece of charcoal held between the toes—to explore how limitations often bring out great creativity.
   •  Adopting a mouse's-eye view of a still life—an unusual twist on perspective drawing.
   •  Making a self-portrait that does not show the head but tells something significant about the artist through the depiction of other parts of the body—an original way of investigating "Who am I?"
   •  Constructing a figure from assembled objects and then drawing it—for those times when a live human model is unavailable.
   •  Creating a personal visual representation of the blues musical genre—to discover how one art form engenders another.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; First Edition edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301056
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301050
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference Source for Lesson Planning, July 5, 2004

By 

Virginia O'Keeffe (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Creative Drawing Ideas (Paperback)

The majority of the lessons compiled in 100 Creative Drawing Ideas originate from college-level instructors. Therefore, as an art educator experienced in teaching K-12 and higher education students, I must warn you: these are serious lessons aimed at specific problem solving; not meant as a beginning artist's handbook. For educators, this book is filled with ideas that can be adapted up or down, depending upon the desired target age or level. The text is well organized in terms of complexity. Consequently, it is possible to utilize these drawing exercises as preliminaries for other media. Some might find the informal paragraph style of "talking through" the activity a bit confusing. Teachers K-12 will need to adapt the lessons into a format consistent with state standards. Artists looking to expand or brush up on skills will really benefit from this text. As an artist and teacher, I think it's a great reference tool reminding us of what we've learned and what we need to teach.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent idea book for upper grades or college drawing!, June 1, 2004

By 

C. Fisher (Cross Junction, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 100 Creative Drawing Ideas (Paperback)

The book covers various drawing ideas that other teachers have used in their classes. Although it is a compilation book, it does give added ideas to the starving art educator who needs ideas for classes. The only gripe I would have is that I was hoping that I could use it for some of my middle school students. It is really geared towards the upper grades levels and college drawing classes. I am hoping that I will be able to adapt some of the ideas for my gifted and talented art students.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative drawing boosters, November 4, 2007

By 

Brenda Sageng (Carthage, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 100 Creative Drawing Ideas (Paperback)

Another instructor at my university loaned me his copy, and before I totally dog-eared it, it seemed only right to return his and buy my own. While this is NOT an "everything you need to know about drawing" book, it IS a great resource of (mostly) university level drawing assignments from various instructors. Of course not every assignment/idea is workable for all classrooms, but there are certainly enough good ideas to make this a worthwhile support for one's library. Many of these would be excellent for high school level classes, which would certainly raise the level of instruction at a critical developmental point in student's seeing and drawing skills.
The biggest frustration in teaching a beginning drawing course at universtiy, is "fresh-out-of-highschool" students who have no clue about the rigorous study needed to develop competent drawing skills. The assignments outlined in the text are intriguing and challenging enough to engage these new students and get them over the frustration stage of this foundational art skill. The one drawback I've found is the singularity of some of the ideas, a lack of knowing what came before or followed after, so a consideration of how the selected assignments fit into particular curricular goals is necessary.