Erik Brooks's Blog, page 17

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 7

Following up on our value scale with pencil (Episode 6) this video demonstrates creating a range of light-to-dark with a single color. I chose a yellow ocher to start, but you could do similar things with any color you choose. This demo directly references a recent exercise from my high school drawing & painting class. Students used acrylic paint, but you could simulate this with anything from pastel to colored pencil to opaque watercolors depending on what you have available. My digital version was painted on the iPad Pro with the Procreate App. 
The demo is SUPER quick, so feel free to pause or rewind - go back-and-fourth in certain areas to see the values slowly blend together and build up into the final image. Keep making art!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 6

In this episode I do a quick demo of ART IS... prompt no. 4: VALUE STUDIES. This is some very basic practice for shading light to dark. For my students, think of it as review :) Sometimes its also just nice to watch something like this and then to try it again your self with fresh thoughts in mind. And for a BONUS EXTRA!!! Check out the slo-mo dragon voice at the end. NICE. Take care out there!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 5

A narrated "live drawing" demo of the first two "Daily Drawing" prompts from ART IS... This one is a little longer, but 'hey', that give us more time to talk about art. The drawing prompts for this episode were "home" and "rocket man". I can't wait to see what you post for these as well. Enjoy!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 4

In this edition Mr. Brooks shares a few of his first drawings from the ART IS... enrichment packet. He also takes the chance to recreate his Pencil Portrait (prompt no. 2) in digital form. Watch for a few tips on shading and an approach to starting a simple pencil drawing. You can draw along or take a look and then try yours later. The description in BEAR no. 3 has a link to the ART IS... packet for anyone interested. The Liberty Bell HS/JRH Instagram page is @lbhs_art. Add the #artislbhs hashtag to posts of your own they will all collect in a "gallery" feed for us to enjoy. Keep making art!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 3

A quick 5 minute chat about the paper arts packet that was sent out today, and some encouragement to play along! I will hope record my own first foray into these daily drawing prompts later today. It will (in all honesty) probably get posted tomorrow, because...

... we recently adopted a puppy! Expect to see LOTS of Quince drawings in the weeks ahead :)

B.E.A.R! Episode no. 3

A quick 5 minute chat about the paper arts packet that was sent out today, and some encouragement to play along! I will hope record my own first foray into these daily drawing prompts later today. It will (in all honesty) probably get posted tomorrow, because...

... we recently adopted a puppy! Expect to see LOTS of Quince drawings in the weeks ahead :)

Back in the EXCELLENT Art Room: Episode no. 2

In the episode I talk a little bit again about the value of making art, music as an inspiration, the fact that we ALL need to be patient with both ourselves and with others, and I draw some jazzy polar bears! Thanks for taking a look :)

Back in the Art Room: Episode no. 1

As some of you know, last year I started teaching art at my local HS/JRH. In just my second year I am still trying to strike that balance between my own creative work and teaching... but I DO whenever possible try to bring some of those freelancer ideas to my classroom. It's all kind of a scramble!

Given the recent suspension of school for six weeks staring last Tuesday, March 17th, we are entering brand new territory into the land of "arts enrichment" or some sort of extended alternative learning situation.

I've been working on an arts packet, ART IS... that I will share with my students starting Monday 3/23, and I am plan to post a few different videos each week (2-3 ideally) that will provide a supplement to the packet and  let me potentially continue the tenor of creative conversation that I am hopefully starting to have with these kids.

It's pretty much all an experiment, and to some degree not unlike the myriad Inktober, Illustration Friday and other creative online outlets that have existed for quite some time. That being said, I do hope that my students will give it all a try. 10 minutes a day.

Let's keep making art!

PS If you'd like a copy of the ART IS... packet yourself, feel free to download one here.

PPS GRRR! (as per usual)

Back in the Art Room: Episode no.1

As some of you know, last year I started teaching art at my local HS/JRH. In just my second year I am still trying to strike that balance between my own creative work and teaching... but I DO whenever possible try to bring some of those freelancer ideas to my classroom. It's all kind of a scramble!

Given the recent suspension of school for six weeks staring last Tuesday, March 17th, we are entering brand new territory into the land of "arts enrichment" or some sort of extended alternative learning situation.

I've been working on an arts packet, ART IS... that I will share with my students starting Monday 3/23, and I am plan to post a few different videos each week (2-3 ideally) that will provide a supplement to the packet and  let me potentially continue the tenor of creative conversation that I am hopefully starting to have with these kids.

It's pretty much all an experiment, and to some degree not unlike the myriad Inktober, Illustration Friday and other creative online outlets that have existed for quite some time. That being said, I do hope that my students will give it all a try. 10 minutes a day.

Let's keep making art!

PS If you'd like a copy of the ART IS... packet yourself, feel free to download one here.

PPS GRRR! (as per usual)

Harts Pass no. 477

Wolverines may indeed have a few advantages when it come to social distancing -- they DO smell pretty bad, they DO live in wide open spaces, and they ARE a little mean and snarly -- thusly discouraging a lot of public interaction. For the rest of us however, being social is pretty normal. Now that we should  keep a little more space and distance between us its actually OK to snarl like a wolverine once in a while. If you say please and thank you, you can keep a comfortable distance, be firm but friendly, and do the greater public interest a lot of good. A lot of time just spent wandering the woods like a wolverine shouldn't hurt anything either. Be safe out there!