Free Holiday Drawing Party

A "TravelClaus"

In case you missed it yesterday, Mike Lowery hosted a live free virtual holiday drawing party. Everyone was encouraged to get in the festive holiday mood and bring their favorite holiday beverage. Mike had a special guest on and gave away lots of goodies. It was a very ‘punny’ good time!

As participants drew along with Mike, he shared how he liked to draw a “smash up” of things that aren’t normally related. He also shared some of his favorite sketchbook tools and tips for keeping a sketchbook over the holidays.

After a couple of initial sketches (one idea of a frogish Santa which I nixed), I settled on this sketch of Santa Zippy below.

Mike shared some of the art supplies he always carries with him while traveling. One of them was a small zippered bag filled with several drawing tools. And so, my drawing of Santa Zippy came to life. I love a good travelogue illustration and couldn’t resist adding a pun. Can you spot it?

Santa Zippy’s “TravelClaus” to the North Pole

Santa Zippy is giving a thumbs up to a great drawing party! He’s excited to head to the North Pole, and is taking his favorite hot cocoa and zippy bag filled with all of his favorite drawing goodies, to use on his stops along the way. Who knows, Santa Zippy may be sitting in your living room snacking on Christmas cookies and sketching your pressies!

One of the most memorable things Mike Lowery talked about is the importance of keeping a sketchbook, one you can actually hold and keep and look at over time. That really resonated with me. Digital illustration tools can be great time savers and have lots of nifty features (in Procreate, the undo button is a nice one) but it doesn’t hold a candle to the tangible feel and look of a real sketchbook. Like everything else, one’s digital artwork goes into the digital file pile (like so many digital photos) yikes! And if there’s no electricity, there’s no chance of looking at them even if you wanted to later… Just sayin’!

Another great tip Mike shared is to draw for at least 20 minutes a day, and set a timer if needed. While he didn’t call out any specifics, he suggested that we probably all have 20 minutes of questionable time wasters throughout our day. To be honest, if you look at the tracker on your phone you’ll see just how much time you’ve wasted. One may think that what they do isn’t wasting time. Truth be told, your brain is absorbing a lot of information along the way that isn’t happy, uplifting, nor does it add value to your life. At the end of the endless bunny trail you’ve missed out on creating something tangible that could bring you so much joy. And not just for art. The same goes for whatever your passions are, what give you a sense of accomplishment, and adds quality and value to your life.

I am going to create more tangible sketch book drawings and other forms of art. Whatever I fancy that brings me joy. I want to make marks and messes and happy mistakes. So I can hold them in my hands, look back at them, and see my artistic journey.

So set that timer won’t you and share what you’ve created. I’d love to see what you are working on. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. Just begin.

Happy holidays!

Maggie xo