Art: It’s Not Just for Kids!

This might be the most scared I’ve ever been to publish a blog post.

Yes, I’ve been vulnerable with you in the past, but at least I was using a medium that I was comfortable with: the written word. I won’t pretend to be a fantastic writer, but when it comes to writing, I at least feel somewhat in my element.

Today, I went out of my element. Big time.

Remember when I unveiled my new blog design? I mentioned that Rob, the guy who created it, did it during his morning sketch time, which is completely unbelievable to me. I have no artistic talent whatsoever. When my kids ask me to draw something for them, I do stick figures, and even those can be hard to decipher.

Case in point:

So when Rob’s new ebook, RobART: Sketch, came out last week, I was intrigued. It’s an instructional book complete with videos that show the art being made and talk you through it as he’s drawing. I bought it off iTunes and decided to give it a go.

After reading through and watching the videos, I put his tips into practice. The other day Samuel mentioned how cool it would be to have Pogo Sticks for legs, so I decided to try drawing that.

Please note: The was my very first attempt at following Rob’s instructions. Please also note: I was stuck with a pencil and crayons for my only tools.

Is it worthy of being seen by anyone? Not really (which is why I’m embarrassed to show it to you!). Is it a lot better than my stick figure drawings? I’m gonna go with ‘Yes’.

If I keep practicing, I’m sure I’ll continue to see improvements, which is one of Rob’s main points in the book. There’s no ‘right’ way to create art and the more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll become. Have fun with it and develop your own unique style.

I’m excited for my kids to have a chance to read the book. All three of them enjoy drawing and, although some of the concepts might be a little over their heads still, Eli has already taken to heart the bit he learned from reading a few pages.

He came home from school the other day and proudly showed me a picture he made. “It’s a sketch!”, he excitedly declared and I could clearly see the places where he’d employed Rob’s method of using loose lines to create a silhouette.

If you or your child loves to sketch and want to learn some practical steps to improve, I highly recommend RobART: Sketch. At only $2.99, it might be the best money you spend all year.

Find it on iTunes.