1.  "Expressive Lines"
Try to make as many types of lines as you can.
Repeat each type of line several times.
Try all types of lines: wavy, curly, jagged, dashes, fat, thin, etc.
Fill your page with as many lines as you can.

2. Keep lines in a group the same distance apart.
S k e t c h b o o k A s s i g n m e n t
*Courtesy of Ande Cook, Atlanta, and School Arts Magazine
 "Directional Lines"
Unlike the expressive, directional lines are very precise. Lines should all be the same thickness. These lines look as if they are bending and overlapping. This is not "free" like expressive lines) but calculated constant, and even.
Start anywhere on your paper. Move in a certain direction. stop and begin in a new direction
Keep lines in a group the same distance apart.
Try to go in every direction at least once
color or B/W

3.  "Echoes"
Begin by drawing an abstract, free-form line on the page. Then use other lines to echo the original line, flowing with it, into it, and away from it. Add color on or between the lines.
Even very young children can merely trace outside a line. You must create new variations away from your first lines to make it look different !

4. "Draw What You Hear"

5. "2-D and 3-D Arrows"
Create a full page composition using a combination of 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional arrows. Use overlapping to break up the spaces into interesting positive and negative shapes.
Outline with felt-tip pen.
Think up an interesting color scheme and fill the shapes with colored pencil

6.  "Typography Tester"
Fill the page with a variety of lettering styles. Be creative! Find a poem - a favorite song - a list of favorite sayings - your favorite things -
Perhaps start with pencil (very light) then move to markers or colored pencil
Perhaps divide your page into separate shapes, perhaps use borders Must do's:
Include color
Fill the page
Have five or more styles
Special note: If you know how to letter in another language/alphabet, include that as a style, too!

7. PEN & INK STROKES
Contour Lines: Contour lines are marks that precisely follow the curves and planes of an object.
Parallel Lines: Parallel lines are straight marks that extend in the same direction. Sketched free-hand, the lines need not have ruler straight perfection.
Crosshatching: Crosshatching consists of two or more sets of contour or parallel lines that are stroked in different directions and intersect.
Stippling: Stippling is a grouping of dots.
Scribble: A scribble line is a free flowing (but controlled) mark that loops and twists in a sketchy manner.
Wavy Lines: Wavy lines are drawn side by side in a repetitive pattern
Crisscross Lines: Crisscross lines flow with the contour of an object and are arranged in a staggered, randomly crossing manner.
"Pen & Ink Shading"
There are seven basic strokes used to shade with pen and ink.
In your sketchbook, use a minimum of five different types of strokes to shade from black to white. Fill the page. Try to go from light to dark in the sections.
The areas can be any shape; they don't have to be rectangles.

8.  "Pencil Shading"
Fill the page with overlapping shapes that run off the page on all sides. No pos/neg spaces larger than a fistprint. Fill each pos/neg space with smooth pencil gradations (from light to dark).
The Shading Do-Nots:
Do not shade with the side of your pencil.
Do not smear the drawing with your finger or a tissue.
Do not start out too dark - you can always get darker as you work.
Do not use mechanical pencils. (Sorry- won't work!)
The Do's:
Do make a flat edge on the tip of your pencil lead by "coloring" a sharpened tip on a piece of scrap paper.
Do shade in one direction only... then shad the opposite direction on top.
Do shade from light layers to dark to avoid uneven transitions.

9. "Blind Contour with Color Wheel"
Using your black felt-tip (not roller-balls) do two blind contours of your teachers. Use two pages; draw one on each page.
Using colored pencils, turn the most interesting of the two blind contours into a color wheel. The colors must flow in the order of the color wheel.
Be Creative! Design the entire page. Perhaps use a floating rectangle behind as a way to unify. The color can go on top or behind the contour figure. Blend the color very carefully and smoothly. You'll have to "make" some of the colors by carefully layering two colors on your page. Maybe use some of the techniques you learned in some of your other sketchbook assignments.
The color wheel:
Violet, Red-Violet, Red, Red-Orange, Orange, Orange-Yellow, Yellow, Yellow-Green, Green, Green-Blue, Blue, Blue-Violet

10.  "Bottle Landscapes"
Everyone knows that things that are further away from us look smaller. But what if you can't rely on size to tell the story? This assignment uses plastic bottles, which can be any size. How do you make a big detergent bottle look like it's sitting behind a little eye-drops bottle?
Things that are partially covered by another object are seen as being behind the object: (overlapping)
Things that are further away are drawn higher on the picture plane. Their bases (bottoms) will be placed higher on the page than the bottles that are supposed to be closer.
Assignment: Take one bottle at a time to your table, and do a contour line drawing of it, starting anywhere on your page. Then do the same thing with another bottle. Fill your page with overlapping bottle shapes. Bottles that are meant to be in front must have a base that is lower on the page than the object that is behind it.
Warning: If the bottom of your front object is higher than the one behind it, your front object will appear to be floating in the air!
Two techniques to practice that make objects in your drawing look closer or further away:
Overlapping
Change in baseline

11.  "Full of Contours Page"
Do a page full (20 to 25) of "mini" blind and modified blind contour drawings. (May take 2 facing pages.)
These are quick studies of people/children in different positions doing things.
Perhaps --- go to a park or a sporting event of some kind. Observe and Quickly draw people being active
Do this in pen please!!
After the contour drawings are done:
Add some color accents Finish the page in an interesting way

12. "Everybody's Junk Drawer"
1. I think every household has a "junk drawer" - that drawer that's filled with all the "stuff" no one knows what to do with. Open the drawer, don't move anything, and draw what you see as a modified contour drawing. --Do the drawing very lightly in pencil- no black marker --You can make the drawing in a 7" x 9" rectangle. --Don't be obsessed with realism! Let the drawing be loose! Fill the page! (or the rectangle.)
2. After completing the pencil drawing, now outline in felt tip marker. Then layer colored pencil in interesting ways. What color scheme/approach can you invent?

13. Shading: lighter on top, darker beneath
 "Roller Coaster Contrast"
You will be creating at least six continuous bands of color. (You can think of them as loops - like flat and really long rubber bands. )
Each band must reach at least 2 sides of the paper.
Each band must cross or be crossed by at least 2 other bands.
Bands should be at least 1/4" wide, with consistent width.
One path will appear to be above another at each crossing site (you'll have to plan, and erase one set of lines.)
Shading info: Let's assume that things that are closest to us will get more light, and appear lighter, and that things further away from us receive less light, and are therefore darker. As we look at the bands you have drawn, bands passing under others seem far away from us, and bands on top seem near. To emphasize this, shade each band darker when it goes under another, and lighter where it passes above. (Layer combinations of colors to achieve best darks!)

14. Primaries: R, Y, B. Secondaries: O, G, V
*Primaries: R, Y, B **Secondaries: O, G, V ***Tertiaries: All have two names: Ex: R-O, B-G...
 "12-Part Color Wheel"
Create an interesting shape to repeat and fill with *primary colors
Create another shape to repeat and fill with **secondary colors
Create a third shape to use for ***tertiary colors
Label the color names (Notice that primary and secondary colors have their own names, but tertiary color names are a double-name)
Plan your drawing in pencil so that it will be big on the page. OK to use object shapes - Shapes with a related theme work best!
Make it decorative! Embellish the page! OK to make the lettering part of the design! Finish with an ink outline!
Shading info: Let's assume that things that are closest to us will get more light, and appear lighter, and that things further away from us receive less light, and are therefore darker. As we look at the bands you have drawn, bands passing under others seem far away from us, and bands on top seem near. To emphasize this, shade each band darker when it goes under another, and lighter where it passes above. (Layer combinations of colors to achieve best darks!)

15. "What's in Your Head?"
Draw the inside of your own head  What are you like? Are you: Colorful? Plain? Accurate? Disorganized? Soft? Sharp? Poetic? Focused? Musical? Funny? Dependable? Flightly? Spacey? Numerical? Cautious? Organized? Fashionable? Rigid? Geometrical? Bright? Dull? Speedy? Mysterious? Exotic? Electric? Please, No "Brain" Drawings, No Heads!!! Be imaginative!!! Be conceptual!!!

16. "Stained Glass Stroll"
Begin by drawing 1 outline shape, then overlap partially with the same shape again, letting the first one show through. Overlap again and again, creating interesting paths across your page, filling it. Remember to plan your paths to create interesting negative shapes around them, too.
Color: With colored pencil, begin at any point and color the original shape in entirely. (Light pressure works best!) Choose another color and color the next whole overlapping shape, even where they cross. (Easiest with analogous colors!)

17.  "Fallen Leaves"
It's fall and harvest time! Go "harvest" some leaves!! Find several different types (shapes) of leaves and trace them into your sketchbook. These may have to be repeated several times to make a good composition.
Now divide the page into four separate areas. Please do this creatively also! Then using colored pencils, color each area in one of these four color schemes:
Complimentary colors: colors opposite each other on the color wheel
Analogous colors: three or more colors touching each other on the color wheel
Tints and shades: one of the above two color schemes with white and black added to lighten or darken.
Tones: colors with their complement added- do scheme 1 or 2 in toned colors
Remember good composition rules: Overlap, run off the page, very the size, repeat shapes, maybe try a "floating rectangle" to create an interesting, full page. You need to fill the page in an interesting way.
The coloring on this must be very neat and carefully done. Color fairly dark so the color schemes show up well!

18. "Draw What Scares You"
Doesn't have to be spooky ghosts and traditional stuff (but it can be). What else is scary? That Chemistry test? A bad hair day? Breaking out on prom night? The dentist? Your dad's wardrobe? A coach on a really bad day? OK to include words as part of your design! You can mix your personal scary things with traditional if you want to. Remember to keep it "G" rated, fill your page, and use color!!

19. "Design Your Own Superhero"
Your superhero must be original. Please do not turn in Superman, Cat Women, Spider Man, "Japanimation" or any other copies!
Invent your own, please. Capes, tights are optional!
Create your very own Superhero. Your drawing must be in color and it should take up the entire page. Include your action hero's name, his/her superpowers and super-talents. Also, write what this hero's biggest pet peeve is... what do you have to do to really tick this person off? And if you did... what would they do to you? (Be inventive, not gorey, please.)

20. "Letter-People"
Use Color Fill the Page Make a six letter word (or more). Your word can have repeat letters (like: Betty B.) but you can't use repeat letter people. Each letter is a new solution. Plan it first so the drawings will all fit!

21. "All the Letters in Your Name"
 Start: At any place on your page - this example started at the lower left. Draw the first letter (from your name) with an outline shape (lower case letters are the most interesting.) Before you draw the second letter, turn it, so that it creates interesting negative shapes. Let the letters touch each other in order to close off more of the negative spaces. Fill your page, adding and turning letters, and creating interesting negative spaces between them.

22. But you are the only human on earth who has met them
But you are the only human on earth who has met them! It is up to you to tell their story! Make a full page, color composition and tell the world the news that everyone is waiting breathlessly to hear: What do they look like? What can they do? Where are they from? What language do they speak? Why are they here? What are their names? How did they get here? Ok to include words, descriptions, or labels with your drawings. Make them attractive, as part of your page layout. Plan the whole page of your color composition-- You can include backgrounds and you can use more than 1 picture - like snapshots, closeups, families

23. Choose a saying or an idiom that usually doesn't mean what it actually says. Example: "Raining Cats and Dogs." Illustrate the saying in a color composition according to a literal interpretation (exactly what it says) or an alternative interpretation Don't illustrate its idiomatic meaning. Include the saying as part of the design of your full page composition Some sample sayings are below.
Sample Sayings ( or use others that you know ) apple-pie order, apple of his eye, at the tip of my tongue, beauty is only skin deep, too big for his britches, blow hot and cold, blow your stack, bread the ice, cast pearls before swine, cat got your tongue, change of heart, chase a rainbow, chew him out, cold turkey, that's the way the cookie crumbles, cool it, costs a pretty penny, crocodile tears, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, a fish out of water, with flying colors, follow your nose, go bananas, grasp at straws, like greased lightening, I have half a mind to..., hang loose, heart to heart talk, can't hold a candle to..., if the shoe fits, wear it, get up on the wrong side of the bed, in one ear & out the other, in a pickle, in the doghouse, keep your eyes peeled, knuckle down, laugh out of the other side of your mouth, my lips are sealed, off his rocker, off the wall, on the ball on the wagon, over the hill, pass the buck, pay through the nose, play it by ear, play musical chairs poker face, put your best foot forward, rat race, snow job, square meal, stuffed shirt, talk in circles, two-faced, walk on eggs.

24.  "Related Phrase"
Illustrate a two-word phrase using drawings of objects related to its meaning.
Examples: --- tool shed --- race car --- field goal wild cat text book --- bike path high jump --- hot dog mind meld --- chemistry lab musical instrument ----
Fill up the space! Add color! Shade for 3-D effects! Use your imagination. Originality will give you more points.

25.  "Spiraling Spheres“
Overlap circles (or other shapes) of graduated sizes, moving from smallest to largest (largest on top- draw it first) to create an illusion of movement toward you from the surface of the page. Fill the page with various sized trails. Shade one end of the spiral trail gradually darker, one end lighter to enhance the illusion of movement and depth. Your choice of colors. Create an interesting background; perhaps using analogous colors or monochromatic tints and shades to develop an ambiguous space.
The object shapes don't have to be circles! You can overlap any shapes you want to invent! Mix them up, too!

26.  "Illustrate a Joke"
Choose a joke and draw the picture or pictures that go along with it.
You don't have to make the joke up, and you won't be graded on how funny it is.
Remember that all material must be G-rated, and cannot be derogatory to a group of people. If you're unsure of the appropriateness of your subject, ask your teacher.
 - use color - fill the page - create your own drawings - don't copy another artist's joke drawings -

27.  "A-maz(e)ing"
Using pencil, construct a complete maze. Begin by drawing a 1.2" border around your page.
Remember that the goal is an interesting and balanced page design. Asymmetrical designs are almost always better than symmetrical.
Fill the page; use color. Avoid large, regular negative spaces. OK if paths go off the page. Avoid tangents!

28. "Confetti Names"
 Color Instructions: *For all the shapes that fall inside the pen areas, choose either warm or cool colors (but not both). Alter the colors where a pencil line divides the area. *For all the shapes that fall outside the pen areas, use the colors of the opposing temperature.

29. Example: stretch the letters to fill the negative shapes.
 "Make It Fit“
Choose a phrase, saying, book title, line of a song or poem, or a quote, and draw the letters to fit the whole page. Make letters bigger and smaller, slanted, round, whatever it takes to fill the spaces creatively using the letter shapes as design. Stretch or shrink the letters to fill the negative spaces between letters and words.
Color in or around the letters - make a border or include a picture or other graphic element if you like, but:
Make the letter "fits" the main idea!
Be inventive!!! Stretch, shrink, alter the shapes!

30. "Continuous Line Face“
Draw a face using lines that go all the way across the page from the left side to the right side without stopping. They can wander, double back, repeat, echo, curve, and change direction but they can't stop before they get to the other side. Use your imagination. Don't copy my sample. Do a whole face and make it big on the page! Use color! Fill the page! Exaggeration is good; gargoyles OK; remember to skip the demon/vampire icons, please.

31. Very important: do not copy another artist
Very important: do not copy another artist! Invent theses images yourself!
Use color, fill the page.
Can include words (lettering!), voice or thought "bubbles!
"Your Own Cartoon Strip"
Design and Draw Your Own Cartoon Strip
---- OR ----
if you don't have a cartoon strip idea, you can:
Draw A Day In Your Life in Cartoon Format

32. This assignment focuses on drawing from direct observation
This assignment focuses on drawing from direct observation. (looking at the real thing)
"Size Distortions"
Choose two ordinary objects at home which have a relationship to one another but are not the same size at all. (Like: the front door and a key -- or -- the refrigerator and an apple.
Draw the two different sized objects as if they are the same size, and draw them so they have a new relationship at the new size. (So: the key is as big as the door in the new relationship, and can only lean upon it!) (So: the apple could be so big that it occupied the entire inside of the refrigerator!)
Be inventive! think up your own two related objects, and observe and draw their details carefully. Plan an interesting composition on the page.

33. "Special Edition“
Design the arrangement of the front page; name the newspaper; write headlines; sketch the photos or ads; add captions to "photos" Use color. Fill the page. It doesn't have to look like a conventional newspaper (maybe think of a magazine layout instead) and you don't need to write stories. Use lines or shading to indicate the areas of type. Be inventive! The lettering is part of the look in page design!

34. "Magazine Reflection"
Step 1 Use facing pages in your sketchbook. Side by side if your book opens that way, or up-down if your book opens that way.
Step 2 Find a full page magazine photo (not a magazine illustration) that you like. B/W or color, but B/W is easier on this. Cut the photo into 10 pieces that are about the same area. They don't have to be the same shape. Shapes can be regular or not. Try to cut through interesting areas of the photo (like the face!)
Step 3 Select alternating pieces, and paste them in their correct positions on the right side of the paper. Paste the remainders on the left, also in their correct positions.
Step 4: Choose one side and shade in the missing areas in pencil, using the opposite page of pieces as reference for what to draw. Try to recreate the values (lights and darks) of the original photo.

35. "Bouncing Off The Walls"
Choose an object (sphere, box, pyramid, apple, teddy bear, balloon, etc.) Picture the object bouncing off walls. They could be bounding in outer space rooms or you can imagine the effects of gravity on your object. (As an object bounces up it looses speed [shapes spread apart] and as it comes back down it speeds up again [shapes close & overlapping])
Remember the goal is to create an interesting full page design, so think ahead on where you want the paths to go. Paths can cross each other and overlap. Include 3 stationary objects/shapes on your page that your moving objects can bounce off of. (a chair in the middle of a room, for instance.) Position them to help construct bouncepaths. Choose a color scheme (suggestion: limit to 4 colors and their closest relations on the color wheel.) Tips: The more complex (lots of paths), the more interesting. To get realistic "bounces," objects bound away at the same angle at which they hit the wall.

36. "Top Topic"
Next, combine all these parts into a full page composition. You might overlap sections to break up the negative space, or you can decorate or design a background to unify the parts.
Get as many parts in as you can. Very sizes, use close-ups, zoom in, zoom out, change the angle, include words, phrases, names. Make them part of your design.
Tip:, When you choose your color plan, you may want to pick one or two colors that can be included in most sections of your composition to help unify the parts.
First, choose a subject, topic, area of interest- something you really like and then: try to think of as many facets of the subject as possible. What are all the pieces and parts that make this interesting to you?

37. Skin Colors: (easiest if you follow the order below)
For light skin:
Very, very faint layer of yellow
Light layer of orange
Light layer of light brown
Light layer of red
Very, very faint layer of blue (or green) (to subdue the color brilliance)
For dark skin:
Step 1: same as above (very light) Steps 2-4: gradually and smoothly build up more layers, achieving more pigment (color) Step 5: same as above (very light)
The peach and brown pencils that come in our pencil sets really aren't very much like real people colors. You can achieve much more beautiful colors of all skin types if you layer colors. A basic recipe for skin is at left.
Start by inventing a silhouette (outline) form that conveys the 'shape' or 'essence' of a human person... The shape should occupy a space that you can easily layer colors in, say about 2 x 3". Repeat this shape 7-10 times, filling you page with an interesting arrangement.
Color each shape, experimenting with different densities of the nearby "skin tone recipes". Vary the amounts of colors to create a page full of people who represent a wide range of skin tones from light to dark.
Pattern the background, or perhaps create interlocking borders: something to give the page a unified appearance.
Tips: **Make smooth layers (essential for good results) **You can go back and add to layers, but you can't take layers off- so start off slowly ** Too much yellow will make the skin too orange **Too much yellow and blue will turn the skin green **Too much blue will make the skin gray

38. "Something Silly"
 Divide your page into 12 sections (regular or not). Draw 12 things you can make from raisins! No idea is too silly! Have fun! Be outrageous! Be Zany! Make me laugh!
Remember to use color and to fill the page!

39. "Machine Impossible"
What do you wish you had a machine to do for you? Make your bed? Fix your lunch? Fetch your soda? 
Include: a power supply: Solar? Electric? Hamster? Hydro? Air?
Arrange: the elements of your imaginary machine in an interesting composition, filling the page, and complete your drawing with a pleasing application of color

40. "Theme Park Poster"
Design a poster for the theme park you're inventing!  
You Choose: the theme (your life, perhaps?) and build from there. Start with the name of the park and draw the sign at the entrance gate. Include as many points of interest in your park as you can fit on the page. They can overlap each other
Will your park have booths, shows, concerts, rides, food? What kinds of each? Give them interesting names that fit the theme.
 Use: the whole page, and let your lettering and color be a part of your page design. Your poster design should entice us all to buy a ticket to your theme park!