While many students are back in the classroom, you don’t have to feel left out if you aren’t one of them. Through the online learning site Skillshare, you can educate yourself all year long—even during summer and winter breaks! Best of all, you don’t have to leave your home to do so; they offer over 17,000 art, design, and photo classes that you can take anywhere at anytime on any device. Earlier this year, I tried Leah Goren’s Illustration & Inspiration: Keeping a Sketchbook and had a ton of fun painting and gaining new inspiration for sketching. Recently, I’ve enrolled in another class to help build on my sketchbook skills. Ohn Mar Win’s Sketchbook Practice: Make Everyday Objects Pop With Watercolour and Pen implored me to try something I’ve never done before: use white ink. Curious? You too can try this class with 2 free months of Skillshare Premium.
My favorite part of any Skillshare class is that it provides the opportunity to learn someone’s thought processes and decision making. Hearing an illustrator I admire talk through these things is as valuable as learning the skill itself; once you understand how to approach a technique—and in this case, sketchbook page—you’re able to tweak it and make it your own.
In Ohn Mar’s 32-minute class, she covers three big topics: gaining inspiration from Pinterest; painting coffee pots; and painting vases. The coffee pots and vases are first painted sketches that are enhanced with white pen.
After the introduction, Ohn Mar delves into the research phase of her sketching. An avid Pinterest user, she’s created boards of everyday objects that she refers to when she needs inspiration for what to draw and paint. Through images of pretty ceramicware, she describes how she selects her inspiration. Ohn Mar looks carefully at the surface design of items, noting that their details can be good for this exercise. She instructs us, “What can I add on using my pen?”
I tried the exercises featured in Sketchbook Practice: Make Everyday Objects Pop With Watercolour and Pen.
I have a trusty watercolor palette, but I picked up a new small liner brush and acrylic ink for this exercise. These purchases deviate from what Ohn Mar uses; in her class, she has product recommendations. But, that doesn’t take away from the overall exercises—you can use whatever feels comfortable for you.
I love drawing everyday objects, so the class prompts were perfect for me. Rather than vases or coffee pots, I painted for Staffordshire dog statues. Just like in Leah’s class, I drew with my paint brush. This technique is also what Ohn Mar did. She started with a simple, bold color and painted the overall shape—outlining it at first and then filling it in quickly with paint before it had the chance to dry.
I won’t spoil the rest of the class for you—try it for yourself! Listening to Ohn Mar as she works is reason enough to take Sketchbook Practice. She offers helpful tips for sketching that go well beyond using a white pen. The advice is something I’ll keep in mind as I develop my sketchbook skills.
So what are you waiting for? Head “back to school” when you use my deal of 2 months of Skillshare Premium for free.
