World-class graphic designer and self-styled ‘drawsigner’ Von Glitschka and Lynda.com recently held a challenge in the form of a 21 day set of drawing exercises made to get anyone thinking and working visually and using drawing to foster originality and creativity. The following are my entries for the Draw 21 Days challenge!  Unfortunately, the free period is over, but If you’d like to try, lynda.com does offer a 2 week free trial –  if you are a dedicated ‘drawsigner’, you just might manage it in 14 days.

The skills I sharpened have already helped me out in a pinch. I had a panic moment when I needed a fast, light-stitching  holiday design on a busy day in the middle of the challenge.  Rather than go to my usual chain of looking for source material and drawing vectors atop it or rehashing a stock design from a previous season, I developed my own simple concept.  I started analog, sketching and inking a yule tree in a geometric style. After that I simply scanned it, digitized it, and sent it back to production. Total time, less than 30 minutes. The look was, albeit simple, an original one that sincerely suited my needs.

I can’t thank Von enough for the challenges. I’m going to lynda.com to take the rest of his courses- even an old-dog with some design history like me could learn a lot from his workflow, beginning and refining in analog, then working to a clean digital finish. Check out his courses for yourself!