50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful, Ordinary Life

Book excerpt: Draw the Flow Way “Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” –Elizabeth Gilbert “I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever.” –Beatrix Potter “Drawing, painting, creating…it’s like a muscle. You have to work on it every day.” –Sarah Walsh “Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use—do the work you want to see done.” –Austin Kleon “Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world. I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.” –Frederick Frank “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” –Salvador Dalí “Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation or how we earn our living.” –Madeline L’Engle “I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, in any artistic work, is daring to dare.” –Maya Angelou “I sometimes think that there is nothing so delightful as drawing.” –Vincent van Gogh In this innovative approach to drawing instruction, the illustrators from Flow magazine open up their tool kits, sharing secrets and techniques to teach the creatively curious how to draw. The lessons, 50 in all, curated from the best of Flow's two special drawing issues, show how to render the kinds of things we see every day: a bouquet of flowers, a beloved teacup, colorful mittens, the kitchen table, a bike, jam jars, a cat, an apple tree. Along the way we learn about color, materials, perspective, tools, and negative space. With its bound-in paper goodies, this book is also a canvas for artistic exploration—reminding us of the mindful pleasure of doing creative work. Filled With Paper Goodies: Mini daily drawing pad DIY postcards Watercolor, tracing, and colored papers House interiors to unfold and decorate