It’s time for a new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! How has it been 2 weeks already? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess.

New #KWPrompts: #OldArtNewWork

I have spent this past month making faces. While humans are still my least favorite animal, they are at least a little more fun to draw now than they were before. Comparing my current drawings to ones I made earlier made me want to redo my work so much, I decided to spend the next 2 weeks doing just that. I will be remaking a lot of my older drawings & paintings, especially animals. Join me!

The original version, an idea drawn several times but never quite right

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is Old Art, New Work Take something you made & remake it.

The updated version. I might make it into a print- what do you think?

You can change the colors! You can change the medium! Turn a sketch into a painting! Turn a sculpture into a poem! Turn a lino print into a cake! Keep everything pretty much the same & just try making it again with all your updated skills! However you want to re-imagine old artwork is up to you Show me how you think!

#KWPrompts #Face

Use #KWPrompts #OldArtNewWork &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I see your art!

Mastodon Bluesky IG

No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

February is for Faces

I’m on a mission to draw 29 faces in 29 days! I got a bit lonely on this mission, so I made it into a 2-week art challenge we can all do together.

Join me for the second week of #KWPrompts: #Face drawing challenge Show me how you think! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Would you like to know more about drawing faces? No problem! This article you’re reading right now has valuable info! Would you like to know even more? Read Part 1: There Go I But For My Face

And as always…

Practice, Practice, Practice!

No matter what method you use to draw people, you always need to practice! Is drawing a whole face too intimidating? Draw it in small parts.

The best type of practice is the type you actually do

Start with a frame

There are a lot of ways to frame out a face. Try as many different ways as you can find. You might just be surprised by what method works out for you! If you have a reference photo you like, draw wireframes over & over. This helps you see how the facial proportions work together. If you are working digitally it is very easy to layer the different wireframes to see how your different iterations line up. If you are working physically you can do the same with very thin papers & either a light box or a bright window.

Attack of the Clones

Once you have a wireframe you like: use it, use it, use it! This is easy if you work digitally. If you work physically, trace it a few times. Using the same wireframe over & over again helps you see how everything comes together. It also is fun to see how differently you can make people look in spite of starting them from the same wireframe.

I don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this wireframe.

I really don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this woman.

Reference Photo vs. Live Model

Drawing with a photo is easy! The subject holds still, indefinitely, so that you can really take your time & pay attention to detail. Drawing a live model is easy! The subject is actually there, so you can look at them from a few different angles & even ask them to pose differently if you like. Drawing with a photo is hard; the angle/lens distortion can really mess up things like perspective/foreshortening that are already difficult, especially for beginners. Drawing a live model is hard; people can’t just hold still & let you practice forever. Think about what pros & cons are most important for you. Try drawing from photos, videos, & from life to see what you like the most. This will depend on your temperament, your resources, your experience & your art style. Everyone will be different!

What do you think? Do you like drawing people? Do you have any favorite tips & tricks? Please, share them with me! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

New #KWPrompts: #Face

It’s that time again! A new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! I have been thinking a lot about faces lately. Join me!

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is #Face. Don’t want to draw a whole face? That’s OK too. Leave off the ears, just draw the nose, any face you want!

Show Us Your Face!

Want help with faces? Read last week’s KWL!

Check them out & share your own!

#KWPrompts #Face

Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Mastodon Bluesky IG

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

New Prompts posted every other Tuesday. Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art! Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Current: Animals

Past (feel free to participate in past challenges!): Idle Hues Limited Palette Monochrome Old Art, New Work Faces All I Really Want Is Birds! A Movie You’ve Loved Since You First Saw It

New #KWPrompts: #Birds

It’s that time again! A new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! I have been thinking a lot about birds lately. Join me!

I Had A Visitor Recently

This gorgeous friend came & peered in my window the other day. I have been drawing birds ever since! I think this is a Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

Put A Bird On It!

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is birds. Show me your birds! Don’t want to draw a whole bird? That’s OK too

The Boy & the Heron

Starting this art challenge was one of my new year’s resolutions. Another resolution was to use art to motivate myself to leave the house more. This might sound silly, but I am agoraphobic so bribing myself to go out is necessary! This month my art excursion was going to a movie theater to watch the latest Studio Ghibli movie. It was gorgeous, & it had so many, many birds in it! I’ve never seen a Ghibli movie on the big screen before. I am so happy that I finally did! (#NotSponsored)

Show Us Your Birds

Want more birds? You’re in luck!I posted new pictures of birds with the art prompt at the links below. Check them out & share your own!

#KWPrompts #Birds

Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Mastodon Bluesky IG (IG users please be sure to @Karin.Wanderer, IG does not show me people who only use the #)

Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s Karin Wanderer Learns’ birthday!

KWL is 1 year old!

1 year! 52 whole weeks! When I started this blog, I didn’t even have a title card! Now I do – in fact, I just recently designed a new one! It is a self portrait in the style of Tomie dePaola, one of my favorite illustrators.

I started this blog because I needed a place to archive all the arty things I learn. Explaining something to someone else is an easy way to reinforce your own knowledge while spotting areas that need to be explored more deeply. I chose to shout my explanations into the WriteFreely void rather than talking my friends’ & families' ears off, & I am so glad I did! (They probably are, too.) Originally I was writing articles about whatever amused me and the articles were pretty short. Things quickly grew until I was doing things like writing a whole series of longer articles about #WatercolorScience & the history of Sumi. I'm not complaining- I love learning & writing about art! I kind of have to love it to keep KWL going- no one is paying me to do this. (Though they could be!) It takes a lot of time to research things, process them, & then write about them. Part of that is definitely on me, though. I type slowly.

If you had told me a year ago that I would still be writing weekly art articles, I probably would have said “yeah, that sounds like me. This is fun & I am nothing if not a creature of habit.” Now if you had told me that I would use the 1 year anniversary to shake things up, I might not have believed you. I should have believed, though. Change is coming!

In fact, it’s already here…

Last week, I started a new art challenge: #KWPrompts, brought to you most places prompts are posted:

Mastodon Bluesky IG

The challenge is very laid-back, I’m only putting a new prompt out every other Tuesday, so you have a whole 2 weeks to participate. Or go ahead & draw something for an outdated prompt. If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad!

“But Karin” you say “KWL comes out on Tuesdays! How will you handle writing a mind-blowingly stunning article AND a soul-rendingly heartfelt art prompt AT THE SAME TIME?!??” And that’s the best part- I don’t!

Going forward, I will be alternating between releasing either a new article or a new art prompt on Tuesdays. I’m going to have so much more time for activities! #KWPrompts was one of my New Year’s resolutions. Actually, it was 1 of 2 resolutions that related to KWL directly…

Calling All Artists!

You may have noticed that I have a nice, small section of articles on Featured Artists. I want that section to grow & grow! Lately I got sidetracked learning about brilliant author Tomie dePaola & trying to read all his books, which is a tall order- there are over 200! (Big thanks to my local library system, I could never have read dozens of dePaola books without their help!) I want to write about more artists, & maybe interview current artists instead of just researching & writing about people on my own? If there is an artist (or you are an artist) who you think should be featured, let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

I posted this turtle painting a year ago, the same week I started my blog.

The last year has been fantastic! I am so happy with everything I’ve learned & I’m thrilled how many of you have come along for the ride with me. I think these changes are going to make things even more fun! I’ll be here every Tuesday to talk more about art (& sometimes cooking) or to post links to each #KWPrompts art challenge. I hope you’ll be here, too!

I posted this turtle recently. What a difference a year makes!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

One of my New year’s resolutions is to start a biweekly art challenge: #KWPrompts. I love a good art challenge. Finding a fun art prompt can result in me casting my painting plans to the wind & spending all my free time on whatever ridiculousness some word wizard on the internet came up with. Enough is enough! I want to be that wizard! Get ready to play…

This is my very first prompt! All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch. I’ll be posting new prompts on this blog & the sites listed below every other Tuesday. I can’t wait to see what you make!

Art Prompt: A Movie You’ve Loved Since You First Saw It

Tag me &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

#KWPrompts posted here: Mastodon Bluesky IG

Here is mine A Movie I’ve Loved Since I First Saw It

Here’s a list of other art challenges I want to participate in this year: #FebruaryFaces 28 (or 29) Days of Faces! #AuGHOST (August) 31 Days of Ghosts! #Slowvember (November) Taking your time with your art! #FolktaleWeek (December) 1 week of folktale themed prompts! Last but not least: Krita is a free/open source art program that I use for most of my digital art. The Krita community is lovely, & has monthly art challenges with a new theme every month

Have a fantastic day! Draw something for my art challenge! See you next week!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Happy Julian New Year!

Have you made any resolutions for 2024? Every year since 2015 I have made the same New Years’ resolution: to make better choices than last year. It’s pretty easy to stick to while allowing for slow, incremental change that I can sustain over time. I want more concrete, specific goals when it comes to art & so I have picked five. Here they are, listed from least to most challenging:

Goal 1: New Art Challenge Approaching!

I love a good art challenge. Finding a fun art prompt can result in me casting my painting plans to the wind & spending all my free time on whatever ridiculousness some word wizard on the internet came up with. Enough is enough! I want to be that wizard! I’m going to give it a week or so to let everyone recover from the holidays & get ready to play… Keep an eye out for #KWPrompts, coming soon to a Tuesday near you!

”PumpkinBat!” cries the wizard, & what can I do but oblige them?

Goal 2: Feature More Artists!

You may have noticed that I have a nice selection of articles on Featured Artists. I want that section to grow & grow! Lately I got sidetracked learning about brilliant author Tomie de Paola & trying to read all his books, which is a tall order- there are over 200! (Big thanks to my local library system, I could never have read dozens of de Paola books without their help!) I want to write about more current artists, & maybe interview them instead of just researching & writing about them on my own? If there is an artist (or you are an artist) who you think should be featured, let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

My version of Xingling from “The Nian Monster” by Andrea Wang & Alina Chau

Goal 3: Expand My Shop

That’s right, I have my very own shop where you can get my art on mugs, notebooks, or lovely vinyl stickers for your laptop or water bottle! It’s wonderful! The only problem is me: I hate uploading my new art because the website is slow enough that I get bored, but not so slow that I can actually multitask while doing it. I am very behind on uploading pictures, & this whole entry is me blogshaming myself into actually getting caught up. I wonder if it will work?

This is an example of recent art you can’t find in my shop… Yet!

If there is a piece you wish I sold in my shop, let me know! I will add it & send you a coupon code!

Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are

News flash: Animals are fantastically wonderfully great, folks. As a human I am filled with appreciation for animals. As a preschool teacher I am filled with a million facts about animals. As my second-hardest goal for 2024, I am going to get the picture book I have been writing about Marine Animals to the “dummy” stage! A picture book “dummy” is an odd bit of jargon, it essentially means a “mock-up” of the book! This is a daunting goal, but let’s face it- there can never be enough age-appropriate non-fiction books to slake a toddler’s thirst for knowledge!

The Green Sea Turtle is the largest of all the hard-shelled sea turtles.

Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration

This is the hardest goal I’ve set. I want to spend this year going to Museums, Galleries, Art Fairs, etc., to experience a wider range of art. Another facet of this goal would include just walking around outside taking pictures. Why is this the hardest? Because I have agoraphobia. Maybe art will help me bribe myself into going out more? I am willing to try it!

What are your art goals for 2024? What strategies are you using to achieve them? Let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

Buy my art on mugs, notebooks, & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

A How-To Guide on Alt Text This Book is a Movie

Art Challenges – new #KWPrompts every other Tuesday

Current Prompt: Animals Past Prompts listed here Do My Art Challenges, I Dare You

#ColorFull

Games Your Brain Plays With Color in The Colors, Duke! The Colors! Games Your Brain Plays With Color Preference in Your True Colors Games People Play With Your Brain Using Color in The Color of Money

Featured Artists

Fidelia Bridges It's a Still Life Watercolor of a Now-Late Afternoon Bev Bos Like A Bos Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Was Right Kazuo Oga See Into The Trees Isabella Kung It's Your Kind Of Kitten Nie Jun Comic Books Are Coming True Alina Chau There Is Fiction In The Space Between

KidLit

Children's Book Week, w/ book list Read Books. Spark Change. Children's Books Inspired by Folklore Even Rarer Than a Unicorn Watercolors in Comic Books Wrapped Up In Books

#WatercolorScience

Painting in High Heat & Low Humidity We're Having a Heat Wave Painting in High Heat & Low Humidity (cont.) I Started This Heat Wave Painting in the Cold When Winter Comes Howling In Painting in High Humidity Lost in a Fog

Art Styles & How-Tos

Line Art (This) This Time I'm Drawing the Line Paper Cut It's Only A Paper Moon Kawaii To Be Constantly Cute En Plein Aire Saturday in the Park PICO8 Put Your Hand On The Computer Painting People As The Headless Horseman Said To His Associate… Drawing Faces There Go I But For My Face Face to Face

#Ink

History of Ink King Ink Sumi (traditional Japanese ink) Found In Ink Sumi-e (ink paintings) The Contents of an Ink-bottle More specific types of Sumi-e I Think In Ink

Recipes

A very flexible cake recipe Cups & Cakes (vegan) Iced tea with a plum simple syrup Have a Cuppa Tea (vegan) The best pizza dough Pizza Time! Super easy brownies Sweets For My Sweet Lemon Bars on Olive Oil Shortbread Texture Like Sun Peanut Butter Bread I Looked In & I Saw Bread Bulle Never A Frown With Golden Brown Bread Art You Need Bread (vegan)

DIY

Reference Photos (general) It's In The Photograph Reference Photos (nature) There's Lots Of Room To Roam Travel Watercolor Paint Palette 1, 2, 3, 4 Can I Have A Little More?

Troubleshooting

IDing Problems & Solutions What Can I Make From This Mistake? Getting Out of Your Own Way Breaking the Rules Time Management Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Tiny Workspace Organization Oh, Don’t You Hand Me None Of Your Lines

The Only One, So Far, With A Content Warning for Nudity

La Fontana del Nettuno The Statue Got Me High

About Me

Intro pt 1 Hello, World! Intro pt 2 Here Comes Your Girl Intro pt 3 Here Comes Your Girl Intro pt 4 Here Comes Your Brand New Day Intro pt 5 It Was Not Not Not So Great #AuGHOST review I Was Walking With AuGHOST 2024 Resolutions Harder Better Faster Stronger KWL's 1 Year Blogiversary! Everything Must Change

And The Rest

Wake Me When It's Over I Have A Secret To Tell

Buy my artwork, available in my SPRING SHOP!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Wish I talked about food more? I do! Epicures, assemble!

See everything else I do over on Mastodon.Art