Day 20. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

School Holidays

Well, I thought that sketching in the holidays would be leisurely and relaxed. There would be plenty of time to spend time sat round with sketchbooks away from the school routine.

Or not.

Actually much harder. I had forgotten just how busy the kids' social lives are!

However, we're still going!

Day 19. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog 

Drawing Workshop at the Library

How lucky that in the swing of this project there's a drawing workshop at the local library.

The kids had a lot of fun. I'm afraid Mike and I didn't quite fit into the age bracket  no matter how much we stooped.

It's interesting that they have all produced the same drawings and were led through them step by step. 

Day 18. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Glorious sunshine and outdoor air!

It was a beautiful day, so after a bush walk, we sat down with a picnic and sketchbooks by the river. Inspiration would be easy in such a beautiful place, right? Lots of people, kids playing in the park, a football match, the stillness of the water only broken by the occasional boat, kayak or jumping fish. Maybe draw the bridge? Or the Boatshed? A Pelican drifted by, Kookaburras called and parrots flew past in groupings that would easily rival the Red Arrows.

BUT WHAT TO DRAW?

Day 17 Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's  5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog 

PAPER PLANES!

A quick one today! Yes, there was drawing, but drawing on paper planes.

We watched the movie, Paper Planes . Feeling immediately inspired, as a family, we acted in the only responsible and sensible way possible. We had a paper plane throwing competition.

Day 16. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Going our separate ways...

Tonight, Freya, Mike and I wanted to continue what we learnt in Shoo Rayner's Vlog about Cartoon Style drawings. Whereas the boys had their own plans.

Although it was nice for us all to follow the instruction together, almost as a lesson, it was okay to do our own thing. As it turns out, the boys watched Part 3 of Cartoon Style Figures but then opted to draw characters from a movie.



Freya and I both had a few difficulties. Seeing what you want to draw, knowing exactly what it looks like, but somehow the pencil marks on the page not matching up to your hopes and expectations, can be frustrating.

Day 15. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Learning from Vlogs!

From a recommendation, we took a look at Shoo Rayner who has a website and a Vlog teaching the basics of drawing.

We all had a crack at basic cartoon style drawing, which we are told is 'a form of two dimensional illustrated visual art.'
So now I feel extremely very clever and artist-like. 

Day 14. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Two weeks - yay!

To draw every day as a family and to post every day does take time and patience  - but we've made it half way through our month! And we've almost hit 1,500 views which is great.

Today is special, not just because we've hit our halfway mark, but because we got mail!

Day 13. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

New Pencils!

Oliver opened the new set of pencils he was given at the weekend.

How things have changed...we sat round in excitement as he revealed his 'Woodless Graphite Pencils'. Ooooh. Fancy. HB, H2, all the way up to H8 (there's an EE but none of us knows what that means).

We formed and orderly queue (sort of) to experiment with the hardness and softness of each pencil. Come on people, this is breaking news! Just as exciting as when we got to try out the Trailer Tent, no? 

Everyone is making preferences for different paper thicknesses and whether it's rough or smooth. I say everyone, Hubster and I tend to get what's left after the kids have grabbed the good stuff (ah, life as a parent).

Day 12. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Take it outside!

We're almost half way in our challenge to draw every day for a month.

I don't know if we've hit a lull because of coughs and cold, or whether it's just that mid-way point. The year 9 of high school. February. The sticky bit. The middle part of the journey. 

Are we nearly there yet?

But this is fun. And the journey IS the point.


So, we've only got one image today. Or rather, several photographs to make up the single image. We all had fun doing our sketches outside. An old family favourite of using chalks on the 'patio'.

Day 11. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for our blog

Happy Father's Day!

With William the last man standing (without a cold or a cough) it would've been tempting for all of us to hide under the duvet today.

But it's Father's Day and we all wanted to show Granddad and Grandpa that we're thinking of them.

One of the aspects of this blog, that we didn't anticipate, but has been wonderful, is its connectivity. The 12,000 mile gap has been bridged between families through drawing. 

I know that family have been following our sketchbook journey almost like a journal. The great thing about art, I guess, is that it's great fun to do, but also to share. You get the image, but you also get a snapshot in time. Particularly with the children, they are drawing what interests them now - this might not be the same in 6 months or a couple of years. So, we're getting to chart not only our drawing development, but actually what matters to us.

Day 10. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Coughs and colds. Urgh.

Almost didn't post today - feel a bit rubbish. Sniffle. 

But, the kids - with their eternal energy and enthusiasm convinced me otherwise. They've brought lots of colour to brighten the day!

Loving William's primate picture. Cheeky monkey!

Freya's Watership Down picture. I love the ears on the brown bunny, he looks curious.

Oliver's picture of that computer game that he really likes and that I don't understand. I think it's the eyeballs with teeth that stump me.

A tad uninspired. My sketch for today. This is an accurate self portrait.

The Hubster. It's the weekend - put the laptop down...

Day 9. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Hi everybody! 

I'm Freya and this is our blog post for today.

Mum says we've had over 1000 views to this blog. Wow - that's a lot of people! I didn't know people were so interested in our work.

I love doing this blog because I get to practice and get better at my drawings like my last one, Mum thinks it's amazing! For example my dad is getting better everyday. I think he is the best in the family now. But I didn't even know that Dad could draw just like that. Even though he helped me all the time I never saw him draw. Now we draw together. I like that. It's a big difference.

Day 8. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for our blog

Hi this is Oliver! 

I’m off school ill, so I’m writing the blog post today. 


In Last night’s drawing session I drew a basilisk (a type of lizard that can run on water). I have been drawing these lizards for a while partly because they are fascinating creatures and also they are my favourite animal. 

I enjoy studying reptiles a lot and also love watching them in the wild. 

We go camping to places where lots of lizards live in the wild. There was this cool water dragon at Wollondilly River Station that was sniffing my hand. And Mum told me off at Coolendel when I fed a Goanna (Water Monitor) that was longer than Dad with some left over corned beef.* 

Day 7. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for this blog

We've hit one week! 

What an achievement. But with swimming lessons for all three kids (not at the same time - urgh) and a late finish - would we be able to sit down as a family to sketch?

Fortunately, Katherine Lynas and Nina Wadock came to our rescue with some suggestions. 

I needed an activity that had a time limit if the kids were ever going to get to bed. I've noticed that once they start drawing, they don't really want to stop. Which is great, but so is sleep - especially on a school night.


Katherine's idea was to draw frogs with our eyes closed! And Nina suggested drawing an object but looking only at the object and not at your own sketch.

Day 6. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook Journey

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for this Blog

A different way of seeing things. 

I remember watching Dead Poet’s Society as a teen – ah, I thought it was brilliant! 

Of course, I’m far too snooty and grown up to appreciate it now. I must roll my eyes and say, Carpe Diem, Ha! Cliché, cliché! 

Remember the scene where Robin Williams stands on his chair to see the world in a different way? That is exactly what is happening to our family when we sketch. No, we’re not all standing on chairs yelping Latin mottos, but we are seeing things in a different way. 

Day 5 Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook Journey

Chris Riddell's 5 point plan
The inspiration for our blog

Changing and growing. 

At first I thought the best part of this project was doing something together as a family. I’m loving the idle chatter around the table and how sometimes you talk, but sometimes you don’t, because you’re locked into your own creative world, tracing lines. 

But today as I was scanning the images for the blog, I was struck by the difference in each of our sketches and the progress we've made in only five days.


I don’t know if it’s confidence or control or the development of our own individual style, I'm about as far from being an expert as you can get. As you know, up until this project – I don’t/can’t draw. I never did GCSE or A-Level Art. I sat my bottom down in an art class once and never went back. I was just too intimidated by the amazing work I was surrounded by. 

Day 4. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook Journey

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for our project

Inspiration or perspiration? 

Tired Kids. Long Weekend, but still sketching…perspiration has it.


So, you commit to this idea; to sketch every day, and then life gets super busy, kids have sports, we have jobs (always lots of jobs), how to find the time? 



This is supposed to be fun and we want to keep it that way. So, tonight, we just did a quick sketch. The kids were shattered, so we chilled out on the sofa, pencils and paper in hand. We took what we needed to sketch and placed it in our eye-line, or drew what was in front of us. It worked just fine. 

Day 3. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook Journey

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
Our inspiration!

Calm. Calm. Calm. 

We’ve tried drawing before dinner and after dinner, and now - just before bedtime reading. 

After dinner, after sorting out logistics of the next day, washing dishes, the quotidian detail of daily life, we cleared the table (again) and got out the sketchbooks. 

We chatted about the day, stories from school, plans for the weekend. It was calm. The epitome of civilized. 

Day 2. Laureate Project - Family Sketchbook Journey

Chris Riddell - Children's Laureate
5 Point Plan - the inspiration for this project

Not just for the kids 

I’ve been with my husband for 21 years this July – and I never knew he could draw! 

How can that have happened? How could I not know? 

Initially, I thought that this would be a project for the kids. It would benefit them. 
Ah, we do anything for our kids, don’t we? 




Often I catch myself saying to our children, ‘Go and do some drawing or colouring, I just need to get on with this…’ Drawing becomes a Busy-Busy task in waiting rooms or car journeys. 

No! Not anymore. 

I didn’t expect this project to benefit us, the grown-ups – but it's only Day 2 and I’ve learned something about my husband I didn’t know – he can draw! 

Day 1. Laureate Project- Family Sketchbook Journey.

Chris Riddell 5 point plan
Our inspiration for this project

The Joy of Sketchbooks

Inspired by the Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell’s ‘Draw something every day’, encouraging families to draw together – that’s exactly what we plan to do. Two non-artist parents and three kids, drawing. Not to be perfect - but for the joy of creating our own sketchbook journey. 

Should I follow through? 

Nice idea, Lou. I mean, seriously – when are you going to fit this in between homework and sports clubs – are you insane? 


But we did it – our first night. After dinner we got the sketch books out, pencils, erasers and erm, hot chocolate (the dishes could wait). 

I had forgotten the art-table banter that you used to get at school. That ebb and flow of conversation that drifts in and out depending on levels of concentration for those ‘tricky bits’. It was beautiful. I want to do this again tomorrow – for the conversation around the table if nothing else!