So I bought a Peterson Field Guide from 1970.

It cost $6 from ThriftBooks.com, fast shipping included. This beautifully designed book inspired me to illustrate a field guide page for the elusive insects in Atlanta. I’m sharing my process, so you can create one too!

Step 1. Find out what insects and plant life are in your area.

• Take a stroll in nature to see what’s out there.

• Snap photos or draw from life.

• Visit the library or do a quick online search to learn what kind of bugs are around you. (If you search for images online, I highly recommend setting a 5-minute timer to avoid falling into fun internet search rabbit holes.)

Step 2. Lay out the page. I used a yellow Cretacolor pastel to lightly mark where I wanted to draw the plants and insects. The scanner didn’t even pick up most of those marks, which was nice.

Step 3. Draw & label your insects and plants using your favorite materials. I used watercolor and filmed my process in the video for paid subscribers.

In the video:

I share my process from start to finish, where I battle indecision, distraction, and having more paint on my brush than I like. I share how to avoid muddy colors, and top secret a solution that solves most of my paint problems.

Materials & Mentions

Read more

We’re drawing butterflies tomorrow in a special session with ! Sign up below to get the link to join. ✨

Read more

Subscribe now

💌 If you’d like to receive this weekly list as an e-mail, click here to switch it on.

MONDAY

Drawing is Free Monday Live Portrait Sessions - Monday portrait sessions are free and open to everyone.. The sessions run most Mondays at 9am and 6pm Paris time.

TUESDAY

🦜 Tropical Birds with - Each workshop includes a reference pack to work from, and you’re welcome to paint along live or catch the replay whenever suits you best. 9th of June - 4 PM CEST

WEDNESDAY

Nature Journal Challenge Meetup No. 2 with - ​Celebrating a week of drawing the natural world around is. We will share our finished projects and talk about our favorite parts of the process. We can also talk about moving forward and continuing the practice. 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EDT

Wonder-filled Wednesday with Live on Substack - 1:30pm ET

THURSDAY

Let’s Draw our FIRST CRUSHES with & - ART HANG PARTY! is free weekly live hour-ish-long art-making session full of fast-paced drawing and a lot of fun! Open to anyone and everyone! - 7PM EST

FRIDAY

🦋 Butterflies Drawing Session with & - ​Celebrate the imminent arrival of summer by joining Beth and Helen as they draw butterflies! Bring along your favourite materials and a cool drink! 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

🐚 Seashells with ​These workshops are suitable for all skill levels, and you’ll be guided step by step with a clear overhead camera view so you can follow along easily. - 4 PM CEST

Catch up on Introvert Drawing Club Goodness 🌻

✏️ Are you hosting a session this week? Pop a link in the comments!

Below each image, you’ll find a prompts, tip, or materials recommendations. They’re always optional and you’re welcome to use the chat for questions and sharing

Read more

These charming creatures have been crawling around Earth for around 295 million years, so why not take a few minutes to paint them?

Step 1:

Fill a page with swatches using any material. I used gouache and watercolor, but use whatever any materials you like. Neocolor II’s, paint sticks, pastels, and markers also work well for this activity.

Step 2.

Add legs, patterns, and fun textures. You can draw from references, imagination, or mix the two like I did!

All the cool artists are trying it!

painted these beautiful beetles.

And this stunning selection is from .

created this lovely collection.

Thank you, , , & for being part of the beetle-painting fun with me!

Let’s swarm Substack with beautiful paint swatch beetles! 🪲

I’ll start a chat thread so we can all share our swatches, materials and inspiration!

Share your work!

Now is THE best time to join. You’ll get invites to all four live sessions, a bonus month of access to all session recordings, workshops, color studies, guided drawing videos, and a special bonus surprise! 💝

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

MONDAY

Drawing is Free Monday Live Portrait Sessions - Monday portrait sessions are free and open to everyone.. The sessions run most Mondays at 9am and 6pm Paris time.

TUESDAY

Vintage Lettering and Signage with Odd Orange - The best way to get notified is to sign up to our newsletter. We send an email at the beginning of every month (called our Monthly Dose of Inspiration newsletter) detailing the themes and dates for the upcoming drawing sessions. - 7 - 7.40 pm BST.

WEDNESDAY

ArtGym with & - In the next Art Gym we will explore color mixing and swatching. Bring your paints and get ready to experiment with colors! 11:30 am ET / 4:30 pm GMT / 12:30 am MYT

Mountains & Lakes with Ohn Mar Win & monkeymintaka - Reference images of Lake District will be shared the day before - 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM GMT+1

Wonder-filled Wednesday with Live on Substack - 1:30pm ET

THURSDAY

Nature Journal Challenge Meetup No. 1 with - We'll talk about our plans, our chosen sketchbooks, and any initial drawings if you got a head start, then get to work on our first pages together. 10am EST

Let’s Draw Iceland! with & - Meli is joining us this week to share photos from her vacation to beautiful Iceland! ART HANG PARTY! is free weekly live hour-ish-long art-making session full of fast-paced drawing and a lot of fun! Open to anyone and everyone! - 7PM EST

FRIDAY

Drawing Whimsical France with - This Zoom call will include photos of castles from the Loire Valley, as well as French markets and more glorious Parisian scenes.- 6pm BST on zoom

Catch up on Introvert Drawing Club Goodness 🌻

✏️ Are you hosting a session this week? Pop a link in the comments!

💌 If you’d like to receive this weekly list as an e-mail, click here to switch it on.

Below each image, you’ll find a prompts, tip, or materials recommendations. They’re always optional and you’re welcome to use the chat for questions and sharing.

Read more

We’re drawing Insects & Arthropods in June!

I hate to BUG you, but I think you’ll really enjoy drawing with us this month. Even if you don’t find them intriguing, these tiny creatures are worth exploring for the fun textures, colors, and patterns. We’ll definitely draw some pretty flowers too! 💐🐛

🐞Daily Reference Drop

I drop the references on Sundays in the chat, along with some techniques to try, prompts, material recommendations, and tips. It’s a safe space to share your work, ask questions, learn at your own pace, and get inspired! I love seeing everyone’s different approaches to drawing the images.

Week 1 References & Prompts

Week 2 References & Prompts

🪲 Upcoming Live Sessions

• Drawing Butterflies with Helen C Stark - June 12 at 1pm EST

• Bad on Purpose Session with Meg Lewis - June 16 at 2pm EST

• Drawing Insects with Kyle Beaudette - June 18 at 5pm EST

• Insect Tea Party with monkeymintaka - June 24 at 2pm EST

  Sign up to draw

🦋 Fun things to try for Insects and Arthropod Month

Draw in a grid. If you’re short on time, make a grid of 30 squares, and draw the references small. It’ll be so satisfying to see it filled it up on June 30!

Explore color. This is the perfect month to practice painting or mixed media techniques.

Draw them HUGE. Zoom in and explore the incredible textures, colors, and patterns!

Let’s chat 🪲💬

Tell us your favorite tiny, crawling, buzzing, or flying creatures in the comments and I’ll make sure we draw them this month!

and (the humans who organize Animal Life Drawing sessions) have had a special place in my creative little heart for several years now.

It’s intriguing how we can all draw the same dog in remarkably different ways.

I wish I could squeeze one more week into this month, so we could draw more dogs together, but alas, my calendar says it’s almost time for us to switch to a new theme. Stay tuned for an e-mail announcement with all the fun details!

Read more

If you stayed til the end, you know what we’re drawing next month. Are you excited? Scared? Unsubscribing? I hope you’ll stay and draw, because I’m planning so many fun things!

Now, I have to ask— If you could only use one colored pencil line for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?

Share your work in the chat

Read more

Sign up to emBARK on an anthropomorphic drawing adventure with the amazing Arati Devasher and her delightful labradoodle Sam!

Read more

Subscribe now

SUNDAY

Let’s draw bears and pandas with - We'll start with three sessions of 30 seconds to one minute to warm up, then we'll gradually increase the drawing times, along with the complexity of the image to be drawn. - 12pm EST

MONDAY

Drawing is Free Monday Live Portrait Sessions - Monday portrait sessions are free and open to everyone.. The sessions run most Mondays at 9am and 6pm Paris time.

TUESDAY

ArtGym with & - Adam will be leading this session, so you know it’s going to be jam packed with practical tips! - 11:30 am ET / 4:30 pm GMT / 12:30 am MYT

Draw Venice with Sarah Dyer - A selection of images will be provided on-screen to draw from (I'll also share them 24 hours before the session too so you can have them to hand.) It's an untutored session, very relaxed, just a bit of fun to practise drawing something you might not have tackled before. 7-8.30 PM (Recorded session)

WEDNESDAY

Italian Scenes Livestream with TJ Marston - We’ll sketch beautiful scenes from Italy together, focusing on composition, storytelling, and capturing the feeling of a place with speed and confidence! - 10:30am EDT

Doggy ABC - Chapter 3 with and - ​​​Always expect a warm welcome, creative company and chat in Animal Life Drawing sessions. There is no pressure to talk or have your camera on. This is a safe space to feel comfortable and for everyone of all abilities. 7pm BST.

Wonder-filled Wednesday with Live on Substack - 1:30pm ET

THURSDAY

Creative Hangout with Katie Moody - This is our unrecorded creative co-working session, as we all bring our own projects and paintings and make time to create art. It's a lovely way to connect to other members with the record button off. (Sketch Club tier + up) 6pm GMT

Dog People Drawing Session with - We’re playing a fun drawing game to create anthropomorphic dog characters with the wonderful Arati Devasher as cohost. 2pm EST / 7pm BST

Let’s Draw LANDSCAPES! with - ART HANG PARTY! is free weekly live hour-ish-long art-making session full of fast-paced drawing and a lot of fun! Open to anyone and everyone! - 7PM EST

FRIDAY

6-year Patreon Birthday Party (Animals in Summer Hats!) with - 18.00 - 19.00pm

I’ve lowered membership to $5 a month/$50 annually.

This new price includes everything from before — live sessions, guided videos, replays, and all the archives. Join now to lock in that price for life!

Subscribe now

✏️ Are you hosting a session this week? Pop a link in the comments!

💌 If you’d like to receive this weekly list as an e-mail, click here to switch it on.

🦮 Below each image, you’ll find a prompts, tip, or materials recommendations. They’re always optional and you’re welcome to use the chat for questions and sharing.

Read more

You can draw most dog breeds with these three shapes.

When Reggie was young, we enrolled in a Civilized Canine class to learn some leash manners.

“How do I teach Reggie to walk like a gentleman on a leash?” I asked the trainer.

“Let him sniff and explore,” she told me. “Taking a dog on a walk and not letting them sniff around is like going to Disneyland but not riding any rides.”

So I let him sniff. Instead trying to train him walk straight, I let him do what comes naturally to dogs. He’d stroll alongside me, sniff a mailbox or two, and I’d feed him tiny pieces of hot dogs and tell him he was a good boy. This worked well for many walks, until we crossed paths with neighbors and their poodle. To say he lost his cool would be putting it mildly.

When we went back to class the next week, I was frustrated. “He did great the first few times, then forgot everything!”

“Well, he’s not a robot,” our instructor said. “When your parents told you to do something do you do it perfectly every time?

That’s where the patience part comes in. Whether you’re drawing or training a dog, you have to allow a bit of room for errors. Dogs aren’t robots, and neither are we. Somedays we need time to sniff some flowers, and eat a treat, and explore shapes without pressure to get things right.

Congrats to Reggie for learning how to walk on a leash without acting like a maniac (most of the time — remember, not a robot). And congrats to you for drawing a challenging, and incredibly fun subject!

✏️ In the video

We’ll observe and draw my variety pack, Charles, Reggie, and Vigo! I’ll explain and demonstrate (with the actual dogs) what I’m looking for while sketching, so I can capture their personalities on my paper.

Read more

Subscribe now

SUNDAY

Nature Portraits with & - We’ll start by sharing inspiration. As we paint, we’ll chat about painting, flowers, and creativity. 16:00 (4PM) CEST

Let’s draw the Netherlands with - We'll start with three sessions of 30 seconds to one minute to warm up, then we'll gradually increase the drawing times, along with the complexity of the image to be drawn. - 12pm EST

By the Water with Frances Ives - (2 live calls) 9am & 6pm UK Time

MONDAY

Drawing is Free Monday Live Portrait Sessions - Monday portrait sessions are free and open to everyone.. The sessions run most Mondays at 9am and 6pm Paris time.

TUESDAY

Life Drawing Zoom with model Naomi Wood - Tuesday 19th : 7-8.30 PM (Recorded session)

Spring Colour hunt with and 16:00 (4PM) CEST

K’s Kettle with I'm trying a new format for the next couple of months—shifting from comic-making to creative conversation instead. - 2pm CT/ 3pm ET

WEDNESDAY

Zoom Drawing Session with Katie Moody - Our next live drawing session will be on Zoom, and will be all about texture and mark making! We’ll be using our dry media to explore plenty of textures alongside… limited colour palettes! - 12pm BST

Wonder-filled Wednesday with Live on Substack - 1:30pm ET

THURSDAY

Drawing Norfolk Skies Live Zoom session with Ohn Mar Win - For the Zoom, we’ll use more photos from my Norfolk stay as reference, and we’ll explore how to capture different cloud shapes, softness, volume and movement in watercolour. - 4pm UK

MINIATURE FIGURES with - This week we’re joined by , who is sharing some of her photography featuring miniature figures! - 7PM EST

FRIDAY

I couldn’t find any events for this day — You can always draw from our replay library of 90+ recordings or play the Unlikely Animal Friends Drawing Game!

I’ve lowered membership to $5 a month/$50 annually.

This new price includes everything from before — live sessions, guided videos, replays, and all the archives. Join now to lock in that price for life!

Subscribe now

Catch up on Introvert Drawing Club Goodness🐢

💌 If you’d like to receive this as an e-mail, click here to switch it on.

✏️ Are you hosting a session this week? Pop a link in the comments!

We’re drawing dogs in the home this week. 🐶🏡 Prompts, tips, and materials recommendations are below each image, and as always, they’re optional.

Read more

Jo Scott’s studio gives a whole new meaning to “working from home.”

She paints her way around the UK and Europe in a motorhome with her husband, Mr. Dean, and canine companion, Thomasina.

In her studio on wheels, Jo paints soulful, expressive dog paintings.

In the images below, she shares how she captures the unique character of a canine in her art.

Let’s thank Jo for sharing her dog-drawing wisdom! Also, subscribe to to get inspiring bits from her journey sent right to your inbox.

Here’s a link to this week’s reference photos, so you can take Jo’s tips for a spin!

Jo made this comic into a zine for us to download — perfect for printing and carrying to the dog park for some drawing! Here’s a video with zine-folding instructions, in case you need a quick tutorial or refresher. :)

Painting Dogs With Jo Scott

1.34MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

💬 Let’s talk!

• What do you find easy about drawing dogs?

• What do you find difficult about drawing dogs?

• Which materials and colors are you loving for dog month?

• Any surprises?

  Leave a comment

So many thanks to , dog parents who shared photos, and everyone who joined live or is drawing along in the replay. It was such a treat to see all the delightful dog drawings at the end!

Apologies if we didn’t get to your draw your lovely dog! I guess that means we’ll have to do another one of these in the future, which isn’t a bad idea at all, right?

Be sure to subscribe to New York Cartoons and order a hand-signed copy of You’re Not A Real Dog-Owner Until (With Custom Dog Sketch)!

These are the reference images with names, so you can tag their owners if you share your art on Substack. They’ll be thrilled to see your drawings of their dog!

Read more

We’re drawing and chatting with the dog-drawing man himself, !

Read more

Subscribe now

SUNDAY

Let’s draw some Sportswomen with - We'll start with three sessions of 30 seconds to one minute to warm up, then we'll gradually increase the drawing times, along with the complexity of the image to be drawn. - 12pm EST

MONDAY

Drawing is Free Monday Live Portrait Sessions - Monday portrait sessions are free and open to everyone.. The sessions run most Mondays at 9am and 6pm Paris time.

TUESDAY

Dogs of Substack Drawing Session with and - We’re drawing your dogs on Zoom and chatting about all things dog and drawing. And maybe some other things too! Become a paid member of or to join! 12 pm EST

Spring Colour hunt with and 16:00 (4PM) CEST

WEDNESDAY

Strike a Pose! - Mini Session with and - a mini drawing session filled with images of animals in fun poses! ​Come and have fun with us on Wednesday May 13th at 7-8:15pm GMT.

Drawing A Garden Highlight with - ​Find something special in your garden, in a public garden near home, or something you loved in a garden you visited in the past, and bring images to use as reference. - 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM EDT

Wonder-filled Wednesday with Live on Substack - 1:30pm ET

THURSDAY

Let’s Draw Lord of the Rings with - A weekly live hour-ish-long art-making session full of fast-paced drawing and a lot of fun! 😅 Open to anyone and everyone! - 7PM EST

FRIDAY

I couldn’t find any events for this day — You can always draw from our replay library of 90+ recordings or play the Unlikely Animal Friends Drawing Game!

I’ve lowered membership to $5 a month/$50 annually.

This new price includes everything from before — live sessions, guided videos, replays, and all the archives. Join now to lock in that price for life!

Subscribe now

Catch up on Introvert Drawing Club Goodness🐢

💌 If you’d like to receive this as an e-mail, click here to switch it on.

✏️ Are you hosting a session this week? Pop a link in the comments!