Congrats to , , and for winning free months of membership! 💐🦆

I finished off a Royal Talens sketchbook in this one, then started another in our Soundtrack Session, so now I don’t have to go out and draw with a naked sketchbook. :) I can’t be the only one who won’t go out and draw in a blank sketchbook, am I?

I’ll finish and share those in a special e-mail coming to you right before we pause. If you haven’t heard, we’re pausing next month!

Pausing in April

There won’t be live sessions or guided videos, BUT you’ll still have access to all paid-member benefits, but won’t be billed. It’s the perfect time to catch up on what you missed! If you joined with an annual plan, it extends your membership by one month.

I’m excited to return in May with new guest artist cohosts, fresh ideas, and a fun new animal theme for us to draw!

I’ll pop back in Monday or Tuesday with some extra bonus tidbits, new sketches, fun stuff worth exploring, and well wishes! ✨

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⏰ Be sure to check the Luma link time and look out for those reminders, as Daylight Savings Time is in effect in the U.S. I don’t want you to miss it!

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This was the session dreams are made of. And like a dream, it went by way too fast! Many thanks to Emma Carlisle for cohosting and everyone who joined and shared fun board games — I’ve already bought Creatures Drawing Deck. 😁

👋 Here’s a thread for sharing work from this session.

📸The photos are by safari guide and photographer Jaco Joubert. Please tag @jaco_wildlife if you share your art inspired by his photos.

These are my drawings in progress:

I’d love to work on them more, especially those hyenas. But also, have you seen this week’s references? The goats are looking at me longingly… Someday, I’ll finish these. Maybe not this week, but someday.

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Sunday is Mother’s Day for our friends in the UK.

So we’re drawing some lovely animal mothers and babies at 1pm EST!

⏰ Be sure to check the Luma link time and look out for those reminders, as Daylight Savings Time is in effect in the U.S. I don’t want you to miss it!

🐘 Animal Mothers & Babies of Africa w/ Emma Carlisle - March 15 at 1pm EST

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A massive thank you to for giving permission to draw his wonderful photos!

Stray Cats of Japan

Stray Cats of Japan is a newsletter of photos and stories about Japan's outdoor felines.

By Bill Adler

I still need to finish my watch kitty… I filmed the process, so maybe I can pop them up as a timelapse to wrap up our month of drawing cats. It’s truly flown by!

Materials & mentions

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We have a relaxing drawing session tomorrow, cohosted by my lovely friend .

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I’m pleased to announce we’re drawing from a wonderful photo collection courtesy of . Bill is an American writer living in Japan, and he has a real gift for capturing the charming cats he meets there.

Make sure to tag Bill (ex. Photo Credit: ) if you post your work from this session. Bill also writes delightful short stories and flash fiction over at .

This is an unguided, 1-hour session, with time to share (optional) at the end. You’re welcome to unmute and talk with us, or type in the chat if you prefer. I hope you can join live, but if not, I’ll send the recording soon after the session.

Fun things to consider trying with paint and pencil:

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Here’s a link to the chat if you’d like to share your art from the session; there’s some really lovely work in there! You can also tag me if you post to IG, so I can see and share!

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Check out the beautiful images we’ll be drawing, courtesy of the lovely ! This is an unguided, 1-hour session, with time to share (optional) at the end. You’re welcome to unmute and chat with us, or ask questions in the chat if you prefer.

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I loved learning about Holly’s intriguing writing process, fun horse facts, and all sorts of animal facts like why reindeer make a “click-click” sound when walking. Holly asked which animal we’ll draw next month and I think now is a good time to vote:

These are my horses from our session, mostly drawn with Sennelier Pastel Pencils, which I heard about from Sarah Dyer.

Reference photos!

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After moving boxes all week and a surprise trip with a cat to the vet, this was the session I needed in my life!

Thank you to all who attended or are planning to draw along to the recording — you all deserve special spots on Santa’s Nice List. And special thanks to , who started this lovely tradition. I can’t wait to do it again in 11.75 months.

Here is my art from the session:

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Fun things to try:

Only 1 color. This tip is inspired by Char, who used only blue watercolor in our Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade session. The results were delightful!

Make a zine! A 1-page Santa zine could make a fun stocking stuffer and definitely land you on his nice list.

Work on 1 Santa for the whole session. If you’re feeling happy with a specific one, you don’t have to switch when the photo changes.

More info about our session:

• ​Mics or cameras - You can use the chat to type questions or comments if you feel more comfortable doing that.

• ​Audio: You’re welcome to mute us if you need some quiet sketching time.

• Sharing: If you’d like to stick around and share on spotlight, raise your hand using the reaction button at the bottom of the zoom screen. It is always optional.

• ​Come late/leave early if you need to. — replays are here, in case you need to catch up!

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I was so excited when said yes to a snow globe session. It was everything I dreamed it would be and more!

In the first part of the session, we draw a variety of snow globe shapes.

Then we fill them in (using reference images we’ll share on the screen or you can use your own) the rest of the session!

This is an unguided session — you’re welcome to:

• use your own photos as reference

• sketch from the images we’ll share on your screen

• Draw from imagination!

Fun idea for this session:

• White paint, posca marker or oil pastel could be a nice way to add snow

• Collage could be fun!

• Make a family portrait with everyone as snow-people! (I did this last year)

• Create lots of tiny snow globes to use as gift tags

• Snow globes don’t have to be holiday-themed, or even wintry. You can draw your pets, house, family portrait, or favorite place, food, etc.

Some of my art from our session:

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I’ve been thinking about this session ever since Tasha and I put it on the calendar!

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In the first part of the session, we’ll draw a variety of snow globe shapes.

Then we’ll fill them in (using reference images we’ll share on the screen or you can use your own) the rest of the session! All materials are welcome.

This is an unguided session — you’re welcome to:

• use your own photos as reference

• draw from the images we’ll share on your screen

• use your imagination!

Ideas for this session:

• White paint, posca marker or oil pastel could be a nice way to add snow

• Collage could be fun!

• Make a family portrait with everyone as snow-people! (I did this last year)

• Create lots of tiny snow globes to use as gift tags

• Snow globes don’t have to be holiday-themed, or even wintry. You can draw your pets, house, family portrait, or favorite place, food, etc.

• Got a fun idea for a snow globe? Pop it in the comments! ☃️

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Here’s my art from the session.

Here’s the retreat link again, in case you’re thinking about it! :) It’d be such a dream to meet and draw with you in France! <3

Here are the reference photos:

Thanks for drawing with me and being wonderful! I hope you’ll join us for the next session!

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Here are the locations, in case you’d like to Zoom in, out, or find a nice cafe to sketch instead the view I shared on my screen.

• ​London

• ​Paris

• ​New York

• ​Tākaka

And here’s the slide of birds I shared at the end, when we added birds to our scenes.

Be sure to subscribe to to keep up with all the cool stuff Andrew’s doing!

Here are my drawings:

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Bonus challenge

I proposed an optional challenge of drawing with only 1 material, then we had 10 minutes at the end to add color. It’s always fun to play with new ways of working.

Here are the rest of my drawings. Full disclosure, I added another layer of color on some of them after we said goodbye.

Materials & Mentions

• Lisa Frank Documentary

• Amber Fossey

• Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman

• My Favorite Things by Maira Kalman

• Ilene Beckerman

• I used mostly pencil, a little charcoal pencil, and red, yellow, and black watercolor. Also a yellow Posca to turn Cookie Monster into a yellow crayon.

  We’ll meet again with as guest cohost on November 15 at 4:30pm EST!

  Remember that awesome Watercolour Mixing Demystified guest post he wrote? He’s joining us live from New Zealand to draw and chat!

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We chatted about his brilliant new book, new ways he’s working, managing imposter syndrome, and more. It was brilliant! Prepare to be mesmerized by sketches from his book tour near the end.

We sketch from the Atlantic City Booardwalk webcam, then visited Vancouver’s Deep Cove.

📚 You can also catch Nishant on the Make (Sneaky) Art book tour, where he’s doing demos, sketchwalks, and secret giveaways!

I’d like to encourage you to visit a small book shop to request Make (Sneaky) Art if you can. This is an important way to support his wonderful work and your local bookstore at the same time!

Materials and mentions:

• Urban Sketchers

• Wild Wonder Foundation

• Tommy Kane

• Little Fat Man Pen

• Stabilo Nature Color Highlighters (I love that one is named “mud green”)

• De Atramentis Brown Document Ink

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The Hurst Museum in Albany, NY featured taxidermied animal dioramas by James Hurst in the 1870’s.

He featured animals in their natural habitats.

Also in more whimsical dioramas and exhibits.

Here are the photos we drew from in the session, along with a few bonus references.

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