Drawing Patterns: 14 Days Of Mindful Drawing For Self-Care
In this class we will explore 14 carefully selected drawing prompts paired with a different mindful exercise each day, to develop your self-care toolkit whilst creating a set of 14 beautiful meditative pattern drawings.
This daily challenge will explore 14 carefully selected drawing prompts paired with a different mindful exercise each day, to develop your self-care toolkit whilst creating a set of 14 meditative pattern drawings.
This class is for everyone, whatever your skill or experience level - you do not need any drawing skills whatsoever to benefit from this class.
BENEFITS
Cultivating a daily mindful drawing practice through drawing patterns has so many benefits!
- It is relaxing and meditative: an amazing self-care tool to help support your mental health
- No drawing skills are needed whatsoever
- Very basic supplies you’ll already have
- Easily adapted to suit how much time you have (a drawing could take a couple of minutes or a couple of hours - or more if you get addicted to it!). It’s also easy to pause and come back to a drawing another time if you need to
- It can help overcome the fear of the blank page as it’s a super low-pressure creative activity that doesn’t have to look a certain way
- If you have a wider art & design practice this can be a great way to explore patterns and textures you could incorporate into your wider art practice
- Adaptable to suit a variety of styles and mediums - neat or messy, pen and paper or iPad - this is a practice that can suit anyone!
- It makes a fantastic activity to help bust creative block and re-spark creativity when you’re feeling stuck
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Each day we will explore one prompt which will act as the jumping-off point for a pattern drawing.
There will be two videos for each prompt:
1: In the first video we will:
- Explore the prompt together, and look at some examples of how it could be interpreted to give you a framework to interpret the prompt in your own way
- Discuss one related topic - for example, finding inspiration, colour and mood, or adding depth, so that over the 14 days you will build up a ton of additional complementary skills to feed into your pattern drawings
- Reflect on one mindful practice suggestion you can incorporate into your pattern drawing that day to add to your creative self-care toolkit
2: In the second video I’ll be guiding you start to finish through an example pattern drawing of how I would interpret that prompt
So feel free to follow along with my example, or create your own version each day!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
The supplies for this class are very basic - some paper and something to draw with - pens, pencils, markers, crayons - or whatever else you have lying around, and a little time set aside each day for 14 days is all you need!
By the end of the class, you’ll have:
- A series of 14 experimental pattern drawings which explore different methods of drawing patterns
- A framework from which to grow your mindful drawing practice, developing new ways of making repeated marks and patterns to suit your own style, materials and preferences
- An effective self-care tool you can use in your daily life to cultivate a sense of calm and connecting with the present moment through the act of drawing
I can’t wait to see what you create, so let's dive in!
WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING
"I loved this class. I've never really drawn freely before, I've always recaptured scenes or drawn animals and birds from photos so this was something completely different and one that I'll probably revisit and see how much the prompts differ from this time. It was fun, engaging and very addictive! Thank you Mel."
- Wendy J
"Mel is a wonderful teacher! I really enjoyed this class and looked forward to each new lesson. It is laid out so well, providing structure while at the same time allowing freedom to adapt to your own style and preferences. There are so many helpful drawing tips and ideas that I know I’ll be returning to in the future as I plan to keep filling up my sketchbook. The possibilities are endless! Thanks to Mel for sharing her talent and expertise as both artist and teacher!"
- Lisa K
"This class has surprised me very much. The long story short it is more like the whole course in art school than just a tutorial on a single subject to me. Mel effortlessly sneaked in tons of art principals and rules of thumb. It is very versatile and I have learned more than I can explain here. I am so very grateful Mel, thank you."
- Justyna G
"I really loved this class! I used to draw all of the time as a teenager but stopped in my late teens - this is the first time I've tried to restart my creative practice as an adult. Mel's class was the non-threatening guidance that I needed. The prompts are structured but also offer freedom for independent ideas. I found that at the beginning of the 14 days, I stuck with the examples but became more confident to try out my own ideas and combinations of prompts as the two weeks progressed. Thanks so much Mel, I really enjoyed myself!"
- Thomas Y
"Another super enjoyable class from Mel Rye! I'm a trained graphic designer with many years of artistic practice under my belt, but I've loved working through these low-stress, simple exercises to polish up my skills as well as play and experiment to my heart's desire. It's a sign of a great teacher to design a class that can appeal to people of all different skill ranges. This is a class I'll want to do over and over again to continue playing with these prompts. Thank you!"
- Maro B
ABOUT MEL RYE
Hi! I'm Mel, a UK based multidisciplinary artist and teacher with over 15 years of experience. Im passionate about encouraging everyone to make Art, particularly those who think they can't (because I KNOW you can!). My catalog of beginner friendly online classes in drawing, art making for self-care and Adobe Photoshop offers structured, project based learning to build your creative skills.
☞ YouTube
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I need drawing experience to take this course?
No, you don't need any drawing experience at all - as long as you are able to hold a pen and make marks on paper, you will be absolutely fine :)
Do I need to have practiced mindfulness or meditation before to take this course?
No, you don't. The course is structured in such a way that it is suited for complete beginners to both drawing and mindfulness. We will be exploring some simple mindfulness techniques and activities each day, so you will gain a lot of different techniques by the end of the 14 days, but you could start the course having absolutely no knowledge of either.
Do I need to keep up with one drawing a day for 14 days?
You can approach the class however you'd like - it is structured as a 14 day course so that it is broken down into manageable bite-sized chunks of learning, but you definitely don't need to complete it in 14 days! Many students like to spread the prompts out over a month, or even longer - it should fit around you and your life. Many students also find they like to take the course more than once because the prompts are very open ended, so you might find that it just helps you to keep up a regular and ongoing art-making practice.
How is the course formatted?
All my courses consist of pre recorded video lessons. There are also downloadable resources such as worksheets, reference photos, guides or other materials which will help support your learning.
All my courses are structured around a class project, which is a practical way of applying the skills taught in the course, and also means that you will have created something by the end of the course, as well as learning lots of new skills - I think this is the best way of learning!
How long will I have access to the course for?
Once you have enrolled, you will have lifetime access to the course, which means you can access it for as long as it exists on the internet. If any updates are made in the future, you will have access to those too.
Can I purchase this course as a gift?
Yes you can - there is an option at checkout to buy the course as a gift. All you need to do is enter the recipient’s email address and there is an option to add a gift message if you’d like to. The course will be sent directly to them with a link to access it, along with your message if you added one.
I have a question which isn't answered here
No problem - i'm always happy to answer questions, please get in touch with me here.