‘Shenanigans



Draw With Me Reveal!

by Amber on October 2nd, 2015

We’re to the end of our first week of #SCDrawWithMe, our community project where we take three things and mix them up in an image of some sort.

To everyone who participated, thanks for joining the fun! If you missed it, jump in next week by:

+ finding the three words (they’ll be posted on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter),
+ mixing them up in your own picture, and
+ sharing your image with the hashtag #SCDrawWithMe

Usually this project will be solely on Social Media, but we’re posting it on the blog this week to give an example of how it will work.

As a reminder, this week’s items were “flying,” “box,” and “dragon.”

Here’s a time-lapse video of Brady’s offering:

Want to join us next week? Want the kids to join us next week? Join us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter so you won’t miss it!

(We’re also in the middle of a Kickstarter for our new Imagination Art Book “Serious Starters”! If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!)



Draw With Me :: A New Community Drawing Project!

by Amber on September 29th, 2015

SCdrawwithme title square

Our new community drawing project is for all ages and is a quick way to share a little imagination and whimsy. We’ll do one each week for the next few weeks and then use your feedback to plan its future. Ready?

Here’s how it works.

  1. We’ll provide three words/elements/things.
  2. You (or your kids, or your very clever hamster) draw an picture combining all three.

(Drawings can be as simple or elaborate as you like. If you need help getting started, watch Brady’s drawing tutorial for ideas.)

Then, share the image at your preferred locale:

+ on Instagram, use #SCdrawwithme and tag @seriouscreatures
+ on Facebook, use #SCdrawwithme and tag @seriouscreatures
+ or Twitter, use #SCdrawwithme and tag @seriouscre

Post anytime during the week; Brady will be watching the feed and will comment as often as he can. (Please note: we can only see your drawings if your feed is public.)

On Friday, Brady will share his own contribution and when possible, post a video of it coming together.

(Don’t forget to peruse other’s drawings and share words of encouragement! We’re always more fun together.)

And as always, send us your thoughts and suggestions. We’d love to make this as fun as possible for everyone!

This week’s items to incorporate are:

SCdrawwithme 29 sept

 

Go!



#ThoughtDrop :: A Community Art Project

by Amber on July 22nd, 2014

I’ve always been a big fan of street art. Finding art in unexpected places catches me off guard, offers me new things to think about, and reveals beauty in otherwise artless places.

I used to dream of being a graffiti artist, damning “the man” and his societal rules, leaving thought-provoking works all over town. But really, I’m probably not that guy. As much as I enjoy street art, I am too much of a rule follower to vandalize another’s property, which kind of kills my graffiti dreams. Plus, a “Middle-Aged Wanna-Be-Banksy Goes to Jail” headline would be difficult to explain to future employers.

Enter the #ThoughtDrop Project.

The #ThoughtDrop Project: Capture a thought, drop it off, share it! Here's how.

It combines my love of whimsy and public art with the relational elements of participating together in encouraging our fellow humans, while allowing me to pretend to be a rebel graffiti artist. Fun, right?

Here’s how it works

#ThoughtDrop is a community art project that spreads cheer by dropping thoughts in unexpected places. Ideally thoughts are accompanied by art, be it a whimsical drawing or a bit of glitter glue, but it doesn’t have to. Just drop that thought like it’s hot.

Participating is super simple:

    1. Capture a thought. It could be an encouragement, something funny, a piece of advice, even a favorite quote or song lyric.
    2. Write it down, and add the #thoughtdrop hashtag. Adding drawings and/or embellishments are great, too. I’ve been using our Mini Art Notes (printed at Kinko’s and pictured above), but making your own is equally great!
    3. Drop it. (Or you can use removable putty and stick it!)
    4. Take a picture and share it on your favorite social media platform. (Optional, of course.) Don’t forget to add the #ThoughtDrop hashtag so others can find it.

The #ThoughtDrop Project: Capture a thought, drop it off, share it! Here's how.For bonus points, do it with others. Have each person prep a few Thoughts and have fun finding lesser-noticed places around town to drop them.

Ta-da! The world is a better place.

Our daily lives are bombarded with negative messages all the time. “You’re too fat. Your hair is dull. Your skin is splotchy. People think you’re boring. And you should buy THIS to fix it.”

Let’s counter that with messages of positivity and whimsy, shall we? Join in the #ThoughtDrop project and share some love!

 



Fun on Instagram, #SCdrawovers

by Amber on June 6th, 2014

Serious Creatures #SCdrawovers on Instagram
Have you seen the “drawovers” over at our Instagram feed? We’ve been having a lot of fun with them so I thought I’d share more about them and let you know how to join the fun!

Not long ago Amber and I were exploring a “wadi” here in Oman. We say a wadi is a dry riverbed, but “riverbed” insinuates the presence of an actual river, something that doesn’t exist in Oman or anywhere in the Arabian Peninsula. A wadi is actually just the path that rainwater uses to find the ocean on the rare occasion that it actually rains.

Anyway, we were exploring a wadi near some ancient ruins, and exclaiming again how much this place looks like Tatooine, the desert planet Luke Skywalker is from in Star Wars.

As a surprise, I took Amber’s Instagram from that day, added a few Jawas and droids, and Instagrammed it myself.

And there it was, my first ever drawover.

I quickly found myself wanting to dive in again and again. I loved the difficulty of trying to match the colors of the picture and make it look as real as possible as well as how it provided a palette for some new kinds of creativity.

Eventually other people invited me to draw on their Instagram pictures, too, and this is where #SCdrawover really began.

Check out the full collection over at our Instagram feed!

Wanna play along?

If you’d like your Instagram to be considered for a drawover, just tag @seriouscreatures and #SCdrawthis to the instagram photo. I’ll try to get to as many as I can!

Hints for good SCdrawover submissions:

  1. Choose a photo with a bit of empty space. Some room for wonky goes a long way toward a fun drawover.
  2. A prominent “subject” to play off of. Take a look at previous drawovers to get a feel for this. A person or a plate of cookies is an obvious subject, but a cave opening and an airport setting work just as well.
  3. Something you think would be fun!

Submit away! I can’t wait to see what we come up with together.

*Original Photo Credits from above, clockwise from upper left: @ambertheblack@purplehousecafejh@bwdaskam@squarerootof9