My professor had us do our sketchbook drawings using crayons for a week. It was a great exercise because it keeps you from getting hung up on small details. You also can’t erase, so it helps to free you up and just draw quickly, which is important when drawing from life. (People just have this odd habit of moving!) There’s also the fun of working with odd colors that you might never consider drawing in, like lime green, purple, or bright red. I think that alone makes it a worthwhile exercise because it helps to view things differently and opens up the mind to utilizing color differently than we might otherwise. Lastly, I think it’s really fun to take something as low-brow as children’s crayons and use them for life-drawing. It helps to take some of the seriousness out of making art, at least from time to time!

You can see more of my sketchbook drawings here.