Jon Gnagy Draws an Old Oak Tree

My week of sketching along with Jon Gnagy has come to an end today. It has been an enjoyable walk down memory lane. I think it's important to mix things up, stretch your boundaries and break out of your daily routine from time to time in life and in art. These drawings were all done in about 20 minutes and made me draw fast without getting bogged down with details. I think drawing along with someone like Jon primes you for drawing quickly. These exercises help you see big shapes and values which is the foundation for any type of drawing you may do. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Jon Gnagy Draws Canadian Geese

Today, while sketching along with Jon Gnagy, I had to laugh when Jon describes how these wildfowl winter in the middle US region in the winter and then migrate up to Canada in the summer. Well, they certainly don't migrate around here anymore!  They are abundant year round residents to residential lakes, recreational areas, roadway edges, shopping centers, industrial parks and golf courses.

Jon Gnagy Draws A Bucking Bronco

Here's another Jon Gnagy lesson of a bucking bronco. It was fun!  I thought this one was going to be difficult, but it really wasn't. Perhaps it was because I'm familiar with horses and draw them often, or maybe if you just get into the frame of mind of drawing shapes instead of things, everything becomes easier, no matter what the object is. I did this with a very soft, 6B pencil about  5" x 7" in my sketchbook. I haven't gotten any feedback on whether anyone has tried any of Jon's lessons yet. I think the one I did here first of the snow scene was the easiest one to get started on if you are considering giving it a try. Or you can always start by drawing the four simple shapes. Please let me know your thoughts about drawing with Jon Gnagy.

Jon Gnagy - Taught me How To Draw

Like many other kids growing up in the 60's, I got my first Jon Gnagy "Learn To Draw" Art Set when I was around 7 or 8. Believe it or not, they are still popular today, more than fifty years later! I studied the lessons until I could draw them from memory and drew along with him when he was on TV. He was the first one to introduce me to shapes, value, composition and perspective. At the beginning of each show he would draw the four simple shapes that were the building blocks of all the others. "If you can draw these simple shapes", he said, "you can learn to draw." Jon stressed the importance of tone (or value) and said a drawing should have all three; light, medium and dark.

I especially love this Jon Gnagy quote: "I believe that in the life of everyone there comes a time when the Art Spirit is dominant. You may have passed it when you were 5 or 7 or 11 years of age. But it will come again several times in your life when you are looking for something outside your practical everyday routine". 


Check out the Jon Gnagy website maintained by his daughter, Polly Gnagy- Seymour

Jon Gnagy Was America's Original TV Art Teacher!

I was telling my sister, Denise, that I got a real nice letter in the mail from the Willingboro Art Alliance thanking me for my demo last Wednesday night. They wrote; "Your enthusiasm for drawing was inspiring for us. We appreciated you encouraging us to participate. It was fun!" Denise said I taught drawing sort of like Jon Gnagy. For those of you too young to know, he was "America's Original TV Art Teacher". That got me thinking about him, so I looked him up online. I am glad to see there is a good selection of his demos from the 50's and 60's on YouTube. I guess you could say he was really my first serious art teacher. Starting at a very young age and over those early formative years growing up, I owned several of his various art sets and even drew along with him on TV. It's true that his approach might be criticized because it was not always truly 'fine art'.  His methods are repetitive, but the reason he did it that way was to teach drawing in a very simple way to those who had never tried it before. He made it fun, fast, and uncomplicated. He was easy to follow and made you feel like you could do it. One can immediately experience a sense of accomplishment following one of his 10 minute demos, often just what's needed to get beginners interested. Whether you like his style of drawing or not, you have to give him credit for being a pioneer in educational TV and for turning so many people on to art, many of which I'm sure, eventually moved on to more 'finer' styles.

I plan on highlighting him and his career and doing some of his demos this week. It should be FUN! I hope some of you will give it a try. 

In the demos, he is using a hard square charcoal stick. (Looks like a conte crayon.) I still have his "Pastel Painting Set" and it has a black and a grey stick in it which I will give a try at some point. You could also use a charcoal pencil or a soft (3B - 5B) pencil for the drawings. Notice the way he is holding it like a wand - using his whole arm! (Holding it between his thumb and forefinger.) Although I don't know if he ever really mentioned it, I watched and imitated his approach. He is the first one to teach me how to hold my pencil that way and I have been drawing like that ever since!

This morning I did Jon's "Snow Scene Lesson"  approximately 4.5 x 6.5", with a soft 4B pencil in my sketchbook. Although I'm not crazy about the composition, it was a fun exercise. He moves along quite fast, so watch it through a couple of times before attempting to follow along. I had to play it through two times to get down all of the details. Don't be afraid to pause the video or back up a bit if you get behind. If you click on the four arrows at bottom right, you can watch it in full screen.

This week's sketching challenge is to try your hand at sketching along with Jon Gnagy!