Join the 31-Day Icon Tracing Challenge!

Starting on Tuesday, November 1st, I am doing a 31-day icon tracing challenge, and you are invited to join me!

During 2016, I have taken part in several month-long drawing and painting challenges through Creative Bug, including challenges taught by Pam Garrison and Lisa Congdon.  Through the daily work on and sharing of those challenges, I have grown in my artistic skills and made some wonderful connections with other artists, especially on Instagram.

Beginning with the icon tracing challenge, I would like to develop some similar challenges that focus on iconography skills and techniques.  Tracing is a simple and accessible place to start, a way to expose ourselves to a variety of icons and to work on our powers of observation.

The November Icon Tracing Challenge has just a few guidelines:

1 - Each day choose an image of any icon of any size or time period.  It may be from a book, a prayer card, or a calendar.  It may be a simple or more complicated image and may be of any size.  Those who have attended the Iconographic Arts Institute may wish to look back through their handouts and materials for an image.  The only criteria is that it is an image with which you would like to spend some time reflecting and observing more closely.

2 - Tape down a piece of tracing paper over your image and trace its main shapes, as well as a few of its smaller details.  It is up to you how detailed you would like your tracing to be.

3 - If you wish, share your tracing on Instagram using the hashtag #icontracingchallenge and tag me, @hilda.kleiman.  When you post, share which icon you selected and some of the observations you gleaned from tracing your icon.  I look forward to seeing your work!