Drawn Together

There's something really fun about artists doing warm-up sketches and other drawings outside their day jobs.  Sometimes you see this in commissions, but lately there seem to be a number of websites were artists are working with each other to pick themes and other outlets for their creativity.

Most recently a twitter conversation between Ben Towle and Rob Ullman brought us the joys of the Animal Alphabet.  The premise is simple.  Each week artists draw animals for the letter of the week.  The number of artists varies week to week as the only requirement to participate seems to be drawing an animal within the week of that letter.  They're up to C this week and I have to say that my favorites so far have come from Brad McGinty and Rich Barrett (See Rich's "B is for Basset Hound above).  

       

Comic Twart, with a rotating theme each week really pulled me in with their recent Calvin and Hobbes theme.  They have a more set cast of artists participating each week, including Chris Samnee , Francesco Francavilla and Declan Shalvey to name a few.  The themes are widely varied from movies, television, children's literature and even comics.  Each Monday a new theme is picked by one of the members.  The membership is closed, but it sure to have inspired similar collaborations. 

I discovered Draw Bridge from Becky Cloonan's twitter.  My favorite part so far: the number of Whedon related themes selected by the artists from Buffy to Angel to Firefly. 

Rico Renzi recommended I check out Drawer Geeks and I absolutely love their Darth Vader theme.  There are ton of professional artists participating in this invite only drawing group.  New themes are selected weekly with sketches appearing each Friday.

There are tons of these groups on the internet and I look forward to discovering more of them.