Food illustration: Micro-lesson and Sketchbook Project
Share a Meal with other Ten Minute Artist
Ten Minute Artist exists to help you Start Drawing Daily and Keep Going.
Start your daily sketching habit today with this week’s project. Sharing your work with a community is a great motivation to start and keep going. I’m Adam Ming, Picture-book Illustrator, and your guide for the next 7 days.
Use your sketches as conversation starters, and connect with others in the gallery through your love of food and creating.
The Sketchbook Project this week will have us sharing 7 meals together, but first…
MICRO LESSON
How to add food illustration to your skillset.
Drawing food is a useful skill in your repertoire.
There is a huge market for food illustrations. From menu and packaging design, magazine editorials, books, even picture books. It also features in all kinds of work that is not specialised food illustration.
Food tells a story and helps spice up a scene.
Sharing a meal is one of the most intimate of human interactions.
It builds bonds of friendship and family. This week we are going to try to see if the act of drawing food and sharing it can create similar bonds with others. There is something about food that connects people.
The most viral -illustrations I’ve ever done were actually illustrations of food.
Drawing a meal will enhance that memory if you’re sketching just for the joy of it.
And if you’re a working illustrator, a food illustration in your portfolio or social feed could be a way to expand your repertoire. For me, I’m always looking for a way to fill up interior scenes for picture books, or give characters something to do with their hands!
Speaking of which…
I digres…
What 3 things to focus on when drawing a meal.
If drawing on-site, try to capture quick impressions with drawings and notes, with the aim to finish them up later. Take a photo for reference. I Don’t recommend drawing food on an empty stomach.
If you are eating with someone, use this opportunity to connect with them. maybe bring a spare sketchbook and pencil and ask them to draw the food too, or take turns. Don’t miss the opportunity to bond over a meal
When drawing, instead of focusing on realistically capturing every detail - choose instead to visually describe the meal in a way that would be understandable to the reader of your image. Feel free to use labels and notes in the drawing.
Reasons to add food illustrations to your repertoire.
There is a market for food illustrations - Here are some of them. Wall Art, Surface Design, Editorial (magazines and books), Kids’ Books, Games, cookbooks, and even whole stories about food.
It’s a fascinating and personal subject matter - The food we eat says so much about us and is a subtle way to learn about yourself and the people around you.
It’s a great way to build a habit - One of the best ways to create a habit is by anchoring it to an existing habit, and there is no habit greater than daily eating.
Examples of food illustrators
This delicious collection is by
And check out this food alphabet by
For more inspiration and to share your own food illustration check out this pop-up Gallery
This week we are going to share 7 meals together!
SKETCHBOOK PROJECT
Share 7 Meals with Ten Minute Artists around from Around the World.
Choose 1 meal a day and sketch it for 10 minutes.
Share it in the Gallery and on Social Media use the hashtag #tenminuteartist (all spelt out)
Add a caption wherever you share it. Say something about your relationship with that meal, let us get to know each other through this exchange.
Draw any 7 meals! If you need something more specific, try this:
Monday - Draw Breakfast
Tuesday - Draw A Quick Meal
Wednesday - Draw A Big Meal
Thursday - Draw A Small Meal
Friday - Draw A Celebration Meal
Saturday -Tell a story with food
Sunday - Draw a Traditional Meal
Share your Ten Minute Food sketches in this Gallery;
Here is what you did during the potted plants week!
Buy my books for the little ones in your life. You could also support this community by joining the sketchbook club.
If you want to start your sketchbook habit today, here are 21 thoughts to guide you
I'm in! Need to shake up my 100 Day Project with a change from single word prompts and want to also take part in Katie Stack's pattern challenge - so food sketches for a food pattern it is!
Love eating and sketching food😊 Great prompts!
I can’t get to this week’s gallery- the link seems to be broken :( Does anyone have the same issue?
Also I noticed all the previous galleries are gone from the chat section😢 Could anyone help please?