Warm-up Like An Olympian With These Creative Exercises

​ ​ ​ ​ = Want to improve your techniques? When you hit the gym or go for a run, you probably do something easy at first to warm up your muscles. Warming up prevents injury, gets your blood flowing, and boosts your confidence before a grueling workout. Doing warm-up exercises isn't just for athletics, though. It can be a great way to prepare your mind and hands before you tackle a bigger project. It's a low-stakes way to loosen up your gestures while also nudging your brain to get into creative mode. Once you've warmed up, you'll need your next project. [My Modern Met Academy]( courses are great for building up your skills and confidence when you're feeling overwhelmed by a blank canvas or page. One great glass for both beginners and seasoned artists is Nitika Ale's [Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings](=). Ale encourages her students to become more confident in their work, focusing on color-mixing and loosening up brushstrokes. [Enroll Now](=) ​ Here are 5 exercises to get you ready for bigger pieces. Blind Contour M. Gunn, via [Wikimedia Commons](=)/[CC by 4.0](. Without looking at the surface you're drawing on, use your chosen medium to sketch something in front of you. Bonus points if you don't lift your hand from the page. This is especially great for practicing drawing oh-so-difficult hands and feet. Blind contour drawing lets you shed any perfectionist tendencies and focus purely on observation and moving your hand in unison. ​ A dozen circles Fill a page in your sketchbook with 12 circles. Then, draw a new pattern inside each circle. By playing with patterns, you'll get your creative juices flowing and feel more playful when making marks on the page. ​ Practice Shading and Color-Mixing =​ If you are drawing, use your pencil to create a gradient across the top of your page. Start with the lightest pressure and slowly increase until you are making the darkest value possible. Then, keep doing this, but instead of just up and down vertical lines, use points to create a pointillist gradient. And repeat with cross-hatching. If you are a painter, gradients can help you become an expert in color mixing. Start with the pure hue of your paint and slowly mix in more white paint for it to become lighter or black paint to become darker. Or start with one hue on one end and slowly blend in a new color to create a totally new color. ​ Doodle Quickly make a large random doodle on paper. Once again, don't look at the page while you doodle. Then, take what you drew and turn it into something more representational, like an animal. This again forces you to look at something in a new way. ​ Thumbnail Warm-ups =​ Draw two to four squares on your page. Then draw a thumbnail sketch or paint a thumbnail painting of a composition you're interested in doing larger-scale. Next, use the remaining thumbnails to alter your original idea. Should an object be larger in the frame? Or would it help to add more contrast to your shades? This not only helps you warm up but lets you refine your plans for your next work of art. Artist Nitika Ale demonstrates this exercise with acrylic paint in her [Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings](=). ​ Enroll now in [Learn How to Paint Abstract Acrylic Floral Paintings](=)or one of [My Modern Met Academy's]( other [painting]() and [illustration]( classes to guide you as you develop your artistic eye and create muscle memory in how to translate your vision to the page or canvas. ​ ​ [Squiggle Line] ​ ​ ​ We'd love to see what you create! Use #MMAcademy to share your work with us. ​ [[facebook]​](=)[[instagram]​]([[tiktok]​](=)[[external-link]​]() ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Thanks for subscribing to newsletters from [My Modern Met.]( To make sure our emails don’t get lost, [add us to your address book.]() UPDATE YOUR PREFERENCES: - Daily Newsletter: Whenever there is something new - Weekly Roundup: Weekly updates packaged into one convenient newsletter - Click here to change your [current preferences.]( [Unsubscribe]( | 121 Evergreen Way, Lake Forest, CA 92630 ​