Workshop · Practice Tier 02

First Series

Time: Two weeks

Make 5 pieces about one thing. Notice what changes between the first and the last. This is the workshop where you stop being a person who makes individual drawings and start being an artist with a voice.

Why this workshop

One piece is a drawing. Five pieces about one thing is a body of work. The difference is enormous. A single piece can be lucky or unlucky. A series shows your eye, your voice, your themes. Galleries don't show single pieces. Portfolios aren't one image. Real artists work in series.

This workshop is your first one.

What you need

Materials.

📓

Whatever materials your lane uses

Use what you already have. Consistency in materials helps the series feel cohesive.

🎯

A subject

Picked from the steps below. One subject for all 5 pieces.

The exercise

Step by step.

Step 01

Pick your subject.

Something you can come back to. Your kitchen window. Your own face. Your sneaker. The view from your bedroom. Pick something with enough visual richness to look at 5 times.

Step 02

Piece 1: Make it as 'normal' as you can.

Whatever your default approach is — do that. The most boring, most expected version of the subject. This is your baseline.

Step 03

Piece 2: Same subject, different time of day OR different angle.

Monet's haystacks — same haystack, different light. Or move 90 degrees and see what changes.

Step 04

Piece 3: Same subject, different medium.

If piece 1 was pencil, try watercolor. If watercolor, try ink. The medium change changes how you see.

Step 05

Piece 4: Same subject, only 3 colors allowed.

Hard constraint. The colors you choose say something about how you see the subject.

Step 06

Piece 5: Same subject, abstract version.

Strip out everything that doesn't matter. Reduce to shapes, gestures, color blocks. The essence.

Step 07

Lay them all out side by side. Take a photo. Look at them as ONE piece.

The series is the work. Notice what you couldn't have predicted at the start. Notice what changed in you between piece 1 and piece 5.

What to look for

Signs you’re doing it right.

🪞

Your obsessions surface

After 5 pieces of one subject, things you didn't know you cared about start showing up. That's your voice.

📈

Improvement

Piece 5 should be more confident than piece 1, even though it's also weirder.

🧵

A consistent thread

What ties all 5 pieces together besides the subject? Color? Mood? Mark? That thread IS your style.

Common mistakes

If you’re stuck, it’s probably one of these.

🤷

Quitting after piece 2 or 3

The series doesn't reveal itself until piece 4 or 5. Push through.

🎨

Trying to make each piece 'better' than the last

Different is the goal, not better. Some series pieces will be 'worse.' That's normal.

🔄

Switching subjects mid-series

The constraint is the lesson. Don't switch. One subject all 5 pieces.

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.— Pablo Picasso