Creative Recess - Siobhan Twomey and Rich Armstrong battle human-generated prompts

That bike will never work. — I can't really draw faces. Excited {slash} terrified. Well, here we go. Ah. Oh dear, things are looking really weird. — You're firing away there. I'm not paying attention to yours anymore. No, me neither. Pencils down. Brushes down. I'm not even making the It's just not even coming — Not very French of you. I mean, I can, but wouldn't say I can, but I mean, I can. — [clears throat] — It is not easy to paint with your other hand. Is LA watching? Always. Welcome to Creative Recess, where the prompts are human and the chaos is creative. Rich and Siobhan, please introduce yourselves. Hi LA, I'm Siobhan. I'm an artist and educator. Yeah, I'm very excited to be here and see what prompts you have. My name is Rich. Really good to be here. I'm based in Amsterdam, but I am a South African. And yeah, really happy and pumped to be here with Siobhan. I'm also slightly nervous and excited to see what LA's got for us. So, yeah, LA, what do you have for us? A lot of fun. — Let's roll. Before we begin, I'm just curious, do either of you use prompts in your practice or as like part of your work? — Yeah, I use prompts quite a lot, LA. I also love to use visual prompts, so like to look at a reference image from that point of view. So, sometimes the prompt for me will actually be a visual. Have you tried drawing a bicycle lately, Siobhan? Like without looking at a bicycle. I tried it once and it was so bad I said, "Okay, — I'm I won't ever do that again cuz a professional cyclist looked at my drawing and went, "That bike will never work. " — But uh yeah, whether I use prompts, uh yeah, I use them quite often. I have this app called the Random Word Doodle app and it just gives me a bunch of random words to doodle. Yeah, it's just like it's my brain thinking and then I get to practice drawing something. Fabulous. You both have experience in prompts, they're part of your work. Unprompted, what are you likely to start doodling? If I'm unprompted and I'm I start doodling, it's nearly always a face. I think that's just, you know, I think we're naturally drawn to faces and portraits. So, yeah, I find that often whenever I'm just sort of trying to loosen up, it's nearly always a face. Which I find really interesting because I can't really draw faces. Like I can doodle things, but sketching like a real-life face is something I've always struggled with. The first thing I start drawing is I would doodle are squiggles which turn into a cloud which often turns into a cloud man with legs and eyes. So, I guess it's a character, but not necessarily a face. Quick vibe check. How are you feeling about what's about to go down? Excited {slash} terrified. — Uh yeah, I think how I'm feeling about what's going to go down is like really excited, curious, how much out of my comfort zone am I going to be put in. But yeah, really excited. — Fabulous. What did you bring to recess as your tool of choice today? So, I brought along, well, my charcoal pencils which go everywhere with me anyway. I also brought some watercolors. My tool of choice today is an iPad plus Apple Pencil inside of Procreate. That's wonderful. This You're both so very well prepared. All right. Your first prompt is Siobhan. — So nervous. Your first prompt is inside out. Time on the clock is 10 minutes and that begins now. Oh man, that is so interesting. Okay, so what comes to mind is for me it's like brushing teeth, but uh this character is inside out. So, all his teeth are going to be on the outside. So, his like whole body is like inside of his mouth now. Um I think I am My first instinct is just to go a little bit abstract here and um then see actually what happens. So, I'm just going to lash down colors and then thinking that I am going to make something abstract. And that's kind of an inside out — notion, you know, starting with something and then building up from that. This is very abstract. — I love how quick like you're able to paint. That's incredible. I am literally letting this thing do do the work for me. All right, I'm starting to see something. So, I went to an exhibition at the weekend and one of the things that I saw was a huge 10-panel painting of a rhino. 10-panel. Geez. So, I think I'm going to go with that. Yeah, I can kind of see it. That's great. You really got the inside out idea. — Yeah, I like it. It's kind of funny. I don't know if you ever think like while you're drawing like you make sound effects or think about how it could move. I'm just like

This guy's like trying to like brush his teeth or like explain what's going on, but he's like inside out. So, he's like a world that a character of mine like exists in. Oh, really? Every time? Yeah, because it's like where is he? Like is he just on a page? Like I draw him on a page, but then, you know, perhaps he's like standing next to somebody else. Would you then go further with that and start drawing those worlds? Like what is the house that he lives in or No. — I'm just seeing like a lot of effort. 3-minute warning. I don't really know what a rhino looks like. I need reference images. — This is like the bicycle conundrum again. You're like — conundrum. — Hup hup. Okay, Siobhan, I'm not paying attention to yours anymore. No, me neither. Okay, I think I'm done. And oh, perfect timing. Pencils down. Brushes down. All right. How did everyone feel? — [laughter and gasps] — Uh that feels Yeah, that's great. That was a nice warm-up. For me, how it felt was, I don't know, very freeing uh to try and draw something a little bit out of my comfort zone. But I'm also like really uh what's the word? Like amazed by Siobhan's uh rhino. I love the idea that those colors on a normally gray animal uh could be like from the inside and not outside and exposing that could be like a really fun animal or a sad animal, an animal with a lot of emotions, which is kind of weird for a rhino to be. I just thought they're like grumpy creatures. So, yeah, I love it. It's great. Oh, thanks, Rich. Both of these prompts I feel generated some kind of uh result that is very feelings-driven, uh even if we don't know what the stories are behind them yet. But, now that you're warmed up, let's move on to the next round. So, — clean sheets. Your next prompt is two truths and a lie, desserts. However, in this round there's a little extra something. You can only use your non-dominant hand. Oh my god. — Time starts now. Oh, this is actually pretty fun. Okay. Like I normally draw with this hand glove on my right hand, so we'll see what happens with my left hand without a hand glove. Interesting. LA, this is great. Yes, and then you'll both have to figure out your lies. 8 minutes. I can actually play table tennis pretty good left-handed. Looking at Rich's drawing and trying to think Okay, now, let me go. Non-dominant hand. Yeah, this is This might be when I want to turn on like Procreate's like streamline kind of features. The other day I turned them all off. I was like, "I'm tired of things like just looking really perfect. " Like getting these like really like wiggly jiggly lines and like actually feeling how I draw. It just felt so good. But now I'm like, "Oh dear, things are looking really weird. " Are you painting, Siobhan? I am. I don't I just I just grabbed the brush, so again, just going to see what actually emerges. That's great. Yours looks like a blueberry. This is a really difficult prompt. So, it's amazing Oh, Rich, you're firing away there. Okay. It is not easy to paint with your other hand. But you seem to be Can you draw with both hands? No, I mean, I can, but no, I wouldn't say I can, but I mean, I can. Nope. I'm a tease. Okay, guys, so my tricky thing is that I actually I think I I enjoy every single pudding or dessert. Like none to man, so The hardest part of this exercise was thinking of something that is not really my kind of dessert, you know? Yeah, that's spoilers. All right, and that's time. Pencils down. All right. Walk us through your creation or what you feel you put out there. Okay. So, this was a difficult prompt. Two truths and a lie. And what was the last part? Desserts. Okay, so I drew two ice creams as that's the truth. So, two truths was the two ice cream cones and the lie is that you can't have them cuz it's a drawing. It's not actually ice cream. — Oh, that's good. You got us. All right, guys. For me, like this is honestly it was very difficult for me to choose an

a dessert that I don't like. So, there's lots of truths that I could have done like plenty. So, I've got some cheese like dessert cheese. I don't know, maybe you guys like Camembert or brie, something like that. I've got some chocolates in the Netherlands there's this chocolate called Tony's Chocolonely. It's like fair trade chocolate. And then any kind of cake or tart really good in the Netherlands. But this particular one is a chocolate cake with a bit of cherry on top. And so here I've got two truths and one lie. Yeah, would you guys hazard a guess as to which one is the lie? Uh the cheese. Yeah, you got me, man. Straight up. — Don't like cheese as a dessert. I find it so weird. Not very French of you. Hey, I I'll eat cheese but not as a dessert. It's like guys, I've had enough savory stuff throughout the meal. Like can we just do that at the beginning? — Yeah, right. If you're given the decision between cheese or cake, it's always cake. Solid round. That was so much fun. I'm having so much fun watching you all create. All right, your prompt is your mascot. However, in this round we're going to change things up a bit. Please change the creative medium that you're using. All right. Okay, okay. I wonder will I use my charcoal powder? I think I will. Ooh, use the charcoal powder. That sounds good. — Yeah. All right. Yeah. I'm so sorry, but I'm not sorry. Here's one more thing. You will have 8 minutes to do this, but at the 4-minute mark you must flip your page upside down and finish the prompt that way. Wow. Okay. All right, ready? Yeah. Mark 8 minutes. Start. All right, let's do it. I'm curious to see what charcoal stuff charcoal powder. Like do you mix it with water or is it just powder? Yeah, it's just it's like yeah, ground up pieces of charcoal. I think it's willow charcoal. You can use it with water, but it just is a great medium for like laying in tonal marks, getting you know broad tones down very quickly instead of having to kind of build it up and build it up. All right, cool. I think I last worked with charcoal when I was 19 years old, which is yeah, it's a long time ago. Half a lifetime ago basically. Cheap as. But it was a very fun expressive medium. Oh, yeah. I love charcoal. Okay, so mascots, huh? This is interesting. So, you're doing collage there. Wow. I spend a lot of time like on the computer on the iPad, you know. So, it's fun to get off the iPad, off the screen — and then do something in real life. Do you find like the opposite or how much time do you spend on the computer or the iPad or a tablet? I draw on in Photoshop mostly. So, I'm on my laptop constantly. — And then I'll spend I always try to spend at least two or three days in the studio where I'm just drawing, not trying to not be on the computer so much. Okay, this is great. And this is your 4-minute warning. Please flip your page upside down. I kind of feel like I cheated here. Like it doesn't really matter. Okay. So, so what is your mascot? Is it a dog Is it a dog? — is my dog, yeah. Oh, that's cool. What's your dog's name? I can't Jesse. — Jesse. Yeah. She's great. Oh, Rich, you got to check out Siobhan's episode of The Story of. It's all about Jesse. Yep. I'm like she just she factors into my world a lot. So, as soon as you said mascot, I was like, "Ooh, it's her. " Amazing. Oh, man. It's very difficult, though. It's ridiculous how fast you can draw, Siobhan. Freaking mad. — I'm not even making the It's just not even coming. I don't want to turn it around. Is LA watching? Always. 4-minute warning. 2 2-minute warning. So, I've got a little cloud guy, the happy cloud. Kind of represents, you know, having your head in the clouds. Oh, yeah. And always be dreaming. ABD, always be dreaming.

All right, and that is time. Tools down. All righty. Please talk us through what you made. When you said the prompt is our mascot, I had to do my dog Jesse. She's definitely my mascot. She's my constant companion. Yeah, the 4-minute mark turning the thing upside down really threw me, I have to say. — Yeah, that is great. Yeah, nice. I'm amazed by how quick you were able to create something like that. That's yeah, like ridiculous. Well, how did you get on, Rich? Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I don't really have a mascot. I was like, "What is a mascot? " Like let me like what else like what do I draw like what comes to mind? I was like, "Oh, yeah, but like a cloud guy definitely. " And you know, creating stuff with tangible elements is really fun. Yeah, I feel like a kid when I do stuff like this. So, this is my little cloud guy. No white paper intentionally just because I you know, if I do draw on paper it's white paper. And yeah, a really tall cloud guy because he's got his head in the clouds, always be dreaming, ABD. And [snorts] yeah, also very happy. So, probably going to give this to my daughter when she comes home. She has yeah, a gift love language. So, she'll be super stoked with this. Awesome. You need to animate these characters, Rich. There's so much life into them and there's you know, and especially like you're so great with creating worlds and stories around like just simple character designs. I want to see them animated. — Yeah, I'd love to. Last round. Stations. Your final prompt is in the wild. Now, it wouldn't be a final prompt without a little bit of a twist. You must take turns trying to make each other laugh. — In 2 minutes into this prompt you must not lift your tool off the surface. So, after 2 minutes we can't lift off the surface. Nope. — How many minutes after 2 minutes? This entire round will take 4 minutes. Okay. That is your time on the clock. So, into the wild try and make each other laugh. Yep. [snorts] And I will shout out at the 2-minute mark and then you can no longer pick up your pens or pencils off the paper. Hey, Siobhan, can you please spin your pencil again? That was like flipping heck. Hello. — Can I make you crazy? I thought my I was pretty cool. I just do like a spin around the thumb, but I was like that's like Jack Sparrow stuff there with his magic pirate coin. All right. Are you ready? Your time starts now. I think I know how to make Rich laugh. I just spin my pencil. — Into the wild. How am I meant to draw this, guys? Flipping heck. In [clears throat] the wild. In the wild. Okay. I'm going to draw a very interesting giraffe. Camel? What kind of comedy are you into? Comedy. Favorite kind of show that makes me laugh out loud all the time is The Office. I've rewatched it so — Oh, The Office is great. — Yeah, I'm just laughing just thinking about that. Yes. 2-minute mark. Okay. — that mean? You're not allowed to lift your tool off of the canvas or paper. Unless you're switching tools, obviously, but Okay. continuous lines. My giraffe looks like he's got pinballs over him now. Okay, so in The Office when Steve Carell left, did you feel like it went a bit weird for a while? I didn't I would couldn't process that at all. I was like, "What? How is this going to work without him? " And I was very distraught and very upset, but they just it became I don't know, it was great. And what I loved about I think it's one of the few shows where the final season works so well. And the fact and then when he came back that one time, you know, at the very end it just all came together. 1-minute warning. Okay, okay. Have you ever watched like bloopers on YouTube for The Office? Yeah. I've seen a few. — I don't know how they made that show with us without having like just hours of bloopers. They must have laughed and done so many takes, right? — Yeah. And time is up. No, really? Tools down. That was weird. Tell us what you made. I was attempting or trying to do a tiger when you said, you know, start to just do continuous lines, that's when it kind of all got a little bit crazy, but I think it adds to it. It's the tiger in

the wild, so yeah, I'm going with it. I love Richard's giraffe. Oh my god, especially with like all the markings and the continuous line going from the eye all the way through to the tail. I thought it was a Christmas giraffe for a little bit. — Yeah, it looks like it does. Please tell us your interpretation of what you were thinking. — Oh man, I was stuck. I was like into the wild, in the wild, like what am I going to draw? Like this is weird. Then I was like, oh yeah, let's do some animals, that would be cool. And then the split like focus of trying to make Shavonne laugh was really difficult. It was like, I'm trying to do two things here and then a third thing with uh you know, not being able to lift my pen. So yeah, that was tricky. But this also like it's part of the discovery process of doing these prompts, right? Like Christmas lights, oh, like could these dots on a giraffe change? Also, it's not a very high giraffe, but it also made me think about like if you stretch the giraffe in different ways, like how could that look? So instead of having a very long neck, could it have a very long like body? Like could it be long in different places? Yeah, it was very playful. So I like that one, but yeah, challenging. Amazing. You've both done so well. This has been so much fun. Uh I'm curious, what surprised you? So for me, what surprised me the most was I think like when we started out with the inside-out prompt, I thought, okay, I'm just going to see what happens, see what emerges. And like that helped me through all the rest of the prompts. So even when I was panicking going, I've no idea what I'm going to draw, like the drawing comes through once you just get something on the page. So that really that was amazing. I think that what surprises me consistently is when there's a timer involved. It's like, let's just go. You just got to create. You kind of bypass the fear instinct, the perfection instinct, and you just create. And then yeah, now you can throw things away or edit it, change it. And then creating with somebody is not something I do a lot of besides, you know, with my kids. So this for me has been an interesting way to create. It's like working on my stuff, but somebody else is working on their stuff and we're chatting about a few things. Uh it's very fun. It like it's a great way to pass the time. I'm very curious about how Shavonne's doing her drawing, uh her painting. So yeah, I think that for me was the biggest surprise. It's like, oh, I actually quite like working with people, but not on the same thing. Yeah. Beautifully said. Last question. What prompt would you want another shot at? Um I think that I would love another shot at that two lies and a truth desserts. That just threw me completely. — And when Rich when I saw Richard's drawing, I was like, ah, that's perfect. That makes so much sense. And it's um fit the prompt beautifully, so. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do it again, but I think I would want another shot at this one, maybe with like more animals, but perhaps not trying to make you laugh at the same time, you know? Like just going, oh wild, wild animals, like into the wild, in the wild, like, okay, like what else can that mean? Uh yeah, I think it's quite a fun prompt. So I'd like to have another crack at this one uh if it was done. Awesome. Well, we got to see so much today. Mascots, desserts, rhinos, giraffes. Do you want to let the people know where to find you and if you've got any work or anything coming out? — Yeah, fantastic. Well, you can find me on Skillshare. I'm a top teacher on Skillshare. I have lots of classes on figure drawing, animation, storyboarding, and I would love to see you in one of my classes very soon. — And yeah, you can find me on Skillshare, on Instagram as well. I have a newsletter. If you're like, yes, I want prompts, I've got a Skillshare class that has I think 10 or 20 different creative prompts. And then a guided PDF where I take you through 10 days of doodling random words. There's words, there's reasons why it actually helps you be more creative, and you don't have to be a painter or a creative person or in the creative industry, but it helps you be more creative. So whenever I'm stuck, that's what I go to. I go to doodling random words. So check that out, too. Awesome. Thank you both so much for coming through and pushing through my prompts. Uh it's been great. That was fun. Yeah, I hope you guys come back for another round sometime. Definitely. — anytime. Yeah. Thank you everyone for watching. We'll see you guys later. — Thank you. Thanks. — peace out. Thanks. Bye.