Hi Friends,
Are we ready for our next practice challenge? Let's choose a window and draw something that you see from the window (or through an open door or screen/storm door/window). No limitations, except I hope you will share what you've done. But that's not even a requirement. (And by the way, I hope folks will use our little exercises to practice their Inkscape skills, even if you don't want to post your work. The whole goal is to inspire us to practice!)

Here are some ideas.

• Use the window or door to frame whatever you draw. This is a technique I've seen in photography that I particularly like. And I've been trying to think of something to draw outside the window.....although it might make for an interesting project, just to draw the window, even if sky is all that's seen through it!
• Of course trees might be seen through 2nd story or higher windows. In my case, it would be like I was sitting in the tree, because they are very big and close to the house. Birds, possibly, or squirrels. Although if you wanted a model, I think you'd have to take a photograph, because of course the bird will soon fly away, or squirrel scamper away....unless you're lucky enough to see a nest out your window!
• Live or work in a highrise building (skyscraper) in a city? I think it would be interesting to draw a skyline of a city, or windows of the buildings across the street. Or even just the horizon in a rural area. Maybe you live on a farm, and see farm animals or barn.
• Using the idea of taking a photo, maybe you see children playing, or people walking on the sidewalk or just down the street. Or cars, if you're inclined to draw them. Or farm equipment even.
• Just now on tv, I see what we call French doors here in the US -- 2 narrow doors that open from the middle, with 8 square window panes in each. Yes, quite decorative, and not necessaryily practical. But a really fun challenge. Darn, I wish I had some french doors, or knew of some that I could grab a quick photo!
• Maybe you'd like to try your hand drawing draperies or curtains alongside the scene. Fabric can be very challenging to draw, at least for me it is!
• Or the weather may feature prominently in your scene, like snow or thunderstorm? Although I think any weather would be beyond my current skill set, maybe others would like such a challenge.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to add your own ideas.

Now let's get drawing, lol!

Very interesting Idea, I might try this out when I get some time.

I'm thinking of maybe doing a scene from my dining room (which coincidentally used to have french doors) going out to the second story deck which gives us a view of the entire street (we're on a dead end and the last house on it), some factory buildings on the street which connects to ours and then the mountain beyond the factories. I'll have to get a good photo during the day to have a reference to do the scene in Inkscape but I like the idea.

I was thinking of another one from the deck facing west to capture the sunset. We get a great view of sunsets here and I have a ton of pictures of them. But I think for a scene in Inkscape maybe I'd want to capture part of the deck along with the sunset, I'll have to take a few pics later to see what I can come up with.

Great idea, you got me thinking now.

Well, to be honest it's been a long time since my last illustration with inkscape, and i'm not even sure i could find the time to make one. I always loved to look at those gradations ( shades? ) of green that come from the leaves in front of my door-window. And now, that in a month or two i'm going to change home ( sniff sniff.. ) seems like the perfect time to take one last picture and finally draw them. Something i always wanted to do!
We'll see..

Where have all the ants gone

I'm rather new to Inkscape and this competition inspired me to do something with Inkscape. It is my first work in Inkscape. I learned a lot while doing it and it was a lot of fun too.

Welcome to our little practice sessions! I'm glad you've found it helpful

Very nice image, cute ants I see you used some noise on the floor -- carpet? And also a little on the door too. Nice work. I notice the tree in the far distance is partially transparent, and I think that's a nice effect for that situation. I have one question though -- what are the yellow objects that look like columns, or...something??

Again, nice work, and welcome

They are supposed to be curtains, but didn't work out the way I wanted. I should practice more Thank you for your words of encouragement.

OOOHHHH!! You've drawn it so that you're looking through an open door AND out a window, lol! Fabulous! I could not figure out why you would draw ants marching into the house. But now I see that they are leaving Or maybe they're just going into the other room?
Everything makes so much sense now. Actually I thought they looked just like curtains, but I thought they looked like they were outdoors, which didn't make sense. And the flower pot, I thought was on a patio. Now I understand. Very creative!

I've taken a couple of photos, but I can't figure out how to get them onto the computer. (Taken with a cell phone, not a camera.) But soon I hope to start on mine

Ok, well I'm beginning to see that this challenge might produce some very complex images, which might take a while to create. So I thought I'd offer some ideas that might reduce the scale. For example, draw the mailbox, a child's outdoor toy, lawn chair, small section of a fence and/or flower garden, or maybe just the building across the street. Or in other words, just draw one thing that you might see, not everything that you see out the window
(Well you could still draw everything if you want.)

None of my photos were acceptable for me, so I'm on a mission to make some new ones