Draw A Thon

FREE indoor celebration of the arts & sciences of drawing for all ages.

Come inside for some cool family fun!

The event features hands-on art making booths, demonstrations, art displays, games, food stations and more. Meet and draw alongside professional artists, experiment with new drawing tools and learn about innovative techniques and technologies.

The DRAW-A-THON experience transforms from year-to-year with the themes of the summer exhibition. This year's event parallels the CURIOUS MINDS exhibition and will celebrate the creative, inquisitive and sometimes quirky minds of artists.

Meet and Draw with the Artists-in-Residence
Philip Gabriel Steverson, Phoenix
Shiloh Ashley, Phoenix
Kristen Miologos, Phoenix

Artist-Led Booth Experiences

Joe Willie Smith: Amped Up Drawing
Merges the worlds of drawing and music. Participants will hear and play with the amplified sounds of their scribbles as a way to create sounds, patterns and a musical jam with other participants.

Rebecca Ross: Sonoran Desert Line Art
Create your own line drawing of a cactus or other botanical to develop your own coloring book page.

Monica Aissa Martinez: The Ecology of Saguaros
Explore the wonderful world of Saguaros. Participants can learn about the anatomy and physiology of these desert icons while creating their own gel pen drawings.

Jamie Glasser: Spiral Art
If you love Spirograph toys- you will love this local artists giant spiral making machine. Participants will get to create and take home their own giant spiral art.

Special Projects Booths

Join these local arts & culture organizations with special drawing activities.
- Xico Inc.
- ASU Center for Science and the Imagination
- Tempe Community Arts and Edna Arts
- Tempe History Museum
- Kids in Focus
- Tempe Public Library
- FABRIC Fashion Incubator

Links to Free DRAW-A-THON Videos:

VIDEO Recorded Morning Sessions

Recorded sessions cater to all ages and ability levels. Artists include special instruction for families and beginners too. You can draw along with the artists and/or watch for fun.

Please continue to share share your drawings on Tempe Center for the Arts Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @tempearts and #DrawAThon.

Ben Olson, Chuck Jones Center for Creativity
Saturday Morning Cartoons
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Watch Illinois artist, Olson, as he shows you how to draw classic Looney Tunes characters originally created by Chuck Jones. Olson will help you create favorites like Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian and more.
Supplies: pencil, paper and a coloring medium of your choice (colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.).

Michelle Nichols Dock, Gallery at TCA
Exquisite Corpse (Crazy Creatures)
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
In the 1920s, Parisian artists shared folded pieces of paper to create and share surreal figure drawings. Today, its a popular classroom activity for drawing crazy creatures together. Dock shares examples by kids, families and Valley artists.
Supplies: pencil, paper and a coloring medium of your choice (colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.). You also need a partner and/or set of 3-4 participants to draw different parts of the creature's body.

Kyllan Maney
Radial Patterns
Maney is known for creating drawings and murals that explore the meditative process of creating radial patterns and geometric forms. She will talk about her own inspirations, share samples and demonstrate techniques for making your own radial drawing.
Supplies: pencil, paper and a coloring medium of your choice (colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.).

Molly Idle
Now Presenting in Glorious Prismacolor
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Idle is a children's book writer/illustrator, former animator and Caldecott Honor winner. She shares tricks of the trade techniques for putting colored pencil to paper and demonstrate the processes she uses for creating her picture books, including sneak preview of characters from her new book Coral.
Supplies: For beginners: basic colored pencils and paper;
For more advanced: Prismacolor colored pencils and Canson vellum finish Bristol paper.

VIDEO Recorded Mid-Day Sessions

Recorded sessions cater to all ages and ability levels. Artists also include some intermediate-advanced projects. However, beginners and families can still watch, learn and be inspired to experiment with new art materials and ideas. Feel free to draw along with the artists and/or watch for fun.

Please continue to share your drawings on Tempe Center for the Arts Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @tempearts and #DrawAThon.

Rhiannon Beach, Chuck Jones Center for Creativity
Perspective Hand Drawing
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Beach is a California artist and art educator. During this session, participants learn how to create natural expression drawings your own hands. The artist also focused on creating perspective to bring realism to your drawing.
Supplies: pencil, pencil sharpener, paper, eraser.

Monica Aissa Martinez
Can You Really See a Virus?
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Phoenix artist Martinez enjoys researching topics such as human anatomy and life sciences. In this timely session, the artist demonstrates how to draw the COVID-19 Virus Cell.
Before the workshop: Participants encouraged to look online for examples of COVID-19 cells. Look closely at colors, textures and structure. Here's a some links: CDC, NPR and Nature.
Supplies: Paper of your choice such as white paper, black paper, mylar, recycled maps and/or old book page.(No glossy paper like magazine paper.) Pre-cut paper to square shape like 8" x 8" or 10" x 10." You will also need: pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, colored pencils and colors markers. For more advanced artists: feel free to also use inks, watercolors and brushes on hand.

Janet Diaz, Xico Inc.
String Pulled Drawing
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Who knew you can do printmaking with string? In this fun and colorful session, Diaz will demonstrate and give a tutorial on how to draw with string.
Supplies: Food coloring, white card stock paper 8.5" x 11", toothpicks, string, large book, small disposable cups (clear preferred), scissors, pencil. (This project can get messy, so please cover your work space to protect surfaces.)

Chris Gall
Digital Illustration
VIDEO LINK: CLICK HERE!
Gall is an award-winning illustrator and has authored and illustrated more than a dozen books for children, including the Dinotrux series which has over half a million copies in print and spawned a Dreamworks produced, Netflix television series by the same name. Gall demonstrates how he produces digital art using a drawing tablet. (Demonstration session.)

VIDEO Recorded Afternoon/Evening Sessions

MORE ACTIVITIES & LINKS

We hope you may find these web links, activity pages and videos helpful.

Gallery at TCA Videos
Free art demonstrations, virtual studio visits, virtual Gallery tours and activity ideas for DIY projects at home or at school.

Gallery at TCA Curriculum 
Free visual arts lesson plans and hands-on activities. More than 30 to choose from.

Tempe at Home 
Free City of Tempe videos on YouTube. Features art projects, exercise tutorials and more.

Edna Vihel Arts Center
Love art? Take an art class through the City of Tempe!
BONUS! View Rainbow Secret Surprise Ice Dream Drawing Video from Edna Arts: CLICK HERE!

Tempe History Museum
Download a special DRAW-A-THON Project: Pixel Drawings PDF.

XICO Inc.

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

 Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Museum
Download free lesson sheets that focus on arts & sciences.

Pattern and Repetition in Plant Biology PDF
Art Can Represent Things We Cannot See PDF
Art and Innovation Inspired by Nature PDF