Artventure Retreats

09/05/2026

Our next FREE online class is coming up this Tuesday, Sept 8th, 7-8 pm CST! Fill out the form on the website to receive the Zoom link. Grab your art supplies and we can't wait to to hang out with you. www.artventureretreats.com

09/04/2026

[See comments to read Marco’s story]

08/31/2026

https://www.artventureretreats.com/blog/my-why

My Why. And why Artventure Retreats. “It’s my love letter to you, all creatives.”

08/27/2026

During our Zoom call this week, we talked about creating boxes to break up our pages into smaller panels. These panels can be used in many ways. If you have a larger book and get overwhelmed by a larger drawing, you can break it down so you can focus on smaller sketches. They can be used to tell a story or group similar items, like a scavenger hunt. We also talked about composition and that it's ok to crop signage to make it more of a graphic design element versus trying to read what the sign says. Lots of examples and ways of using this technique, as you can see from our sketchers. Try it out!

08/25/2026

Tomorrow is the day! Tuesday night Zoom and sketch with Julie and Efrain! If you need to link, please fill out the request on the website. See you then!

08/25/2026

Workshop on the power of light and shadow

Sometimes the clouds give you a different situation than planned, but… we could still see at least 3 different values to create a focal point where we wanted it. See if you can break down your compositions into 3 values, 4 max. Keep it simple. Try different thumbnails to get the best effect and use your artistic license to create a better scene.

08/19/2026

The next workshop is Monday, 24th at McHenry County College Catalyst building in Woodstock. Join me to learn the secret to making stronger images in any medium. REGISTER ==>
https://mchenry.augusoft.net/connect/ClassInfo/ClassInformation?int_class_id=14862&int_category_id=7&int_sub_category_id=27&int_catalog_id=3

08/12/2026

Sweet! More workshops have been added to our lineup at McHenry County College. More info on our website. Please share these great opportunities. https://www.artventureretreats.com/workshops

08/12/2026

Tonight's Zoom class focused on drawing crowds and groups of people in motion. We spent 10 mins per drawing quickly capturing the energy of the crowd.

08/11/2026

Too humid and sticky to venture past the university walls but we had each other to draw! This workshop taught the basics of anatomy but our exercises focused on blocking in mass shapes to capture the gesture then adding line work on top. It’s a different way of thinking and takes getting used too but it’s one worth doing for speed.