In case you haven’t pegged my blogging style by now, I’ll let you in on a little nugget- I tend to post free digital downloads when my work schedule is so full that I can’t find time to craft. So if you see free images, there’s a good chance I’m up to my elbows in deadlines. All good, of course, for you and me! Right? Since setting aside graphic design for other crafty and creative ventures, projects seem to keep flowing in. Be sure to sign up for my e-newsletter (in the right sidebar) and I’ll fill you in on what’s up very soon!
I have the most darling old Belgium sketch instruction book from the 1920s and can think of about 25 things off the top of my head to do with the sweet little drawings found inside. One of which is to learn to draw in a simpler style. Peruse the images and feel free to snag them up for your own projects by clicking on each (including the one above.) Although they are white on black drawings, as found in the book, you may want to invert them to black on white.
What would you make with them…any ideas you’d like to share?
These are incredible. I cant wait to show them to my 12 year old nieces. And possibly use when teaching art with students in Juvenile Detention. I need things that are easy and failproof to give them an “I can succeed” attitude. thank you for sharing with us.
They would make lovely embroidery patterns!
love these! just the drawing inspiration I need 🙂
Thank you for these sketches. I can think of some fun ways to use them!
These are perfect for fabric painting! I could easily see these on a velveteen vest lapel or a drawstring handbag… How fun!!! Simply adorable!!! And yet elegantly simple and classy, too! Thank you so much!!
i have no idea yet, but they might make a cool blackboard artwork for a baby’s room or shade for a retro lamp. my first baby was treated to a nursery of black barkcloth curtains with pink and chartreuse floral curtains. the lighting in my imagination would fit in there perfectly. twenty years too late. rats.
still,,,, as always, cathe rules the graphics.
xoxo.w
Thanks Cathe,
These are great!
xoxo
The koi/eel in the last panel would make an excellent paper weight design, especially if you mirrored the image. Ooh I can hardly wait to try it!
fascinating ! i really love those white on black versions !
These are so wonderful! Thanks so much. I agree with the embroidery idea!
Love these vintage sketches and am thinking they would make fun VBS projects!
Thanks!
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http://christieocttage.blogspot.com
I don’t have a clue right now what to do with them, but love them – thanks Cathe!
I’m thinking some simple embroidery might be interesting. Thanks once again for the cool stuff.
Cathe,
Many of these would be precious designs to use in shadowstitch embroidery on children’s clothes. So many possibilities!
Thanks so much for sharing them.
These would make great templates for embroidery on the crafty side, but I plan to use them in my classroom. These are great examples of gesture drawings! I would love to know if you had more pages!
So cute, I especially love the chickens! These would be great for labels on homemade preserves.
I would LOVE to take the drawings of jungle animals, blow them up and put them on the walls of my youngest sons room (its all done with a jungle theme!). Too Cute!!
reminds me of the stickers people put on the back of their minivans, only so much more unique.
Lots of possibilities here. Thanks very much!
chalkboards are the rage and these would make lovely embellishments at the top, bottom or sides of the board. I doodle at meetings and these would be great to copy to capture the essence of animal shapes. Thanks so much!
What about copyrights on these images? Don’t they have any that we’d be infringing upon?
Hi Rose, Thanks for asking. These images are now within the public domain based on their original copyright date, to the best of my knowledge.
Hi Cathe thank You very much.is it possible to ask you couple of questions? I would be greatfull for couple words of advice.kind regards. jarek1984@interia.eu
Hello there,
I was wondering what is the best way to download these? I didn’t see a pdf link or anything. Sorry for the daft question…
These are not PDF files, rather JPGs. If you click on each image they should come up in a separate window. Click again to enlarge and drag into a folder or directly onto your desktop. Hope that helps.
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These would be great if they were black on white, I realise they are meant to look like chalkboards, but if I printed all these out, I’d have no black ink left!
cool i think that would be a cool summer project
I’m thinking stencils for chalk graffiti…
I love these! I would use them for embroidery and I have also considered them for flash cards for kids to learn animals or learn to draw.
Stencils for sure. Cut out and made into lampshades so the light beams through them, maybe even as night lights.
I can totally see these in as covers for artists sketch books.
These are great. Thanks for sharing.