MORE DRAWING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

Part Two in an ongoing series just for young artists and those who love and care for them.

(Mixed media artists, please watch this blog for something tailored to YOU, coming soon!)

Note how the nails are set into the nail beds that surround them.

HAND IT TO YOU

Materials:

·        White drawing paper

·        Pen or fine-line marker

What to do:     

1. Rest your left hand on the desk—if you're right-handed—and not on the paper. The hand is to be observed, not traced. No pencil allowed! Use contour line (a line that follows the edges) to record the outlines of your own hand. As you look closely at this "object," move your marker in the same way your eye travels over the shapes and lines you see.
2. Draw all the tiny creases, the knuckles, and the skin around the nails, too. This is a very loose approach, so move your whole arm freely, not just your wrist and drawing hand.  Allow your pen or pencil to travel fluidly.  Add shading if desired.

For Your Understanding:

            Try posing your hand differently for another contour drawing. You can even hold a pencil or other small object in that hand to add more interest to your work.   

FROM WHERE YOU SIT

Materials:

·        White drawing paper

·        Pen or fine-line marker

           

            Quick, look down! What do you see? Your legs and feet may be partially or entirely in sight. Your clothing is creased or rumpled in places, isn't it? Each fold is another opportunity for you to practice using contour lines (drawn lines that mark the edges of forms).

What to do:

1. Draw what you can see of your lower body, including the feet.
2. Try to include every detail. Start right out with pen or marker (no pencil, please!). 

For Your Understanding:

            The contour line drawing method is perfect for this lesson because it allowed you to focus on the outlines of your figure.   

WITH A STRAIGHT FACE

Materials:

·        White drawing paper

·        Pencil or other drawing tool

·        Ruler

            Let's pretend to be Picasso! Can you portray a human head, neck and facial features using only straight lines?

            Cubism is a style of art that sometimes uses angled shapes to depict natural forms. Pablo Picasso was one of the first Cubists. In abstract art, the subject is broken down into its basic elements.

What to do:

1. Use a ruler and only straight lines to draw a portrait (a person) with no curves at all.
2. Besides the eyes, nose, and  mouth, remember to add ears, hair, eyebrows, and a neck\ 

For Your Understanding:

            By making the head and neck more simple in your drawing (by changing it into mere straight lines), you have abstracted it! 

SIMPLE COLLAGE TECHNIQUE IMPARTS DECOLLE EFFECT!

Create this easy photo-paper artwork easily and quickly.

This vivid, colorful piece, below, reminds me of a billboard with layers and layers of posters that have been partially stripped off. Décollage comes from the French word décoller (take off, unstick). In art, we refer to décollage as a technique based on the appearance of advertisements peeled from billboards. The result leaves fragments of papers and the layering of previous papers.

Collage, Copyright Paula Guhin

I used discarded, glossy photo prints, and tore the edges so white would show. 

TIP: If you don't care for the white accent, use a designer marker to color the edge!

My advice? Audition assorted prints and their colors, shapes, lines, and visual textures until you find a combination that POPS! My limited color scheme, above, did it for me. 

I used an enlargement as my background, adhering the torn strips to that.

Here's another example of décollage, below,  that I did with magazine papers.

(Art teachers, parents, and grands, please stay tuned here for another post, soon, on drawing with kids.)

LESSONS STRICTLY FOR ART TEACHERS & PARENTS!

This is the first in a series of fast and fun drawing activities 

for kids,beginning with line.            

Here you'll find drawing prompts that are authentic and economical, foolproof and fun. These are experiences in creating two-dimensional works of art with "dry" media, not paint or glue. No elaborate preparation is required!

            These ready-to-use lessons are easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for children in elementary and middle school. They allow young artists to work on their own with the adult as a facilitator only.  They're tried and tested, meaningful tasks to engage the interest of the creative kid.

            You'll discover that the fifteen-minute marvels in this series are a convenient, educational way to use short periods of time productively.  And most of the artworks can be finished in about a quarter-hour or less.

            We begin with the fundamentals in the first posts—the basic art elements. Each post will highlight a different component. Line, the principle factor in drawing, is the focus of this first section.

            A word about pencils: A common 2B pencil will suffice for most drawings. However, for deep, dark gradations and shadows, try a special 4B or 6B. An HB (or any H pencil) is too hard for softly blended shading effects.

Line: a continuous mark made by a tool onto a surface.                                          

TO THE LETTER

Materials:

·        White drawing paper, pencil &/or other drawing tools

 Have you ever looked at the lines and shapes of alphabet letters and pictured other things? You can “see” a snake in the letter “S” if you try!

What to do:

1. Lightly draw a letter—either capital or lower-case—on a large piece of paper.
2. Squint your eyes and imagine the letter as part of something else. Draw in new lines and shapes, and add more on to it to finish the letter-picture. 

Questions to Ask Yourself:

            Is the artwork as complete and interesting as you could make it? Could you draw a number instead of a letter, and make it part of a brand-new picture?

TAKE A MARKER FOR A WALK

Materials:

· White drawing paper, markers 

What to do:

1. Draw a shape (an animal, a person, a flower, or any other outline) in the center of a large sheet of paper. Shapes are made by enclosing an area with a line. 

2. Next, "take a marker for a walk" around the shape, as closely as possible without touching it. The marker line should go all the way around the first shape, until it touches the place where it began. Then choose a different color marker and create another outline just outside the first, and then another, and another, without touching the other lines. If you can, use markers of different thicknesses, too. Some wide, some thin. Draw around the shape again and again until the page is filled with lines!

For Your Understanding:

       When you repeat lines over and over, you make a rhythm, a regular pattern that lends a feeling of movement. Did you begin with an interesting shape? Did you fill the page with many lines?

WHAT CAN THESE LINES BECOME?

Materials:

·        White drawing paper, pencil &/or other drawing tools

What to do:

1. Lightly draw a squiggle on a large piece of paper. (See those below.) The line can be curvy or sharp and all angles.
2. Squint your eyes and imagine the squiggle as part of something else. Draw in new lines and shapes, and add more on to it to finish the picture. 

NOTE: You mixed-media artists out there, please remember that, besides this series of kid's art activities, I will continue to post material just for you!

Thanks for stopping by!

COLLAGE (& PAINT ) WITH PHOTO SCRAPS

Have you saved some of your "bad" photo prints to use in your art-making? Here's a great way to use them up and make wonderful collage - paintings at the same time!

Either cut or tear the photos into various sizes and shapes.

Find photo images that go with each other, all in a particular motif--such as these botanicals, above. This is a complementary color scheme, with recognizable plant forms. See the finished piece coming up! 
With this piece, since it was far too "busy" already, I obscured some areas with dark green and black. My intent was to unify the artwork, tying together the parts.

The finished collage - painting.

Only scraps of photos were used in this unfinished project.

Blue and orange also make a pleasing, complementary color scheme. See the unpainted example here.

Add a traditional image into the layered, shaded mix! Leave space for one striking picture that fits in nicely with the colors or textures of the other shapes. Or insert a piece of text or written material, as shown in the example below.

Can you tell I am obsessed with earth colors?Note that a few edges in this artwork have been cut, not torn. 

Embossing Aluminum Foil for Paintings and Collages

Aluminum foil from the kitchen can be embossed, collaged, and painted. 

Some people use heavy string or cord under the foil.

Heavy duty foil is best for this, but any type will do. Cover one side of a piece of foam core with the foil, wrapping the edges and gluing them to the back. Use the tip of a dull pencil to form ridges, flat shapes, and patterns in the foil.

I filled the spaces with a deep layer of medium.

Paint it with alcohol inks, glass or metal paints, or acrylics. Take note of the image transfers used in this example, as well as inks and acrylic medium.

Also see the post  I did eons ago on this very same subject!

CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED, & ART BOOK EXCERPT!

The name drawn at random to win a copy of this book is Shauna's! 

(But anyone can order the e-version here at a low, low price!)

Shauna, please email me privately with your address, and congrats! I hope you like it.
(My thanks to the others who kindly left comments, and my hope goes out to you that you might win in a future giveaway here.)

NOW, AN EASY PROJECT FROM THE BOOK!

This photograh illustrates the art element of shape.

Shapes are flat, two-dimensional areas that are enclosed.

Cut a spare print into strips, all in one direction. They can be either vertical or horizontal, depending on the subject matter.

The strips can vary in thickness, too!

Then reshuffle the pieces, flip some upside down, and move them out of order.

Discard any pieces that don't enhance the new composition.

When you like the new arrangement, glue the pieces onto archival matboard or foamcore.

Which one do you like best?