IF - Sweet

6" x 3", Sharpie, paint and Prisma colored pencil on chipboard

I finally found a little bit of time this week to draw which was a sweet, sweet feeling. 

She is part of a new series I'm doing drawing on found objects. We get a lot of notepads at our house and where I work so as we finish them off, I've been collecting the chipboard backing. I plan to do a whole series of faces on them. They are all different sizes and I love the contrast of the white paint, the black lines, and the yummy brown chipboard.

And all you need is chipboard, Sharpie (or other black pen), white paint and a little colored pencil if you choose to add some color. Sweet!

Illustration Friday - The theme this week is SWEET.

IF - Tribute

I did this drawing for a friend as a tribute for his birthday.

Illustration Friday - the theme this week is TRIBUTE.

Painting Tutorial - The Coloring Book Method

I call this The Coloring Book Method because basically, you're creating a drawing with dark outlines (like a coloring book page) and then filling it in with color (paint).

This method works great on paper, canvas, or wood (coat wood with a layer of gesso first).

Supplies Needed:

• A painting surface (paper, canvas, or wood) - for this tutorial I'm using wood but will always refer to it as 'canvas' as whatever you paint on can be referred to as your canvas
• White gesso
• Sharpie, paint pen or black paint
• Paint brushes
• Watercolor crayons and/or pastels and/or paint
• Colored pencils, stamps, bubble wrap, carpenter crayon, etc. (optional)

The Basic Steps:

Step 1 - Prime your surface. Here I put down a layer of gesso on 1/2" MDF.

Step 2 - Draw your thumbnail ideas of what you may want to paint. Try some with a vertical orientation and some with a horizontal orientation.

Step 3 - Draw your design on your canvas lightly in pencil. These lines will be erased later so keep them light. (oops forgot to get a picture of this step)

So far we're following pretty typical painting technique. But here's where we veer and go into the Coloring Book Method. I find that this way of painting is GREAT for children and beginning painters. It's much less intimidating than setting a canvas in front of them and telling them to paint a person or flower. These steps break it down and make things MUCH more simple. You will end up with a more Pop Art or Folk Art type painting but even if that's not your end goal, this is a great way to start to feel more comfortable with putting paint to canvas.

Step 4 - Draw your outlines. I usually use a paint pen or black paint on a very fine brush. But when I paint with my art students I have them use a Sharpie. It's a bit easier to handle and an inexpensive tool. I like my lines to be relatively thick and I do have some variation of thickness and that's just fine.

Step 5 - Here is where you can go right in with paint. Which often times I do. But for this tutorial and when I work with my art students, I have them 'make their own paint'. We do this by putting down some watercolor crayon and/or pastels and then going over that with gesso. You can blend either with your finger or a paintbrush. I usually do a combination of both. The gesso blends with the color and creates soft, deep, beautiful color!!

The reason I like this for kids and beginners is, again, control. It's less intimidating to go in with crayon or chalk, rather than a brush loaded with paint. I also love the variation of colors you can get and the shading it allows. And on a truly practical note you don't have to squeeze out a bunch of paint. :)

Still not sure what I mean?? Maybe this will help...(Try it, it's FUN!)

And here's our girl with the color added...

Step 6 - Go back over your outlines, if you'd like. I usually do. I like my lines to be neat and clean.

Step 7 - Embellish with colored pencils, graphite pencils, rubber stamps, paint, etc. I love using a carpenters crayon to add some extra lines here and there. (After this picture I also went back in with a fine tip sharpie and added some scribbles to the background and with gesso I added the dots on her shirt and the highlights on her eyes and lips).

And VOILA...You're done.

To see some of my students working in this method and their finished paintings, click HERE.

First Friday Art Class for May 2013 - Introduction to Painting

I want to start by showing you two pictures...

Can you tell that we had some serious fun??

Today we painted. But maybe not in the way that one would call normal or typical. Normal and typical are so boring.

First, we painted on wood. I chose wood for several reasons...canvases are a bit intimidating and expensive, and paper can break down and tear using this painting method. Wood is sturdy and inexpensive...especially when you use scrap wood from your garage. In this case we are using 1/2" MDF.

Secondly, we actually did not use any paint. We used watercolor crayons, pastels and gesso. So in a sense, we made out own paint directly on the surface of our painting.

Thirdly, we used black outlines. I really find that this can be much less intimidating for children and beginning painters. I call it The Coloring Book Method.

Here were our steps: (I'm planning to do a full length tutorial on this painting method HERE)

I'll save most of my commentary for the tutorial and just show you lots of pictures of these wonderful young artists at work.

Here they are working on their thumbnails to see what exactly they'd like to paint today. I suggested flowers or people as they work really well with this method and we've worked a lot on them in past lessons, but I also told them they could paint anything they want. My motto is always It's Your Drawing/Painting So You Can Do Whatever You Want.

 I put a claw hook on the back of each girl's painting so they could take them right home and hang them up.

And here they are with their finished paintings: (we had one who had to leave a bit early...I'll post her finished painting soon)

These girls have been so much fun! We've had a great time the past two years. I love each of them dearly! 

I'm trying to figure out a way to continue even though several of them will be in middle school next year. We'll have to see how that goes...

Will She Be a Swan??

I'm busy getting everything ready for the First Friday Art Class tomorrow. So just a quick picture of a face I'm working on. This is actually a demo for class tomorrow. We are painting in a method I call the "Coloring Book Method"...more on that later.

Every painting or drawing goes through an ugly stage. I find that my people paintings look very strange and over-simplified until I start adding color. Maybe 'strange' isn't the right word because, let's be honest, my people paintings always look a bit strange. So I guess 'ugly' is the proper choice.

So right now she doesn't look like much, but once I get some color on her, she'll be down right purdy...or at least endearingly quirky.

IF - Farewell

Farewell April, hello May

Illustration Friday - The theme this week is farewell