First Friday Art Class for October 2011 - Drawing People

We got right down to business today. We're drawing people--fun, funky people. We are not doing life-like portraits. Today it's all about F U N! 

I explained to the girls that generally when I draw my funky people, I make the eyes uneven and different sizes, I play around with lip placement, I make really wide noses. It's more fun that way. There is no pressure for perfection.

We began by drawing faces together. I drew them on a large paper in front and they copied what I drew. This is a great way to learn and gain confidence.  

I used eyes, noses, lips, etc. from the Idea Worksheet below. I told the girls before hand which ones we'd be using (these eyes, this nose, those lips, etc.). They were free to modify and also play around with placement. 

Here are the 3 drawings I demonstrated and the girls copied:

Here is the Idea Worksheet with the features that we used circled--anything circles in red we used on face #1, blue is #2, green is #3: 

And even though we drew together, everyone's drawing is still their own! For instance, we noticed that even drawing faces using the same features, every girl's drawing had it's own unique personality and style. A lot of that is determined with placement of features, especially the eyes.

We observed that if you put the eyes really high up on the head, you get a more childlike, sweetness to your person. Whereas if the eyes are very low, it can have a shy reserved look to it. This is a great place to experiment and play around. Let your drawing "talk" to you and tell you about it's personality. 

SIDE NOTE: This sounds funny, but your drawings will tell you about themselves. When I started this drawing (pictured below), I had no idea what direction I was heading in, but once I got the face done, I just felt like she seemed a bit impatient and snappish. Then the rest of the drawing fell into place...

Once we had drawn 3 or 4 faces together, I turned them loose on the 10 Faces worksheet below. The ideas is to draw 10 faces somewhat quickly using features from the idea worksheet--OR NOT. Totally up to them. Try different sizes and placement. For instance on one face, do a tiny mouth and big eyes. On the next one do large, luscious lips and small eyes. They were also free to turn the page over if they didn't want a circle head.

Play around until you find one that's your favorite. This one will be used on the final masterpiece.

I did manage to take a few pictures over their shoulders while they worked.

I am constantly amazed by their creativity and pure artistic skill. They may doubt that they have it, but it's there!

Once a favorite head was chosen, they added color with colored pencils. (Generally at this point in my work, I add paint, but I knew we'd be pressed for time so I chose colored pencils for this project.) Once the color was done, they could go over their lines with a thin ink pen or just go straight to cutting out their head.

Then they chose patterned paper to be the body. We kept the bodies very simple today since our emphasis was more of faces. I basically suggested just cutting out a triangle to be the dress then doing stick figure-esque arms and legs. They were free to add any background items, accessories, pets, etc. 

Here are some pictures of the girls with their finished masterpiece. (We had a couple girls that had to leave early--I'm excited to see what they do at home...)

And a close up of one of the finished masterpieces--see, wonderful, right?

This is a great bunch of girls and I am having so much fun! I'll see you again next month!

NFAC - Ode To Blue

This is my entry in the Nibblefest Art Contest this month. She's available on ebay and she's tiny.

*SOLD

IF - Mesmerizing

"That's mesmerizing..."
He says that a lot, but I don't think he really means it.

Online Class

I am taking an online class from Katie Kendrick and I am loving it! She is amazing. I love her work and I love her teaching style. Here are some of the pieces I've been working on using the techniques I'm learning.

Sunday Sketch

This little sweetie came about during church today. I promise sketching helps me listen better--really!

I use whatever paper I can find and I ALWAYS use pen. I sort of hate pencil.

She may get some touches of color and end up in my art journal. I kind of love her glasses. :)

IF - Boundaries

There are no boundaries to who we are and what we can do.

First First Friday Art Class for September 2011 - Mixed Media

I've recently started a little art class for my daughter and some of her friends. We'll meet the first Friday of each month. I'm posting a little overview for any girls who couldn't make it, but if someone else finds this information helpful, that's great too.

We began with a tour of my studio, which is a small area just off my kitchen. I showed the girls all the tools and media I work with. I wanted them to become familiar with them, but also to see that I use a lot of stuff they may already have around their house. Art should not be intimidating!

We then moved onto our worksheet portion. We tried 10 different art medias (in each square of the worksheet pictured below):

1. Watercolor paints (wet)
2. Watercolor paints (dry-ish, they can never really be completely dry)
3. Colored pencil
4. Printed (scrapbook) paper
5. Acrylic paint (wet)
6. Acrylic paint (dry)
7. Magazine or book pages
8. Gesso (plain or mixed with paint) - this may be the only thing on the list that isn't familiar. It can be found in the art section of most art/craft stores. It comes in black and white and is a wonderful base coat for paper or canvas to prepare the surface to accept the paint. I also many times use it mixed with acrylic paint as background for a painting. It's not what I'd call "cheap" so if you want to skip this one, that is fine. :)
9. Ink (thick and thin Sharpie)
10. Rubber stamps (design elements, text, numbers, etc.)

Next we did our masterpiece using most or all of the medias we had just learned about. I gave the students this page to work on:

And this page to practice on or cut up to use as a pattern. The numbers are just to delineate the spaces. The students were free to use whatever media wherever they wanted to and could skip ones they didn't want to use.

Here they are hard at work:

Here they are with their finished pieces:

This one has such a happy nature to her and her lovely art.

This one is NOT afraid of color. She is bold and daring.

This one has such a sense of humor and it's reflected in her art.

A finished piece:

We had fun! I am already looking forward to next month!!

IF - Mysterious