Beginner Drawing Lessons, Part III

Yay! Welcome to the third and final lesson in this three-part series: Color

Where would we be without color? The deep blue sea, scarlet poppies, and blazing sunsets would all be pretty nondescript without the hues that make them unforgettable.

There is so much to learn about color, but I'm going to keep it fairly simple here. While it is true that a strong foundation of color and color relationships will take an artist's work to the next level, for the purposes of this simple lesson, we'll skip the color wheel, so as not to bore the kids to death, and jump right to actually using color.

To start, let's go back to "seeing with our eyes and not our brains" (I know, I keep bringing this up, but it is one of the best things you can keep in mind when rendering objects). Just like the tomatoes of Lesson I are not perfectly spherical in shape, nor are they just red. On a single tomato we can spy red, orange, yellow, and deep crimson, and even a hue that seemed somewhat blue, not counting the greens of the stem and browns of the blemishes. It is precisely this myriad of color that makes an object interesting when rendered.

Take a closer look. See the variations. Encourage your kids to believe that they really are seeing colors that don't necessarily "make sense," like blue on a tomato.There are many reasons for seeing that blue, like a reflection from a nearby object, or the combination of a particular shade of red, mixed with the low-value tones of a shadow.

Even if your subject is a factory-made piece of purple plastic that features a consistent shade, that purple is going to appear slightly different, depending on how the light and shadows are effecting it. So, you see, nothing should ever be rendered as just one color, even if it is...just one color.

Color Exercise:
For this lesson, you will not necessarily need to set up a still life. In fact, drawing from nature would serve this lesson best, as objects that occur in nature tend to have many variations in color.

• Take a walk with your kids around the yard or inside your home. Point to objects and have them say the first color that comes to mind, like "green!" for grass.
• Next, have them take a closer look. If they can, have them touch the object, and look at it from all angles, noticing color differences. For example, a leaf might be bright green on the top, but a muted yellow-green on the underside. See if they can recognize more colors than the original one-word answer.
•  Once your kids start drawing their objects, encourage them to use as many different colors as possible. A peach could be drawn using orange, red, brown, and yellow, as opposed to coloring it light orange in one place, dark orange where the shadow is.
• Once they are comfortable with using so many colors, ask them to draw an object using a completely different set of colors. They could take a small collection of blues and oranges and render a leaf with shadows and highlights using the wacky colors. The end result will be an eye-popping composition. 
• For and advanced challenge, try drawing a set of objects using only blocks and patches of color—no lines—like we did with value in Lesson II.

If you're you're interested in exploring color a little further, Marmalade Moon just posted a great list of color inspiration links.

I hope you and your kids enjoyed this Beginner Drawing series. I plan to expand upon these lessons in the future, and will keep you posted on that front, as details emerge.

Beginner Drawing Lessons, Part II

Welcome to the second lesson of this three-part series: Value

In art, value refers to the darkness and lightness of color or tone. The variations in light and dark within a drawing are what will make it come to life. Have you ever noticed how an unexpected highlight on an object makes it really pop? Or have you felt the depths of a darkly-rendered shadow? Yep, it's all about value. From the highest value—white, to the lowest value—black, and everything in between—this is what creates volume and sense of space and depth.

In our still life of the group of tomatoes, we first took note of where the different light sources were coming from. Then we noticed where the brightest and darkest parts of our scene were. After those easier to identify values were determined, we discussed the more subtle shades, looking at how the lighter parts of the tomatoes fade gradually into different shades of darkness. This lesson is meant to be practiced in black and white, using pencil/charcoal on paper, so kids won't confuse light and dark color with light and dark value.

There are different ways to render value. Some artists use cross hatching, others use sketchy lines or scribbles, others blend their pencil/charcoal to create gradual changes.

A good way to practice different values of light is to make a value chart. Simply draw a rectangle about 6" long and, starting with white, gradually sketch darker and darker values across until you have the darkest possible color your pencil can make. Show them how they can create darker colors by bearing down harder on the paper, as well as by using more lines closer together.

Value Exercise:

• Start by having your kids make a value chart. This will help them recognize the subtleties in all the shades between white and black.
  
• Have them try a few different ways of shading, and let them chose the method they prefer.
  
• Using a simple still life like the one in the previous lesson, ask your kids to tell you where the light is coming from how it is shining on the objects. It may help to set up the still life next to a window or a lamp, so that there are strong lights and darks for them to identify. You could even rig up a flashlight to make extreme shadows.
  
• Next, ask them to point to the brightest and darkest parts of the objects. Once those are established, have them take note of all the different shades in between.
  
• When they begin to draw, encourage them to use their value chart as a reference. Suggest that they use the white of the paper as the brightest spot, and fill in the lower values from there.
• If the kids are into it, ask them to try drawing one without using any lines at all. See if they can render objects just by creating various values.
  

Have fun! See you back here soon with the last lesson: color.

Beginner Drawing Lessons, a Three-Part Series: Part I

NOTE: My apologies to those who subscribe in a reader. I accidentally hit "publish" in the middle of my first draft of this post. I deleted it immediately , but I think some of you still got the wonky post. Oops!

Welcome to my Beginner Drawing Lessons, written with kids in mind, but perfect for adults, too. This series is the result of many sketching sessions with my girls, during which I realized there are a few recurring concepts that I am always reminding them of. For these lessons, I have reduced lots of information into three basic ideas that can be utilized when drawing:

• Line
• Value
• Color

There are the shapes and how they relate to each other (line), there is light and shadow (value), and there is color, with its many variations.
Those three things are basic concepts that, once understood, will help you or your child have a better grasp of your subject matter. This information can also be applied to painting, sculpting, digital art, and so much more. Each of the three lessons include an exercise at the end of it, so you can practice your new skill. I would recommend this series for children 6 and up.

The first lesson of this three-part series is Line.

Line is the shape of objects, the actual outline, and how shapes relate to each other. For example, in our still life of a group of tomatoes, we noticed how each tomato looks different—some had more lumps, some were more round, some oval in shape. Then we looked at how the tomatoes were arranged. We saw how some were in front of others, and that some were partially hidden. Look at where these objects overlap, as well as the negative space. Sometimes, when an object proves tricky to draw, observing the shape of the space between the objects can be helpful.
Encourage the kids to look at the true shape of things, meaning not what their brain says they should see but, rather, what they are actually seeing. Our minds register "tomato" as bulbous and round in shape, but their shapes can be quite varied. Point out irregularities in objects, and encourage your kids to include those. We (and especially kids) tend to want to draw the "idea" of a certain object, rather than what we are really seeing. A college art teacher of mine used to always say, "draw with your eyes, not with your brain."

Line exercise: Set up a still life made with a few simple shapes. Fruit, balls, bowls, and vases (skip the flowers this time) are good choices for this first exercise. Avoid objects that have a lot of detail on them, as the kids will be tempted to render all that detail first thing.

• See if you can get your kids to just observe the still life for a few minutes before starting
• Talk about the outlines, the shape of the negative space, the places where objects overlap each other, and how that effects their shapes
  
• Ask them to point out irregularities in the shapes
  
• have them trace the objects with their finger
  
• When they begin to draw, remind them to draw what they see, not what their brain tells them a shape should look like

Have fun! See you back here soon with the next lesson: value.

Learning

There's been lots of learning going on around here. From raw food to instrument maintenance, our recent explorations have run the gamut.

"A," an avid jazz pianist, is learning to tune pianos. This is not the beautiful music we are used to hearing on a daily basis. This is a lot of bent notes and piercing, almost screeching sounds, played over and over until the notes are brought back to their soothing songs. And once the entire piano is properly tuned, he takes it back out of tune, and starts all over. Practice makes perfect, right? I'll keep telling myself that.

The girls have been learning to draw with charcoal. The smudging, blending, and erasing has opened up lots of new creative exploration in their art.

We're participating the the Green Smoothie Challenge, experimenting with different combinations of kale, apples, mangoes, chard, and bananas, so far. Surprisingly yummy, though not all of them have been a success. On to spinach!

This year, I'm learning to start my seedlings under lights. The south-facing windows have left much to be desired from my seedlings in previous springs. Hopefully, the heat and constant light will yield beefier plants—if I don't fry them first with the scorching fake sunlight, like last year.

I'd love to hear what new things you've been learning and experimenting with. Let me know!

Henna Art

Santa brought the girls henna this year, and school vacation gave us lots of time to learn about the ancient art form and have fun with it. We started by researching online and found so many inspiring images, like this amazing work of art.

The elaborate designs were striking and the detail is insane. We practiced drawing flowy lines and filled organic shapes with traditional intricacies. The girls sketched their ideas, choosing elements from different references, and came up with original designs.

Practicing the art form on paper was the highlight for the girls, and they filled many pages in their sketch books with mehndi designs.

They each chose their favorite from their own inventive sketches, and I applied the henna. I tried oh so hard to keep pieces true to the original designs, but don't think I did the six-and-seven-year-olds' fine work justice. Seems this mama isn't quite capable of matching the impulsivity and freedom of her kid's art. (I'm workin' on that, though)

After working with the henna on these illustrations, I have the utmost respect for artist who can render that liquid into sprawling designs made of intricate details.

The girls had fun showing everybody their new body art, explaining what they used, and how it was done. I even witnessed my one of them reassuring her grandmother that the henna will wash off in about a week. Not to worry—no real tattoos, like Mama and Daddy. Yet.