Panda Bears and Groundhog Day! Kids Drawing Class
Topic: Kids Art Class
In honor of Groundhog Day we drew woodchucks, aka groundhogs. I showed the kids photos and a cartoon character named "Johnny Chuck". Which did they want? Everybody call out what you want when I raise my hand! (They had already expressed their preferences in disunison.) When I raised my hand, they all said "natural!"(photo). The child who'd wanted the cartoon version forgot he was to say "cartoon!". We did both anyway! The cartoon reference came from Kidoons.com. They have a whole story line of cartoon characters built around the stories of Thornton Burgess but don't seem to credit the authorship of the stories (as far as I could tell).

We also did Panda Bears in honor of the pandas from the National Zoo who are being shipped back to China today (Feb 4th). We had some sumi-e painting and some photos as references. First we did the photo, then the sumi-e, but in drawing. I ask the kids to color in the black shapes as if there are invisible outlines to color in. We need a descriptive name for this process. One child's name for it is "invisible coloring in". I would like to have as many names as possible for it, so, suggestions please!

Scroll past pics for links to Panda info.









Tai Shan returns to China via FedEx, ABC News story.

Info on Panda's World at National Zoo from the Smithsonian Institute

How the Panda got his black and white markings - a Chinese folktale, and information on Panda Bears

KungFu Panda Stick Puppet to download from HP

Panda Cub at San Diego Zoo

Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? Board Book, written by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle.

Let's Draw Turkeys, Pilgrims, and a Horn of Plenty for Thanksgiving! - Kids Art Class
Topic: Kids Art Class
Demonstration Turkey Drawing


This is the 'easy' turkey for the little kids. Draw large circles in the air, then draw one on your paper (so it fits). Draw an arc where the tail feathers end (to the left above the circle). Draw a small circle to the upper right of the big circle. Add the beak and details. Give Turkey a neck to connect the head to the body. Add his feet, one foot held tucked up. Add his wings. Notice all the radiating lines or rays? You see them as the feathers in the tail and the feathers in the wings. Now go wild coloring. By the way, this ended up being the turkey for everyone though it was meant for the youngest (4 year olds)!

Thanksgiving Day Demonstration Drawing:


In this Thanksgiving picture, we started with the man's pilgrim hat - a straight line across with a tall trapezoid for the crown. Add a buckle and hatband. His face below is like the letter 'U'. The eyebrow that runs into the nose is like a '2', one child observed. Two raisins for eyes with little arcs over them. Another arc for the missing eyebrow. The mouth is just a few lines. Add some triangle/wedges for his hair. An almost 'A'  forms the center of his collar. Add the curves for the rest of the big collar. This is a portrait on the wall, so put a frame around it.  Triangle above is how it hangs from the nail. (This way we didn't have to worry about drawing the whole figure and could move on to more of the feast! We did Mrs. Pilgrim next, then moved on to the Horn of Plenty, starting with the horn. Add the pumpkin, the pears, the oak leaves, some nuts, some grapes. One child said he had a 'mob' of food in his horn! We wanted a pie for the feast too. That requires an oval. Draw it in the air before drawing on your paper. Finally we served a roast turkey - drumsticks first, then the body line and some stuffing. Use arcs to form the oval of the serving platter. And remember the steam.

Kids drawings follow:

November Kids Art - Native American Heritage Motifs, Deer, & Moose
Topic: Kids Art Class

We drew the animals by coloring in imaginary outlines. Simple forms are easier. Hence the origami looking figures. Some kids made outlines around their animals after they had 'colored' them in. It helps you to 'feel' a form by working this way. It can also be frustrating because it is hard to control, but it is not supposed to be neat & tidy, even though the kids may want it to be neat and tidy. Some kids just drew the outlines first anyway. We also have a few very young ones who work alongside drawing whatever and however they can.  Young ones allowed to make themselves happy drawing and making marks will naturally progress on their own. 

 

My demonstration drawing of deer, in silhouette blocking style, and moose in outline style.

Here we started out using a Peace Treaty Wampum design to build figures with small block marks to imitate the beads. What else is this like? Mosaics, tiles, pixels, needlework are some we brainstormed.

My demonstration drawing of peace treaty wampum design, Native American canoing & teepees on the river bank.

 

Apple Picking, Pumpkin Patches, & Scarecrows - Kids Drawing Class
Topic: Kids Art Class

We've been drawing on apple picking, pumpkin patch, and scarecrow themes the past few weeks in the kids drawing class at Rockland Library. In my apple bough drawing I wanted the kids to get an idea for using circles (the apples) to make patterns. There is a straight line, a curving 'S' line, a circle, and a spiral. Then I wanted them to see how the branch is also a curving line but it is broken up. I want the kids to make a flow, a connection, between the objects they put in their picture. There is also an apple pie and a blob of ice cream which they asked for!

For the pumpkins I wanted them to learn a bit about giving a circle some form. We tried observing how a roll of masking tape when viewed in one position looks like a circle but when viewed from other positions the circle becomes gradually a thinner oval (ellipse), until it disappears altogether into a straight line. This was a hard concept for a six year old. The literal mind cannot yet see a thick roll of tape as a straight line - afterall, it is thick! Too late I realized the trouble. It was a trauma. Such is the experience of verbal language and it's inevitable misunderstandings.

The kids learned that a scarecrow is meant to scare crows from eating the crops. Why would a scarecrow be able to scare crows? "Because he looks scary," said one child. (She may even have said ghoulish.) No, not because he's ugly. Why can he scare a crow? "Because crows are scared of people!" a child finally exclaimed. Yes! And sometimes tin pie plates or tin cans are tied to the scarecrow to blow around jangling and help with the scaring. In our scene the crows are not afraid of the scarecrow. The poor fellow's hat is on the ground and a crow sits on his bare burlap head.

The apple picking scene was inspired by a Carl Larson painting. Drawing the scene would have to be a stand in for apple picking this year. When I went to go for apples that past weekend, the orchard was all sold out. There had not been much of a crop this year because of all the bad weather we'd had.

Let's Draw Butterflies and the Monarch Migration
Topic: Kids Art Class

We started by drawing the Monarch butterfly - head, body, wings, pattern. I used an unnamed Victorian illustration from Dover publications. When I came around to the kids to show them the illustration and let them compare it to a photo I'd taken of a Monarch butterfly, one of the kids pointed out that we'd just drawn a decoy butterfly - probably the Viceroy. He explained that it's patterning mimics the Monarch and prevents birds from eating it. Birds don't like Monarch butterflies because the milkweed they eat makes them taste nasty to birds (or anyone I suppose). We'd been fooled as well. Monarchs have more rows of white spots, as well as spots on their head and body.

The Swallowtail was meant to be just for basic shape. The kids were to make up their own designs.

Here are my demonstration drawings, the kids' drawings follow.