Drawing Lessons

Drawings lessons

 for children

7 - 12 years

  Drawings lessons will resume on 17 November 2012.

The next lesson will be on 17 November from 14h00 to 16h00,

at the St Heliers Community Centre, St Heliers Bay Road, Auckland.

E-mail me at info@theartworkshop.co.nz  to make a booking.
The morning lesson, in Bucklands Beach, Auckland  will resume next year with the start of school term 1. More details to follow.

Remember the FIRST lesson is FREE! Give it a go!

Drawing Victorian Houses

Drawing Victorian Houses

This lesson proved to be great fun for all the students (aged 7 -11) attending the class. We learned that Architecture is the designing and building of structures. We discussed Victorian Architecture in brief,e.g where did the name come from. Some students knew the answer - England's Queen Victoria off course. We learned that Victorian Mansions were different from other houses because they were impressive and symbolized hospitality. They had unique features and distinctive color schemes. We looked at several pictures of Victorian Houses (from library books and the internet).

On the black display board wall I built (as a basic construction) a Victorian House from basic shapes cutouts. This served as an example to remind the students that essentially you can construct a Victorian house using squares, rectangles, half circles columns and triangles.

I gave the students free choice to use stencils, cut out shapes and rulers to construct their Victorian House. After "Building" the houses they used colored pencils or markers to decorate their houses.  Below are photos of some of the students work.

 I got the idea for this lesson from the Deep Space Sparkle blog.

Drawing with Basic Shapes

Silhouette drawn with fine pens on a watercolour background.

Often, at first glance, things will appear to be complicated and most beginning artists will not attempt to make a drawing of what they see.

If you start looking closely you will notice that almost everything is made up of basic shapes, such as circles, dots and lines. 

Drawing becomes much easier if you are able to recognise the shapes in simple as well as complex pictures.

The secret is to build onto the basic shapes in a step by step process.

Why is it easier to draw something when you first draw the shapes?

Because we can all draw basic shapes. See below for examples.

There are many more shapes in geometry as well as nature. Take an old magazine, choose a picture and see how many shapes you can identify. Deconstruct every picture and you will notice how easy it will be to draw that picture. Be aware that the basic shapes might be hidden. Also remember that you might need to change the basic shape slightly to draw the hidden shape, e.g a lopsided oval or triangle.

Be creative and explore basic shapes!

Draw like a child

 

 
 Follow this link  and see some of the work one of my students have done since May 2012.
 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexanders-Artwork/202912303130464?ref=hl

He would love to hear what you think of his work.  He is 10 years old.

Freehand abstract design using basic shapes

Texture

Lesson on texture.

What is texture?

Texture indicates whether an object is course, smooth, rough, crinkled etc. 

Rough

Crinkled

Smooth

Why do we need to draw texture?

• to highlight certain areas of the drawing
• avoid visual monotony
• create a greater degree of realism

Texture marks

Texture marks could include Hatching, Cross hatching and Double cross Hatching 

Another very effective way to make objects in drawings "come alive", (e.g. furniture) is is the technique called Frottage.

• Frottage is a specialist technique and is not restricted to pencil and paper.
• The term comes from the French verb "frotter" which means "to rub".
• This is how you do it:
• Place a piece of paper over a textured surface or an incised pattern. Thin paper works best.
• Then rub a soft pencil over the paper.

 Why would you use frottage:

• To create areas of patterns or textured drawing, e.g. patterns of woodgrain on a piece of timber in your drawing could make it look realistic. Effects will vary according to the types of paper and pencil you use.
• Preserve an engraving on an object, e.g. a brass bell or gravestone.
• Some textures will work well when drawing clothes on people or sofas.

Did you find this useful? Write a comment on this blog 

or e-mail me at info@theartworkshop.co.nz

Tone and Shade

Following on from the getting started lesson, the next step will be to draw a tone wheel.

Remember it is not necessary to use a different pencil every time you want a slightly different tone. Just increase or decrease the pressure of the pencil on the paper.

It is a good idea to draw a tone wheel for all the pencils you will use for drawing, but possibly not the H or 2H as they will not yield the same effect. The drawing below was made with a 2B pencil.

White appears to be coming forward in the picture and the dark (black) appears to recede.

A slight grey tone around the edges softens the image and it gives a rounded look.

A light grey tone or soft grey (in pencil drawing) is used for anything from the sky to skin tone. It is a very versatile tone.

Dark grey tones are used for dark shadows and possibly thunder clouds and often used in stead of black.

Black tone is very intense and not often used. Remember it is very difficult to erase black.

Artists use shading (tone) for various reasons:

• It softens the appearance of an image
• it makes an image look solid
• it adds variety

 Can you see the difference?

Both the left and right image started off being the same sized circles. The circle on the left was shaded in the same tone and remained a circle or dot.  The circle on the right was shaded using different tones in such a way that considers the direction of light, e.g shining from the right hand side. This action created an object that looks like a ball or sphere.

I found this link to be useful in learning more about tone. Click to follow.

Did you find this useful? Write a comment on this blog 

or e-mail me at info@theartworkshop.co.nz

Beyond the Fridge: Saving Your Kids Artwork

 A frequent problem for parents is what to do with all the artwork their kids produce.

We all love it, but let's face it: There just isn't enough room on the refrigerator. 

Here are some suggestions.

• Laminate art at a copy or print shop to use as place mats or bookmarks.
• Buy a blank craft calendar and add a piece of artwork each month to make a unique Christmas gift for a relative.
• Store the favorites in a portfolio your child makes using a pizza box that you let them decorate (your local pizza parlor may donate a new one to you).
• Scan your child's work into your computer to print out your own note cards. Don't forget to put the artist's name and title on the back of the card.
• Devise a rotating art gallery. Each relative interested in participating gets to have a piece of art for a month, then it rotates to the next recipient.
• Make a scrapbook page around the artwork.

Be creative! 

The most important thing is to let your child know you look forward to seeing them express themselves through art. 

Drawing - Getting started

Make sure you have all the equipment you need:

• Pencils, sharpener, Erasers, lots of paper, sketchbooks, visual diaries, ruler, stencil shapes like circle, triangle, coloured pencils, crayons, markers.
• Set yourself up in a comfortable position, e.g. at a table or desk with sufficient light.
• Take a deep breath or two and be inspired to create.
• Ready and start.

It is important to know what your equipment can do and how you can use it to draw.

A good starting point is to look at the different types of pencils.

• The hardest pencil makes the lightest lines and the softest pencil makes the darkest lines
• The darkest pencils draw the smoothest, but they smudge like crazy and is almost impossible to erase
• The lightest pencils draw without any give and are so hard that they make lines in the paper
• Pencil grade represents the darkness of the lead (graphite) and how soft it is
• B and HB is excellent for drawing and sketching
• HB is the most popular sketching pencil and widely used in schools as the only pencil

Below is a basic example of the spectrum of different pencils.

Try this exercise to see the effect for yourself.

• Fill each block with a different pencil, starting with 2H at the top and ending with 6B or 8B at the bottom. 
• Apply medium pressure with your pencil to the paper. 
• Now erase the blocks in the right hand column starting with the top block (2H pencil) and end with the 6B or 8B block. 
• Make sure you erase in a horizontal way ensuring you erase one block at a time. This way you will get maximum effect out of the exercise. 
• Make a note of which block erases the easiest and which looks the messiest. Remember this and use different pencils for different parts of your drawings.

Basic Spectrum of pencils on the left and what happens if you try to erase drawing

 

Information Sheet

Teaching children about art is a good idea

It's been proven that early exposure to visual art, music, or drama promotes activity in the brain.

·    Art helps children understand other subjects much more clearly—from math and science, to language arts and geography.

·    Art nurtures inventiveness as it engages children in a process that aids in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation.

·    Participating in art activities helps children to gain the tools necessary for understanding human experience, adapting to and respecting others' ways of working and thinking, developing creative problem-solving skills, and communicating thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways.

·    Teaching children about art is not just about showing them how to recognize a van Gogh or Picasso; it's about preparing young minds for a future of invaluable experiences, art related or otherwise. In our quest to gain knowledge on a subject we often buy books and hope that it will bring something magical to our experience. Books can make a difference, and create miracles, but only if you are committed to doing the work.

·     Art is a starting point that may take you into any field.  Creativity knows no bounds.

Why The Art Workshop?    

I am a graduate of The Learning Connexion, New Zealand’s biggest Art School, where I obtained a Diploma in Art & Creativity (Honours). Since 2008 I have participated in various group exhibitions in Tauranga, Wellington and Auckland as well as solo exhibitions in St Heliers Community Library in 2010 and The Depot Gallery Devonport in 2012. I was invited to exhibit at the NZ Art Show in Wellington in August 2012.  I have delivered Art Workshops to groups of children to explore some of “The Masters” as well as individual art lessons to develop creativity and Drawing Classes for children age 7 -12.

I believe that inherently everyone is creative. This creativity is unfortunately taken away from us by the development of inhibitions when we get to around 8 years old. At this age children start to question whether what they create artistically is “good enough”. I have a passion for nurturing and rekindling this creativity in children. My interest lies in creating something original (mostly painting) out of naturally occurring shapes and phenomena in nature. There is more to everything than just the exterior and that compels me to move away from painting popular or regular subjects.

I am fortunate enough to have rediscovered my creativity and I want to share this amazing experience with you and your child.

We start by making Connections through Drawing

Drawing is one of the most important activities students can do. Drawing not only provides the basis for other creative activities - like painting, sculpture and printmaking - but it also provides a direct link with reading, writing and especially mathematics. The connection between drawing and geometric shapes and measurements simply cannot be denied. And do you know what else? Drawing is the single most accessible form of art available. All you need is a pencil and a sheet of paper.

Drawing Classes every Saturday 2-4 pm

No materials needed, just bring your child

$30 per lesson, but remember first Lesson is FREE

(give it a go!)