How to Do Group Art With Kids

Never underestimate the power of drawing to give kids connections with one another. I love to take a big white board and lay it flat, and then divide it into sections and turn kids loose. Group projects often get everybody talking, and there's negotiation as to who is working on which section. Sometimes they talk about what they are drawing, sometimes they are just gossiping or free associating.

If kids are going to work together, you may need to set some ground rules such as outlawing marking on someone else's drawing. Also, you'll want to allow lots of space so battles for spots don't break out. I find this circular arrangement shown in the picture works well, because the kids can approach it from any side. And, some can stay longer while others do a drive-by and then come back later to add something else. The result is always fascinating, and I can look at these for a long time. It's also fun to hang on to them for a while and let the kids appreciate the whole thing too.

How to Create a Gazillion Characters

One of my favorite things to do with a new group of kids is to brainstorm a whole bunch of words and then use them to generate ideas. This week I taught a drawing camp at my son's school.
I don't know if you can see this too well, but what we did was to think of a whole bunch of nouns that were creatures of some kind - and wrote them on index cards. Then the kids would pick two cards, and draw the result. We got things like a mer-panda, a gangster cow, a monkey chicken, and lots of others. For some kids, this bloomed into a whole society of characters. For others, one quickly became a favorite. They got names, personalities, and even relationships.
Later on I took one of mine, "Gangster Cow," and turned him into a sort of bad guy who was going after another student's creation, "Laser Man."
Then as another twist, you can create another set of cards that has places or adjectives and mix them in. One good combination of cards is Adjective + Adjective + Noun. Another is Noun goes to Place. As you can see, there are a whole lot of combinations. And, kids can run the game themselves. I really enjoy watching the whole thing take on its own life.

Women Impressionists

This weekend I went to see the Women Impressionists Exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. It incorporates the work of four very different female Impressionist painters. I was struck by how distinct they were from one another, and by the absolutely impeccable drawing skills that were evident underneath and inside of every painting.

When we got up close to the first painting my daughter asked her usual question: "Mom, is that the ACTUAL thing?" To which I replied, "Yes, that's the real painting. Her hands actually put those brush strokes on there." To which she replied, "Woa." Or something like that.

Every time we go to an exhibit I am struck by how, in this day and age, it is so common to see media and copies of things and digital stuff that it's easy to "see" something in some media form without ever getting the chance to appreciate it as an object, as the work of someone's hands.

There is a wonderful book called "What Painting Is" by James Elkins. It is all about the physical act of making a painting - what happens to the canvas, how the paints are mixed, how paintings are taken apart and put in different frames and moved around. It makes you wish you could see the backs of all those paintings hanging in the museum. What stories are hidden there!

Cool Video Drawing Demonstration

Okay, while I firmly believe that there is no substitute for studying real-life objects to learn to draw them, especially people and hands, I also think there's no substitute for watching someone work. So, here's a nice video on a particular way of drawing hands - one of those elements that drive people crazy.

Ever have one of those days...

Off the Ground, originally uploaded by betsystreeter.

... when you just feel like you can't get off the ground? That's what this piece is about.

Never underestimate the power of art, music, writing to let out complicated feelings. Sometimes keeping a journal works, sometimes it's just a matter of having a pencil and paper handy. But I find that with me, and with my kids too, getting stuff out in visual form really helps you both calm down and understand your feelings.

Neat Online Drawing Thingy

http://www.imaginationcubed.com/

I don't know why this is there, or what GE has to do with it, but there it is. And it's pretty fun. If you feel like just drawing something quick, it's great. Shoot, if you had an idea and wanted to shoot a friend a sketch of what you're thinking, you could use this to do it. Hover over Tools to get a stamper or text thing or to change the background.

Cool!

Intentions for This Summer

This summer will be exciting, since I'm teaching in one-, two-, and three-hour formats. I'm doing a weeklong cartooning camp, a series of long workshops, and a bunch of short workshops. All at different venues with different kids.

My plan for the summer has a few simple elements:
1. Have a theme for each week and use it at all my classes, regardless of format. This way I can put together materials and use them multiple times. My themes are going to include superheroes and sidekicks, fairytales and monsters, lost in space, the zoo, and surf and skate. Each theme offers cool ideas like movie posters, or designing a skateboard.
2. Follow the same basic pattern for the classes, just make it longer or shorter. First, I like to goof around and play some games. Then we talk about the theme/project. Then, we brainstorm together (this is often the funnest part, kids yelling out crazy ideas and me writing them down). Then, we do a project together, and then I set them loose on their own stuff.
3. Then, I always have some random inspirations and projects in my back pocket - a cool art or animation book, or a paper-folding idea. Often the kids have their own suggestions like fortune tellers or checkerboards.

I'm looking forward to posting artwork and lessons learned as all this stuff unravels (I mean, unfolds!) - and hopefully you'll find lots of project ideas too as we go.

A Confession.

Okay, I'll admit something - very often, most of the time actually, I haven't got the slightest idea what's going to happen in my classes.

Oh, I go in there with an intention, a theme, even a project - but it's hanging out with the kids and seeing what's on their minds that really makes things go.

For example: The other day, I brought in a book on Disney animation because we had been trying to remember what Tinkerbell's hair looked like. But as soon as I got there, one of the kids pulled out his binder which had a picture of a bunny character on it that he called "Happy Bunny." So, we drew Happy Bunny for the rest of the hour. We colored him. We put outfits on him. I didn't even know the bunny existed before that.

I find teaching art is as much about being willing to receive ideas as being ready to give them. Because artistic expression is about getting heard and understood. So, I do a lot of hearing and understanding, and then I offer ways to get stuff down on paper. Or cut out. Or glued. Or whatever.

So, the most important thing I take with me to any drawing class isn't materials or a lesson plan, it's readiness to hear about what's interesting, and then turn that into ideas for projects. It might be a movie that just came out, or a picture on someone's binder, or even a t-shirt someone wore to school that day or a book they brought. But the result is something totally unique and spontaneous. So I guess I don't really teach creative material as much as creative thinking. Even though I show up with a project that we're not going to do.

Graphic Novel - The Coin is Stolen!

Coin Gets Stolen, originally uploaded by betsystreeter.

In this page, our main character (whose name, incidentally, is Helen) is trapped when her coin is stolen from her by an unknown entity.

It's fun to put this stuff up one page at a time, because I can show what it looks like without giving away the plot.

The arched doorway gives way to a dark space filled with arches, which seems to grow in complexity as the story unfolds.

Graphic Novel Page - the Map

Self-Drawing Map, originally uploaded by betsystreeter.

In this page, the main character is shown to the Map Room by the Librarian, only to find that the maps appear to be blank... that is, until the Librarian shows her that the maps draw themselves.

I'm drawing each page as a mini-story, and not in order - so the whole book will take shape a piece at a time. It's fun this way because each page has to hang together on its own and I have to really think about how I explain the action a piece at a time.

Here's a Summary of Brenda Ueland's Book!

Garr Reynolds did a very nice summary of "If You Want to Write" on his blog - so here it is, if you want to get the salient parts of Brenda Ueland's book in just a coupla minutes. I'd still recommend getting a copy and stashing it somewhere - as a creative artifact of sorts. Having books in your life changes things. But in the meantime, have at it!

Book summary on Presentation Zen

Enjoy!

Bonus: Check out the link "How to be Creative" at the bottom of the page. Also useful!

If You Want to Write (or Draw or Sing or...)

I just finished this book by Brenda Ueland. She was a prolific writer and a teacher - and this book, though written way back in 1938, is often cited as the best book on creativity and the artistic spirit that you can read. I think this book can be life-changing. If you are either pondering your own creative path or are someone who inspires and teaches others, this book is a very important one. There are many books out there about creativity, including some that I will highlight here, but at the core many of them are re-stating what's in this book. This is one you want to stash in your nightstand.