Barrels of Fun

Today we talked about overlapping, size, and contour. We discussed how to make an illustration more interesting by adding overlapping objects instead of drawing them side by side.

Next we took this drawing from a Disney artist and recreated it. Again we talked about overlapping, contour, and adding folds to create more 3D looking drawings. I think they did pretty well!

5 IMPORTANT LESSONS

A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX :

 1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK.

2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE.

3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU.

4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENINGS,
    WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER.

5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF
    TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU.

We all need to be constantly sharpened. This parable may encourage you to know that you are a special person, with unique God-given talents and abilities.  Only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot be changed and, like the pencil, always remember that the most important part of who you are, is what's inside of you. 

A new session, a new group of Club House Artists

We had a new group of Club House Artists join the club. Another talented group! They learned how to draw a cube and learned the following "tool box" words: foreshortened square, horizon line, shading, shadows, and contour. Lots to take in on the first day but as you can see they did great!

Jellyfish World

Today we talked about size. I had the Club House Artists put their hand on their face. I asked them if they could see much in the room with their hands covering their face. They said no. We then pulled our hands away from our faces and watched how our hands got smaller. This helped them understand how objects appear smaller the farther they are away from us.

We also talked about overlapping. One object in front of another. Both of these tool box words are important in drawing in 3D.

Next we have Marshmellow. He was trying to multitask. Painting the ceiling at the same time as the floor, but he got carried away and started to lose his balance.

Circus Peanut

The Club House Artists pretended they were at the circus watching the amazing elephants do tricks. We talked about overlapping and adding wrinkles to help make our drawings look more 3D.

Summer Camp: Castles

The Club House Artists rose to the challenge. Castles was the theme and the Club House Artists mastered it and were knighted by the Queen pencil. This was another three day drawing that the Club House Artists worked diligently on to complete. It was really complicated with all the walls and angles. They learned that they have to be good architects when drawing buildings as well as good artists.

Sorry for the darkness of these drawings. I wanted to make sure you could see all the details.
Did you think a 5 yr old could draw something like this?

These Club House Artists ROCK!

The Queen Bean

Today a new Club House Artist joined our little group. She did really well for her first time and first drawing. We started out with a cube and turned it into a simple box throne for the Queen Bean. She's ordering her artist subjects to draw a more comfortable throne, perhaps one with a cushion and lower arm rests. . .

The Manor

The Club House Artists haven't drawn too many houses or buildings in the Wednesday class so we decided to draw the same manor that the summer camp artists drew. We talked about how you can easily build houses by thinking just like a construction worker. One block at a time, then building on to each object, and finally adding the details to make it a house/castle/or a whatever.

Summer Camps: Wacky Neighborhoods

What a delightful group of Club House Artists. It was nearly impossible to get this group to stop drawing at the end of class. They even drew through their break! The theme was wacky neighborhoods which indeed turned into a "Where's Waldo" super drawing page. Keep in mind the sheets of paper are poster size and not regular letter size. Spend some time and enjoy all the great details the artists drew in their wacky mountain neighborhoods. (Click on the images to see all the great detail!)

The following are details.

I'm lovin' the awesome skyscraper that was giving to my art classes. Cool!

Monkey Business

The Club House Artists were craving icecream. Craving it so much that they wanted to draw ice cream. So I went to the freezer, scooped the last scoop of ice cream and placed it in a tall glass. I had them draw the ice cream and then when they weren't looking I gave it away. Next week after reading this post they're going to come to class with angry looks on their faces. It was only fair, but their drawings of their ice cream sundae's look good enough to eat!

Then we had some fun playing with a jack-in-the-box som to sock monkey toy. I wanted to test them to see if they could copy a still life using the tool box words and skills they've learned so far.

Howdy Cowboy!

In honor of Toy Story 3, the Club House Artists tried their hand at drawing toys. They find it difficult drawing faces, but I like the character they put into their version of Woody, which we're calling, Woody's cousin and our own aliens. Enjoy!

SUMMER CAMP -- Space Stations

The Club House Artists explored space for their three day, 3D art camp. We have everything from pencil rockets to little green aliens. We had a fun time creating our space worlds. The Club House Artists learned how to plan a drawing, divide it into smaller sections, and even divide each object into smaller building blocks. I recall the looks on the eyes of some of the Club House Artists when I told them the plan for the three days. After the first day one artist exclaimed that it was much easier than he thought. He agreed that breaking down each object into simple shapes is the best plan for a successful drawing. They now realize they can draw anything in 3D using a basic cube, cylinder, spheres, and cones as building blocks. (click on the image to see details.)