April Fool’s Eye Glasses

These glasses are pretty much guaranteed to create lots of giggles. Just be sure that children don't try to do much more than pose in them.
1. Follow this link (eyeglass template) to download a template I've posted for the glass frames. Print out copies on the heaviest paper stock available. Give each student a set and have them cut out all 3 pieces, including the inside of the frames. Tape sides to the front. The students decorate the frame with colored pencils or markers.
2. I found some stock photo images of eyes, and made lots of color copies for the students to pick from. Another option is to have realistic drawings of different eye shapes, and let the students choose and color their favorite. Or they could draw their own. Either way, the eyes and skin need to be colored, and then cut out and glued behind the eyeglass openings.

UPDATE: Thanks to my discovery of Scribd.com, I have posted a pdf of the eye photos I used HERE. If you don’t have a color printer, laser prints that are hand colored might work well too.

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Mission Drawing on Popsicle Sticks

I just found that one of my favorite discoveries, dry wax paper, also works with colored pencils. This means that white pencil crayon is now a color option, which is vital for an authentic looking mission drawing. This particular facade is always popular with my 4th graders, so I’ve made a worksheet (download HERE) to help students recreate their own.

1. Students get 9 jumbo popsicle sticks and glue together a board as shown. It is set aside to dry.

2. Students each use their worksheet to draw a mission in pencil.

3. A 6" square of dry wax paper is taped over the top of their drawing, and is traced with a thin, permanent marker.

4. The drawing is colored in with colored pencils. The white in particular needs to be colored heavily so that it has some impact when complete.

5. The drawing is cut out close to the box line. A mixture of 50/50 white glue and water is made and is generously spread all over the popsicle front and drawing back. The drawing is placed face up on the board, spread with more glue mixture, and smoothed with fingers to prevent air bubbles. Let dry and spray with glossy finish, if desired.

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Lollipop Warmup Drawing

My after school drawing class needed a new warm up exercise. A chance crossing with a candy store brought me this week’s solution – lollipops. I handed out the pops and the kids lightly traced the circle and then drew their own stick. The drawings were then traced over with a black marker and filled in with colored pencils. Older students were shown how to add shadow to the stick by just shading half of it gray. And of course, they got to eat the lollipops when they were done. Now my biggest problem is finding something just as tasty for next week...

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Van Gogh Starry Night

I like having students make their own simplified version of famous paintings, which can encourage their appreciation of the original.

1. View Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, and discuss the composition; the foreground tree, the middle ground hills, and the background stars.
2. On a 12" x 9" turquoise paper, have the students draw their own simple tree or bush, just to the left of the center. Behind the tree are several simple hills. In the sky are at least 3 small circular stars. The students are to make the stars and hills "grow" with a series of larger circles and curves. Encourage them to make just a few of each with lots of space in between.
3. The pencil lines are traced with a thin black marker.
4. Lastly, good colored pencils are used to color all the shapes in.

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Valentine LOVE Card

I’ve noticed that a lot of students are interested in drawing block letters. This project ties to a contemporary pop artist, and makes a nice Valentine card too.

Robert Indiana made a famous sculpture in the sixties that came to...

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“Cool Hands, Warm Heart”

This idea comes from Monica in Portland, Oregon who added a wonderful twist (the center heart) to my “Warm Hands” template. Monica works with patients at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and wrote “it’s a beautiful project to do – for obvious reasons – but also because ANYONE can do it no matter how young or old, sick or healthy.” I love it and all the Valentine possibilities. You can find more of Monica’s ideas at www.thecraftjunkieblog.com.

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Free Draw a Winter Town Download

This time of year it’s easy to add a little winter flair to architecture drawing. I love vintage features found on old buildings, so I’ve made a pdf file that has samples, along with a grid template that encourages students to draw straight lines. You can preview and download my free pdf file HERE.

1. Print on letter size paper. Students may refer to the sample page for ideas and then draw their own cityscape on the grid paper.
2. When the drawing is complete, all lines are traced over with a thin black marker.
3. Crayon or colored pencil may be used to color. Happy Holidays to all!

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How to Draw Rudolf the Reindeer

Here’s a follow-up to my Santa drawing from a few days ago. I used a grocery bag again and made this drawing that was inspired by some clip art I saw.

1. Follow the instructions on the Santa posting to draw your stamp border on a 6" square. Score by folding or use a ruler to draw the center guide lines.

2. Draw the back of the head as shown.

3. Add the front of the head, with the nose just touching the border.

4. Draw the ears and antlers.

5. Add the eye and the points on the antlers.

6. Erase all connecting lines, trace over with a thin black marker, and color with crayons or colored pencils.

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How To Draw a Santa Stamp

I had really good results with this Santa drawing today. Any colored paper works, but my favorite is just a swatch of a brown grocery bag for that earthy, recycled look.

1. With a 6" square of brown...

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Nutcracker: Colored Pencil on Black Paper

Here is a sample of my Nutcracker project using metallic marker and colored pencils on black construction paper. I used black construction paper from Michael’s (it’s very black) and Prang Metallic markers (about $1 each from Staples) and Dick Blick Student grade colored pencils. A bit more expensive than your average supplies, but the results are amazing.

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Contour Fall Leaves

Contour drawings are made with just lines, which also add a bit of visual energy to this picture.

1. I started by making a sheet of line drawings of different leaf shapes, which you can access here. Give the students one print of these leaves, and one matching-size blank paper. Have the students trace several leaves on their paper (if they can see through their paper) or use carbon paper to transfer the lines.
2. Once the blank paper has been filled up with about 3 leaf shapes, they are to be traced with black marker and colored in with colored pencil.
3. Lastly, each leaf is traced around with a colored pencil, following the edges of the original, and expanding as they proceed. As the shapes grow, they will eventually bump into the other leaf shapes and the students will have to decide which ones are in front and which are in back.

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Black Cat with Glowing Eyes

These glowing cat eyes are made from blending a few layers of pencil crayons. White on the bottom, then yellow, and for those interested in more detail, a bit of brown. Please note though, that the average pencil crayon and black construction paper won’t deliver these results. You need crisp black art paper and soft pencil crayons, such as the Prismacolor or Dick Blick brand to get the rich color against a very black background.

1. I gave the students a 7" square of black art paper, and had them follow my drawing steps, as shown above.
2. When complete, they traced all their lines with a white pencil crayon.
3. The students added a heavy layer of white pencil crayon around the pupils, and then added a golden yellow on top. Older students were shown how to add a bit of brown near the top edge to create a bit of a shadow.

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Halloween Drawing

I love the layering technique behind this drawing, which I learned from a colored pencil tutorial. Please note that not just any colored pencil will do this, just ones like these from Dick Blick. The average school-quality brand are just not soft enough to blend together.
1. Last Halloween, I found some colorful clip art images for the students to use as inspiration. Trees with wiggly branches, crow silhouettes and and funny monsters can all be drawn in different configurations to make a very interesting picture. I asked the students to sketch out their own designs in pencil on black paper. Note: It pays to buy some serious black paper from an art store, the average black construction paper is too soft and fades like crazy.
2. After the design is done in pencil, they are to pick the large shapes in the foreground, and color them all in with white pencil crayon. Press hard to make the white very bright.
3. When complete, the foreground shapes get their final color on top of the white. Firm coloring is needed again to cover all the white.
4. The background is colored in with just one layer of pencil crayon, which makes it a little dull and thus visually recede. Encourage the students to keep some shapes black, which adds a lot of contrast and interest to the picture.

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Contour Tree Drawing

I’m stilling enjoying the artwork of Friedensrich Hundertwasser, who inspired this contour drawing of a tree trunk.

1. I used a square paper and drew the outline of a tree trunk with a few finger-looking shapes pointing down. After adding a few vertical lines for definition, I made a series of curved, or “jumping” lines going across and filling up the trunk.
2. I drew a curvy horizonal line, and then filled in the ground below with more horizontal wavy lines that jumped across the tree roots.
3. Lastly the sky got a few wavy lines also. When the pencil drawing was complete, I traced all the lines with a thin black marker.
4. I chose a main pencil color for the trunk, ground and sky. After filling in those areas with medium pressure, I went back and filled in some random lines with darker and lighter versions of each color.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade Three
2.3 Paint or draw a landscape, seascape, or cityscape that shows the illusion of space.

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Back To School Portraits

I'd been looking for a different approach to self-portraits for a back-to-school project. I wanted something that would ask the students to see themselves in a new way, and create a colorful display that I knew the teachers would appreciate for their classrooms. Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser has an amazing life story, along with a very appealing style of abstract drawing. Click here to read more about him.

1. Start with a 9" x 12" paper, and trace the width of a ruler around the outside edges in pencil. Add another line about 1/4" away to make a narrow inner border.
2. Draw a very large circle that almost touches the top border and does touch the left and right. Wobbly circles are welcome! Shoulders may be straight or angled. Eyes are drawn by starting with a center dot, and then the football shapes that extend and touch the outside edge. Hair must be simple, simple, simple, using as few lines as possible. Names are drawn in block letters in the bottom border.
3. When the drawing is done, all lines are traced with a thin black marker.
4. Everything is colored in heavily with some good colored pencils. This sample is down Prismacolors.

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How to Draw A Maple Leaf

I love all things relating to the fall season, especially the wonderful shape and color of the classic fall maple leaf. It’s shape can look a bit complex until you break it down into steps. I made my leaf with grocery bag paper to give it a natural look and feel. Another lovely way to recycle.

1. Give each student approximately half of the seamless side of an average grocery bag to make a piece that measures about 7" x 11". Using rulers, they are to center an 8" vertical line.
2. Measure 4" from either end to find the center, and make a dot from which two “stems” are added at approximately 45 degree angles.
3. Small scallops are drawn at the tip of each line. They should all be the same size.
4. The 2 large“J” shapes connect the scallops. This shape should extend about half way down to the center point.
5. Two more “J” shapes are added with the ends of both just about level with the center point.
6. Gentle curved lines connect the outer points to the center point.
7. Add a second line to widen the stem so that it can be colored in. Small vein lines can be added, all to be traced heavily in pencil. Use colored pencils to fill in the leaf. Layer lots of fall colors and press hard to make a rich looking leaf.

8. Cut out carefully and display as desired.

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Classroom Colored Pencil Labels

This is just a simple way to make a name label for a student, and could be used many different ways. I find that students tend to use their crayons and colored pencils most often with just one value. Most are just not in the habit of shading with them. These pencils are all made with just one color, using more pressure to make the darker values.

1. I cut tabloid paper into 3 equal sections, roughly 3.5" x 17", one would be given to each student. I drew a vertical line 4" in from the right side for the end of the pencil. A triangle is drawn inside that to make the point of the pencil. Three equally spaced lines are drawn across the length of the pencil. Names are written neatly inside the middle section, and all the lines are traced with a thin black marker.
2. The students are to choose one crayon or colored pencil, and color with the lightest pressure on the top panel, medium on the middle, and heavy on the bottom. The wood can also be shaded with pressure to match the rest. Cut out to make a fun display or leave in panels to label something.

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City Block One-Point Perspective Drawing

One of the CA Arts Standards for 5th graders is one-point perspective drawing. To be honest, I’ve struggled with covering this concept in the past with just one 50-minute class. After discussing what it means to have a “vanishing point” in their drawing, I once had students make their own guidelines to follow, only to have much of the class not get past this point. And I once tried pre-printed guides, only to find they get confusing and end up being too much information that can’t be erased. This year I’m going to try starting with this series of squares, which you can download here. I think it will give students the angles they can see to follow their own vanishing point, without overwhelming them with too many lines.

1. Just the fronts of their buildings are drawn in each square, leaving room for the rest of the building.
2. A vanishing point can be inside a picture or outside, which is true for this guide. The students should visually follow where all the angled lines on their guide would intersect off the paper so they can picture where their vanishing point is. The sides of each building are drawn, making sure that they all point to this imagined vanishing point. The sides of the city blocks will help guide them.
3. The ends of the buildings are connected to finish the buildings. It’s best, of course, to start with just simple cube-shaped buildings before more complex ones are taken on. Some blocks may just have trees, if desired.
4. All of the drawing is traced with an ultra fine point marker, and colored in with pencil crayons.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Five
2.1 Use one-point perspective to create the illusion of space.

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Andy Warhol Soup Cans

Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Can painting has come to symbolize the pop art movement.

WEEK 1: Give the students a 9" x 12" sheet of paper, along with a 5" wide oval template that is the shape of the top of a can (in perspective). Show them how to trace one oval at near the top of the paper, slide the oval down about 7" and trace again. Connect the outside edges, erase the curve that will not show, and add the same curve to the middle of the can. After this, it is helpful for them to look at a Campbell's label to add details in their own style. I encouraged students to make up their own “flavor” and to cover all their pencil lines with a thin black marker.
WEEK 2: Prep work is needed here. Each student’s art needs to be xeroxed down 50%, and then duplicated 4 times. The students will then take all 4 copies of their original art, paste them down in a grid, and colored them in with colored pencils.

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Patterned Hands

My experience in graphic arts enables me make up my own templates for new art projects. In this case I added a diagonal line to my graph, but alternating squares will work fine too.
1. Give each student a square paper that has the (lightly) printed 5/8" grid, with a diagonal line slicing through each box. Have them trace their hand in the middle of the paper, in pencil.
2. The students are to pick just two pencil crayons for their picture. In the example shown, the student chose pink and blue. She colored everything inside the hand pink, but changed the coloring density on the top and bottom triangles to make one light and one dark. If you have the students start by making just one two-tone box, and then repeat that pattern to the edge of the hand, it may be the best way for them to understand the pattern they are to make.
3. After the hand is filled in, the student should take the remaining pencil and fill in the background, following the pattern they began on the inside. For instance, if the bottom left corner is the darkest in the hand, the bottom left corner should also be the darkest outside the hand. Proceed until the paper is filled in. Note: This may take a couple of classes to finish but I think it's worth it.

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