"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures." -Henry Ward Beecher

This September was the first year anniversary for The Drawing Board Art Instruction and for the "Young @ Art" newsletter. I want to thank all of my students and parents for their support this first year. I look forward to more fun classes and great student art shows this year and next.

The Fall "Young @ Art" classes through Eastside Enrichment are off to a great start. The students have been learning about color and shading. We will be working on still lives and drawings of mammal skulls over the next couple weeks. I am anticipating that these will be some of the drawings in the next student art show, which I'm hoping to have in December.

Enjoy the activities listed in this newsletter with your child. Send me photos of the finished product. I will gladly display them on the website! Have a great Halloween!

- L. Crystal Rea

Use a Sketch Book!

Drawing is one of those skills that can always be improved upon. And, for the beginner or young artist, practice (a lot of practice!) is important. One of the best ways to practice drawing is to keep a sketchbook, and draw in it often. Sketchbooks are an important tool for new and young artists for many reasons:

As a sketchbook gets filled up the artist feels a sense of accomplishment
A sketchbook will show a progression of improvement in drawing skills
A sketchbook keeps all the artwork in one place
Sketchbooks are easy to transport (especially ones that are spiral-bound or staple-bound so the pages don't fall out)
Artists become personally attached to them, like a diary or journal
Using a sketchbook helps establish a good habit of drawing often

The practice of drawing in a sketchbook sounds like a good idea, like writing in a journal, but it can be challenging to remember and to make it a daily activity. Like any routine, once you've got it established, it's not as difficult to remember. As a parent, you may be able to help your child turn drawing or sketching into a habit by incorporating it into your bedtime or morning routine.

For younger children, ask them to draw pictures about the books you read to them at night.

For older children, have them draw/sketch objects or toys in their room. They could draw the same doll with a different outfit on each day.

For teens, have them draw/sketch objects around the house or set up still lives for them. They also may enjoy drawing the clothing in their wardrobes and making sketches of new fashion ideas.

Sketch Book Activities

Fall Trees Daily Sketches Draw the same trees everyday, every-other day, or once a week. Each drawing will change as the colors of the leaves change and fall off. Try to include the leaves that have fallen on the ground in your sketches. If you do this daily in a small sketch book, you can create a "Flip book" out of it.

Fruit Sketches Does your family keep a fruit bowl? You can use it as a still life or draw the pieces of fruit one at a time before you eat them! This is a great morning activity!

Just Plain Doodling! Keep your sketchbook by your phone and doodle while you talk! Doodle while you listen to music! Doodle while riding the bus!

Shared Family Sketch Books Your family members can use the same sketch book and doodle/draw on the same pages while adding to each others' drawings. You can leave messages for each other while making it fun and creative too!

Sketch Books for Everyone!
Sketchbooks come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Some are fancy and some are plain. Click on the link below to go to an assortment of sketchbooks available for purchase. Shop for sketchbooks!

Fall Art Activities

Leaf Rubbing Watercolor Paintings In this project you are combining the classic leaf rubbing project with the crayon/ watercolor resist technique.

Halloween Costume Sketches Are you making your Halloween Costume this year? If so, try creating a drawing of what you want the costume to look like when you are finished. Then. after you make the costume, have someone take a picture of you wearing it, and create another drawing based on the photo. How close was your original design drawing to how it ended up looking?

Neighborhood map of "Trick-Or-Treating" Routes Draw a map of your neighborhood. Include all of your friends and neighbors that you know. Decide on a good route for Halloween night. Who will have the best candy? Who will be in costume? Include any Halloween decorations you've seen in the neighborhood in your drawing. Make color copies of your map and pass them out to your friends and neighbors.

To see last year's list of Fall Art Activities check out our past issues below...

Past issues of "Young @ Art"