Elmer's 3D Washable Paint Pens follow up doodle tests

Since I found some discounted Elmer's 3D Washable Paint Pen sets like the ones my nieces enjoyed during their weekend art camp, I decided to try them myself just for fun. Using the glue pens feels probably like what decorating cakes must feel like, one has to squeeze the pen tubes and adjust the height from the pen tip to the paper to regulate the thickness and direction of the pigmented glue strokes.
The baby peacock was drawn on a sheet of Georgia Pacific card stock which turned out to be a rather weak support for the glue paints after quickly absorbing the moisture and warping under the weight of the thick layer of glue.
Doodling with these sparkling glue 3D pens was a bit smoother on the sturdier Nujabi watercolor paper which did not warp as much as the white card stock sheet. Form past experience, I expect it will take a few days for the glue paints to dry completely and solidify their textured surfaces.

Watercolor pocket box set recommendation for kids

With the excitement of having found an elusive Bijou box at the Tampa Pearl store, I neglected to also blog about the Winsor & Newton Cotman Field Studio that they had discounted down to $13 (which is about the lowest going price for the included Cotman Sketcher's Pocket box alone after Googling it a bit). They had quite a few boxed sets left in their watercolor aisle, so you might want to stop by that Pearl store if you happen to travel through Tampa.This Field Studio packs a lot of value with its other components: a large cotton towel, water bottle, 7"X10" Cotman pad with 10 sheets, instructional booklets, and 3 Cotman watercolor brushes that fit quite nicely within their weather-resistant black messenger bag. The Sketcher's Pocket box with its 12 Cotman watercolor half pans and collapsible brush was the very first Winsor & Newton watercolor box model that I ever bought while in college. It quickly proved to be quite portable and convenient for sketching on-the-go. I gave that original box to one of my nieces long ago during a trip to the West Coast and then switched to using mostly artists' grade watercolors. The value-priced student grade Cotman watercolors though are ideally suited for young budding artists since they are non-toxic and outperform generic children paint sets that are mostly fillers and contain less pigment. For a really compact watercolor kit: try bundling the Sketcher's Pocket box, a pad of blank watercolor postcards, and a nice waterbrush.

Drawing inspiration from a trip to "Butterfly World"

After a recent family outing to Buttterfly World, these winged critters seem to be popping up more frequently in my random doodles.

Waterproof coloring outline with palette of Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayon swatches for compact art activity on a single sheet of card stock.
All that is needed to activate the colors is a waterbrush or a regular watercolor brush with a separate water source.
Coloring outline drawn on a Handbook journal with a Kuretake No. 13 brush pen loaded with waterproof Platinum black ink cartridge.
Pencil sketch on white card stock.

Review of the Barnes & Noble Wacky Birds Colored Pencil Block in Acetate Box Set of 13

On a recent trip to a Barnes & Noble bookstore, I found this neat set of colored pencils.
Their original block pencil set presentation resembles a pencil "sandwich" before it is cut into individual pencils, so it could easily be used as a visual aid when explaining to kids how pencils are made.
Despite their natural interest in coloring and drawing activities, younger kids might grow bored with the limitations of the same old materials (mostly crayons) available to them for their artistic pursuits. To keep them motivated, it is a good idea to introduce new drawing and coloring tools from time to time.

Both of my pre-school age nieces enjoyed folding and rolling the flexible pencil block set while the 12 colored pencils were still attached to each other. The oldest one quickly pointed out that this colored pencil set was"clearly" designed for kids and shrewdly talked me into letting her take them home after promising that she would share them with her little sister.
The rectangular profile of each pencil is rather unique and comfortable enough for doodling with the added advantage that they won't roll off an inclined drawing surface.
The pencils can be easily sharpened with standard sharpeners.
Freshly sharpened set. Top side of the pencil block features the picture of whimsical birds while the bottom and sides are painted white.Since each colored pencil is decorated only one one side, they can also function as an easily solvable puzzle by memorizing the color sequence of the set.
For an inexpensive gift set, these Wacky Birds Colored Pencils laid down fairly bright colors on the white card stock. After completing this color chart, I used a few colors on the apple sketch as an example for Nicole that she could use more than the red pencil to render the apple surface. Thus, she promptly sketched the falling apple with the red, orange, green, and purple pencils underneath and even saved some white to convey its reflective surface. These 13 pencils make for a nice portable sketching gift set.

Iron Man crayons mini review

Found this set of 12 oversize Iron Man crayons in the dollar rack by the entrance of a Target store in Raleigh, NC. Thought my young nephew Mateo might be able to enjoy them since I noticed he tended to break the thinner Nordstrom crayons with his mighty grip.
These crayons might be thick enough to resist breakage even in the hands of a rambunctious toddler, but they are awfully low in pigment load yielding rather pale sample color swatches. For a buck, they are not a bad deal as a pacifier or short-term distraction. Yet they are unlikely to foster a child's creativity given their poor performance and rather dull color marks.

Sketching lesson pages - Practice sheets

A few sketching lesson sheets drawn in a plane on my way to Raleigh, NC.Doodling "horned" monsters.
Using fish part symbols to create fantasy aquatic creatures.
Sketches inspired by traditional Japanese monster symbols.
The ever popular fire flame sketching symbols.
A couple of lightning symbols.
Some of my sketching symbols for portraying water in motion.
Feel free to print these practice lesson sheets if you need a couple of pointers or basic guidelines to get your daily doodle practice started. I would really appreciate any comments or feedback on their usefulness you might glean in the process.

Suggested reference materials for boys

Quick tip for my local readers and past students, I spotted a few copies of "Let's Draw Manga Transforming Robots by Yasuhiro Nitta - PLEX" marked down to $3.99 at the Borders on US 41 in North Naples. Not a bad deal for budding artists that could use a couple of pointers on sketching and building their own robots in the tradition of Gundam and Power Rangers Zords.
Shonen Jump magazine is also an inexpensive source of inspiration that showcases multiple manga story lines designed for boys by different artists. This anthology format is reminiscent of the common Japanese model of manga distribution and provides a good sampling of popular manga stories. This magazine's larger format allows an easier appreciation of the panel drawings that are typically shrunk in the manga collection digests.
Tip for Parents: Remember to check your local library video and manga collections for further free inspiration for your kids, but be careful in selecting appropriate titles for the different age groups. There is a lot of manga out there, and each title was created with a specific target demographic in mind. Thus it falls to you to choose suitable anime movies and manga series according to the maturity level and interests of your kids.

Artscool Manga Cartooning at The von Liebig Art Center - Photo Journal of day 5

Judging by these two portraits of yours truly drawn by students, it dawned on me that my cartooning classes in their current format might be a better fit with younger students (5-10 years old). The sample above was drawn by one of my Middle School students at the Boys & Girls Club, and the colorful marker sketch below was done by one of my younger Artscool students at The von Liebig Art Center.

Our last mini art contest on character design was used to foster students' creativity and decide who got to request a custom drawing first. The guidelines were either draw a "Chinese warrior girl" or draw "a character of the opposite gender" (meaning girls could draw boy or girl characters, but boys could only draw girl characters - a sly way to encourage them to try drawing a couple of girls instead of their preferred monsters, robots, and warriors)
To encourage a student's imagination I drew this werewolf kaiju (Japanese Giant Monster) on the left side of the page and asked him to complete the other half. He came up with his version of a fire-breathing hydra dragon discussed on a previous lesson.
Sakura Pigma Sensei pigment liner sketch.

A couple of the cartoon portraits drawn for the students.
Big thanks to our enthusiastic team of volunteers thanks to whom Artscool classes ran so smoothly. Their support was invaluable in providing personalized attention to all the students. They also graciously served as judges for our impromptu mini art contests.





A few more samples of the art works produced by a gifted volunteer and the dedicated students.
During the students' snack break, I managed to give a quick private tour of the Kathy Spalding exhibit at the Watson Gallery for my cousin and nieces.
If you are in Naples between July 25th and September 12th, I would highly recommend checking out the Kathy Spalding: the Rookery Bay Continuum exhibition which showcases for the first time to the public the original 120-foot watercolor and several life size bronzes of Florida Wildlife and natural environments. You will be amazed by the amount of fine detail this talented artist accomplishes in both mediums. This is quite an inspiring display that lends itself well for a quick sketchcrawl.