Panda Sketching at Guadalupe Center's Summer Enrichment Program

Marti Koehler asked me to teach a few summer art classes at the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee, so I adjusted my Elementary school Panda Sketching lesson for shorter sessions for younger students.
I was very impressed with the discipline and artistic skill displayed by the 3-5 year old artists. No wonder there is a huge waiting list for this pre-K center.
My sincere thanks to the dedicated teachers and staff for their support with class management and distribution and collection of art supplies last week. Your help was essential for the smooth work flow and efficient resetting of the Performance Arts classroom during the consecutive 30 minute sessions for each student group.
On my last day at the center the regular art room was occupied, so I had the opportunity to visit three of the students' classrooms for their respective art sessions.
The younger kids were told to color and draw on the panda card stock template directly with the Crayola Super Tip markers.
The older students were instructed to first trace the panda template to exercise their eye-hand coordination and then to customize the image to their liking by adding their own background elements.



Budding artists with their finished projects.


Once the students completed their projects, they got a Nakamura paper airplane for their next playtime period.
Also managed to speed sketch a personalized cartoon portrait for most of the students that attended one of the 11 sessions I taught at the center. The positive experience reminded me of how rewarding early childhood education programs can be and to consider them as a possible avenue or component of my future teaching plans.

Summer Art Camp Photo Gallery: Students with their Cartoon Portraits

Once the short introductory lecture and drawing demonstration have been completed and the students are engrossed in their respective drawing/coloring activity sheets in all my Art Camps this summer, I have taken to draw as many cartoon portraits as the remaining class time allows. Given my usual sketching speed, that means that most of the students and even a few class attendants have gotten at least one custom drawing to take home as a souvenir in addition to their completed projects.
Any students missing their cartoon portraits will be the first to get drawn on my last day at their summer art camp next week. We'll be working under the African theme, so we'll draw some lions and probably some other inhabitant of the savanna like zebras or giraffes.




Good thing the Sakura Pigma Sensei drawing pens feature waterproof archival ink, for some students colored their cartoon portraits with the Crayola Super Tip markers. Thus the outlines were not blurred nor smudged by the water soluble dyes. Quick Note: Since I plan to relocate to North Carolina in the next couple of months, my last remaining scheduled ARTScool art class from August 1 to 5 at The von Liebig Art Center might be the last opportunity to attend one of my Cartoon Sketching lessons and get a souvenir cartoon portrait drawn for Naples residents.

Happiness = Big Box of Markers

After seeing the batch of custom name plates I drew for my ARTScool Cartoon Sketching class (currently running from July 11 to July 15), my nieces decided to make their own.
Camila drawing her own name plate with a Sakura Pigma Sensei 06 mm pen.
Nicole with her name plate ready for coloring.
Penciling with a Worther Shorty 3.15 mm leadholder. This short and stubby pencil is quite easy to control for little hands, so I often share mine with my nephew and nieces.
Nicole's "Cat Girl" mini comic. A popular subject among my current students as well.
Mateo "drawing" with sparklers on 4th of July.
Look mom, with 2 hands!
I'm a strong believer that markers should be made readily available to toddlers as soon as they show the interest and adequate eye-hand coordination to color and doodle.
With appropriate supervision, the large set of 50 Crayola Super Tip Markers makes for a treasure trove of nice creative possibilities even for budding artists fond of coloring with a single color.
Ok maybe 6 moths old might be too soon to be introduced to markers, but their bright colors already catch his attention. Make the most of the summer and make sure the little ones have a nice big box of markers ready for when inspiration (or a rainy afternoon) strikes.

Drawing Cartoon Panda Characters and Sketching page completed with Crayola Super Tips Washable Markers

These are the Cartoon Panda reference sheet and sketching page template that I will be using in the Summer Art Camp in Immokalee this Friday.
The Panda Team sketching pages will be distributed to groups of kinders and second graders. Students will be instructed to create the background and add any additional characters using their imagination. On the board, the instructor will demonstrate basic cartoon figure construction and possible design elements that could be included in the activity sheet like: bamboo grove, castle, temple, pine forest, mountain, pagoda, torii gate, etc.
I believe one of the better values for kids' coloring tools can be found in the 50-pack of Crayola Super Tips Washable Markers. Their fine tips lend themselves well for sketching with the fine point and coloring quickly with their broad side. Noticed that the last batch of sets I got at Target were actually made in Italy.
Finished colored sample. Now go make some more Cartoon Panda Team adventures on some blank sheets of paper or folded mini comic with your trusty markers or other favorite coloring tools.

Caricature Stand and Upcoming ARTSCool 2011 Cartoon Sketching Classes

A few shots of my caricature tent at the 15th Annual Downtown Naples New Year’s Art Fair.We enjoyed a wonderful weather over the weekend. A tad gusty on Saturday. Glad I had brought my packing tape to secure the samples to the table.
Found the experience quite productive and informative regarding the logistics, booth organization, and customer expectations of a caricature artist in Naples downtown area.
For example, we increased visibility of the caricature drawing process by removing the side and rear walls of the tent from Saturday to Sunday.
My tent neighbors: the "Live Art" group. The caricature tent was short on signage and display samples on Saturday.
Had to put together this poster sign to promote my summer classes and showcase the caricature samples to potential customers in a hurry for Sunday. Also handed out lots of Artist Trading Cards (ATC) that doubled as business cards and listed the dates and times for my upcoming ARTScool 2011 classes.
As far as the most frequently used tools: I relied on my trusty Sakura Pigma Sensei 06 and 1.0 mm pens for most of the caricatures.
Dragon Knight caricature colored with Prismacolor Double Ended markers and Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush pens.
Was pleasantly surprised when asked to do a caricature of this cute Maltese dog with a snagle tooth.
Going to have to brush up on my animal anatomy to get faster at my pet cartooning. Had a couple of surprise visitors from the other coast.
Two other satisfied customers with their fantasy caricatures at the New Year's Art Fair: Fairy Mermaid and Ninja Mermaid.Camila coloring her picture with Crayola Super Tip markers. Nicole also colored her Ninja Mermaid and fire-breathing fish sidekick.My Cartoon Sketching classes for the kids summer Art Camp ARTScool 2011 at The von Liebig Art Center will be on June 13-17, July 11-15, and August 1-5.