Some Star Wars & Quick Miyazaki Sketches in the Car

Without having watched any of the movies yet, my six year old nephew has already developed a liking of Star Wars thanks to Lego sets mostly.

Not surprisingly, troopers and droids tend to be popular subjects for many kids his age.

I keep a spare sketchbook in the seat pocket of my car at all times, so that I can doodle when I'm stuck waiting in it for any length of time. Got a few Miyazaki inspired sketches in my current one, and Mateo has taken to copy some of them while riding in his car seat. Thus his version of "Haku" from "Spirited Away" is shown above next to mine. I think it is quite good considering that he drew it in the moving car while I drove him home after school.

He also added a couple of Kodama to this sketch page. Keep sketchbooks and pencils handy at all times to foster regular sketching habits in your budding artists. I keep a leadholder in my glove compartment since it does not require sharpening and it is always ready to be used. Unlike pens and markers, a graphite tool can withstand the extreme summer heat without adverse effects like drying out.

Sample Knight and Dragon mini-book colored by my nephew

Pretty impressed and proud of my 6-year old nephew's skill in coloring and drawing in the Knight & Dragon mini-book that I use in some of my cartoon drawing classes.

Making an Army of Paper Robots

Given Mateo's interest in this Japanese cartoon about fighting robots, we decided to make some paper toys with 110 lb cardstock and the art supplies that we had on hand. The Cutter Bee Precision Scissors were particularly useful for making the standing cut outs and pop-up backgrounds.

Our standing cut out versions of the Tenkai Knights Titan mode. My nephew colored the base color with a yellow Crayola crayon, and I used some Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons to add some additional shades and brighter colors.

The good guys army was colored with markers and crayons. Notice the explosion cut outs and the red guy that can fly in his own Nakamura-lock paper airplane. Paper toys might be inexpensive to make, but they can still be plenty of fun.

The bad guys army was colored mainly with crayons. Our first batch below was particularly  monochromatic, but Mateo soon discovered how much better his creations looked once he took to coloring with multiple crayons.

Caran D'Ache Neocolor I wax pastels - Excellent coloring-choice for budding artists

Just reviewed these fine wax pastel crayons in my main art supplies blog.  They are an ideal choice for kids artists since it takes very little pressure to release the crayon's pigment on paper, cardboard, ceramic surfaces, and even plywood. Since Caran D'Ache Neocolor I crayons are wax based, they can also be used as resist with watercolors. My brother built these standing boards with 2' X 4' plywood boards.  I drew the designs, and my soon to be 5-years old nephew Mateo help me by coloring half of the target board. These two boards were drawn and colored in a few hours last night in the middle of a living room. 

The board on the left will be used a target practice for his ninja-theme birthday party, and the one of the right will serve as a fair-style photo board once the eye section is cut out to allow kids' faces to peek through the red ninja mask.  

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.

Spending quality "Art" time with Mateo

Have been spending some quality time and sharing a few art materials with my nephew Mateo.
Following tradition, I lent my nephew one of my watercolor kits: the Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box.
With a bit of guidance hand over hand and a trusty waterbrush we managed to sketch a simple landscape on his first visual journal.
While I had originally planned on giving him a larger first sketchbook, this compact journal proved quite practical and portable.Thus using waterproof pens, I drew a few coloring outlines and partial doodles to create a custom coloring and doodling book for Mateo.Dry watercolor pencil stage. Actually colored a few samples on the initial pages at his request. After blending the dry pencil marks with a waterbrush. Actually it was quite simple to create a sturdy custom activity book for a toddler out of the 3.5" X 5" Strathmore Visual Journal loaded with 140 lb (300 gsm) watercolor sheets. Just take a look at this video to browse through the pages of the journal shown above.
Quite happy with his first set of Faber Castell watercolor crayons.
Coloring on his new Kumon Let's Color! activity book.
Dexterity test: doodling with both hands at the same time.
Trying out his new set of Crayola brush pens.
Grandma helping restore the ink flow on a Crayola triangular brush pen.
Already sharing his over-size Taro Gomi doodling book with the little girl next door.
Baby brother might still be too little to join in on the coloring fun, but give him time and I'm pretty sure he'll soon join the rank of budding artists featured in this blog.

Spending Quality Time with Tato

Spent the last few days with my nephew in North Carolina. Here he is trying to make Origami planes.
Watermelon break.
Made these custom coloring sheets for Mateo given his love for trucks.
Used my trusty sets of Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens to color a few pop-up card backdrops for Tato's playtime. This one was done right after watching "Clash of the Titans" which turned out to be a pretty entertaining movie.
Every morning a couple of new pop-up cards would be waiting at the breakfast table.

"Oh no! no more filling left!", and Tio Pork Bun already finished the other two buns.
Checking out the dragon pen we found at Target.
Doodling with the ballpoint pen.
Enjoying my travel set of Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayons.
Coloring some truck drawings.
Train ride at the park.
Taking a Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil for a spin.
So long as they are non-toxic, I have no qualms about sharing my artist grade art supplies with the little one. Of course one must remain alert to avoid accidental staining of the surrounding area. Keep in mind though that once you get kids to appreciate the performance of artist materials, they might come to prefer them over the more inexpensive kid grade tools. I would recommend keeping the good stuff at home and using the easily replaceable more affordable stuff in take-along travel kits

Drawing Truck videos for my 2-year old nephew

Hello Tato, these are your 3 short videos on how to draw different vehicles based on these Transformers I managed to dig out from storage. Just have mom or dad click on the pictures to see the videos. The materials used in these demos are: California Republic Palomino 2B Pencil, Derwent pencil extender, and a Piccadilly sketchbook.Sketching a bulldozer based on this green transforming robot.
Sketching a truck based on this blue transforming robot.
Sketching a racing car based on this green transforming robot. Quick link to original fire truck test video drawn with a Sakura Pigma Sensei 0.4 mm pen.

Art Time with the kids during 4th of July Weekend gallery

For our last large family gathering at the W hotel in Ft. Lauderdale Beach, I made certain to bring plenty of kids art supplies just in case they were needed to amuse them on rainy afternoons.Coloring with Faber Castell watercolor crayons.Good thing the watercolor crayon marks washed off skin quite easily with soap and water.Barely 2 years old and already enjoying fine leadholders and Rhodia notepads.The Post-it® Self-Stick Sketch Pad was a big hit, for the kids were able to easily put their own art show on the balcony glass door in no time thanks to their self-adhesive sheets. Easy to use even for the little one.
Artists roster.Not even the rain could keep them from having a fun time.
Guess the kids really appreciated my bringing along the art supplies that entertained them when the rain kept us indoors during this past holiday weekend.