Drawing Lions at Highlands Elementary Summer Art camp

My deepest thanks to the staff at Highlands Elementary Summer Art camp for your hospitality and support. Teaching in eight different classrooms each day would not have been as effective without your aid, and special thanks to those of you that doubled as photographers on my last day in Immokalee. Fellow instructors please remember as part of my continuous support for the creative endeavors of the students in the area you are welcome to download and print the coloring templates and activity sheets (included on the links list on the right) for future art classes. It was a pleasure working wiht all of you.
We had groups of kinder through 2nd grade work on tracing or drawing lions, giraffes, and other African animals as part of the day camp art activities.
A few carefully selected reference sheets on animal drawing, several packs of Crayola super tip markers, and generous supply of paper = groups of happy kids drawing their favorite animals.

Kids demonstrated their creativity by drawing their own backgrounds for their African animals.
Guess lots of the kids had seen the animated movie "Madagascar", for many included an airplane in the skies above their African savanna landscapes.
Being my last day at the summer art camp, we made sure that all my students got at least one souvenir cartoon portrait after our three sessions together.
You can see the influence of the animal drawing lessons in their customization requests. Many students asked to be drawn riding or holding some kind of animal.
Thanks again to the caring staff at Highlands Elementary for your support and the great work you did with the children every day of this summer program.

Another Source for Imagine FX magazines in Naples!

Attention local readers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the 71st issue of Imagine FX at the Naples Costco. Ever since Borders closed their doors, I had not been able to pick up my favorite British magazine on digital arts applied specifically to the creation of science fiction and fantasy subjects for movies and video games. The Artist Q&A section also offers plenty of tips and drawing advice useful to analog or traditional artists. This particular issue was dedicated to Manga and showcases the work of several international artists influenced by the wide range of the popular Japanese comics style.
So now you know grasshoppers, you might be able to find this awesome reference sci-fi digital painting magazine at your local Costco. At least for their usual 30% off newsstand discount, it's worth the walk to check out their magazine rack. Recommended for teenagers and older students.

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.

Penguin and Seal sketching activity for Summer Art Camp

To fit the Antarctica theme of the Summer Art Camp program at Highlands Elementary, I created another Penguin and Seal sketching sheet. Eight different classes of 5 to 7 year old students were provided with markers and colored pencils and were instructed to customize their activity sheets using their creative license. They could draw and color it into a natural scene or use their imagination and add any details and speech balloons to create a fantasy illustration.
Coloring and doodling at summer art camp.

Some happy students with their finished projects.





Some students chose the option of exercising their writing skills turning the sketching page into a comic book panel with some dialog between the penguin and the seal..
This student chose to do the entire drawing herself using the sketching sheet just as a reference starting point.
Fully colored and lettered.Once the initial project was complete, a few students chose to tackle it again using a different approach. This young artist went in a completely different direction and drew a couple of dueling dragons which are always welcomed in any of my sketching classes.