Day 1
Lesson: Pencil Shading
Nicole was my little artist in this art tutorial. She is no longer unfamiliar with painting as she has previously undergone basic painting lessons. But she still wanted to learn some more so I had to figure out what she needed still through a short survey and a brief interview prior to the actual workshop.
Before we dive into our creative juices, I always tell her to do warm-up exercises for the hands to avoid muscle stiffness which I often suffer from. Then on, we went.
We started off with what I though to be the foundation of every masterpiece – pencil. We used a basic shape as a subject which I drew first, showed Nicole how it’s done using a pencil of her choice, and then she followed.
After presenting her different types of graphite pencils from F, to H, to HB, to B, Nicole opted to use 8B pencil in this first lesson. She was surprised to see that pencils can get this dark.
She was having quite a challenge in free hand drawing “perfect” circle, which is completely ok with me. I was after the shadow/lighting anyway. For her first lesson in shading, I think, she did well. Good start, Nicole!
Same technique was applied using Charcoal Pencil. I wanted to introduce her to different media available so she can discover her own style later on.
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Lesson: Color Theory
I didn’t want to tire Nicole with all the blacks and whites. I had to slot in colors, otherwise, I’ll put her into boredom. And besides, I knew every kid was hoping to see colors in every painting lesson right away.
I introduced Color Theory. How to use the Color Wheel, the relation of one color to another, basic terminologies and the fact that all of these 12 colors found in the wheel are combinations of 3 basic colors only – red, blue, yellow. Amazing, huh? She was very surprised when she learned and tested it herself.
Nicole almost mastered the color theory lesson in our short period of tutorial. In fact, she surprised me with presenting the color wheel in order when we met the next session. That made me smile.
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This sketch pad caught my attention when I was looking for one in a bookstore. I thought Nicole would be pleased because of its creative visuals. And one more thing, on the mechanical side, she needed to practice after every session. So before we part ways on our first meeting, I handed this over to her. Her face instantly glowed then thanked me with a big smile.
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Day 2
Lesson: Oil Pastel/Soft Pastel Shading
I figured that she was having difficulty in shading so we still tackled Shading tutorial in our next lesson, but this time, using Oil Pastel & Soft Pastel. And this is the outcome. Pretty neat huh? She’s fairly comfortable with pastels.
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Lesson: Portraiture
I saw Nicole’s interest in Portraiture when she was browsing my portfolio during our first encounter. I was pleased when she said she wanted to learn how to do it. It would be a great combination of our first lesson using pencils & second lesson with basic color theory.
I was about to show Nicole how to do it but all of a sudden, I thought I didn’t see that usual sparkle of interest in her eyes. Then I asked her to get a picture of her fave princess so we can start with her. She smiled & hurriedly got her coloring book.
It would not be practical to start with a “real” person as our subject since I was dealing with a 9-year old. I thought starting off with a cartoon character is most feasible.
She was apprehensive to start drawing her first portraiture. She didn’t know where to start, but when I showed her my little “grid line trick”, she coyly took the pencil from me & followed each square guide on our drawing paper.
Take a closer look at what Nicole has drawn so far. I think no one would believe that she was having trouble with it, at all.
Then the complete pencil drawing… Incredible! It was an overwhelming experience to finally witness a kid does this beautiful work of art!
Now the coloring part…
And finally! Nicole’s very first portraiture!
I was at my happiest state that moment because Nicole has proven herself that she can actually do it. She seemed very delighted as well. Wee!
I am so proud of you, Nicole! Hugs, hugs!
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Day3
Lesson: Watercolor Painting
Water color is one medium that Nicole has tried previously. But its potential kept on surprising her.
This beautiful fish on the left was made by Nicole with my assistance. Nicole was very happy to see for herself the outcome of our watercolor painting.
She thought that was it. She didn’t know I’d ask her to do a water color painting on her own.
She was starting on it on this same photo. She was sighing and said she couldn’t do it (again). She kept on handing me back the paint brush. It was very tempting to get it so we can finish early, but I had to stick to my goal – to make Nicole prove herself, for the second time that she can do it, like the first.
Then voila! Nicole did it! Again! See how pretty these watercolor fish are?!
The left fish was ours, while the other on the right was completely Nicole’s. Proud art teacher, present! Very nice! Yipee!
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Lesson: Acrylic Painting
Nicole’s difficulty in acrylic panting was no problem for me, I thought, because I’ve been dealing with acrylic for quite some time now. Way back, I find this medium quite a challenge to deal with since it dries very quickly. But the challenges were all worth it because of its endless possibilities. You can paint it on practically every surface you can think of. The next step is to coach its technique to a kid, who hasn’t tried it before.
In this photo is yet another tropical fish Nicole did with my help. She did the base while I assisted her with the shading and detailing. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be as Nicole’s little hands have limited speed & capability as compared to an experienced pair of hands. This moment I believed she couldn’t go as fast as I wish her hands to be, even if it would cost the paint to dry.
And… hey, hey, hey! See this shell?! She did it, for the third time!
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Lesson: Stone Painting (Acrylic Paint)
Nicole said she’s having a hard time using acrylic paint because it dries very fast. But I felt that our painting lesson will not be complete until I educate her about its versatility and the fact that it can be painted on almost everything, including stone.
Here, I told Nicole that it would be wiser to draw her subject first on the paper, then copy it directly on the stone. I gave her a tiny brush given that the stone is small.
It was quite a challenge for Nicole but she was enjoying it.
Here are the finished products! So cute! They looked like candies which is why Nicole liked them so much. She still couldn’t say she liked acrylic, but she said, she liked our Stone Painting lesson. That sounded good to me.
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Day4
Lesson: Oil Painting
Oil painting is most commonly used by artists so far, even if it needs a rather long list of materials before you can start. It also needs a well ventilated space because of the spirits used, plus it dries very slow. It can be messy too but can give a very satisfying result, hence, tackled on our last session.
Nicole has done Oil Painting prior to our tutorial. What she wanted to learn was how to avoid cracking of her paintings on canvas, along with other techniques.
Materials were prepared, including the turpentine, linseed oil, canvass, palette, etc. I shared a little tip to Nicole on how to save time cleaning the palette board I gave her. We didn’t remove its plastic wrapper so she won’t have trouble in removing paints from it. She can later on use wax paper to cover the board so it’s more eco-friendly.
Oh, yes. Nicole’s pretty face can be very serious when needed. She was concentrating on a critical part of her painting…
Now for the detail, she was holding the brush in such a way that her hands are closer to its bristle for better control.
And, another tropical fish masterpiece!
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Our short art tutorial has finally ended. Whew! It was indeed a rewarding experience.
I was packing my stuff and readying myself to leave. Brushes, paints, pencils and camera when I found something inside my digicam’s pouch.
It was this tiny biscuits with little choco dip. Haha! So cute. It was so sweet of Nicole.
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