My second class with the kids started out with an exercise that I like to call “Draw Big.”
I show them an object (in this case, it was this little tea kettle), and then I have them draw it as big as they can--I encouraged them to try to fill the whole page.
When beginners first start drawing, they tend to draw very tiny, and as a result, they lose a lot of detail. I noticed that as the kids where trying to draw the object as big as they could, they included more details than with the upside down drawing. And knowing how to draw big is an important skill. Artists don’t get all of those intricate details in by drawing small.
Next was shading practice. I used this sheet from About.com, and helped the kids fill it out. It was challenging at first, but they did quite well once they got the hang of it.
After that, I had them copy the pairs of eyes from this sheet that I created. I only had them copy the pairs of eyes. I’m saving draw the left eye or the right eye section for later.
Then we played a game that is like drawing charades. I wrote down the following scenarios on pieces of paper:
- Seeing a roach
- Abducted by Aliens
- Dropping a glass dish on the floor
- Your bike was just stolen
- Having a fever
- Eating chocolate candy
- Your mom when receiving flowers
- Listening to music
- Seeing your best friend
- Reading a book
- You friends give you a surprise party
- The computer is broken
I folded the papers and put them in cup. Then I had the kids pull a paper out of the cup with their eyes closed. Whatever they picked was an emotion they had to draw, applying what they learned from the eyes exercise. So if someone picked, Listening to Music, I would tell them to draw the expression they have on their face while listening to music. We all had a lot of fun with that.
The out of class assignment was for them to draw a picture of their favorite place (for anyone who’s trying to learn to make their own manga, learning how to draw settings is important!).
And then the last 15-20 minutes was free draw time. It’s like their reward for working so hard. ^_^ The next class will be on the 29th!
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