Drawing for Children Draw-along Videos

Hello! I would like to share with you a Drawing video series which I made especially for young children. This series aims to guide young children who are beginning to draw lines, curves and shapes. I hope these videos encourage your children to practice drawing everyday. Most of the drawing subjects were taken from the classic drawing book, “Drawing for Children” written by Horace Grant.

I started producing these along with other draw-along videos when covid came early this year. I also enjoy doing live art sessions but I find these bite-sized videos easier to produce. If you find these videos helpful in your homeschool journey, feel free to join God’s Army of Artists on Facebook groups! Hope to see you there!

For Set # 1 in the “Drawing for Children” series, we will draw the following subjects:

1. birdhouse
2. table
3. bird’s head
4. plum
5. leaf

All you need: paper or sketchbook, pencil and eraser.

Note to parents: I hope the videos help you guide your child as he/she tries new subjects to draw. You may draw together and demonstrate how to do the strokes.😊 Pause the video if the child needs more time drawing. Take time drawing each subject. Prepare a comfortable place where the child can draw-along with the video.

Tip💡It is always best to practice drawing from direct observation or from photo references especially with nature subjects. Most of the objects can be easily found at home.😀 Have fun! #artforkids #drawingforchildren

Here is the link to the first video in the series. The other videos are saved in a playlist as well. If you find these videos helpful for your child, please drop me an email at selah.soulart@gmail.com

Drawing for Children: Drawing Exercises of over 100+ subjects from nature and everyday objects

Happy drawing!

Draw with Me: Nature’s Design Series drawing videos

I would like to share something that’s keeping me sane this lockdown period. A few weeks into Enhanced Community Quarantine, I created a Facebook group called God’s Army of Artists.

The name has been playing in my head around July last year when I started teaching art to a few kids in the neighborhood. The page was meant to be a source of art ideas and inspiration for homeschoolers.

I also held live drawing classes through the group. I didn’t expect teaching through live classes will be something I would enjoy a lot!

I started this drawing series called Draw with Me: Nature’s Design Series where I share drawing tutorials for young artists. I uploaded them on Youtube for easier access.Here are the Youtube links to the nature series Draw with me: Rocks, Fossils and Shells.Draw with Me: Cheetah, Leopard, JaguarDraw with Me: Butterflies and MothsDraw with Me: Furry Woodland FriendsI made the drawing lessons especially for children who love to draw and are curious about how God masterfully designed nature.Enjoy!

Scientific Illustration: Science and Art

Big Sis combines her love for drawing and zoology with detailed scientific illustrations!

I remember an online class I took which taught how scientific illustrations are done. I am personally interested in this field of blending science and art.

Back in the days when photographs weren’t the norm, students relied heavily on scientific illustrations. Artists who also love nature ventured in the fields with their sketchbooks, watercolors and pencils to capture all sorts of animals and plants.

The ideal method is to draw from live animal subjects in their natural environment. This will capture the animal’s natural behavior (as opposed to being locked in cage for example). The challenge to draw them as they move about poses a big challenge for the illustrator. But that is the beauty of this art form! It’s amazing how they do it!

Scientific illustrations require so many details and research.

It also requires the illustrator to zoom in on details and make sure there is proper labeling of parts.

Drawing plants and trees is a nice way to introduce this art form to children. If they have small pets at home such as hamsters and birds, they can draw them too.  Colored pencils work great for tiny details!

Big Sis submitted this as part of her Science and Art portfolio for 7th grade.

 

 

On Teaching Art to Children – Where to begin?

 

It has always been one of my dreams to teach art to children.  Homeschooling gave me the chance to teach and share my love for art to our kids. I love seeing their happy faces beam with pride as they showed their artworks to everyone in the family.

Armed with art books, online tutorials and wild imagination, we explore art within the confines of our home. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do and as with other subjects, I always wonder how to best teach art to children? I want them to enjoy the process and grow up loving art. I want them to know the reason why they make art. I want our art classes to go beyond just making pretty things.

Growing up, I was exposed to different forms of art at home. I can say it helped that everyone in the family was into some sort of art. My dad was always busy creating something during his free time. I never saw him idle as he was always tinkering: a broken electric fan, a DVD player that had a tape jammed in it, pants that needed some sewing, broken ceramics- name it and he can build or fix it. He always dropped by a hardware store to buy the parts he needed. During those trips, I got to touch and see a myriad of nuts and bolts needed for home repairs. On lazy weekends, he propped his wooden easel and spend hours painting with oils. He painted most of the framed paintings around the house. Oh, he also built wooden furniture with his hammer and power tools. Such a handy-man!

During holiday seasons, my mom would DIY our Christmas tree decors and sew plush toys to sell at bazaars. She sat in front of a huge table filled with beads, buttons, plastic eyes in all sorts of shapes, animal patterns, velcro tapes, and scraps of colorful fabrics. I loved hanging out in her workspace! My favorite part was packing and arranging her finished products on display at the bazaar. Her cuddly plush puppies were a big hit.

Looking back, I know that my parents’ constant tinkering at home taught me so much about art. The surprising thing was although they didn’t really teach me how to do any of those things they were good at, just seeing them regularly work on their crafts was enough to make me want to create something too. It helped to see that they were enjoying the process. When I try to look back at this aspect in my childhood, I believe it could be why I grew up loving art. The nice thing about it is that the learning came out naturally. I wasn’t forced to cut and paste stuff or anything. I just saw them enjoy the process of making something with their hands.

I think that in art, being able to inspire and spark a child’s imagination is a good enough start. That contagious itch to create something after seeing someone paint a beautiful picture, for me, is the essential starting point. In teaching art, that is where I hope to begin.