Self Portraits with Frida and the Scouts

I've been lucky enough to have worked with several Boy Scout and Girl Scout troupes in the past couple years. I've done a variety of programs with them but lately I've been helping several Girl Scout troupes earn their painting badges. Perhaps helping is probably the wrong word. I would have to say it was more like Guiding. These girls could clearly all draw and paint. My job was really to find a fun way for them earn a badge and perhaps give them a new way to look at themselves.

In an hour.  After pledges and snack. Easy? With THESE bright talented girls it was beyond easy!

• Introduce them to Frida Khalo's self-portraits.
• Give them all mirrors.
• Talk to them about really looking at themselves: have them inspect the real shape of their heads. Are their eyes really dots or circles or perhaps more almond shaped? 
• Ask them to think about composition: is their head in the middle of the page the only way to go? 
• How about colors? Skin is not one flat color. Hair usually has different shades and tones in it. How can their artwork reflect that?

And more. Keep them looking. Keep them thinking. Lots to think about in under an hour. 

You might notice that these aren't your usual paintings. Because I never know what the setup will be in the various locations I often avoid actual paint with these projects. So here we worked with oil pastels and a medium that would help them use them in a painterly manner: BABY OIL! That's right, the entire room smelled like the beach in the 1980's.  (Some of you might remember those days. The days before we were told about sun damage and baby oil was our choice of tanning lotion.) But I digress...

Did I mention that they had to add the stuffed animal of their choice? Who better to accompany them to their meeting!

Excellent work, girls!

How To Teach Figure Drawing Without a Model!

I always have a few kids who really want to know how to draw people. Makes sense, yes? It's my favorite thing to draw too. But try as you might, you really really really need them to look at a model. Both in school and out I've spent countless hours at Life Drawing classes. Problem is the models are unclothed. NOT what you'd want for a class for kids.

I've tried everything over the years: having them look in the mirror (not too successful except for self- portraits), making my own kids pose for the class (only a good idea if you have kids that are NOT mine--one refused and the other one wriggled so much I might as well have had the artists draw weasels), cutouts from Fashion magazines (here the clothes so overpowered the form of the body that the kids went right to stylizing the figures.)

And then---DUH---it hit me. The wonderful internet. I did a few searches and finally came up with some fabulous clothed non-fashion models with interesting poses.

I explained gesture drawings to the students. They each had 1 minute with each photo, then we switched. Then they had 5 minutes with a picture. Switch. It was the best way to replicate an actual Life Drawing class where the models usually start out with short poses.

These are all from one fabulous artist because my other shots didn't come out (sorry girls!) but I'll post more the next time we do these. 

Good job, Excellent Middle School artist!

Comic Book Class 101

I've been teaching Comic Book Class through our Town Recreation Department. Those of you who know me may be surprised. Although I am an illustrator (see? I even have a WEBSITE!) I have never been a comic book artist. I do, however, love comic books. My love started back in the 1980's when I'd snarf up copies of RAW Magazine, a compilation of alternative comics compiled by Art Spiegelman of MAUS fame. I became a huge fan of graphic novels but it wasn't until I had my boys that I began to appreciate more traditional comic books.

Sketching out some ideas

Now, of course, my 9 year old and I are regulars at the local comic book store. After about a billion visits to the store I found myself reading up on how comic books are made, a little about the history, and a lot about the art. And I saw my son start to create his own comic books. I tried to guide him a little on how to put together the story, how to use lettering creatively, how to include action and details, how to work with pacing and planning, later on how to ink and color. Suddenly I had the structure of a class. 

It's a class that is a pure joy to teach. The kids come in excited, ready to work, enthusiastic to share. We do exercises in story crafting, layout, sketching, figure drawing, adding expression and much more. Each artist

creates a book that I send out for printing. 

Here's a sample of some of the wonderful work created by the Picasso's Basement Comic Book artists.

This group is entirely made up of 2nd-to-4th graders!

 I'm fortunate to know some amazing artists who have come to share their work with our class.

Marvel Comic Book Artist Bob Budiansky visits and wows the class!

An animated group after an activity that focused on details in our stories!

I can't wait to share more of their work with you!

Harold Shares his Purple Crayon

I think one of the most enduring classics of children's literature is Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Written in 1955 it is the story of a little boy named Harold who draws his way through the world. In fact, he draws everything in his world with his crayon: picnics, skyscrapers, even his own house and his bed.


 In the end he "draws" up his covers and goes to sleep. As a little girl it worried me that he came home to a house that he had to draw but now I find it comforting and sweet.

I love that he could completely orchestrate his own adventure!

The Preschool kids and I read the book. They particularly liked that Harold was able to get out of each jam with his own clever drawings.

I then presented them with xeroxes of photos I'd taken of them at the end of the previous class.

I asked them each to draw two pictures: one of themselves having an adventure 

and one of themselves returning home. I think they had a pretty good time! 

Inspiration Smells Likes Peroxide

I am completely distracted in my own home. Oh sure, I can paint and assemble and color at home. But the ideas, the real thinking, the actual inspirations and subsequent designs just don’t happen there. Much as I’d like them to.

Here’s last month’s scenario: I realize I must come up with a new illustration in order to create a self-promotion piece. I know I need to start the idea process but as I putter about my house this seems to become my priority list:

1. Check email and Facebook. Must get messages out of way so I am free to work.

2. Clean drafting table.

3. Pick up every sock that my husband and two children have left balled up on the floor.

4. Snack to boost energy.

5. Check email and Facebook again. Someone important may need to reach me.

You can see where this is going. This all leads to a marginally clean house and a remarkably spotless yet empty drafting table.

The following day after discovering that cleaning products do not make me want to draw, I go to get my hair cut and colored. In order to cover the vicious gray that my hair has been blessed with since my early 20's my Miracle Worker, the phenomenal Russell of Russell Scott Hair Designs in Clark NJ, must gunk me up and leaves me to sit in the corner in shame with my head resembling and a putrid bowl of ice cream covered in Magic Shell. I look ridiculous. I reek. The Black Eyed Peas are pounding in the speakers and I am stuck sitting next to two Kardashian-wanna-be housewives who are deep in discussion about their jewelry. 

BUT there are no balls of socks. No dishes to do. No one calling me “Mommy”. And so, sketchbook balanced on smock-covere lap, I find that my mind is actually functioning. In fact on that one visit alone I came up with a slew of sketches for a series of animal musicians AND a sketch for a painting of Coney Island that I’ve been thinking about for years. AND the start of this blog entry.

Here’s where I do and have done my best creative thinking:

1. Hairdressers

2. Laundromat

3. Doctor’s Office

4. At the drivers wheel when on long drives by myself (rare but precious occasions)

So fellow creative friends, where do find your inspiration?
Where do you do YOUR best thinking?