October 21, 2012

• Charcoal & Children
  Lesson one: preparation!
  
  This is the first of a new series!  We finished up chalk, and are ready to move on to something new… CHARCOAL!  Brian in particular is very excited, because he doesn’t get shading, dimension, and perspective, and really wants to do something better than ‘flat’ and ‘cartoonish’ when he draws.

  My first challenge in the two month feast break that we had was to try to find a book that would be suitable to learn from.  Backing up, though, you know I tried to find ‘how-to’ lessons for children on the Internet, first.  With no luck, I might add.  Everything that was ‘for kids’ was only two or three lessons long, and anything bigger that I did find started off very advanced, and we needed to start with the very, very basics, working up from there.  And apparently nobody gives free lessons on the basics on-line.

  After checking out nearly a dozen library books, we found one that starts with ‘drawing a straight line’ and moves from there, working in small lessons with activities to help us get the feel/eye for it.  EXACTLY what I was looking for.  The book is called ‘Fundamentals of Drawing’ (LINK), and it’s not a children’s book.  But I’m pretty excited about the lessons.  Now, of course we’ll have a lesson, and then do a free draw from our poetry, but as we go, we should get better results, each time, as we apply what we learn to our drawings.

  I purchased charcoal sets for us, off e-Bay (LINK), as you see to the left, here. I couldn’t find a better deal locally (that had as many as I needed – it was the same price at HobbyLobby, but they only had two.)  So I got these, and the book, and sat down to read it over and see how charcoal drawing is accomplished. 

  To my surprise, it’s VERY different than just grabbing the nearest #2 pencil and sitting down to sketch!  You don’t even hold charcoals the same way as you hold a pen or pencil.  Here’s a picture (sample from Amazon’s preview page of the book I’ve got) of the way to hold charcoal, and how to draw with it.  And you don’t work on a flat surface, either.  There’s a definitive technique to charcoals, apparently, that’s done on an easel, too. 

  Oooh, easels?  Well… it would be nice for the kids, but… six easels, I can’t afford that!  So I found this easel made out of a pizza box (LINK) via Pinterest, and pinned it months ago.  Which I thought was a good idea, initially, but… it’s lightweight.  Would it take much pressure?  Would it hold up to a seven-year old boy?  When you went to draw, would it slide across the table? I had my doubts.  Even if I got no-slip shelf liner, it’s flimsy and I don’t know if it would work for us.  ((Most of what’s on Pinterest is stuff that looks good but does NOT work.  Word to the wise.  And NEVER make their Orange Chicken.))

  Brian suggested those cheap picture holders that you can get at Meijer, but I was concerned that they would be too flimsy, too… plus you’d need something to act as the backboard, and then we were back to trying to brainstorm up something that would hold up, again, wouldn’t move, etc…

  Then I found this homemade tabletop easel by Ninth-and-Mayne (LINK) and thought it was AMAZING and wonderful.  It’s basically plywood cut to squares and fixed together with hinges,  with a hinge for the prop.  Cheap, VERY sturdy, and easily folded down and/or taken along with us if we wanted to go out and do a nature art study.  Oh, yes, this is definitely the best idea I have seen!

  Anyhow, we didn’t draw this weekend.  Instead, we gathered supplies and are making easels so that we can do our artwork from here.  And I’m taking the opportunity to write it up as a ‘prep’ blog, for people wondering ‘how’ we are going to pursue our lessons.  And to be honest?  I’m getting pretty excited about this!

  • 7:39 am
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