Post-Christmas Design Fun

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, or at least a relaxing vacation!

What a great feeling it is to give kids Christmas gifts. Even better, to give them a gift that sharpens their design skills (that they'll actually use!)

Today my youngest stepdaughter and I are exploring our inner fashionistas with these kids' clothing design kits from Fashion Angels.

Thursday Art Club: Winter Birch Trees

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today I tried (for the first time) a watercolor project that I've seen on the first page many, many times while Google searching for a winter watercolor project for children. It seemed almost cliché after seeing it so often, and in so many variations. But somehow the cold weather just made it suddenly feel so appropriate.

Apps of Interest: Picsay Pro

Working with kids gives me a great opportunity to do photo studies. There's only so much you can do with a typical wide-angle smartphone camera lens, but until I get myself a real camera again, I try to find ways to be creative with what I've got.

One thing that helps is the Picsay Pro software, a mobile photo editing app. One of the best I've seen!

I paid to switch from Picsay to the pro version because the free version of the software would allow only a few images to be saved. It was definitely worth the fee for all the extra features, and I highly recommend it if you dabble in mobile photography.

Thursday Art Club: Nighttime Tree Lot

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today we made, more than anything, a giant mess.

Holiday Craft Season Begins!

December is my favorite time of year, when all the holiday arts and crafts can be brought out. No one brings out the elusive Christmas spirit like watching kids get excited over a goofy little craft.

Today they enjoyed making a hanging paper plate Christmas tree. (Modeled by my lovely coworker)

Art Rage 3: Vacation Mode

What to do with a week off:

1. Declare every day pajama party day
2. Catch up on my long-ignored Zelda games
3. Enjoy some no-commitment sketching

Thursday Art Club: Rorschach Art

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today we learned how to create a Rorschach (of sorts), which was fun to watch them make, and hilarious to hear them try to say.

Friday Art Club?

No, I'm not dead. This week has been an interesting one to say the least. Even my Thursday Art Club had to be moved to Friday to accommodate the kids' wonky school schedule.

Today we started with simple, expressionless shapes of animals...

Smoking Cowgirl

I love digging through old sketches and finding one that is unfinished. There are plenty, since I have a bad habit of giving in too easily to my short attention span. As I said on Monday, unfinished sketches are a great exercise for me on those "I don't wanna" days.

Thursday Art Club #3: Beneath the Autumn Tree

Every Thursday I have an Art Club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn something every time.

Today we made a perspective drawing of a tree in the fall, with yellow, orange, and red leaves.

Tree by Amanda, age 8

Post-Halloween Sugar Fog

Halloween weekend is over, I've eaten just about all the chocolate I can take, and now it's time to sit down and draw on a quiet Monday morning.

Call it artists' block or sugar crash, but today I'm in a total fog. When that happens, I pull out an old sketch and draw it again. 

Thursday Art Club #2: Halloween

Today we're taking a break from doing a "lesson". I knew kids would disappear fast to go trick-or-treating, so we just did a fun seasonal craft: mini jack-o-lantern candle holders!

Art Rage 3: Perched Hawk

It's finally Saturday, and I can work on ArtRage and watch some cartoons in peace.

I finished Season 2 and started Season 3 of the 1984 Transformers series on Netflix this morning, and I'm really wishing I had the movie that bridges the two seasons. (But I'm pretty sure I'd cry when Optimus dies, and I don't have time for that crap this morning.)

Thursday Art Club #1

Every Thursday I have an Art Club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn something every time.

Today we messed around with oil pastels and construction paper, and the kiddos followed along while I talked them through a quick sketch of an owl.

App of Interest: Sketchlens

I downloaded this free app from the Google Play Store last week, because it was a suggested app by Adylitica, Inc., the developers of Do It Tomorrow (my to-do list of choice, being a procrastinator).

Doodle Card

I've been having fun messing around with Johnny's technical pens, though I know very little about inking. Compared to his precision, I have no idea what I'm doing. But this little card is a great exercise in patience!

A Late Comic-Fest Wrap-up

I suppose I should have posted this two weeks ago, but better late than never. It's been two short weeks since the second annual San Diego Comic Fest at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, which took place October 4-6.

Special thanks to Rob Forsythe who took the best photo of our table in Artist's Alley that I've seen so far! That handsome guy sketching away next to me is Johnny Beware Gerardy, an incredibly talented inker/embellisher, with whom I have the pleasure of working.

To see more of Rob's awesome photos of this event, visit his page! 

For those who are unfamiliar with Comic Fest, here is an excerpt from their 'about' page:

"SDSU has a project underway to document the history of how, beginning in 1969, a bunch of kids in San Diego banded together to create what was become Comic-Con International, a pop-culture phenomenon known worldwide. The San Diego Comic Fest will be providing a meeting room for use by SDSU in conducting interviews with Comic-Con founders and others who participated in the early years of Comic-Con." - See more at: http://www.sdcomicfest.org/about-us

It was an amazing show. Small, intimate, and personal. Thanks to the incredible people that made it happen, and we eagerly await many more!

And with that, I've finally started this blog. Hooray!