Drawing the Eye

With the older kids, we did an exercise in drawing the eye. They used pencil, and the goal was to breakdown the parts of the eye and try to draw what they saw in the mirror and not what they think an eye looks like...paying special attention to shading, shape and light/dark.

Week 21: Year of the Tiger drawings

As a nod to Chinese New Year and the Year of the Tiger 2010, I decided to do a directed drawing project. As for the actual Tiger subject and technique I was inspired by this artist blog and her really cute tiger:

http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2008/07/rousseau-tiger-drawing.html

I have had luck with doing very targeted drawing exercises with the kids and this seemed like a good fit. Plus, I needed something simple to prepare since my home office where I plan and get projects figured out is in the final throws of being renovated and my files are being chased around the house.


The materials are simple: paper, crayons and/or oil pastels and markers. I talked briefly about the 12-animal cycle of the Chinese New Year and showed them some real photos of tigers. Then I showed them on the board each step: 1. draw a circle 2. draw eyes 3. draw the nose 4. draw the cheeks etc.



Most kids did a great job following directions and I encouraged them to fill the paper with color since many like to rush through things and get done. The best results came from careful drawing and making the lines dark enough so that after the color is applied the lines still show through.

These Cool Cats will make a "purrfect" addition to our walls for our open house next month! I was born in the year of the Tiger, so this is especially close to my heart.