The benefits of painting with paints for children
One of the popular creative options for preschoolers is fine art. Teaching a child to draw from an early age has a positive impact on the formation of his personality, helps to develop not only imagination, but also abstract thinking.
The benefits of practicing this type of creativity:
- Development of fine motor skills. Artistic activities require movements of the fingers and hand, which activates areas of the brain responsible for speech, thinking, coordination, and memory. During the drawing process, both hemispheres work, which helps strengthen the connections between them.
- Self-expression. Through drawing, the child projects his inner state onto paper. He expresses thoughts and feelings that he cannot or does not want to express. This allows you to get emotional release and lift your spirits.
- Developing the ability to identify priority goals. In the process of creativity, the child receives a result - a painting. This teaches him to set goals for himself, compare early achievements with past ones and work to improve them.
- Developing patience and perseverance. Systematic painting lessons and working on each drawing teach the child discipline and help structure time.
- Increased self-esteem. Creative activities allow a child to distinguish himself among his peers and feel important.
- Development of creativity. Drawing teaches abstract thinking and contributes to the formation of an individual view of things. Painting not only develops imagination, but also helps to find practical application for new skills.
- Understanding the world around us. Through creativity, the child learns to understand that people can perceive the same objects or phenomena differently and experience different emotions towards them. This develops empathy and social skills.
- Introduction to culture. Learning to draw develops children's taste and aesthetic perception.
- Positive impact on the psyche. Painting classes calm, pacify, and provide an opportunity to productively use accumulated energy. Art lessons are especially useful for children who are aggressive, moody or prone to depression.
In the process of learning to paint, spatial and associative thinking develops, skills of projection onto a plane and orientation in space are developed. This contributes to the mastery of other school subjects and scientific disciplines: mathematics, chemistry, physics, geography, drawing, etc.
Tips for parents
Although the benefits of drawing for children are undeniable, there is no need to insist if there is no interest in it at first. You should not neglect other games that will ensure the development of the necessary skills. Make a bull craft for the New Year, read and memorize poems for 2022, solve puzzles in pictures. Monotonous activities quickly become boring, so you should add variety to developmental activities.
Also, parents should not forget about finger games. It is useful to practice modeling from plasticine. The main advice is that there is no need to wait for masterpieces; it is much more important to encourage the baby as much as possible.
Optimal age for skill development
It is best to start teaching children the basics of drawing from an early age - from 6 months to 3 years. During this period, the child should learn the basics, but targeted lessons are not required.
It is enough to provide everything necessary for the development of creative abilities. Games with finger paints improve fine motor skills, imagination, and creativity, which has a positive effect on the formation of not only artistic skills, but also personality.
Targeted drawing training can begin at the age of 5-7 years. During this period, the creative process becomes more meaningful, the child learns to compare and cognize, improving his skills.
Creating a painting turns from a game into a conscious action. At this age, you can begin to work with different types of paints and paper, drawing techniques. This will help you understand what the aspiring artist has the most ability and desire for.
Learning the art of drawing in a playful way.
Drawing techniques for children
A different approach is used for training. There is no need to give the child a task, he should express himself freely. Once you learn how to use the tool, you can proceed to the next stage.
Finger technique
Paint is required for training. A child can dip their palm and leave prints on a piece of paper. Then he will learn to draw dots and lines.
They also master the technique with the help of semolina or corn grits, depicting pictures. To add interest, you can change the color with food coloring.
By points
Dot pattern is suitable for children aged 5-6 years. This promotes the development of motor skills and spatial imagination, prepares the hand for writing, and improves the functioning of small muscles of the hand.
First, they resort to simple drawings with dots along the contour. To make it easier for the baby, the parent can connect them with dotted lines. When tracing becomes easy, drawing techniques for children can be made more complex by using straight, curved and wavy lines. The child must trace them without taking his hands off the paper.
By the numbers
It won't be possible to do everything right right away. The technique with numbers is used at the age of 6-7 years. It increases interest in mathematics, multiplication in poetry and ensures the development of creative abilities.
The technique is based on turning numbers into an object or animal. For example:
- from the three they draw a snowman;
- from two - swan;
- five are turned into kangaroos;
- Six is transformed into a cute puppy.
In this way, the child expresses his imagination, embodying images from his head on paper.
What paints are best for children's creativity?
When teaching a child to draw from scratch, it is important to choose the right paints.
The most common types used for children's creativity:
- Finger paint. Made from food coloring and water. Safe for health, easy to wash off, wash and clean from any surface. They have a thick consistency, so they stick well to your fingers and lie smoothly on paper. Suitable for babies aged 6 months and older.
- Watercolor. The most common option for beginning artists, which is most often used in kindergartens and schools. Watercolor paints are made from environmentally friendly materials, are easy to use, and have a bright and rich palette. They easily mix with water and lie on paper in translucent layers, while maintaining richness and juiciness.
- Gouache. Suitable for children aged 5-7 years. It has a dense texture and bright colors when applied to paper. The composition can be either safe or containing toxic substances. For children it is better to choose the first option.
- Oil paints. Valued for ease of use, ease of mixing, and durability of the pattern. They dry without changing color, unlike acrylic or watercolor. Made from vegetable oils. Since economical consumption is important when using such pigments, they are best chosen for children 6-7 years old who are already familiar with the basic rules of painting.
- Acrylic paints. Manufactured from synthetic components. They dry quickly, are easy to dilute and mix, and are suitable for drawing not only on paper, but also on wood or fabric. Acrylic paints are chosen for children 6-7 years old who have already mastered the basics of watercolor painting.
It is better to avoid too bright, acidic tones. Colors should be moderately saturated. The optimal set for a child 6-7 years old is 12-20 shades. Before purchasing, it is recommended to check the paints: they should be moist, uniform in texture, without a sharp, pronounced odor.
Watercolor paints.
Drawing objects step by step
It will be easier for your child to learn if you ask him to depict individual elements step by step.
Geometric figures
First, they start with geometric shapes, from which you have probably already made colored applications. If the child manages to draw the lines more or less evenly, you need to show how to make an oval or circle, and then turn it into a picture. After this, you should invite the child to get the drawing himself, for example, turn it into a face.
At an older age, they begin to study three-dimensional figures - cubes, parallelepipeds.
Tree
If your child has mastered simple techniques, you can start a tree drawing lesson. It is formed from circles and straight lines, and a crown is also depicted. Gradually they learn to draw individual leaves.
All this is done in several stages:
- Creating a basic frame.
- Shaping.
- Coloring inside the outline.
The child independently draws the branches, leaves, and trunk. You can tell what grows on the ground, depict bushes, and clouds and the sun above the tree.
Flower
The flower is drawn in the following way:
- Start with a small circle.
- Leaves of a characteristic shape are made around the core.
- Represent stems.
- Paint each element in the appropriate color.
To get an interesting design, you can use a fork, dip it in paint and apply it to a sheet of paper to make petals.
It will be even easier if adults draw the stems and let the child work on the petals. By the way, in this case the brush can be replaced with cotton swabs.
Animals
We teach children to draw animals using the example of a bunny, a frequent character in fairy tales:
- We make an oval that will act as the body.
- We form a second smaller one for the head.
- Along the edges below we draw 2 circles for future paws.
- Below them are 2 more for the feet.
- Next we move on to the ears and tail.
At the end, all that remains is to add eyes, a nose and color the hare.
House
You should start with a square, it will be the basis. A triangle is suitable for the roof. Inside the large one there is a small one, which will become a window, as well as a rectangle in the form of a door.
When your child can draw such a house, it’s time to pay more attention to details: add a frame to the window, a pipe to the roof, and a handle to the door. You should also familiarize yourself with the features of drawing the horizon line. The upper part depicts the sky, sun and clouds.
The lower part is the ground. It is painted green, flowers and trees are drawn. The child decorates the house itself at his own discretion.
Vegetables and fruits
Learning to draw vegetables and fruits begins at the age of 5-7 years. The easiest way to depict a watermelon is:
- Draw an even circle.
- Place a dot on top and draw a spiral that will be the tail.
- Draw lines from the base to the bottom of the circle.
- Color the watermelon itself green, and make the lines dark green.
At every stage it is possible and even necessary to help a young artist - of course, if he himself does not mind. To make it even more interesting, suggest solving riddles about watermelon.
Human
A person is depicted according to a certain scheme:
- Make an oval that will be the head.
- Below it is a rectangle for the upper body.
- These two elements are connected by smooth lines, adding a neck.
- A second one is attached to the rectangle. It should be more elongated.
- In the middle of the bottom, draw a line down to create the semblance of legs.
- Along the first one draw two more thin ones, which will be hands.
- In the upper part a smooth line of shoulders is depicted.
- After this, clothes and shoes, hands are drawn. Excess elements are removed with an eraser.
- Finally, facial features are formed.
The creative process should take place in a fun environment; it is important that the activities are not a burden to the child.
Other tools
For painting, you will also need additional tools.
Their list:
- Brushes. It is better to buy a set of several products of different thicknesses: this will make it easier for your child to realize his creative ideas. For watercolors, choose brushes with natural squirrel or raccoon bristles, and for thicker, more saturated paints, use hard tools with artificial bristles. The holder material that is most comfortable for a child’s hand is wood.
- Paper. For drawings by a novice artist, album sheets of A4 format are suitable. When the child gets comfortable with the basics, it is recommended to replace them with special paper for certain types of paints (for example, watercolor or gouache). This way the pictures will become more juicy and beautiful.
- Palette. This is a device for mixing paints. Made from plastic. On the palette, the child can mix different colors and get new shades without damaging the paper.
- Pencil and eraser. Needed for drawing contours. It is advisable to choose a soft pencil, especially when working with water-based paints.
- Water container. Any cup, glass or jar will do. If your child spills liquid, it is better to buy a special mug with a protective lid.
For convenience, you can purchase a special tablet holder for paper or a small easel. It will teach the child to draw without rotating the sheet, which will be a good help for further artistic training.
Brushes and palette.
Developing a child's drawing talent
Having noticed a child’s craving for drawing, parents should think about developing his abilities: enroll him in an art school, in an appropriate club, or even contact a private teacher who offers individual training.
But experts recommend enrolling a preschooler in specialized institutions only if he himself enjoys attending classes. And if a child does not want to go to art school, or parents prefer to temporarily postpone education, it is quite possible to develop the talent of a preschooler independently.
What should drawings be like for children 6-7 years old and older?
In the drawings of preschoolers and children aged 6-7 years, a clear plot and design begins to be visible. The basis for it is often everyday and social situations from the child’s experience: communication with family, playing with friends at school and kindergarten, visiting a store, hospital and other public places.
Often, motifs from fairy tales or cartoons can be traced; the child depicts literary characters, animals, and familiar places. Children 6-7 years old also draw household objects: furniture, dishes, etc.
The picture of a child reflects his inner state and worldview. Child psychologists advise paying attention to the general mood of the image: it should not be aggressive or depressive.
The constant presence of such motives (sad or quarreling people, large teeth and claws in animals, etc.) may indicate psychological problems.
At 6-7 years old, children should have basic drawing skills. Clear lines with strong pressure, shading and shading that do not go beyond the contour, recognition of the objects and ideas that the artist tried to convey, testify to his correct development.
If the drawings do not meet these criteria, there may be both psychological and physical problems, such as vision problems, neurological disorders, or poor fine motor skills.
Free drawing.
Graphic arts
Anastasia Kuzmina
Graphic arts
Drawing is one of children's favorite activities, which provides great scope for the manifestation of their creative activity. The themes of the drawings can be varied. The children draw everything that interests them: individual objects and scenes from the surrounding life, literary characters and decorative patterns, etc. Outstanding representatives of pedagogical thought have always advocated that the teaching of drawing should be done correctly. That is why the child needs to be given knowledge of how and with what to draw.
The simplest form of art, but also the most capacious, is graphics . Graphics is a type of fine art that uses lines, strokes, spots and dots as the main visual means.
graphic materials are mainly used such as colored pencils, watercolors and gouache paints, which have different visual capabilities.
A linear shape is created with a pencil. At the same time, one part after another gradually emerges, various details are added. The linear image is then colored. This sequence of drawing creation facilitates the analytical activity of the child’s thinking. Having drawn one part, he remembers or sees in nature which part he should work on next. In addition, linear outlines help in coloring the drawing by clearly showing the boundaries of the parts.
In painting with paints (gouache and watercolor)
the creation of the form comes from a colorful spot. In this regard, paints are of great importance for the development of a sense of color and form. With paints it is easy to convey the color richness of the surrounding life: clear skies, sunset and sunrise, blue sea, etc. When executed with pencils, these themes are labor-intensive and require well-developed technical skills.
The kindergarten program determines the types of graphic materials for each age group. For senior and preparatory groups, it is recommended to additionally use charcoal pencil, colored crayons, pastel, and sanguine. These materials expand children's visual capabilities.
When working with charcoal and sanguine, the image turns out to be one-color, which allows you to focus all your attention on the shape and conveyance of the texture of the object; colored crayons make it easier to paint large surfaces and large shapes; pastel makes it possible to convey a variety of shades of color.
According to Olga Borisovna Dronova, the expressiveness of images in the drawings of preschoolers is influenced by a number of factors:
knowledge about objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality. Thus, color is used to convey similarity with a real object, to express the attitude of the painter to the object of the image and in decorative terms.
general artistic training for children. By mastering the techniques of composition, children begin to reflect their ideas in plot works more fully and richly.
individual characteristics
acquaintance with genuine art, which: develops artistic taste; activates creativity; encourages you to improve your own drawings. Various genres are available for graphics (portrait, landscape, still life, historical genre, etc.)
and virtually unlimited possibilities for depicting and imaginatively interpreting the world.
But we already know all this, and now I’ll talk about graphics that can be used to diversify visual activities.
1. Tone drawing - a drawing in which objects are depicted by simulating their light characteristics - the objects’ own coloring, light and shadows, both natural and falling.
2. Highlighting a charcoal drawing - charcoal is considered one of the most variable and expressive drawing media. A wide range of tones, from pale silver gray to velvety black, is just one of the advantages. The drawing is created in the reverse order, from dark to light. The entire paper is covered with charcoal strokes, and then to obtain white, grayish and gray spots from some areas, the charcoal is removed with a knurling eraser. Some tones that have become too light can be straightened by adding charcoal.
3. Spot Drawing – The use of spot and its unpredictable possibilities as an artistic technique has a long history. In 1786, the English artist Alexander Cozens dedicated an entire book, A New Method for Promoting Pictuality in Painting Original Landscape Compositions, detailing how a spot of ink could be used by artists to enhance and enliven their work. A group of spots scattered across paper can, according to Cozens, produce “a collection of random shapes from which a design can be composed.”
. An entire piece can be completed using this technique, but it is usually used to create a specific effect on a specific area of the drawing.
4. Dot method - in this technique, the image is made primarily with dots rather than lines. Groups of small black dots placed close to each other can be read as gray spots from a distance. By changing the size and density of the dots, you can achieve different tonal effects. This technique is often used in engraving to produce halftones and very fine lines, as well as in illustrating natural science black and white publications. The dots are made with a pen or pencil. The points can have different shapes and sizes if they are made of different materials.
5. Lines and washes - it is interesting and useful to use a combination of different techniques in a drawing. Lines can be drawn with a pencil or pen, and washes are usually done with diluted ink or watercolor. By using both, the artist gains the benefits of flexibility and expressiveness of line and the ability to quickly and effectively convey tones, light and shadow, or color through washes.
6. Brush painting – painting on grainy white paper with a good firm brush dipped in ink is one of the most emotional techniques. Fluid lines, varied strokes and the ability to quickly and easily achieve delicate halftones are a good confirmation. Smooth and bold lines are the key to a good drawing, or the key to success is barely visible lines.
7. Contour drawing - this technique is based on the ability to convey a three-dimensional shape and volume using lines drawn with graphite or colored pencils. The planes and curvature of volumetric forms are conveyed exclusively by lines: the external contours of the form and the contours within it are drawn, allowing you to simulate the image.
8. Frottage – used in painting to create texture effects. Frottage can be done on any hard surface that you can lay paper on. Most dry materials are suitable for transferring a drawing, in particular soft pencils and core conte. Can be combined with pastels or colored pencils to create a broken color effect.
9. Sgraffito - scratching a paint layer to expose the underlying surface. This is a kind of negative drawing, as it is created by removing paint rather than adding it.
10. Polishing - using friction and pressure to obtain a smooth and shiny surface. In combination with colored pencils, polishing allows you to achieve a glossy surface, smooth out color boundaries and even out the texture of the paper. It can create the impression of greater fusion of colors and enhance the brightness and reflectivity of the surface. A common method of polishing is dense shading with a white pencil over a previously applied paint layer, and wax crayons or pencils are also used in polishing.
11. Punching – The basic principle of punching is to create an indentation in the paper. After this, lightly shade the surface with the indentations with a pencil, which will slide over the pressed pattern, which as a result appears on a colored background.
12. White line drawing - the use of punching to create a specific decorative effect. First, create a drawing on tracing paper, then place it on drawing paper and draw lines with a hard pencil, needle or ballpoint pen, pressing them into the base paper. The image is then finalized by shading using soft pencils or pastels.
13. Reservation technique - based on the incompatibility of oil and water. Colored lines or stains are made with oil pastels, and then a thin wash of ink, watercolor or acrylic paints is placed on top. The greasy base of the pastel will repel diluted paint, which will fall on the areas of paper around the pastel strokes, leaving their color and texture clearly visible.
When developing children's creative abilities in visual arts, the main thing is that artistic creativity knows no limitations in material, tools, or technology. Children should be taught to draw using a wide variety of graphic materials . For a child, artistic material has a bewitching, attractive power. It suggests an idea, influences its character, and contributes to the creation of an artistic image.
In addition, by learning the properties and qualities of various materials, children enrich their sensory experience. In addition, when using various materials, you can create a situation of free choice, so necessary for creative activity.
Therefore, one of the main tasks of the teacher is to constantly update his own experience of working with new art materials and introduce children to them. Working in a variety of graphic techniques broadens one's horizons, develops creative imagination in artistic creation, develops imagination, helps to display the world around us in all its diversity, and teaches self-organization and attentiveness. Despite the undeniable effectiveness of using graphics for the comprehensive development of a child’s personality, little attention is currently paid to this type of activity. In programs for preschool children in visual arts, a limited number of options for these techniques are offered, or they are completely absent.
How to choose a drawing plot for preschool children
When choosing a painting theme for a child, you need to take into account 2 factors: the level of his skills and personal interests.
Popular drawing subjects for preschoolers:
- scenes from fairy tales;
- situations from the life of family and friends;
- visiting public places;
- landscapes, scenes with animals;
- the work of people of various professions - doctors, cashiers, rescuers, etc.
When choosing a plot, it is important to leave the child freedom for creativity. The topic should guide the student's imagination rather than limit it.
Fairy tales.
We teach children from 2 to 8 years old to draw
How to teach a child to draw at any age? Based on the developmental characteristics of a child at a certain and specific age, you can start drawing with him at any time. Let's see how this can be done at different ages.
2 years
Starting at this age, at 2 or 3 years old, most children enter a nursery or kindergarten. And already then the first drawing training begins, step by step, through the simplest drawings.
To start drawing at this age, teach your child to first hold pencils in his hand. Also, try finger painting. Draw the simplest objects - circles, lines, triangles.
At this age, the child develops a perception of visual language and begins to remember familiar and similar figures. That is why you need to start drawing with the simplest geometric shapes.
4-5 years
As the child gets older, he pays more attention to detail, making his drawings more complex. At this age, you can already begin to draw animals and people, drawing parts of the body, adding various objects, for example, a house, trees, flowers.
At 4 and 5 years old, the child learns to convey his impressions of events through drawings. You can ask the child to draw how his day went in kindergarten, or how you went to the dacha, to draw his grandparents - this way the visual image will be transferred to paper, and the child will begin to create connections between events.
6 years
By the age of six, many children already go to school, where a teacher teaches them during drawing lessons. This, of course, is already different from simple lessons at home, but it also develops more accurate drawing skills.
At this age you can already master paints, for example, gouache. It is simpler than watercolor, and it will be easier to learn the basics of painting.
7-8 years
At school age, you can already safely move from coloring books to independent drawings.
You can also introduce your child to more complex colors, such as watercolors. Here you can choose some simple master classes, for example, on the YouTube channel, so that the child learns from lessons to draw more complex pictures, with a plot and characters.
Palm drawings
Handprint painting is a good way to develop creative thinking in young children.
For this purpose, special paints are used that adhere well to the hand, leave a clear imprint on the paper and are safe in case of accidental ingestion.
With your palms you can draw:
- flower petals;
- branches and crowns of trees;
- other plant parts, such as carrot tops;
- fish, jellyfish and octopuses;
- animals - 4 fingers will be “paws”, and the remaining one will be the tail.
Later, various details are added to the resulting silhouettes with fingers or a brush. The child can do this either independently or with the help of his parents. Drawing with palms develops abstract thinking and helps to see different objects in one simple form.
Palms are an excellent drawing tool.
What skills does drawing develop in children?
Fantasy and imagination
Drawing for children 6 years and older is an excellent opportunity to develop imagination, that is, the ability to create images in their minds and transfer them to paper. And the more time a little artist devotes to drawing, the better his imagination will be developed.
Of course, an image invented and transferred to paper cannot convey everything that the child saw in his mind, so he begins to fantasize, invent his own story based on the resulting image. The parents' task is to listen carefully to his story about the drawing, fantasize with him and stimulate his imagination.
Subsequently, this will help him make plans for the future, imagine his life in a few years, invent and design something new.
Speech development
Most often, a young artist, even before he begins to draw, talks about what he wants to depict on a piece of paper and reveals the plot of the future painting. And while drawing, he often speaks out loud his actions, talks about what he is depicting at the moment. All this contributes to the development of his speech and replenishment of his vocabulary. Parents should maintain communication with their child, be interested in the plot of his picture, ask him to tell in more detail about what he wanted to draw, ask leading questions, and discuss the finished work.
Perception of the surrounding world
The perception of the surrounding world in a 5-7 year old child is not yet as perfect as in an adult. Drawing stimulates the development of perception, forces you to study new objects to depict in a picture, to discover some new qualities in them that previously remained invisible.
The difficulty of drawing for a child 6 years old and older can be very diverse, depending on his skills. A preschooler can be asked to portray characters from a familiar fairy tale, cartoon characters, or, for example, the underwater world or space - the way the child imagines it. In the process of creative activity, the artist is unobtrusively transferred new knowledge related to the theme of the drawing.
Step-by-step creation of drawings by children
The most important thing in learning any type of creativity is constant practice. Before learning to draw complex, intricate paintings, a child must gain an understanding of simple shapes and the basics of composition.
At the initial stage, learning from ready-made sketches and step-by-step instructions is best for mastering the basics.
They should not limit the imagination and desires of the young artist, but only guide.
Snowflakes and winter ornaments
The image of snowflakes develops imagination and abstract thinking well.
Procedure:
- Draw a circle. Place a dot in the center.
- Focusing on it, cross out the circle horizontally, vertically and twice diagonally - you should get 8 lines inside. This will be the base of the snowflake.
- The blank is filled with circles, lines, zigzags, polygons and other shapes, creating an individual pattern. Similar actions are performed with each beam, maintaining symmetry.
It is worth giving your child creative freedom and the opportunity to draw according to their individual skill level.
Winter motifs in drawings.
Red Apple
Images of fruits and berries are the basis of most educational programs. Using their example, the child understands the basics of lighting and darkening, and color selection.
Steps for drawing a block:
- Draw a circle. Adjust the shape of the top and bottom parts to create the silhouette of an apple. Draw a line (“dimple”) in the upper part, mark the stalk and leaf.
- Apply the first layer of watercolor. It should be light, almost transparent. The apple can be decorated in green, yellow, red colors or a combination of shades at the child’s discretion.
- Color the fruit in a basic tone, skipping areas of highlights.
- Starting from the top of the apple, apply shadows, adding specks of paint and gradually stretching them with a brush.
Having completely painted the base, they begin to draw the stalk and leaf, thicken the outline and other finishing touches.
Fruit still life.
Watermelon gouache
Drawing a watermelon is another easy way to become familiar with basic shapes in painting.
Step-by-step instruction:
- Draw a triangle. Erase one of its sides and replace it with a semicircle, and also make the opposite vertex rounded.
- Inside the resulting outline, select the peel and the layer between the peel and the pulp.
- Paint the main part of the watermelon red. Highlight the layer between the pulp and the peel in green, making a smooth transition.
- Color the peel deep green. Add some dark stripes.
Lastly, you can add a few dark brown and yellow watermelon seeds.
Drawing landscapes
Using paints, it’s easy and quick to paint landscapes - from forests and mountains to the sea or the night sky.
The specifics are different, but the technique remains the same:
- Draw a pencil sketch. It should be as simple as possible and indicate only shapes, without details.
- Paint the background with primary colors: for example, sea and sand or field and sky. Draw large objects such as plants or mountains.
- Apply shadows and highlights. Add surroundings: clouds, waves on the water, etc.
Lastly, small details are completed: seagulls in the sky against the backdrop of the sea, fruits on the trees, etc.
Landscape with colors.
Techniques for working with artistic colored pencils. Types of hatching
The publication about the peculiarities of working with artistic pencils received a great response. Many people wanted to learn more directly about the techniques of drawing with this instrument of fine art.
This publication about techniques is rather theoretical in nature, something that needs to be honed only in practice. So dare, try, break pencils and don’t be afraid of anything. Everything will work out, and it will take a lot of paper.
But believe me, it's worth it!
So, let's begin.
- Straight hatching
This technique is a classic drawing and will be used more often than others.
We sharpen the pencil so that it is very sharp. And we put strokes diagonally, pressing evenly on the pencil, with the same distance between the lines. At first, every now and then clear lines will appear in places due to the fact that you press unevenly on the pencil. The hand will not obey and the pressure will be different. But this is only the first ten minutes.
This technique requires some training. Don't be afraid if it doesn't work out right away. Try again and again. Ideally, it would be good to completely cover the A4 sheet.
Then draw a circle and stroke around it, placing strokes according to the shape.
In general, you need to hatch exactly according to the shape in order to emphasize the volume of the object. As an example, I schematically showed how the stroke lines will be positioned when drawing a blackberry leaf. Since it has additional volume between the veins, the leaf seems to bend between them.
- To obtain cross-hatching, place another layer on top of the first layer at an angle of approximately 30-45° from the first. Another name for it is caulk. Mainly used for background covering.
You can put not only two layers of strokes, but also more. The main thing is that they should be at different degrees. If you initially placed the second layer at a high degree, then place another layer of stroke at a medium degree between these two.
- Tushevka . This is drawing with the side of the stylus. The pencil must be sharpened with a knife so that the lead is long. When drawing with colored pencils, you can do shading simply with an unsharpened lead and light, even pressure, since art pencils themselves are soft. On the Internet, I met an artist from Austria who does shading with small circular movements. And it turns out very beautiful. The main thing is that the stroke lines are not visible.
Notice how I hold the pencil: at a sufficient distance from the lead. This makes it easier for them to maneuver, plus it ensures even pressure.
Shading allows you to gently apply color. It creates a “cotton” effect, especially if the paper has a texture.
Using shading is also convenient for glazing. For example, I put another layer of light yellow on top of the blue wash.
As you can see, art pencils blend beautifully on paper due to their softness. But more about the mixing technique below.
Shading can be placed on top of a straight or cross stroke for greater color saturation and density, as well as to smooth out unevenness.
- Stretching. This is a smooth transition from light to dark
Barely pressing on the pencil, gradually increase the pressure.
The important word here is gradually.
At first there may be sharp transitions and lines, but soon you will train your hand. Try stretching all the colors of a set of pencils to get an idea of what they can do.
Let's get everything out of the pencil!
What is stretching used for? Of course, the sky comes to mind. In fact, it is used almost everywhere with the addition of other techniques.
Flower petals, background, adding volume to smooth objects (porcelain, plaster, drapery, etc.).
- Changing shade . Essentially it is mixing colors on paper. Here we remember the basic rules of mixing and the color wheel:
— yellow+blue=green;
— red+blue=purple;
— red+yellow=orange.
We dance from the stove. These three rules are the stove.
Of course, you don't have three pencils in your set. Getting blue by mixing is not necessary, but nice
Knowing and mastering these rules well, you will learn to feel color and understand what shade to add to get the desired one. Sometimes a small addition of a certain shade brings a richness of color to the work and makes it interesting. You can change the shade using not only two colors, but also more.
- Infusion of color.
Essentially, this is the same stretching, only colored. This technique is used all the time, no matter what you decide to draw.
For example, we need to make a transition from yellow to red. Let's imagine that we are drawing an autumn leaf.
First we paint with yellow, then we move to orange, then red. At the same time, we apply color to the neighboring color. Here you need to “maneuver” with pressure. When moving the orange pencil along the yellow one, the pressure should be light, then increase it.
We are trying to make the transition smooth. To do this, we use the shading we already know. Layer the strokes in layers according to the shape of the object.
This concludes our short educational excursion into the technique of drawing with colored pencils. So to speak, the theory has been obtained. You can also move on to practice.
I wish you diligence, a light hand, patience and creative impulse!
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to write in the comments.
Should I send it to art school?
If you see that your child loves to spend time with paints and crayons more than with other toys, then most likely you have already thought about sending him to art school and starting to develop his skills and talent as early as possible.
Like any school, art schools designed for several years of continuous study have their pros and cons. Every parent wants only the best for their child, so let's figure it out together.
So, the advantages of art school:
- at school the child will learn discipline and become more responsible;
- this is good preparation in terms of time management - after all, in addition to drawing, there is also a basic school, as well as other clubs and sections, as well as household responsibilities;
- with a good teacher and training program, you can reveal a child’s talent and help him fulfill his dream;
- art education, a good start in a future profession, and compiling a portfolio will allow you to get additional points in exams;
- Studying at an art school trains willpower very well, especially when you need to draw the same picture 30-40 times.
As you can see, there is a lot to take away from art education for your child. But there are also several disadvantages that you should not forget about:
- the classical program can harm the individual style that begins to manifest itself in the child;
- fatigue from heavy workload;
- cost of tuition and materials - not everyone can afford to pay for school for several years in a row;
- the child may stop liking studying and will have to choose: quit a job in which a lot of effort and money has been invested halfway, or finish education through force;
- Not all schools have good teachers or programs; some of these may simply not be suitable for the child.
Naturally, these pros and cons can arise not only in an art school, but also in any other club or section. I just want you to see the full picture and choose only the best option for your child.
If you can't decide on full-time art school for a few years, try online, like my school. This way you can introduce your child to the basics of painting, complete the program in a short time, and decide together with your child whether you want to continue studying at school.