Hi there,
Welcome aboard.
As promised, I am starting this blog to communicate
and share with you, our journey in the magical world of art, with kids.
Along the way I will share some basic information about what, how and
why we do things in the class and also tips and information for you
parents, on handling an artsy kid at home.
This post being the first is dedicated for the basic things we
need for art.
Though we know them by sight, we
seldom give a second thought to know about their inherent qualities. This post
is to give a little deeper knowledge on the basic stuff we use.
Art Surface
This is basically the surface that we use to do
our artwork on. There are n number of preferred art supports available.
Let us discuss the bare basics suitable for kids.
Drawing notebooks:
There are many names for
this multi-sized multi-variety drawing notebooks that are in sale in the art
stores - Drawing pads, sketch pads, painting pads
for different media and so on.
For the newbies they all
look alike. The difference between them will mainly be the
grain of the paper (usually specified by their weight in GSM- grams per
square meter.) that suits each need.
Sizes and orientation of pages also differs as per usage preference.
The ones with spiral rings on one end is much suitable for kids since they can
be turned over easily. It usually comes with a tear-off line, if you want
to preserve a particular project you can tear it with ease.
For kids it is sufficient to buy regular drawing pads with copy paper
style papers. But the ones with slightly thicker than normal printing A4
sheets (higher the GSM thicker the paper) holds good for more messy and watery
artists like my kids.
Paper Roll
These can also be handy
when you have a really artsy kid who loves doing endless sketching and
drawing whenever he/she wants.
This spool can be rolled down as you need.
Readily available in many stores, like ikea.
Canvas
There again is a huge
array, but let us see the commonly used type-The cotton canvas.
Cotton canvases are
basically cotton fabrics stretched into frames and primed for a smoother
finish. This type of canvas is a wonderful surface for tempera, acrylic, oil,
gouche or mixed media paintings.
Kids love the brilliant
white and smooth surfaces that ink out wonderful texture as they paint on
it. They are much easier to use and cheaper than linen and silk canvases.
Professional artists
stretch their own canvases but as bare basic moms let us stick on to the simple
pre-stretched (stretching-readying a cotton fabric for painting) cotton canvases
available in various sizes.
Canvas boards/panels
Another cheaper version
of canvas- this again is cotton canvas stretched on thin wooden boards instead of
frames. This gives a overall sturdy feel.
These boards are cheaper than the ones in
frames and are good choice for beginners.
Canvas Pads
Sketch book style canvas pads for varied needs and in varied sizes are now available. These are pre stretched and primed acid free sheets of canvase papers for acrylic, oil or gouche paintings.
These are again a cheaper alternative for canvas frames.
Art Medium
Oil pastels
Oil
pastels are made of color pigments and oil/binder material, and thus have more
covering
ability like creamy butter. The color intensity is high too.
This is different from the wax crayons which has more wax than pigment in it,
although some oil pastels have little wax in it too (for non-sticky nature),
since it is used by kids.
Oil pastels tend to make a lot of mess n stickier than crayons but makes
brilliant colored marks on paper. But the binding material used in some brands
are slightly toxic in nature and thus not advised for kids younger than 2.5yrs
old to use.
It is wise to choose a good brand oil pastels when giving it
to very young kids.
Paints
There is a whole range of kid’s paints.
Tempera and Poster Colors comes first.
Tempera paint with egg based pigment binder in traditional use nowadays is more synthetic.
Poster colors (like Buncho)are water based synthetic paints. Viscosity and variety of colors make it easier for kids to use straight
out of tubs instead of mixing in palettes.
Finger paints is another great option for younger kids
who love to have a feel of the 'color':-) Home made finger paints using food colors is a affordable yet safe choice.
Water Colors
The safest bet, when it comes to painting with kids like
poster colors.
The intensity is lower than tempera or acrylic (although
kids try to take huge blobs of it to make it intense). They come in two
types - cakes and tubes.
Cakes
are less messy, can be cleaned easily with a wet tissue/damp cloth.
Tubes
need little expertise and care since one hard push will bring lot of paint out-
but mixing colors is easier with tubes and a palette for the smaller kids.
(Acrylics,
Oil and other paint varieties will be discussed in later posts.)
Markers
Marker/Sketch pens, are great to color, outline and border
can be used for a variety of reasons. They are easy to handle and less messy.
But it takes way lot more time and dedication to make similar strokes to fill
big spots thus not overly popular with speedy kids like me :-) 
There again is a wide variety in this. Water soluble/washable markers, flat, brush
and Fine tipped markers and the list is endless.
Colored Pencils
Pencils are always a great choice when it comes to practice since kids are
already comfortable with the pencil grip and the application is also smoother.
The colors are milder or deeper in tone as per the variety. Water color pencils are so much convenient for those who are scared of the
mess from water color tubes. Even
pastels are available in pencil forms which are so much fun and easy to use.Rolling
crayons in pencil form are another good invention to make less messy art.
Pencils
The most basic and essential element of art/drawing. Pencils with glossy holds and prints outside can
be left alone.
Go for proper camlin/natraj style pencils (nostalgic much?
:-) )
Pencils are named in many varieties- the major category would
be H & B.
H - Hardness, how much the lead reaches into the paper.
B - Blackness, the darkness or intensity of the lead.
It stretches into both extremes. From 6H - 9B.
Pencil lead is made of a
mixture of graphite and clay. The graphite is the part that makes the dark mark
on the paper. The clay is there because graphite on its own is far too soft and
crumbly to write or draw with.
The grade, or hardness, of a pencil is due to the proportions of graphite and clay (or polymer/resin). More graphite makes for a softer lead, and more clay makes for harder lead. Thin leads for
mechanical pencils are similar, but with a polymer or resin taking the place of
the clay.
Wooden pencil leads also have a little wax or grease added for extra smoothness.
In mechanical pencil leads, this is replaced with oil.
We use HB (Equal hard and black) for basic sketching and 2B,
4B/6B as per our preference for shading purposes. When you're actually using a
pencil, you want it to make marks on paper. The softer the lead, the darker the
marks it will make.
Artists
often use a range of different pencils for a single drawing, switching to a
harder lead when they want sketching or light shading, and a softer lead for
darker areas.
The downside of softer
lead is that you're getting the extra darkness by putting more of the lead on
the paper, so it gets used up faster. That means you'll be sharpening more
often, or with a mechanical pencil, clicking out lead more often.
Charcoals are another
option of cheap yet effective sketching tool now available in pencil form. But
these are not advisable for younger kids.
Erasers
Always invest in a good quality white eraser which comes in handy with our extra dark pencils and get ready to sweep away the mount of eraser dust kids are going to make. Erasers of funky shapes and fragrances can be left alone.
Roll-on erasers, electric erasers and knead-able erasers will be covered in later posts.
Brushes
An important investment for any artist. Brushes in itself is a
huge topic, let us go bare basic again. They are categorized by
bristle size, shape, material and brush handle.
For kids - one flat, one
round and one detail brush in varied sizes(flat being the bigger size) are
enough investment.
Brushes make different
impression on art support based on the material they are made of.
Synthetic (nylon),
natural hair (horse/ox) and so on.
Simple synthetic brushes
with medium sized handles are fine for kids.
(I will
post separately later, on brushes - how to handle and maintain them
with kids)
Other stuff
Cleaning is a big trouble when it comes to art (unless you are a mom like me
who loves messy art). Always have wet wipes with you to save the trouble
of cleaning stickiness with oil pastels.
Rolls of kitchen towel
are life savers for us while painting. If you are eco-friendly, a piece of
cloth will do just fine for all.
Small plastic disposable
plates with dividers will do well as a palette in a hurry.
When you are
designating a corner for your child to do art, keep in mind that it should be
airy and well lit with natural light.
That is all for now.
Have an artsy day…
See you soon with something else...
