Blog

Posts in Art for Kids
How to: Expressive Oil Pastel Illustrations (in the Style of the Children's Book Little Birder)

Do you want to use oil pastels but don’t know where to start? In this tutorial I will walk you through the steps to illustrate an oil pastel bird (or any subject matter) in the style of my children’s book “Little Birder: A Field Guide to Birds of the Alphabet”. This stye is bright and impactful and makes the most of oil pastel’s appealing qualities, but it does not require perfection or years of mastery and can be painted in a relatively short time.

This is a great place to start your oil pastel journey or continue to develop your own style using the versatile medium of oil pastels.

Read More
Sparking Creativity | Kids with Oil Pastels | Art Tutorial

This style is intentionally imperfect but the defining features of the bright oil pastels, with heavy black outlines, created by expressive markings on black paper is like an elevated version of the crayon scribbles we all know and love. It is amazing how this small change from crayons to oil pastels, white to black paper, and some intentional black outlines will create stunningly eye-catching artwork from the same little hands that brought you that lovely chicken-dog blob that has been hanging on the fridge since it came home from school on Father’s Day.

Read More
Free Art Class for Kids | How to Draw Realistic Birds on Outschool - Part Two: Guided Drawing Video

Do you have a child that wants to be an artist or learn to draw? This is the guided-drawing video of a Black-capped Chickadee. A free video lesson from my class How to Draw Realistic Birds (and Think Like an Artist) on Outschool.com

If you haven’t watched the part-one learning video, find it here.

Read More
Free Art Class for Kids | How to Draw Realistic Birds on Outschool - Part One

Do you have a child that wants to be an artist or learn to draw? In this post I share the first video from week one of my How to Draw Realistic Birds (and Think Like an Artist) class on Outschool.com

Keep reading to learn more about learning on Outschool and find the free learning video.

Read More
Procreate for Kids - 5 Age Appropriate Digital Art Activities

Some people might tell you that Procreate is too advanced for kids, especially young kids. They would be right— if you’re expecting your child to master the software and use it to its maximum potential. Consider that most adults only have a partial grasp of the potential of the Procreate app, even those of us who use it nearly every day. While true, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. You could opt for something “made for kids”, or you can expose your little one to the real-deal creative software that is made for artists— with the understanding that just like any medium you give them (crayons included), mastery of the medium is not required for it to be worthwhile. With the right supervision and guidance, everything they can do on paper, they can do digitally. It is boundless creativity and a great way to practice their motor-skills. And the cool thing is that you can do it with smaller environmental impact (so much less paper waste.)

Read More