Part 3 - Painting and drawing with pleasure

1. Constellation,
Art to help children grow and connect
Painting and drawing
with pleasure
What you need to know about…
Color
Lines
Strokes
Perspective
Chapter 3

2. This slideshow explains the main principles
you can follow to create a work of art.
We will see:
• Color
• Strokes
• Lines
• Perspective

3. Color
The painter is showing how to
blend colors:
« I encourage them with colors.
To begin, they only use yellow,
blue, and red. Then I teach them
about the other colors and how
to obtain new tones. It’s vital that
these young artists lose their
fear of blending colors or of
making smudges. » Sylvia in
Ecuador

4. I am a color magician
I learn to seek out my colors and
to use my brush.

5. I choose my colors
I take the chance to use the
colors that I choose.
Note: during workshops,
reference painters who take
liberties in choosing their
colors.

6. I choose the colors that I like
From the first
lesson on, you
must teach
that paper is
white so that
you can color
it. The children
will then only
turn in their
works once
they’ve
colored
everything.
Sylvia

7. Colored grey
with red in the
clouds.
I add color to black
I can include other colors in black:
Cool black
like shadows
with blue.
Warm black
like a fire’s glow
with red.

8. I paint the entire page
I cover my page with
color(painting on the right) and I
make my own white so none of
the white of the paper shows.
A painting is not just a bunch of
objects that I fill in with color.

9. White is a color
I can add a bit of white to my tube to make a white that’s more warm or
less warm, more reddish or yellowish (for example the snow under the
setting sun or the yellow of a horse) or more or less blue (for example
snow in a shadow)

10. Light creates contrast
I can choose what I want to highlight
and make a choice of light:
I create a contrast between the
buildings which are dark and the
countryside which is light.

11. Complementary colors
Estefania created a gray that’s
colored with complementary
pairs:
Red+green,
Blue+orange,
Yellow+purple.
These colors really pop when
they’re next to each other;
unless they’re of the same
value (see the following page).
Estefania painted the background
of the volcano in gray. The gray is
colored. There’s red in it. It goes
together with the volcano’s flame.

12. Colors with the same value
When complementary colors are of the same value, that means that if you
looked at it in black and white, it would be the same gray, neither lighter nor
darker.
Colors of the same value lose their liveliness.
Here, the red and the green, complementary colors, have the same value.
They don’t enhance each other. There’s little difference between the grays
Original painting Painting in black and white

13. Strokes
The stroke is
the way in
which you
handle the
brush.
The hand is a
precious tool.
Its movement
accompanies
the flow of the
water, the
growth of the
grass or trees,
and the texture
of the objects
or animals.

14. Brush movements
Depending on what I’m trying to show, I can make longer or shorter
movements with my arm, which is extended by the brush.

15. With the brush,
I can paint
small flames in
different colors.
Small strokes

16. The stroke changes with the subject
I paint the texture of the animals in
the direction of the feathers or of
the fur.

17. Lines
Lines don’t
surround the
shape; they
accentuate it.
I can draw over
the shape that I
want to
highlight with a
small brush.
Out of all the
shapes, I’ll
choose those I
want to
highlight.

18. Lines which change thickness bring out
the shape
A brush or pen line is lighter and more lively
than a pencil line. It doesn’t keep the same thickness throughout.

19. A line doesn’t constrain a shape.
It lets it have its freedom.

20. Lines can give a certain vigor
I can give some vigor back to
the shape with a line that isn’t
black.

21. A line is not the outline of a shape. Lines
express volume.
The line has to take the shape into
consideration when I’m drawing.
The line helps me think about what I’m
drawing. I have to understand what I draw:
• I have to draw the leg under the
clothes so that it connects properly
to the torso.
• I draw the head under the hat so
that the skull stays attached to the
hat.
I draw over the horse’s knees,
horseshoes, and jaw.
• I draw every finger on the hand, I
don’t lump them together.

22. Black marker surrounding all the shapes doesn’t
work
Avoid markers (painting on the bottom
right) because they draw a line with the
same thickness throughout and it
constrains the shape, a bit like wire.
Don’t surround all the shapes. Choose
the ones you wish to highlight.

23. Outlining a shape in black isn’t necessary
What you need to
make a shape
stand out is:
• The contrast
between lights and
darks (see page 12
on color values)
• To use
complementary
colors

24. Perspective
Painting and
drawing in
perspective isn’t
necessary.
If the child asks
for it, you need to
showthem the
right ways.

25. Horizontal and vertical lines
The point at which horizontal lines converge is at eye
level.
Vertical lines remain vertical.

26. Far/small- Close /big
What’s in the foreground (people, rocks, houses...) is larger. You can
accentuate the differences.