Having fun with painting and drawing - Making an artwork

1. Having fun with painting
and drawing
This slideshow provides
some ways to know how to
be creative, how to find
ideas and how to make an
artwork.
Constellation,
L’art pour faire grandir et relier les enfants
Making an artwork

2. • How do I find ideas?
• How do I go about making my
piece?
• How do I paint my piece?
This slideshow will explain how
you can make a work with your
own personal touch.
For that, we’ll need to answer
three questions:
• I have a choice between
multiple techniques:

3. How do I find ideas?
There are two ways to find your inspiration :
I paint from what’s in
my mind
or
I paint by observing
what’s around me.
The following pages will show some
examples and explanations.

4. I paint what’s in my mind
For example:
I can show my fear of
AIDS, a deadly disease.

5. I paint what’s around me
For
example, I
can paint
the
landscape
around my
village.

6. I can paint the animals from
my region

7. I can paint the people from
my village or my friends
Carefully observe
the people you’re
drawing and capture
all the details of
their face and of their
clothing as you really
see them.
Don’t copy what you see on television, in
comic books or in cartoons.

8. I can paint the festivals I go
to or the festivals I’m told
about
Remember to draw
all the details of
what happens at
the festival (dances,
song, food, the
audience, the place
where the festival is
happening… ) that
allows you to
understand
what’s really
happening.

9. I can paint the traditions,
rites, and dances of my
country

10. I can paint the traditional
characters of my country

11. I can paint tales from my
country
Legend from
Guatemala:
The Quetzal
Legend from
Nicaragua: la
llorona or
the crying
woman

12. I can paint the objects and
constructions of my country

13. I can paint objects like
« still lifes »

14. I can paint by taking
inspiration from photos or
drawings
Choose a nice looking drawing (one made by an artist for example).
Look closely at the original drawing in order to understand all there really
is to draw. Observe the differences in shapes, proportions, and textures.
Then put the picture away so you can’t see it anymore. Draw it from
memory.
(Especially don’t trace. )

15. I can paint by taking inspiration
from what the great masters
have done
Use drawings or photos of works the
great masters have done; preferably
choosing artists from your own
country.
Carefully look at the drawing or
painting as long as necessary.
Then put away the work so you
can’t look at it anymore.
Draw by taking inspiration from
what you’ve seen and create YOUR
OWN drawing, without trying to
copy the master’s work.
Based on The Scream by Edvard
Munch (Norwegian painter)

16. How do I go about making my
piece?
Painting is
CREATION
The following pages will show some
examples and explanations.
Like painters, I paint or draw my ideas in MY way,
and I create MY shapes and MY colors.
Painting is
FREEDOM

17. I make my ideas a reality by
inventing new things
You can invent new
shapes ,
like the great artists
do.
Don’t hesitate to
dedicate part of your
workshops to looking
at works from local
artists.

18. Like painters do, I invent characters.
I make my ideas a reality by
inventing new characters.

19. I make my ideas a reality by
inventing new characters.

20. I make my ideas a reality by
telling stories.

21. I make my ideas a reality
without copying other
drawings.
Painting is
freedom!
When I copy,
like in the
drawing
shown here, I
don’t express
anything about
myself and the
copy will be less
beautiful than
the original.

22. I make my ideas a reality
without EVER tracing.
If I trace, I’m not observing.
If I trace, I’m not thinking.
If I trace, my drawing doesn’t
express anything.
Here the child didn’t observe
what makes up an arm, a leg,
how the arm moves with the
body…

23. How do I make my painting?
All
childre
n are
capable
of
paintin
g
The following pages
will show you some
steps to follow to
make your painting
Group work allows everyone to paint
while being respectful

24. I make sketches before I paint
Making quick
sketches, if
possible full
sized, before
painting allows
you to relax
and gain
confidence
and skill. A
way to defeat
your fears.

25. I start directly with paint
without using pencil before.

26. " I first guide the children towards
coloring, since it’s motivating and makes
them lose their fear.
Then, when they have a handle on color,
with acrylics, pastels, or crayons, I guide
them towards form and the pencil.
This way they lost their fear of not being
able to draw and going outside of the
lines.
This led to some good results and, most
of all, liberated children!"
Sylvia, painter in Ecuador
I jump right in with a full
page

27. With a few exceptions (in
some techniques like
watercolor) I paint the entire
surface of the sheet. The
white space of the paper
must be colored.
I can create a nice white for
the sky.
I paint the entire surface,
without leaving any white
space

28. The background isn’t an
anonymous surface.
It corresponds to different
large surfaces called sections:
the ground, the sky, a house
I first paint the background
Here, the background is one color The background stands out: the path
is a different color
Here the background is made up of different
large sections: the sky, the grass, the road,
the water

29. When I paint the
background and the
bigger sections first, I
don’t ruin the details I
painted before.
To avoid ruining things
I should have painted the cornfield then the corn on top,
I should have painted the ground then the plants, the figure, and the animal on
top.

30. The large
sections of this
painting are the
orange of the
sky, the green of
the forest, the
orange of the
lake.The houses
are drawn
afterwards and
are painted on
top of the
background.
Example of large sections

31. I draw a few
strokes with a
pencil as
guidelines or I
paint directly on
the paper.
I paint from the
biggest detail to
the smallest,
by putting the
layers of paint
on top of each
other.
Then, I paint from the
biggest details to the
smallest.

32. After the background, I paint
the details.
In this painting, the large sections
are the red hills, the blue sky and
the yellow ground.
The figures have been painted
directly with a brush on top of the
large sections, without using
pencil.

33. Example of painting with
details
I paint the large
surfaces: blue,
pink, purple.
Then, I paint all
the details
(figures, houses,
birds…) with a
finer brush.

34. I decorate the large surfaces
I paint the
large
surfaces.
Then, I paint
all the details
(flowers,
fruits, leaves)
in the trees
and the
bushes.

35. I draw shapes with the brush
«The leader teaches the children to fit
everything into geometric shapes. It’s easier
and more playful for them. Triangles and
squares come from an urban landscape,
circles and ovals from a countryside. The
same goes for figures, and thus, they
advance in their learning.» Sylvia, painter in
Ecuador

36. If I want, I draw the details
before painting them.
Once the large surfaces
have been placed, the
children can draw in the
details with a smaller brush,
or they can even draw in
their figures in pencil on the
background before painting
them.

37. I paint a figure
For a figure, the
background is
the head and the
body, and so you
paint them first.
Then, you put in
the face, the
clothes, and the
details (necklace,
flowers on the
dress…)

38. I create the figures’
movements
« I make the circle of the head and
then little strokes going in all directions
so that the people or animals walk,
run, jump, or sleep… » Sylvia

39. I paint the silhouettes then
the details on top

40. I choose my techniques
There are a
number of
different
ways to
paint: different
formats, different
materials
The following pages
will show some
examples

41. Painting large-scale
Allows you to
get to the
basics
Gives freedom
Develops
brush skills
Different formats,

42. Painting large-scale,
together
Painting together:
Gives confidence
Allows each person
to paint without
fear
Teaches everyone
to respect the work
of others.

43. Making a comic
One format, among others,
which allows you to create a
story and draw characters.
Allows you to understand
what’s a close-up, the
foreground, the background…
seen from above, from below,
from the side….
Learning to choose is what’s
important.

44. Using paint and many other
materials
Paint, thick or diluted, gouache,
watercolor, oil, acrylic, inks, chalks….
Different materials

45. An example: pastels
With pastels, we find a very dynamic way to enter into the world of
composition, because they’re similar to crayons and allow children to learn
about the organisation of a painting.
Sylvia (Ecuador)
Different materials:
We’ll delve further
into the subject of
materials in a further
chapter.