Non-Artsy Mom Asks for Help

[Sahamamama]

I am that non-artsy mother... but my children love to draw, and so we plan to start in on Draw Write Now this year. The focus of this year will be on learning to see shapes in our model, lightly sketching those basic shapes (in pencil), using an eraser to remove or modify the lines, and coloring in the drawing with pencils. The girls are ages 5, 5, and 7, and have not had any formal art instruction.

 

Other than some Crayola colored pencils, Crayola water color paints, and reams of printer paper :blushing: we don't have official art supplies. What is a basic (very basic) list of supplies for elementary art? What do we need for a year of DWN? :bigear:

[Nancy Ann]

I recommend getting a tablet of water color paper for your water colors it makes a difference with the result. Michaels has some tablets and they don't cost much.

 

I also like to have oil pastels and colored charcoal which you can find at Michaels for not much cost as well.

 

crayons

glue stick

bottle glue

construction paper

white cardstock

box of doo dads ( that is not the official name but usually Michaels will have a barrel of craft stuff like sticks, poms, buttons etc.... for putting stuff together)

 

I just stick all our stuff in a box and bring it out once in awhile for the kids to dig in and do things. Nothing really official or following a curriculum.

 

Michaels also has fun simple craft kits that kids can do on their own.

 

I also like to have small bottles of different colors of acrylic paints that you can find at Michaels. I don't always bring this out as it can be messy, but acrylic paint is good basic paint.

[Sahamamama]

Thanks, Nancy Ann. We do have plenty of materials for "crafts" -- which I don't consider related to school at all, it's just what they do because they are girls. :D For this upcoming year, though, I would like the focus of our formal art time to be on drawing instruction.

 

Any other artsy people with advice on what materials to line up? :bigear:

[EmmaNadine]

Beeswax crayons

Watercolor pencils

Pastels

Acrylic paints

Good paint brushes, in several different sizes and shapes

Several different weights of paper

Colored pencils

A sharpener specifically for colored pencils

Charcoal, or artist pencils

Several good quality erasers

 

If you live near a Target, they have a new line called Kids Go Modern that has some good quality art supplies for reasonable prices. Art is one of those things where they quality of your supplies makes a huge difference.

[Sahamamama]

Beeswax crayons

Watercolor pencils

Pastels

Acrylic paints

Good paint brushes, in several different sizes and shapes

Several different weights of paper

Colored pencils

A sharpener specifically for colored pencils

Charcoal, or artist pencils

Several good quality erasers

 

If you live near a Target, they have a new line called Kids Go Modern that has some good quality art supplies for reasonable prices. Art is one of those things where they quality of your supplies makes a huge difference.

 

Wow, thanks! We just got home from Target, LOL. We were looking for a swimming pool, but no luck. Another day for art supplies. :lol:

[Pen]

For DWN?

 

I think all you need is:

 

1) colored pencils: Sargeant has inexpensive erasable ones (but not very bright)

and also watercolor ones (pigment is brighter and more intense). Not great quality, but good enough.

 

For high quality ones if you want that, I'd go to Prismacolor. (I haven't yet and mine is 10, and good at art! But he also drops his pencils, which breaks the "lead" inside, and I'd rather do that with less expensive pencils.)

 

2) A set of graphite drawing pencils, 3) erasers, 4) sharpeners would be helpful. Any pencil and eraser would do, but it is nice to have ones that are with softer and harder graphite centers meant for drawing. We have borrowers or gremlins who seem to steal our erasers, pencils, and sharpeners. Extras seem to be useful. I've gotten sets at Michaels, on Amazon, and at a local store when I see sales... they sometimes come with blending stumps, sandpaper etc. which you don't need yet, but may find helpful after a bit more experience.

 

5) Tracing paper can be very helpful to start, and later work on the shapes freehand. --nice, but not required.

 

It can also be helpful to work with drawing without outlining and then filling in, but rather doing it as a block of color and working toward the outer edge shapes. 6) again, nice but not required: Beeswax crayons are especially good for that. (And I agree with PP that they are just plain nice to have for children, they are also healthier than Crayolas, I believe.)

 

7) You can also work with watercolor for variety if you want. It is nice for young ones and moms both.

 

If you want to do watercolor (or even work wet with watercolor pencils) then you need watercolor paper. And if you want to paint,, then you need paint, brushes, a palette, and containers such as canning jars for the rinse water and so on. If not, you don't need any of that. (Personally I would recommend that with 5, 5, and 7 you do do some simple watercolor work. It can be just exploring the feel of the brush and paper and a single color at a time, then just seeing what happens when two colors are put on the paper at each end and the paper is tipped so they mix at the middle--that sort of thing.)

 

8) Reams of white paper as for copiers do wonderfully for drawing purposes for black and colored pencil drawings. It is what we mainly use, and we are big on art here.

 

9) For 5 year olds, you may want to use just beeswax block crayons and watercolor with biggish brushes, or get chunky pencils--it is a bit young to easily have a great deal of dexterity with narrow tools. 7 can probably handle pencils pretty well, and maybe your 5's can.

 

 

 

 

Some other things mentioned, like acrylics and pastels are beyond what I think you need at the stage your children seem to be at. You can do many years of art without them just fine, and can learn a lot about line and form and color with just pencils, good quality crayons, and watercolor. And for DWN you don't even need the latter 2.

Edited July 3, 2012 by Pen

[Pen]

Thank you for the PM!!!

 

A few extra thoughts:

 

If you can, a good quality watercolor would be helpful. I have used a type often used in Waldorf that is German made and nice to work with. If you are interested, I'll see what they are called. They are expensive, but you really only need the primary colors for the ages of your girls, and if you cap them well (and you put daily amount on palette or in jars mixed with water and cap those--a little bit will go a long way when mixed with water, and they will last a long time).

 

If I didn't make it clear before, I like a biggish brush for those young ages, not to try for detail at that stage--and all you really need is one brush for each of you. You also need a surface to work on that will not be ruined by wet, but working flat as on a table is easier than at a tilt as on an easel, IME. (the paint won't run down)

 

Rainbow resource has the Sargeant pencils, and also has chunky ones both color and black, i believe, (not sure what manufacturer) if you need that for your littles. They also have basic drawing pencils for not too much money.

 

Drawing with pencil, IME, should use a different hand position than for writing. The four fingers are placed on one side, the thumb on the other, and you draw (pull) the pencil along, rather than push with it-- the word draw comes from a root same as "drag" and keeping that in mind can help to understand what to do.

 

Proper holding position is not needed for DWN or other beginning levels, but it can be very helpful to start that habit early as it can make a big difference later on if they keep on with art or if you do. I have had art teachers teach me to do it with fingers up and thumb down (balls of all digits touching the pencil) and have gotten used to that now, but I was initially taught to do it the other way, with knuckles of fingers toward the paper. If sketching from life on a large page, it does make it easier to do it with the finger knuckles toward the paper. Coloring in, though, is easier done with the knuckles up away from the paper and using a consistent diagonal back and forth motion. You can experiment which you like better--either position will give much more fluid art than the writing position does, and is less tiring once you get used to it.

 

Not all art teachers will teach that about finger positions. I don't think DWN does.

 

You may or may not want to teach them to erase their stray lines. My son likes to do so, and likes the erasable colored pencils so he can get rid of mistakes. But the "mistakes" and stray lines sometimes add interest, and even a sense of motion. Take a look at Degas sketches and you will often see extra lines that make the dancers look like they are moving rather than still-lifes.