Summer Camp 2009

I taught animation at a summer camp for the 92nd St Y this past summer. One of the lessons was drawing characters and exploring the developing process. For my examples I had the kids (ages 5-11) draw some well known figures to get the hang of it and warm up. Many of the kids enjoyed the process but some did not. Many of them crumpled the paper, ripped it up, threw it out, etc. Well, I couldnt let them go to waste - I fetched them out of the trash, collected them, and compiled them into sequences. Here they are;
"Sponge Blob" 2009

(For Higher Quality)
and...
"Mickey Mice" 2009

(For Higher Quality)
Occasionally you will see my drawings in both of which I drew upside down - but often times the kids were making way better Sponge Bobs than the ones on TV even. WHY DONT THEY HIRE KIDS TO MAKE KIDS SHOWS?! IDIOTS! Anyways, I plan on using these somewhere at some point.

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

As colored by a 4 year old.

Applying the Lesson

Watching a child paint really opens up your eyes to the whole process of layering and coordination. A short time ago I started a drawing and allowed my foster son to finish it the way he pleased. Having never held a paint brush before his hand was weak and brush sloppy - he struggled to stay in the lines as he chose an area to fill in. His general knowledge of "fill in the space" was there but the operation was not. I found this very fascinating and attempted to apply it to my own process.

I side more with realism but struggle with applying color to that idea appropriately. So I agree more with filling it in and calling it a day. What I noticed watching my son was that he had the same goal - to fill in the space one way or another - layering sloppy brush strokes till it was done. I noticed the amount of texture this had created and discovered that when mixing it with different types of papers and inks it creates a lot more texture more natural to real life. In this case I am using DIAZO blueprint paper that turns color pretty much with any addition of moisture. By mixing inks, paints, water, and ammonia I got this effect - which is in some ways closer to where I wanna head which is towards WYETH but on a PICASSO level.

(note) this is being used for a test for a new illustrated/comic piece.
- Also take a look at the inspiration that came from watching a 1 and a half year old paint - http://vimeo.com/6414107

Line by Line

"Chucky Dancing"
This is a line by line with a 2 year old, 5 year old, and a 23 year old.
What I observed to be very interesting is that the 2 year old had a very broad and uncontrolled addition to the piece - she was not thinking about shape, form, or position and it created shapes and forms in a position in the context as a whole. I was a very heavy on the hand close and detailed addition - not leaving much of an area - and the 5 year old was somewhere in the middle - seeing the picture as a whole - adding simple details the other two of us missed - for example the ears - the hair on the head - the lower jaw and teeth - and the right eye brow.