I love to take time each day to draw in my sketchbook. Except my sketches are more like whimsical doodles. I have found that taking 15 minutes a day to doodle has really changed my creativity and helped me come into my own style. So I wanted to pass this simple exercise onto my kids since they already love to draw. With the numerous papers of their drawings all over the house, I had to do something to keep track of them all. A sketchbook seemed like a logical idea since it keeps all of their wonderful creations in one place. So recently we purchased bound sketchbooks for the kids and I am encouraging them to use their new books.
How do you inspire sketches/doodles for you and your kids to add to your sketchbooks? Here are a few thoughts.
1. Doodle: I normally doodle without any kind of expectation of what to draw. I just make lines and shapes and don't really pay much attention to what I am drawing, I just see what comes out on the page. I love this because it has taken all the pressure off to try to draw something really great. When I'm finished I'm often amazed to see what I find in my doodles. Characters with little stories to tell, and sometimes even reflections of what I currently am going through. Somedays I add colour with watercolours or markers and it brings even more imagination out! I find that for kids, when you ask them to doodle they will often begin to draw pictures. So to get them out of this mode I take them through something called taking your pen for a workout. I explain that your pen is going to workout today and sometimes it is walking, running, jumping, twirling and so on. They love it and begin to naturally doodle. We then fill the lines with colours. It's important when doing doodling that you don't erase your lines. Just go with what you draw and don't worry about making any mistakes. I love to doodle in black tip markers.
2. Sketch from your imagination: I find this is the most common one my kids do. At ages 2,4 and 6 they haven't had any formal art lessons on how to draw. I just let them create and draw what comes to mind. I will often find my son drawing images from his favourite movie. My six year old draws lots of pictures of her family. My two year old loves to draw with tons of colour. They will naturally have things in their heads that they like to draw. At this age, I don't worry about trying to correct them or train them on how to draw, but rather let them have fun! As for me, I too love to draw from my imagination and have found that it is a skill I have had to develop over time.
3. Sketch an object: Again, with having young kids I don't tell them that we are going to draw this object on the table but rather I set up clues of things for them to draw. I may place a toy or a flower on the table and begin to sketch it myself. Usually if my six year old sees this, she too begins to do the same. My four year old may do this too if it is something that peeked his interest such as Toothless from the movie How To Train Your Dragon.
There are some simple things to do when opening your sketchbook! I want to leave you with a challenge this week! The family sketchbook challenge. I recommend that each member of your family that is participating whether one or 5 purchases a brand new sketch book and takes about 15 minutes a day to sketch or doodle. Let me know how it goes and I would love to take a peek at what comes out in your sketchbooks if you want to post pics!
One last thing, I would recommend a sketch book with a coil ring for yourself, and a bound sketchbook for younger kids if you want to keep all their art in one place. If you are going to use markers or watercolours, I really love mixed media sketch books since you can use all kinds of media on it. For my kids, I just got simple hardcover sketchbooks that they couldn't easily rip the pages out of!
Happy sketching!
Trish
I love the picture of L drawing the Barbie...she's so focused and doing a super job!
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