Drawing Lessons for Kids

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My son has lots of talents. And drawing is one of them. But sadly, he doesn’t want to acknowledge his talents because he’s more interested with Minecraft and everything related to it - searching for Minecraft mods, whatever that is, watching YouTube Minecraft videos.

He drew this wonderful Jack Sparrow portrait two years ago. As his mom, I will not allow him to waste his God-given talents.

I have tricks up my sleeve to make him practice sketching and drawing, as well as all other talents that I think he has, even for just a few minutes each day.

This summer vacation, I bought these how-to books on drawing, sketching and shading. I let him practice a few minutes a day, sometimes as simple as how to sketch and shade household items, and he’s doing a good job.

Here’s his latest:

He’s 11 years old, turning 12 this June, and he has an amazing talent. I’m so proud of him.

new drawing update

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After such a looong time, I was able to ask RJ to draw again. He’s my favorite person, I’m pretty sure everyone knows that, so I don’t want him to “forget” his talents. But even when I ask him nicely to practice drawing something new, aside from “scary” drawings, I think he feels that I’m “forcing” him to do something so he doesn’t do it. And he would rather play his PSP or watch reruns of his favorite cartoon shows on YouTube.

 

But he finally gave in.

 

A dragon, another one of his “scary” drawing, but it looks awesome!

 

 

He himself thought it was an awesome drawing. Don’t you think so too?

 

Recollection Day

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My son will be having his first recollection next week. The school’s campus ministry has come up with a wonderful surprise for the kids. They asked the parents to write a heart warming letter for their sons. We can also ask relatives, friends and even yayas and drivers to write a letter as well.

Everyone in the family wrote a letter for RJ. My niece, his cousin even sent a lovely drawing. I hope RJ will have a meaningful recollection (made even more meaningful by the letters from family).

How to “smoothly” review for exams

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This post is intended for mommies who, most often than not, loose their cool when helping their kids review for school exams. That happens especially when the child doesn’t want to review and is dilly-dallying instead of focusing on studying. That and cramming equals STRESS!

 

stress-free study time = mommy who doesn’t look like a dragon

 

I hate cramming, not just with studying for exams but anything that involves last-minute anything, because I don’t want to stress myself. When I’m stressed, I usually can’t breath well. Not a good feeling so as much as possible I avoid getting stressed.

 

So how do I help my son study without any stress at all? We start studying a week before the exams. That way, I also get to identify where he’s already good at and where he needs to allot more time reviewing.

 

Do you have some tips on how to help your child review for school exams with less stress?

 

Ghost Rider

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I don’t have any idea who Ghost Rider is but I think my son’s drawing is really nice. I’m glad that he spent some time drawing yesterday, instead of playing with the PSP (he’s grounded from playing) or reading his K-Zone magazines.

 

 

 

I would love to see him draw some things pleasing to my eyes and not that scary, but this is good for now. 

 

I will buy him more how to draw, or paint, books. I would rather spend lots of money on good books to hone his talents than spend on things that doesn’t even do him any good.

 

Ben 10 – Four Arms?

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RJ is a big Ben 10 fan. He collects Ben 10 toys, in fact that’s what he got for Christmas last year and for his birthday this year. The drawing above is his version of Four Arms. He named it Ultimate Four Arms. According to him, his version is better than Four Arms because it 1) can grow up to 100, 000 arms 2) has super strength 3) can jump up to 999, 999 feet high.

 

Johnny Depp, aka Jack Sparrow

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Here’s RJ’s drawing of Jack Sparrow. I originally posted this drawing last May but I’m one proud Mama so I’ll post it again today.

 

 

He’s good, right? Although he followed a step-by-step guide in You Tube, I think not all 10-year olds can perfectly end up with a drawing like that.

 

Thanks to sis Willa for creating this meme, now I can force (yes, he has the talent but too lazy to draw) my son to give me one good drawing every week.

 

jack sparrow, pirates of the caribbean

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Here’s what RJ drew yesterday.

 

 

He followed the step-by-step video from the YouTube channel of Shoo Rayner drawing school. That’s Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean.

learn how to draw

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My son loves to draw. But the want-to-play-DSi-games is more powerful than the want-to-improve-his-God-given-talents. I already bought all the art materials that he wants, even an easel, but he finds more time playing handheld games and watching television than drawing.

He always borrow my mobile phone to watch cartoons on youtube when he’s bored with his DSi games and cartoon show reruns on TV. We made a deal, he has to show me one drawing for every show that he watch on youtube.

I found this Youtube Channel that I let my son watch to improve his drawing skills. It’s called Shoo Rayner Drawing School.

Best-selling British Childrens' Author and Illustrator of over 154 books. I've illustrated another 70 or so for great authors like Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen, Rose Impey and others. I'm passionate about drawing and want to get the whole world to have a go. Every one can read drawings but they think they can't do them. Drawing is a language like any other - you need to learn the skills. ~shoorayner.com

The video is from Draw Stuff Real Easy, Shoo Rayner’s other YouTube Channel.

The one YouTube cartoon show = one finished drawing deal was never followed. But I’m happy that he finds time to watch the above mentioned YouTube Channel everyday. I’m contented to see one finished drawing per day.

how to draw a flower

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My son really loves to draw. He likes drawing cars, dinosaurs, pirates, aliens and wrestlers. "It's my specialty Mama." Who am I to argue, I'm not the "artist". There are days when he does draw something that doesn't have bulky muscles. But that happens only once in a blue moon.

I found an image that shows how to draw a simple flower while I was doing my usual blog hopping this morning.


howtodrawfunnycartoons

I'm very thankful because he followed the guide and drew this nice flower for me. Something colorful for once -he likes using black pencil most of the time. He doesn't like to color his drawings so I am really happy whenever I see him color his drawings.

Afterwards, he asked if he can use my mobile phone to search for how to draw videos on youtube. He was drawing the whole morning. He found some really amazing videos that has a step to step guide on how to draw cars, trees, animals, flowers and his favorite cartoon characters.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another fruitful day tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll find more videos that'll help him improve his God-given talent.

my son's summer activities

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My son's school was one of the earliest to end school year 2010-2011. I made a list of summer activities for him but just as the saying goes -the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. These are his daily activities:

I bought a table easel, poster paint and lots of bond papers for him. He has a boxful of watercolors, colored pencils and crayons. I have been buying second hand art books for kids, so he has lots of those also in his bookshelf. I enrolled him in an art class, at Museo Pambata, last summer vacation but I wasn't satisfied. Although RJ did enjoy making arts and crafts, the lessons were appropriate for preschoolers and he 's already 8 years old at that time.

I've noticed that he sneezes nonstop  in the morning and easily gets cough and colds since he stopped swimming June 2010. He started swimming when he was just 2, trains with a swim team daily and has been joining swimming competitions. I didn't want him to hate swimming so I allowed him to have a swim-break for a year. Since the start of summer break he's been swimming daily again.

Basketball during weekends.

Running at night.

And we watched Kaos. If you haven't yet, do watch it. My son had so much fun watching the acrobats and magical illusions. I'm 101% sure your kids will love it too.

We will have a one month vacation in the province next month. Hopefully I can find a good tennis coach and will also enrol him in guitar and piano lessons.

 

teacher's pet

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I don't think my son will ever be a teacher's pet. Although he doesn't answer back, whenever reprimanded by his teachers, he does tend to repeat things that he'd already been asked not to do.

He doodles all over his notebook while teacher is explaining something. He talks with his seatmates while other kids are busy trying not to sleep themselves. Whenever I ask why he does those thing, "I was bored". I guess that's the problem with traditional schools. Lessons are taught in a boring, repetitive way.

Every year, I contemplate whether to enroll RJ in a progressive school. I've seen how distressful, for the child and mom, the environment and lessons are in a progressive school. Learning is fun and more interesting. But I always end up enrolling RJ in a traditional school because he's doing ok anyway. Even though he tends to get bored, he knows all the lessons, his grades are pretty impressive, and he does participate during class discussions.