Homeschoolers! Do you have a budding artist in your home? Are you looking for a short series of fun lessons for them to do (preferably taught by someone else, perhaps online)? Oh, and for FREE?
Let me tell you about my latest obsession.
Have you heard of Johanna Basford? She's the Scottish artist who essentially created the adult coloring book craze. And she's also created Inky Art School.
I stumbled upon her by chance and am now completely obsessed - not with her coloring books, but her online 10-day art class based on her latest book, How to Draw Inky Wonderlands (aff link). The book basically teaches you how to draw many of the images in her books. But you don't HAVE to have the book to follow along. She provides free downloads if you want them. Or you can just DRAW.
I'm currently on Day 6 of Inky Art School, and I love the techniques she teaches. I've often struggled to find the right illustrations or graphics for my printables and books. A few times, I've created my own, but I agonized over them. After watching this and just trying the techniques, I think I finally have the confidence to do more of them.
Johanna is a fun and easy teacher. She actively shows you how to create images and encourages you to be creative and expand upon what she's taught.
You can find all of the episodes, downloads, materials and more here on her website. Don't worry! You don't have to go and buy a lot of stuff! The main things you need are paper, pencil, eraser, and a felt-tipped pen. I went ahead and bought the Layout Paper that she recommends and I LOVE it way better than the tracing paper I was using. (I didn't even know it existed and am so happy with it!)
So if you have a young artist looking to gain confidence and learn new techniques, this is a must-do. Each episode is around one hour long. And you can pause it as often as you want, rewind it, or whatever while you practice and draw along with her.
Watch the trailer for Inky Art School...
If you're looking for more art resources, check out these on MommyMaestra:
- Teaching Art to Preschool and Early Elementary Age Children - a complete art lesson for free here on MommyMaestra
- Art for Kids Hub - free online drawing videos for kids of all ages
- Aula Creativa 5 - an art workbook in Spanish for upper elementary and middle school
- Home Art Instruction with Heron Books - a curriculum review for tweens and teens
- 20 Multicultural Children’s Books about Female Artists