Frequently Asked Questions:
What’s different about your Amazing Step-By-Step Art Card technique?
Different is a key word here. I’m not touting the series as being better or the best, it’s simply different. The format is unique with individual lessons on each Art Card. The Art Card shows multiple ways to draw an animal, not just one way.
The most important facet in creating this program was the no-erase aspect. I could never follow those programs where the basic shapes were sketched in then magically disappeared in the final drawing. Crayons don’t erase, and colored pencils don’t erase well, so I needed to create a program that didn’t need an eraser.
The Art Card steps put the picture together like a puzzle. The artist will figure out proportions as they learn to see where the lines start and stop, and how they relate to one another. They also learn to make decisions about where they want the lines to go. When the lines are exaggerated, a bit of cartooning appears and new generations of drawings begin. My way is just one way to put the pieces together. People will try it, then draw it the way it makes sense to them.
There are over thirty different animal cards in each kit– enough for a whole class to enjoy. Being the mother of three, this kit is ideal for no-fight fun, and is enticing enough for an adult to pop in there too!
How did you come up with the idea to draw this way?
When my kids started school, the art department had been dropped. Kids were only getting art if the teachers had time, supplies or a project they felt comfortable in presenting. It broke my heart to hear kids in first grade say they couldn’t draw, so there was my mission. I started full-time volunteering with local schools and libraries searching for a way to make a child feel secure enough to try and draw. My theory was integrating familiar strokes, letter forms and shapes, which they had been drawing since they first picked up a pencil. The first test of my theory included reading a story about a paper dragon and showing the class how to draw the dragon using the letters P and D and a few more letters for details. After one of my first sessions, my greatest skeptic, a little girl who said she positively could not draw, came up with an illustration composed of alternate letter forms she had introduced into her own drawing. Kids were showing me their art after every session I held. I created step-by-step sheets for teachers as supplements for their studies of Alaska and a set of holiday cards for free-time drawing. That’s how Art Cards became a working concept.
Your first two books focus on animals; do you have a favorite animal or pet?
No, I love all animals. I wasn’t too fond of bugs though, until I decided to try and live in harmony with a spider that had wandered into my room. I am an admirer of the woven arts, and here was one of the original teachers, so I decided I should give it a try. We lived in edgy peace, eyeing each other daily until we finally became use to each other. One day he was gone. Now I don’t mind bugs so much.
I’ve always had pets in my home. We live with four cats, two dogs, three horses and a mule, and we are visited daily by turkeys, turtles, egrets and a variety of different animals. Someday I hope they all appear in my work.
How do you start a drawing?
I do a lot of research first. I have to see how an animal looks from all points of view and need to see them in as many poses as possible. No one can possibly know how to draw anything without research, or even better, seeing it first hand– and I love field trips!
Because I like to show how to draw my subject from more than just one perspective, I do several sketches–by several I mean over 50 or 60 thumbnails (mini-sketches) before my final sketches. When I finally am happy with a sketch, I start to break it down into steps. Sometimes the drawing ends up close to the original sketch, sometimes it doesn’t! I’m always trying to find the simplest lines, letters or shapes; the simplest order.
If I can’t try it out in front of a class, I pretend that I am teaching the steps to an invisible someone ((all my invisible friends are aspiring artists!). When I think I’m done, my editor may have some changes or I may have to combine steps because of the size of the cards.
My latest challenge is for the upcoming book, Fantasy Friends. Being mythical, there are no actual pictures of these creatures (okay, the yeti has some, but they are very fuzzy!) so all the images have to come from my imagination. My job is to recreate an image that hopefully rings true to the vision my audience imagines. Not an easy task. Research is important here, but is vaster, since you need to check movies, manga, and cartoons. It’s fun and a little scary. Research is still the first step for real or imaginary images. Research, research, research. Draw, draw, draw. Simplify, simplify, simplify- and change it again!
Did you always know you wanted to be an artist?
Art class and art projects were always my favorite things to do, and every job I have held professionally involved art or some creative element. I don’t think I ever firmly said, “I want to be an artist.” I think art is a form that appears in every career, whether we call it that or not. There are people who are artists who work with figures, chemical formulas, music, speech, teaching and caretaking. “Artist” is a great compliment to call yourself or anyone you know!
I don’t stick to one form of art experimentation; my media changes too. Though the Art Cards are line drawings, I’ve worked with every type of material. My first book Creative Cardboard: Making Fabulous Furniture, Amazing accessories and other Spectacular Stuff, works with–no surprise here– cardboard! But I have demonstrated on cable television programs how to design art objects out of soda cans, paint with toys, and even smash flowers to make nature prints. I have to give credit to my mom and dad for always providing materials like wood, silver, paper, clay and a lot of things they didn't even know they were providing (I had a lot of fun with my Tinkerbell products!). I do know that I always wanted to work with kids and creating these books and doing presentations helps me spread the word: Art is a blast!
Pass it on.
