Drawing Lessons from a Bear…Drawing For Kids

I was not familiar with this month’s author, David McPhail. I had to do some research with my daughters. I really do enjoy discovering a new author. I love seeing how an author’s work can appeal to different age groups in different ways. With David McPhail I wasn’t certain that I was going to find a book that would really appeal to my 9 year old…and then I came across “Drawing Lessons from a Bear“and I knew we had found the perfect book.

Next, I showed my daughter how to shade a box using a cross-hatch technique (example A). To make an area darker – concentrate more cross-hatches. To make an area lighter – concentrate fewer cross-hatches. Also, we worked with different pencils (example B). A “regular” pencil is usually HB on the graphite grading scale (the graphite grading scale measures the hardness of the core of the pencil). We tried out a set of pencils that were gradually darker (softer core) than a “regular” pencil…HB 2, HB 4 and HB 5. By using the differently graded pencils a shaded area can be created.

With this knowledge, I had my daughter turn her two-dimensional tree into a three-dimensional tree. She decided where the sun was shining from and began shading her tree from there.

In the end, the tree looked fabulous. Not too bad for a very first attempt at shading. She used both techniques. I was so impressed. It always amazes me how reading a book can inspire such creativity in a child. This is the hidden magic in books. It’s not always about the physical book, it is how a child sees and feels the book that is so amazing.