Handmade Accordion Journals

by Joan Waites

An easy but elegant gift to give to the writers and artists in your life is a handmade accordion journal.  Using a few simple materials and your own personalization, these journals can be left blank for the recipient to write or draw and paint in, or you can fill it with your own memories, poems, stories or art.

You will need:

1.     Two identical rectangles or squares of cardboard cut to any size. Cut up cereal boxes or gift boxes work well.

2.     Craft or brown paper (lunch bags, grocery bags or package paper)

3.     Large sheet of heavyweight paper (watercolor paper or mixed media paper)

4.     Glue or Mod Podge

5.     Black acrylic paint (available in craft stores in small bottles)

6.     Metallic paint in color of your choice (available in craft stores in small bottles)

7.     Any embellishments you want to use for the cover (Silk flowers, beads, metal embellishments etc.)

Start by covering your two cardboard pieces with torn pieces of craft or brown paper and glue flat.  These will be used for the front and back cover of the journal. When dry, paint the covers first in black acrylic paint, and when dry, cover over black in metallic paint.  Next, cut a long strip of watercolor or other heavy weight paper. This should be slightly smaller in size than the height and width of the covers. Fold the paper back and forth in an accordion fold so it will fit inside each cover. Glue the first and last pages of your blank paper to the inside of the front and back covers. Place completed journal under something heavy overnight to flatten out pages. If desired, add your own touch to the inside or leave blank. Decorate front cover with embellishments.

Wishing all our readers a very happy holiday season and all the best for the coming year!

www.joanwaites.com

Salvador Dali Clocks

by Joan Waites

Creating art based on the work of famous artists in history are lessons commonly used in classrooms from kindergarten to college. While studying and copying from the masters is an important part of an art education, it can sometimes frustrate the younger student that has more difficulty with drawing and painting.

A fun and alternative way to learn about a particular artist and their work, is to have students create a 3-D project based on a painting. A sculpture made of found or recycled objects, papier-mâché, or clay can be a fun alternative lesson.

In a recent art class, we looked at the work of Salvador Dali, perhaps most known for his painting titled The Persistence of Memory. Students were instructed to make a “melting clock” from air-dry clay. After observing and talking about the original painting, clocks were sculpted using about two fist size pieces of clay, with the winding mechanism and clock hands added. Numbers were carved into the clock face. After the project dried for a week, the clocks were painted with acrylic craft paint, using similar colors from the original painting.

For a writing exercise, ask students to observe the various objects in the painting and come up with a short story. Why do they think the shapes are distorted? What do the objects represent? How do the objects relate to one another? What would happen if you found a “melting clock?”

Materials used:

Crayola brand air-dry clay

Plastic bowl (bottom side up) to mold and warp the clock face

Pencil or other tool to carve the clock numerals

Acrylic craft paint (silver, gold, blue and black)

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30 Day Creative Challenge

by Joan Waites

The new school year has officially started, and classrooms are buzzing again!

A fun way to get the creativity flowing after the summer break is to initiate a 30 day creative challenge for your students.

Using 5x7 index cards (or other small pieces of paper), pick a simple one word prompt for children to do a quick drawing or doodle. Emphasize that the drawings don’t have to be realistic; they can be funny, whimsical or anthropomorphized. On the back side of the paper, have students do a short writing exercise. For example, using the word “paintbrush,” have students draw a paintbrush and then on the back of the drawing either describe the object using the five senses, write a poem about the object, or turn the object  into a character for a story and list character traits. 

Do this every day for 30 days allowing about 10-15 minutes per day. At the end of the 30 days, have students look over their collection of challenges. Have them pick out their favorite drawings and creative writing. Ask students to expand these simple exercises into a short story or picture book. These 30 day challenges can be kept in an envelope and used throughout the year as inspiration for other artistic works or writing assignments.

Happy September!

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The Importance of Finding your Tribe

by Joan Waites

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a workshop at the Highlights Foundation in Boyd’s Mills PA, in the northeastern Pocono Mountains. The Highlights Foundation’s mission is “to improve the quality of children’s literature by helping authors and illustrators hone their craft.” Workshops are offered year round, often with guest faculty leading sessions on a wide range of topics and genres.

Working together with like-minded writers and illustrators along with workshop mentors can be invaluable. As writers and illustrators, we often work in solitude. Sharing ideas, critiques and industry experiences all help to take your work to the next level.

While it’s not always possible to participate in a workshop, attending events such as SCBWI conferences,  free bookstore and library lectures featuring guest authors and illustrators, or just organizing a group of writer and/or artist friends at a coffee shop or park to share work can help inspire and motivate you on your path to publication, whether it’s your first book or your 50^th.

Wherever you live, it’s likely there are other like-minded people willing to gather and work together.  Finding your tribe can be one of the most important ingredients to realizing your publishing goals.

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Summer Travel Sketch Journal Kit

by Joan Waites

The end of the year is already here or coming soon for most schools.  How did another year zip by so quickly?

Whether you are spending summer days close to home, at the park, local pool, or traveling for a fun vacation, keeping a travel sketch and writing journal kit handy is a great way to keep the creativity flowing for kids of all ages.  Recording what you see or experience in pictures and words will keep those memories alive for years to come.

Have your children take as little as 15 minutes a day to observe something around them. An everyday object in the home, a bird or bug in the backyard, or a sandy beach with colorful umbrellas can be recorded in a quick sketch along with some descriptive words or sentences.  At the end of the summer, you will have a visual diary to remember small details that might otherwise be forgotten.

A travel kit can be something as simple as a small notebook, pencil and some crayons contained in a zippered pouch.  A pencil or cosmetic case makes a great take-along bag to bring anywhere you go.  If you’d like to add additional items to your travel bag, here are a few things I recommend:

*Small sketch journal with heavyweight paper that will hold up to wet media.

*Drawing pencil and eraser (a mechanical pencil works well and doesn’t require sharpening).

*Permanent black fine tipped ink pen such as a Sharpie or Micron pen for sketching and writing.

*Small set of watercolors and or some watercolor pencils or watercolor crayons.

*Water brush (a self-contained brush with a watercontainer in the handle). 

Wishing you all a wonderful start to the summer!

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Ann McCallum Wants Kids to Eat Their Homework!

by Joan Waites

We have all heard the excuse “the dog ate my homework” when a child forgets to bring in an assignment to school.  But, what if you told a student to “eat their homework?” You would definitely get their attention, and they just might learn math, science and history facts without even realizing it.

Author Ann McCallum has a unique approach to writing books that engage and entertain students while learning important content. I recently spoke to Ann about these books came to be.

1. Tell us a little about your background, and what inspired you to write books for children?

I’m a mom and a teacher. Now I teach high school students from other countries how to communicate in English. I’ve also taught in a one-room schoolhouse (A remote community in Northern Canada during my first year out of college), in two elementary schools, and at the college level at a university in the United Arab Emirates. Writing children’s books is what I love best. I have inspiration all around: the antics of my own kids growing up, my various students, and my subtle observation of the children in my neighborhood. Plus, I’ve always loved reading children’s books. Even now, I’ll read 10 children’s books for every one adult book.

2. The "Eat Your Homework" series of books is such a unique take on teaching math, history, and science. How did you come up with the idea to combine cooking and teaching these subjects?
I first thought about writing a book and in particular the “Eat Your Homework” children’s books when I was teaching math in elementary school several years ago. One day before Winter Break I had my students make mathematical gingerbread houses—they had to show examples of math in their finished products. The kids were ecstatic and their math connections were amazing. My idea to teach math through food took root, though funny enough, “Eat Your Math Homework” was the fourth book I had published. Cooking and math fits so nicely together not only for the obvious tie-ins like temperature and measuring, but because cooking is a motivating and kid-friendly activity that can serve as a springboard to learning. Take Fibonacci Snack sticks which focus on patterns. Making kebobs with fruit is healthy and fun. Add patterning, and there you have an easy math activity. Depending on the age of the child, you can get into the Fibonacci sequence which is a little more complex, or you can create a more simple pattern with fruit. The food and math connection involves looking at the world in a new—and delicious—way. Similarly, the relationship between science or history and food is just as tasty!

3. There must have been a lot of experimenting happening in your kitchen! How did you choose the recipes that would match the facts you were highlighting in your books?
Oh yes! All that time in the kitchen was really fun. I came up with the concepts I wanted to cover first and then the recipes. Next, I headed to the kitchen to create the original recipes. I had to build every recipe multiple times, measuring ingredients carefully and taking notes on things like pan size and oven temperature. One of my favorite experiments was when I worked to develop Invisible Ink Snack Pockets for the “Eat Your Science” book. I wanted to re-create a situation like painting lemon juice on paper and having the juice become visible when you put the paper near a heat source. My recipe takes this idea, but the invisible, edible “ink” is painted on a pizza dough pocket with a clean paintbrush or cotton swab. When heated in the oven—voila—the printing becomes visible!

4. What kind of reactions have you gotten from your young readers?
I have received fantastic enthusiasm whenever I’ve taken my books and ideas in front of young people. Kids are naturally curious. Even reluctant math or science kids have told me how much they now love the subjects. With the history book, young people have also told me how much they love connecting food to the topics in the book. George Washington and homemade ice-cream? Yum! One of my favorite questions of all time came from a young child during one of my Skype author visits. He asked me, “How much ink does it take to make a book?” I admit I was stumped with that one. However, I went to my publisher and found out that each “Eat Your Homework” book takes about 3 ounces of ink to produce. Amazing.

5. Are there any more "Eat Your Homework" books in the works and what are you working on next?
You know—I’m not sure. I keep thinking that we now need an “Eat Your Language Arts Homework” book, but I’m not sure how to write it. . . yet. I’ll keep thinking! In the meantime, I have a couple of picture books in the works as well as a middle grade novel. I plan to spend some wonderful, long summer days writing these and more books. Thank you for asking!

Thanks, Ann for stopping by!

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Creating Amate Bark Paintings

by Joan Waites

Amate bark paintings are a beautiful type of folk art created by the Otomi Indians of Mexico. These paintings are done on paper made from brown and white bark. The art depicts various flowers, birds, reptiles, and other native animals and/or scenes from everyday life using beautiful patterns and vibrant colors.

Students can create their own Amate paintings using brown Kraft paper or cut up pieces of a brown paper bag to simulate the look of bark.

1. Cut paper into the desired size for the project. Students can create individual works or one large collaborative painting.

2. Crumple the paper into a tight ball. Carefully unwrap the paper and smooth it out using hands, a ruler, or if needed, have an adult iron the paper flat.

3. Using a pencil, have students lightly sketch out their designs. Go over pencil lines with a black Sharpie, oil pastel or crayon.

4. Fill in the designs, shapes, and scenes with bright tempera paint, acrylic paint, oil pastels or markers.

After the students have created their artwork, ask them to write a short folk tale featuring one or more of the animals or people featured in their paintings.

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INSPIRE YOUR STUDENTS WITH BLUE DOG

by Joan Waites

This past week, my young art students completed a project based on the Blue Dog paintings by the late artist George Rodrigue. After talking about the artist and looking at examples of his work, students were instructed to create their own version of a blue dog painting. The idea was not to copy the original work exactly, but to give their own dog a personality by using color choices, background design, and any accessories they wanted their dog to wear.

The paintings were completed on canvas paper with initial sketches done in pencil. Students then traced over their pencil lines with black oil pastel. Acrylic paint was used to fill in color, and as a final step, black acrylic ink was used to go over the oil pastel lines that may have been covered up in the painting process. Works like this could also be completed using basic supplies such as oil pastel, tempera paint, or using colored pencils and crayons.

There have been several books for children written by the artist featuring Blue Dog, including Why is Blue Dog Blue and Are You Blue Dog's Friend? 

As a writing exercise to complement the art, ask students to write a short story featuring their blue dog character. Where does he/she live? Who are his/her owners? What does their dog like to do? Who are his friends, and the question that might reveal the most exciting part of the story…why is Blue Dog blue?

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THE WHOLE BOOK APPROACH

by Joan Waites

In the newly released book, Reading Picture Books With Children, by Megan Dowd Lambert, (Charlesbridge 2015), Lambert introduces The Whole Book Approach-an alternative to traditional story time.

Instead of reading books TO children, she emphasizes using the picture book as a visual art form, engaging children to participate in what they see and hear.

The chapters are broken down into the different parts of a picture book that make up the whole. The author gives examples of questions to ask students that engage them into looking beyond the surface of what they see. Some of the chapters include information on trim size and orientation, jackets and covers, endpapers, front matter, typography, page design, as well as other artistic and design choices that were made to compliment the story. These design elements might not be seen or realized at first glance, and coaxes the reader to explore them further.

The whole book approach can be used by parents, caregivers, teachers, librarians and even authors and illustrators when doing school presentations.

As the book cover says, “shake up story time and get kids talking about what they see.”

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!

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CHARACTER DOODLES

by Joan Waites

A fun and simple art project to create with your students is a page of character doodles.

Starting with a blank sheet of paper, randomly draw with a permanent black marker, shapes, swirls and varied lines till the page is almost filled. If desired, leave one larger white space to be used later for writing. To make the project more challenging for older students, have them draw with their non-dominant hand, or with their eyes closed. 

Next, fill in the shapes created on the page using various colors. Use a medium that can be drawn on top of when dry such as watercolor, markers, acrylic paint or colored pencils rather than something waxy like oil pastel or crayons.

Once the shapes are filled in with color, ask students to look closely at the art. Can they see a face or an animal? A funny creature? A building or perhaps a tree? Using black or other colored markers, have students add facial details, designs, and embellishments to the characters and objects that emerge on the page.

To add a writing exercise, have students use the large white space on the page to compose a short story, poem, or character study about one or more of their characters.

Happy doodling!

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Illustrated Quotes

by Joan Waites

In many of my older blog posts, I've talked about exercises and projects for students which incorporate art and words. Picture books, short stories and poems all provide inspiration for countless ways words and art can be combined.

Even more challenging, is illustrating a quote that may only be one or two sentences long. Characters, setting, and action are not always described in these few short lines. A quote can be illustrated with colors, symbols, drawings, photographs or collage. The art will not necessarily depict the quote word for word, but convey it's overall meaning, emotion, or advice. 

Art by Joan Waites

For a classroom exercise, have your students pick a quote from a favorite artist, author, pop culture or historical figure. Provide a variety of materials students can use to illustrate their quote. Basic art supplies, magazines, found papers, fabric and 3-D objects can all be used. Remind students to choose imagery, colors, and composition to illuminate what was said, or the person who said it. Have students incorporate the actual quote into their art work, or paste it below their piece.

Happy Fall!

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Get Out Your Crayons!

by Joan Waites

In my last blog post, I outlined an art and writing activity based on the classic children’s book, Harold And The Purple Crayon.  Instead of using just one purple crayon (as per the exercise and the book), now it’s time to get out the whole pack!

It’s hard miss the relatively new adult coloring book craze when you walk into a book store. Coloring books are displayed at every turn.  From simple scenes to intricate patterns, lush florals, and whimsical animals, there is something for every age and interest.

The new “queen” of coloring books, UK illustrator Johanna Basford, has even topped the recent best-seller lists with the following titles:

Coloring provides a great way to relax and de-stress, while at the same time trains the brain to focus and work on fine motor skills. Using crayons, markers, or colored pencils, a coloring session is not only fun, but therapeutic for adults and kids alike.

To add a writing exercise that can be used with a coloring page, ask your students to create a story based on the illustration they are coloring. Below is a sample of a page I created last year for a coloring book used by patients at Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Print the page on 81/2 X 11 paper and color. 

Created by Joan Waites

Ask your students to imagine the story happening in the picture. Where is the girl going? What are the elephants doing? Who is the bird? The monkey? Where does this story take place?

Enjoy some coloring time, and enjoy these last weeks of summer!

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HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON

by Joan Waites

Most of us are familiar with the classic children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, first published in 1955. It’s a book I often checked out of the library as a child, and then later read to my own children. Now the book with its worn dust jacket sits upon a shelf in my art teaching studio. I have read the book many times to my young students, using it as an introduction to a lesson on line and shape.

In the story, using just one purple crayon, Harold draws himself a magical imaginary adventure. There are no limits, parents or rules for Harold to obey; his imagination and one purple crayon can take him anywhere.

Using the illustrations in the book, have students identify straight lines, zig-zag lines, curvy lines, wavy lines etc. Next, ask students to identify the basic geometric shapes that make up some of the drawings.

For an art and writing activity, make up individual blank books using any size white paper stapled or glued at the fold. Have each child draw themselves (using a purple crayon or marker) into their own imaginary story that begins and ends at their bedroom window. Ask older students to write text to accompany the illustrations, have younger students explain their drawings to the class.

Where will a purple crayon and their imagination take them?

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Writing in Monet's Garden

by Joan Waites

Early summer has offically arrived, and flowers everywhere are in full bloom. When thinking about art and writing exercises for this time of year,  the life and work of Claude Monet is the perfect inspiration.

Start a lesson or project  by reading one of the many picture books based on the life of Claude Monet. Three books that I recommend are:

Once Upon a Lilly Pad-Froggy Love in Monet’s Garden  by Joan Sweeny, illustrated by Kathleen Fain

Charlotte in Giverny  by Joan MacPhail Knight, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt

For an art exercise, ask children to pick out one specific item to draw or paint from a Monet painting. This can be a single flower or group of flowers, a tree, or even the bridge at Giverny. In the example picture shown here, students were asked to draw one large lily in a pond using light colored oil pastels, (white, yellow, green, pink and light blue) on watercolor paper. Next, students brushed various shades of blue and green watercolor over the oil pastel for a beautiful resist effect.

For a writing exercise, ask students to choose an animal that might live in Monet’s garden at Giverny--a bird, frog, butterfly, fish or even a lady bug. Have that animal or insect describe what they see in the garden, based on their unique perspective. Explain to the students that a bird would have a different observational point of view than a fish in the pond.  Also include the animal’s observations of the painter as he arrives each day to paint his surroundings.

Happy summer!

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BACKYARD JOURNAL

by Joan Waites

Spring has finally arrived after a very long winter, and it’s time to enjoy what nature has to offer. We know from experience that in spring, trees are budding, flowers are bursting from the ground with color, birds are chirping, and insects are buzzing around. But do we really stop and fully experience this most beautiful season?

A fun art and writing activity to help encourage students to slow down and really observe their outdoor surroundings, is to have them keep a field or nature journal.

  

Using a simple handmade book of folded paper, a composition book, or a blank sketch journal, ask your students to record in pictures and words, what they see, smell and hear outside. Children can sketch individual leaves, flowers, grass, bugs, birds, rocks, bark, or anything else that interests them using simple art supplies such as colored pencils, crayons, markers and/or a set of children's watercolors. Observations can be recorded in their own backyard, the school playground, a local park, or even on a city street. Next to each sketch, ask students to write some important sensory information about the object(s) or place they have chosen to draw. A field journal could also work well as a year long project, asking students record what they see in each of the four seasons on a weekly or monthly basis.

Two books that can help introduce teachers and students to field or nature journals and corresponding activities are:

Happy spring!

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Printmaking with Picture Books

by Joan Waites

With snow, sleet and rain still in the forecast, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that spring will ever arrive. One way to brighten up the classroom is to work on some springtime art and writing activities with your students, even though it may be a month or more till we see some green.

A project that is always big hit with my students (and one that produces successful results), is printmaking. When talking about and explaining how different types of prints are made, I will often use one or more picture books where the illustrations were created with prints (as opposed to painting, drawing, or digital art) to show as examples.

The artwork created by Caldecott winning artist Mary Azarian, is a great way to introduce students to the art of printmaking. In her one of many books, A Gardener’s Alphabet, Mary highlights her own garden filled with beautiful flowers. The illustrations are created with woodblock prints, which would be too hazardous a technique for little hands.  For making prints in the classroom, I use the simpler and safer technique below. Using this technique, have children illustrate some flowers in a vase or a garden scene as depicted in the picture book. Simpler lines and shapes produce better results as opposed to a lot of detail. Students could also write a short paragraph about their own garden, one in their community, or one they have visited. Ask them to describe the garden using details like smells, colors, and textures.

Making a Styrofoam Print

*Using inexpensive Styrofoam printing plates (purchased from art supply stores), or carefully washed, recycled meatpacking trays, have students draw with a pencil directly on to the plate, using firm pressure.

*Go over lines on the plate one more time, making sure the lines indented are thick and deep (without going all the way through the plate).

*Roll out some water-soluble printing ink or some heavy body acrylic paint with a brayer. If a brayer is not available, brush on paint with an inexpensive foam brush. Be careful to not fill the lines up with paint. If this happens, simply swipe out the excess paint from the lines with a pencil.

*Place a sheet of printing or other smooth paper on top of the inked plate, and firmly rub your hands over the paper using some pressure.

* Pull off the paper to reveal the print! The plate can be rinsed with soap and water, dried, and used again with different or multiple colors.

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MOCK CALDECOTT IDEAS

by Joan Waites

It’s that time of year when librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators and picture book lovers feel the excitement building for the “Oscars” of the children’s book world; the announcement of the winners of this year’s many prestigious children’s book awards from the American LibraryAssociation:

For the following classroom activity, we’ll focus on the Caldecott medal, awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, although a similar activity could be done for any/all of the medals awarded. The Randolph Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, and awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children.

One way to engage your students in the excitement of book award season is to host a mock Caldecott award contest in the classroom. Depending on time, resources, and the age level of your students, pick 5-20 picture book titles that were released in 2014 to read with the class. Some of the top contenders for the award this year, (but by no means an all-inclusive list):

• The Farmer and the Clown
• Nana in the City
• Mama Built a Little Nest
• Emily's Blue Period
• Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
• Iridescence of Birds
• Dance Like Starlight
• The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus
• Have You Seen My Dragon?
• Bad Bye, Good Bye

Specific judging criteria used by the ALA committee can be found on the ALA website:

To simplify the judging criteria for students, discuss the illustrations in each of the chosen books focusing on the illustration style, medium used, how the pictures work with the text (or don’t), and the overall reaction to each picture book. What makes the art unique from other picture books? Students can be placed into committees to discuss titles and cast mock votes, or each individual student can cast their own. Pick one winner and two-three honorable mentions. Prior to the announcements, reveal the winner of the class vote. If possible for your time zone and start of the school day, you can then tune in to the official announcement via the ALA website.

The announcement of the 2015 Youth Media Awards will take place at 8:00 a.m. Central time on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibition in Chicago.
Join us for a live webcast of the press conference or follow I Love Libraries on Twitter and Facebook to be among the first to know the 2015 winners. The official hashtag for the 2015 Youth Media Awards is  #ALAyma. 


If possible, host a small celebration in the class with refreshments to conclude the award announcements, presenting a handmade Caldecott medal to the group or individual coming closest with their predictions. Who will this year’s winners be? 

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DRAW WHAT YOU SEE

by Joan Waites

I’ve recently become acquainted with the work of sketchbook artist and author Danny Gregory. Inspired by his book Everyday Matters, a Memoir (Hyperion, 2003), I’ve started using some of his drawing and journal techniques with my students.  In his book, he describes teaching himself to draw in a sketchbook/ journal using a “slow, careful gaze” when rendering the objects or scene he is observing. Instead of drawing what you know, draw what you see.

For example, if I place an apple on the table for my young art students to draw in their sketchbooks, most will begin by quickly drawing a circle. While it’s helpful to start drawing using basic geometric shapes, by slowing down and really observing the apple carefully, we can see that it’s most likely not a perfect shape. One half may be larger; it may have bumps, scratches or even a worm hole. All of these details make that one particular apple unique. Along with the sketch, I ask that they write down five unique observations they noted while drawing.  This helps to get them to slow down and really think about what they see.

Using this exercise in the classroom with your students, begin a drawing/writing session with a few ordinary objects from around the classroom--writing instruments, scissors, tape dispensers or more complex objects based on the age of the class. Ask the students to take a full ten minutes to really observe and draw what is placed on the table. Then ask students to note five or more details they observed while looking closely at the object. Take it a step further, and have children write a short story about the object, incorporating those five noted details.

Best wishes to all our readers for a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!

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Teaching the Elements of Art with Picture Books

by Joan Waites

In my last blog post, I wrote about using picture books in the classroom as a supplemental way to teach art history. Using this same approach, young students can also be introduced to the seven elements of art using the illustrations in a picture book. Each illustrator brings their own unique style and uses these elements in different ways to convey the story in pictures. The seven elements of art are:

Illustration by Joan Waites
www.joanwaites.com

Line

Shape

Color

Value

Form

Texture

Space

Looking at the illustrations in a picture book, ask students to comment on the art using these seven elements, asking the following questions:

Line: Is the line used to draw the objects or setting thin? Thick? Angular or curvy?

Shape: Are the basic shapes large or small? Organic or geometric?

Color: Are the colors used warm or cool? Monochromatic?

Value: Are the colors used darker or lighter in shade?

Form: Are the figures and setting flat or more 3-D looking?

Texture: Do the objects in the picture appear rough? Smooth? Shiny?

Space: Do the objects in the illustrations look like they are closer to the reader? Farther away?

Have students study two picture books and compare and contrast how the illustrator incorporated these seven elements. Next, have students draw an illustration based on their favorite picture book or story. Using the seven elements as a guide, encourage students to incorporate as many of them into their work as possible. Bonus points for those students who incorporate all seven!

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