The Ghost Book- a Halloween special!

Today my 5 year old was home ill with a fever. She wanted to pass the time by doing something for Halloween. So we had a look on the internet for some crafty Halloween ideas and adapted a beautiful idea and turned it into a book (we found the original idea at a website called Journey into Unschooling )

Here is the result!

Once upon a time there was a ghost house. Lots of ghosts lived in the ghost house.

The ghosts decided to go out and scare everyone.

They said BOOO to us!

Children's book illustration ideas in abundance!

A simple way to tap into new, effective inspirational ideas.

Today I want to introduce you to an abundant resource of creative ideas. This resource will not only inspire you but also prove to be very useful.

This resource is BLOGS... but not just any blogs. The blogs I recommend are blogs written by creative parents and teachers who document artwork they create with children.

Art exercises designed for children are incredibly useful for amateur artists creating ilustrations for children. There are several reasons for this:

• The exercises are designed to be simple (you don't need to be a trained artist to achieve great results).

• The materials used are usually materials you are likely to already have in your home.

• The exercises are designed for children's tastes so you get a good idea of the kind of pictures and themes children enjoy.

• People working with children and art are fantastic at thinking 'outside of the box' which in turn is a wonderful way to inspire you to think 'outside of the box'.

• Once you have read a few different creative blog posts for kids art you will very quickly find yourself synthesizing new creative solutions to your own illustration challenges.

• The information they provide is free!

I was inspired to write this article after interviewing the artist Maggy Woodley for this month's 'Inviting Creativity' interview. Maggy is not only an artist in her own right but she enjoys exploring stories and art together with her 2 young children. She documents the many creative exercises they do together in her blog so that we too can replicate them.

There are many creative mummy blogs to visit but to keep things simple I recommend you start by visiting Maggy's blog www.redtedart.com . Then once you dive in you will find yourself introduced to other creative mummy bloggers and to the abundant world of creative blogs.

I encourage you to listen to this month's creative interview where you will have the chance to 'meet' Maggy. (This months interview I kept to only 30 minutes as I had the feeling 1 hour interviews were too long- let me know what you think).

To listen just click here! Red Ted Art creative interview

Below is photo of Maggy and her inspiration!

Warmly,

Nina

A tip for creating illustrations for babies!

Creating a paper bag book! The video

Here are 3 great videos showing you how to create a paper bag book. Sounds a bit odd but the results are wonderful.

Take a look and I hope you get inspired!

http://www.ilovescrapbooking.org/?p=2290


http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=352192129036680749&postID=7842475864171419141

http://www.ilovescrapbooking.org/?p=2247

Hugs,
Nina

Illustration warm up for everyone!

The two paintings below were created using an exercise that works as a great creative warm up or as just a bit of fun and relaxation. Today I am going to share this exercise with you (this exercise was one 'Tam Veilleux explained during our Inviting Creativity interview.)

The first painting above was created by me and the second was created by my 5 year old daughter. So you can see this exercise works whatever your age!

(I created the top painting one evening when the children were asleep. When my little girl woke up in the morning she quickly found it and wanted me to show her how to create a painting like that too. And so I did.)

The reason I suggest you use this a 'warm up' exercise as is because it is a gentle and fun way to play with colors and shapes without feeling any kind of 'presentation' pressure.

Before you get started you need a few simple tools: paper (preferably paper that doesn't wrinkle when you use watercolor paints on it), a pencil, a crayon or a color pen, watercolor paints (as cheap or expensive as you like) and a paint brush.

Step 1: Using a pencil draw whatever you see in front of you without looking at your paper or taking the pencil off the paper.

Step 2: Go over the pencil lines on your paper using a crayon or color pen.

Step 3: Paint whatever colors you choose onto the shapes on your paper.

Step 4: Enjoy your creation!

Intviting Creativity! A creative interview series with talented artists and authors.

Inviting Creativity!

I recently began conducting an interview series with wonderful artists and authors, designed to inspire you at home, provide practical tips and tools plus get your creative juices flowing!


Have you ever wondered how professional artists work?


Have you ever wondered how professional artists access their creativity?



In this, the first interview of the series the talented artist Pia Walker from www.piafwalker.com shares:


Her sources of inspiration.

Her creative processes.

Why she thinks everyone can create great art!

How we can all invite creativity in!

How she unblocks her creative blocks.

The role children play in her creative processes.

and much more....

To listen to this inspired, creative interview simply
click here!

Have a great time!

Love,
Nina

A quick, fun, easy way everyone can create a book- in a back to front kind of a way.

I've discovered a really fun, stress free and fast way to write and illustrate a storybook. The secrets are creating it in a back to front kind of way and splashing watercolours haphazardly on a page.

Before I explain the 'back to front' book creation process here is a photo of a 'back to front' illustraion.



I'll explain...

I love water colours and decided to play around just putting them on the page, creating miscellaneous shapes and colours with no thought to creating a 'real' picture. This was really fun and quick to do. It took me less than 10 minutes to create 5 images. The hardest part of doing this was avoiding painting familiar concrete objects. This exercise is great antidote for someone like me who has a habit of wanting to 'get things right'.

My next step was to (a day or two later) ask myself 'what do I see?' when looking at the images and then to draw a sketch onto the picture outlining what I saw. I knew I wanted to make a children's picture book out of the images so when I looked at the second image I started to wonder a little bit about what kind of story could evolve and once again asked myself 'what do I see?'. I tried to keep a story idea very loose, but wanted something to guide me, and something my children could relate to and enjoy. So, I simply decided this story would be about a monster (both my children love monster stories) and then let whatever happen happen.

Looking at my interpretation of the images now, it is clear to me the pictures that came to mind are a reflection of what is in my life right now. The green circle in blue became a swimming ring in a lake, which makes sense to me as it is summer in Sweden and much of our time is spent swimming in lakes with swimming rings. Fish also feature in this story, which is not surprising considering we recently gave my daughter an aquarium with three fish for her 4th birthday. So, you are probably starting to get an impression of how this works. The great thing about this is that the images that naturally came to mind are everyday things my children can relate to and enjoy.

Once I'd finished sketching the things I imagined over the watercolour images, I scribbled down a story. As the pictures are kind of nonsensical I thought a silly kind of story would fit perfectly. I know the story and the images could do with some work to make a storybook with a clear totality etc... but for now I am very happy with the results.

If creating a book like this appeals to you why not have a go and share your work with us at Create A Book For A Child's free membership site?

Find more photos like this on Piggy Publishing Adventures