Creativity through the ages...

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso

I teach people from a broad range of ages how to create personal, original picture books and have recently noticed a pattern emerging.

Very young children are happy to experiment with color and form, they experiment and play without worry about the outcome or what anyone else will think.

As children get older they tend to become more self conscious, they start to worry about getting things wrong. I suspect one input into this is that they are learning rules at kinder and at home, simple rules like 'wash your hands before you eat', etc... and this pattern of applying rules and a desire to please and belong spills over into when they are creating.

The group I have worked with so far who have found it most difficult to throw themselves into the creative process has been a group of 15 year olds. This I suppose should come as no surprise. There is probably no other time in life in which it feels more important to fit in, to belong to a group. So being asked to take risks, to express thoughts and feelings through art can make one feel very vulnerable.

Then there are the parents I have worked with. Many would like to be more creative, would like to experiment and experience the joy of expressing themselves through words and art but somehow feels like they have forgotten how to. My job when working with parents is to help them find their way back to that creative place they once held back in kindergarten.

And so what happens when we become grandparents and/or reach retirement age? What happens to our creativity then? I have noticed in this group of students that the desire to be creative and to tell one's story becomes much stronger. Even though many people may still feel that they need to battle some demons before allowing themselves access to their creative side, the strong desire to do just that almost always wins and an outburst of creativity is the result.

I know am making great generalizations about creativity and age groups. There are always variations and exceptions (absolutely), however to my eye there does seem to be a some kind of pattern emerging. This is a topic very close to my own heart, as I try to remind myself of what I teach and let go of my need to be right and accepted.

A book created together.

In my last post I spoke about the simple and effective creative prompt 'I wonder what would happen if...?'.

The inspiration behind that post was my daughter. One morning she brought a piece of paper to me with a picture of ice drawn on it with a story below that she had dictated to Daddy to write down. It began with 'I wonder what would happen if the ice never melted...'and I thought it was fantastic.


She then told me to make up a story that started with 'I wonder what would happen if trees never fell down...' As soon as she made the suggestion fun ideas started to flow in without effort (the magic of 'what if..?'). Together my daughter and I wrote a short 'story' using her creative prompt. Later that day when she was at kindergarten I took a few moments to sketch out possible illustrations for this new story.

I had intended to then paint the illustrations myself, however when my daughter came home and saw my rough sketches she wanted to add color to them straight away and as we had co-authored the story I couldn't refuse. So we sat down at the kitchen table and illustrated.

My little boy also joined in with the painting, however he wasn't so interested in the story, he was more interested in creating his own art work.

Below you can read our illustrated story. Enjoy!

A simple creative prompt... what if ...?

Creating a book with a child - tips to ensure the process is fun and creative for you both!

Lots of people have asked me about the best way to approach creating a book with a child. They tell me they imagine it is a great way to spend quality time together. It absolutely is a great way to spend quality time together, no doubt about that, but from my own experience it can also end up in tears of frustration if you take the wrong approach. So this post is about how to ensure the process of creating a book with a child is fun and creative for you both.

• The time to start creating your book together is when you have time. A rainy day or a sick day are perfect. But the basic rule is any time where you don't need to be somewhere else or being doing something else soon will work well.

The week leading up to Halloween my 5 year old wanted to do lots of crafty Halloween projects.
On one of the days she was home ill. She was too ill to go to kinder but well enough to get creative and crafty and so we decided to use the quite time we had together to create a book.

• Follow your child's inspiration and allow your child to choose the theme of the book.
  

My daughter was really excited about Halloween and was already aksing me to make 'Halloween' things with her so a Halloween themed book was a natural choice.

• Don't push it! If you are in the mood for creating a book with your child but no matter how attractive you make the activity seem they are just not interested then just let it go and present the idea another day instead.

I have noticed that many children go through phases where they are inspired by particular things. My children have been through phases where all they want to do is play mummies and daddies, phases where all they want to do are puzzles, or bake cakes, or play with cars, or draw, or make cubby houses etc... So my advice is to let your child follow their passion and if their passion at the time does not include creating a book (not even a book about their current passion) then let it be. Trying to force things usually results in tears of frustration (at least at our house).

• Keep your book ambitions age appropriate. Choose an illustrating method (i.e painting or cutting and pasting) that your child already enjoys and has expressed an interest in and then gently encourage them to develop their skills a little further. Doing this will ensure they don't lose interest half way through the creative process and will feel great satisfaction when the book is finished.

• It is also important to keep the books length age appropriate. For example a four year old may quite possibly be totally content with a book that is only2- 3 pages long. A nine year old will probably create a book considerably longer than 2 pages and enjoy challenging 'new' illustration techniques.

When looking for illustration ideas for our Halloween book I visited a few crafty 'for kids' blogs. Many of the crafty ideas were great but too complex for my 5 year old. I knew if I chose something too complex she would just get frustrated and lose interest. So I chose an illustrating technique that although a bit of a challenge was still something she was able to learn and master.

• Take a back seat. Let your child dictate the text and decide on the overall look and design of the book. You may find yourself inspired and full of ideas for the book but make sure you don't simply take over.

This is possibly the most difficult tip to follow. I know when I start on a book with one of my kids I find it very easy to get carried away with my own ideas. The problem is that if I don't keep myself in check my child realizes the project is more about me than her and she simply gets frustrated and loses interest. So if you do find yourself flowing with new creative ideas, by all means gently make suggestions to your child allow her own ideas to take centre stage. (You can make use of all your new ideas by creating your own book once the kids have gone to bed.)

• Lead by example. Create your own books for your kids and share your work with them. Your kids are sure to get inspired and want to create a book too.

My children have seen me create many books for them and I am pretty sure that is why my daughter is so keen on creating her own books (with or without me).

Please let me know how you get on creating a book with a child and feel free to share your work and any of your own tips. Just send me an email at nina@createabookforachild.com

If you would like to take a look at the Halloween book I refer to in this article simply scroll down and take a look at the blog post below.

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!