Let's Make Art Matter _ Children's Watercolor Art Activity by Nicole Miyuki of Let's Make Art

Hi , kids .

My name is Nicole and this is Let's make art and you're here to paint with us .

We are doing something fun today .

This is what we need to name him , but he's gonna make the noise first .

Wow , we're painting a lion .

It's , it's a rainbow lion this time .

And so what we're doing is grab your postcard if you have our box or if you don't , you can grab anything that's a little bit smaller and we're gonna paint on that .

So what we were doing is this month we are making a postcard for some kids .

These kids are , are going through some hard times and we're here to cheer them on to remind them that they are brave by painting this beautiful lion .

So the supplies I'd like you to get are your water colors ?

A brush .

Where's that ?

Brush ?

A brush , your pallette , a cup of water to wash off and then a pencil .

So I'm gonna start out with showing you the first step , which is we're gonna actually draw this line together .

I know you can do this .

I'm gonna break it down into smaller steps .

So grab a pencil and grab your postcard .

Now when you are doing this , I want you to remember our motto actually .

Perfect .

So we're gonna say our motto together .

So if you can raise your right hand and repeat after me , I am brave , I am brave .

I am kind , I am kind and I am creative and I am creative .

Let's do this .

Boom .

So I wanted you to say that because when we were doing this tutorial , you were gonna remember all three of those words .

Actually , you are brave for doing this and trying this , you were kind for creating an , an art piece for someone else that you may not know .

And you are creative because we're making this cool painting with multiple colors .

Yes , it's gonna be so much fun .

OK ?

So now the first step is that we are going to draw the face shape of our lion .

Now when you're doing this , I like to draw on pencil first .

So I'm gonna use a pencil .

So what you're gonna do is you're gonna come sort of in the middle .

It doesn't matter exactly .

You don't need to get a ruler or anything .

We're just , we're making marks on this paper .

So I'm gonna start in the middle and I'm gonna draw a curve and come around .

So there's a few things you can think of this as I'm just gonna draw a circle or maybe you draw an oval , doesn't need to be perfect .

Now , if you want , you can go .

Ok , wait , I want to erase that a little bit .

But what you're doing is you're thinking about your lion .

Now , your lion can have some curves at the top of this .

So what if you think we're gonna use our imagination and maybe we see an apple or maybe you see a rounded heart ?

Yes , it totally does look like a heart .

So maybe you can , if that helps you to think that maybe you go OK , I'm gonna draw a heart .

So I'm gonna kind of come up a little bit more and then connect it .

Now these lines are just our guidelines so they don't need to be perfect .

Oh , I like thinking of it as a heart .

We're gonna do that .

OK ?

So that is your face shape .

Now , when you're doing this one thing that you can think about is think OK , I'm gonna be drawing , I'm gonna be painting the Maine or the hair .

So you want to have a little bit of room so that we can do that .

So don't make it too big and take the whole space .

We're gonna make it a little bit smaller , so maybe move mine in a little bit .

Now , the other part that I'd like you to draw are your ears .

So if you can see here when you have your lines , mains , the hair goes above it a little bit .

So that's why we didn't connect our ears right here .

We're gonna draw them a little bit higher .

So imagine some space right here .

So , what you're doing is you can draw it kind of just , it's an upside down U or a curve .

So you're drawing it like that .

Now , maybe your ears are pointed .

What if you tip it upside down and do smiley faces ?

Oh , you turn it upside down .

Turn it down .

Excuse me ?

Yes .

So you can do that .

You can turn it upside down and they're cool smiley faces .

I love that idea .

And now it looks like a paw .

That's cool .

Maybe we make more postcard , one of the lions face and one of its paws and then it's a whole trail of them if you get whole dang .

I love that idea .

This is the fun part about creating .

So you have that .

Now , what we're going to do is we are going to paint our rainbow lion .

Now I need to grab my water colors out .

So we're going to paint with three colors or that's what I'm starting out with .

So I'm starting out with my red and I'm squeezing just a little bit on my palette .

Yellow .

You can count the drops .

Yeah , you can , you can do maybe three .

How does that sound ?

Sounds great .

Ok , so we have three colors .

So I'm gonna show you .

So I grabbed just this an extra piece of paper and I'm gonna show you the color .

So we're getting our rainbow already .

So we have red , yellow and blue .

Now we want to create our rainbow .

So the next color in the rainbow is orange and guess what ?

You can make orange yourself .

So I'm gonna use one drop of red and then I'm gonna squeeze maybe three drops of yellow because the yellow , the red is really strong .

So I'm gonna do more yellow .

So red plus yellow equals orange , orange .

Boom .

We got our orange .

Now then we're gonna keep going with our rainbow .

So we're gonna mix yellow and blue , makes green , sort of mix those together .

Oh Here's the really cool thing that I love about mixing colors is I have this color .

What if I want to get ?

What if I think OK , I'm gonna start with that color .

What if I add one drop of blue ?

What happens ?

Oh That's a pretty blue .

Oh That's like a turquoise .

So I'm gonna get I have two different colors .

Oh yeah , that's a good green .

Mixing colors is so fun .

OK .

Now the last color in the rainbow .

So we have red , orange , yellow , green , blue , purple .

So we're going to mix the two colors at the end .

So we're gonna mix blue and red and that is going to give us is the blue strong like the red is strong .

They are pretty similar .

I think it's because the yellow is such a light color .

It gets overpowered sometimes .

So you might need to give it more yellow .

It's a good question .

That is a pretty beautiful color .

Love it .

Ok , so now we have all of our colors ready .

Now we are ready to paint .

So you have your lion and you're going to grab your brush , switch it around .

So I'm changing , I wanna use , I wanna change my color .

So whenever you change colors , always remember to dip in water first .

So I'm gonna get some water and I'm going to paint my lion yellow the inside .

So I'm gonna grab some yellow and I'm just gonna paint .

So I'm gonna paint inside .

Now , I do all of this when you're painting , I want you to be loose and have fun .

We're just making coloring this in giving them some color .

So I'm painting the full face now I'm gonna paint his ears .

Oh What should we name this guy ?

Ken ?

I was thinking now hear me out .

What if I had two names ?

One was Timothy .

That was my first name , Timothy .

The lion was because he's rainbow .

What if it's just a headdress and it's a girl ?

Oh yeah .

So the headdress is part of the play that she's gonna be in and she's the male role .

So it's Samantha .

The lion sounds great .

Perfect Samantha .

Ok .

So Samantha to give her some rounding and depth .

So depth means when you can see some part in front and some in the back .

So when you have a rounded shape just like an apple like I was saying , we want to give it some some life .

So to do that , I'm gonna take a little bit darker color .

So let's take the orange .

So we have yellow .

I'm gonna grab some orange and what I'm gonna do is I'm just might get some color everywhere .

That's OK .

I'm going to just paint on the outside of her face .

OK ?

Now this is me , the magic part .

So I'm painting on the outside .

Now , what you're gonna do is you're gonna dip in oh grab some water swish around and I'm gonna scrape off to the side .

So it's not super wet .

And what I'm gonna do is I'm going to see where the line connects .

I'm gonna go over this and we're gonna blend it in .

So this is a beautiful thing about water color .

So I'm just moving over that line like that .

Oh I'm kind of , I'm just gonna make heart shapes .

So we're kind of painting inside .

So can you see how it kind of makes it look more rounded ?

Cool .

Now , I'm gonna do the same thing with my ears and you will notice if you did our lion , which I want to show we have a lion project that you can also do where it's the full lion .

This guy is awesome .

So we are doing a similar thing .

So you just , you're getting really good at making these lines .

OK ?

So now I have that , we are going to move on to Samantha's headdress , her Maine and her hair .

Now I think I'm just gonna go in rainbow order .

But what I want to tell you is that if you want your , your hair to be all blue , maybe it's all different shades of blue , it can be anything that you want .

This is your postcard to paint because you are creative .

So I'm gonna start with red and what I'm gonna do is I'm going to just draw lines coming away from the face .

Now , when I get to the ear , I'm gonna kind of go around it .

Oh , here's the really cool thing I want to teach you is that , do you see how it got ?

It was really dark here and then it got lighter .

So the really cool thing about watercolors is you're gonna get so many different colors .

So I did that and now I want to pick up and I'm gonna move to orange and maybe I'll paint on top of the , this color kind of blend it in .

Let's see what we get , it's going to move around .

So we're just painting lines .

You can see how loose and free you can make yours .

Oh This reminds me of now that you said Samantha , I think of trolls .

I just thought of , you know , I'm thinking of maybe in the world to tour one spoilers .

It's great .

I'm sure you might have seen it .

Which one ?

Which part this the character where she's the rock n roll 10 Barra .

That's what I think of her hair , right ?

She , she look so I'm gonna keep going and grab my yellow , yellow is the next color in the rainbow .

So I'm just dipping in and I'm drawing my lines now , I kind of wanna blend and see what happens .

So we're just moving around .

So it's next green .

So I like to kind of go over the colors .

Oh .

Here's where you can have fun .

What if I just use water and what we've been learning is just adding some cool dots .

Oh man , that looks awesome .

It's gonna kind of blend .

Oh , now I'm gonna see .

So if you see my palette , we made this kind of this beautiful teal turquoise color .

I'm gonna grab that in too .

Oh , that's nice .

That's like AAA third in dairy color .

Yeah .

Think the word is tertiary .

We can definitely call it that some adding .

Oh yes .

I got some of my blue and then my purple .

So I'm gonna blend it in kind of go around the ear .

Now it's ok .

If it paints over it kind of bleeds into it .

That's a cool thing .

We're just giving , we're giving her some personality .

Oh , maybe I wanna add some purple in here .

Just keep going .

She's just gonna nail this play .

Oh , I'm gonna keep going but she's on fire in a good way .

Now we are going to let this dry because we're going to , it's a little bit wet so far to paint , it's gonna smear a little bit .

So while we let that dry for a few minutes , I want to show you how we're gonna do the face .

So let me move this in the center .

If you look at this , can you see how , what we did is we painted it with this shiny metallic color now .

So that's what I was using as I was using the same acrylic paint that you have in your box .

I want to show you if you don't have that .

Here's the cool thing .

Ask a grown up to say , hey , do you have a pen ?

I can borrow because yes , if you could , if you have the , the same paint as we do , you can definitely use that .

But I want to show you that you can make art with any tool that you have in your home .

So let me use another piece of paper just to show you what we're gonna do is when you are doing your faces , I want you to sit there and imagine what kind of face you want ?

Do you want ?

Do you want him to be a little serious ?

Do you want him to be happy or her ?

Do you want her to be blinking winking or winking ?

Let's do that .

Oh , with glasses .

Ok .

So when you're doing this , the reason why I'm asking you is that you you're a magician , you're an artist , you can make any expression you want .

So a few different ways where you can draw their eyes , they can just be lines like that or you can make them where they're circular .

Oh , that's kind of like eyebrows right now .

And maybe they have a little , you know , when you look at your eye and you see a little bit of white , maybe they have a little bit of white like that .

So you're coloring it in .

So these are all different ways that you can draw eyes , you draw like that .

If you want to do them winking , maybe we'll do it where .

So I'm gonna draw an oval from my eye .

So let's color that in .

So when you're winking , one eye is open and one eye is closed right now like that .

Oh , maybe his nose is off to the side .

Ok ?

I like , I think I'm gonna go with this one .

So this was just my practice to see what I wanted to do .

You like that ?

Yeah , that's amazing .

OK .

We're gonna do that .

So now that this guy , he's pretty dry is we are going to draw on top of our paint again .

If you want to do this in some other paint color or you want to do it with a pin like I have , you can use any tool .

Now what I would , I would , I think what might be easiest is I'm gonna start with my nose .

So I'm gonna draw my nose , I'm gonna draw it kind of in the middle .

So I'm gonna draw my nose and I drew it kind of off to the side .

Maybe he's like slinking , but his nose kind of comes off to the side .

Yeah .

Got it .

Why not nailed it ?

So we're gonna draw his nose .

So , joint a triangle .

So a triangle has three sides .

So 123 , it's the strongest shape .

Oh Good to know .

I like that .

Now , we are going to draw two smiley faces for the part .

It's basically like the lip of the , of our lion .

So I'm gonna draw a smiley face that way , coming from the center and a smiley face that way .

Now our winking eye .

So when you look at the , our eyes , we have the line down the center and there's an eye on the left and an eye on the right .

So I'm gonna imagine that .

So I have the line in the center .

So I'm gonna draw one to the left .

So this is gonna be the open eye .

So I'm drawing an oval or a circle .

Now , I want to draw that glare and that glistening , beautiful white part .

So I'm gonna draw another circle and I'm gonna fill this in .

So fill that in and then he's , she is winking .

Yeah .

Nice .

So maybe I think here I'm gonna teach you guys .

Another thing is I wanna paint my nose brown .

So here's the cool thing is you can mix like we were doing any color .

So maybe I have my palette .

Let's see what happens to make brown .

You're gonna mix your three primary colors .

So I'm gonna try that .

So I grabbed red yellow .

She's gonna be , we're gonna become an artist here and then I'm gonna grab blue , a mixed edition .

Oh , I like that .

Hm .

Maybe it's a blue nose .

Let's see what keeps happening .

So I'm gonna kind of mix colors , purple .

I think I need some yellow .

So we're just kind of mixing the three colors to see what combo we get .

Oh I like it .

OK .

So I'm gonna pick up that color , whatever color you have .

I'm gonna paint her nose .

Yeah .

Nice .

There we go .

We're all done .

Uh That is it .

So you can , oh we're not done because lines have whiskers .

Yes , they do .

So maybe I'll use , let's just see what happens .

I'm gonna use orange .

So I'm gonna draw some whiskers .

So I'm gonna draw the whiskers come from the part they're attached to your face .

So I'm gonna attach them with these kind of freckles .

I wanna give her some freckles and then from the freckles , I'm gonna draw lines .

Oh Clear drawing lines coming away and the whiskers go on top of the hair .

So that's why I drew them a little bit longer .

Beautiful .

There we go .

This was so much fun .

Now , here's the really , really cool thing .

What you just made is going to be and you're gonna put this in the mailbox , then that is going to go all the way across wherever you lived to a state called Texas .

And there this think about kids that are gonna be holding your artwork that they , that you made is going to impact them so , so much .

So I want to say thank you for being a part of this with us .

Sometimes when you see kids or adults who may be a little , maybe a little bit sad , you may not know what to say .

But guess what ?

You have so much power inside of you to make a beautiful painting like this and make them smile .

So that is what we are here to do .

That's what let's make art matter is that is the power you hold and I hope you also had fun doing this .

This was an awesome one .

So again , this is your postcard .

Make sure you ask the grown up to help you put it in the mailbox and know that you did a very good deed today .

So we'll see you next time for another painting .

Bye guys .