#exploratory art

[unicoherent]

(credit to visual.fodder)

[cd-illustration]

I’d love to see the exploratory characters you’ve been making!!!!!!!!! :D

Sorry that it took me so long to reply. The idea I have going is a Western with lite fantasy elements though it stated vague and nondescript. My class had us choose archetypes to develop characters for so I didn't start with a narrative, just broad character traits that they quickly grew past.

These are the first drawings I did of the characters after their silhouettes. They're rough and exploratory to figure their personalities, moods, and narrative. I liked the idea of a overconfident character pissing off their local deity and roping the third one into this situation with is the broad narrative i went with.

I still really like the top two creature concepts and will absolutely reuse them in the future but for this narrative I went with moth as the local deity as I had an easier time interpreting it's designs then the other two.

These are my favorite collection of drawing, all the characters, namely the warrior and fairy, interacting! The Fairy was the character who pissed off the moth and sought after the warrior for help, in which she begrudgingly agrees after she learns the gravity of the situation. These are just different theoretical scenarios to explore their relationship and I love them. Originally it was a well meaning, but short sided teenager and their overcompensate adult friend/mentor, but then I had the ideas for them to be exes and well... that's too rich not to consider and is the direction I went with.

I have more exploratory drawings of each character, but I figured this was enough of a pitch to get started, feel free to ask about more and to please give name suggestions.

[smartstudioakron]

How To Tuesday : The Benefits of Beading

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Beading activities are wonderful ways to develop fine motor, visual, and cognitive skills. 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED :

+ Beads : I usually keep a bin of loose wood beads on hand in the studio for a variety of art experiences.  Natural wood beads are easily decorated with colorful markers, acrylic, washi tape, or DIY liquid watercolors.

+ Chenille Stems : aka Pipe Cleaners, these colorful fuzzy wires are incredibly versatile in art making processes. Thread beads onto a stem and wrap around a wrist for wearable art. Create a line sculpture by twisting and pinching beaded stems together. Pipe cleaners also make fantastic stems on Forever Flowers.

WHAT YOU WILL DO :

PRE-SERVICE EDUCATORS/CLASSROOM TEACHERS & PARENTS/CAREGIVERS : Threading beads on straws, yarn, or pipe cleaners encourages eye hand coordination. Reinforce visual art concepts by sorting colors and creating patterns. Save glass and plastic jars or use muffin tins for sorting beads by color. Learn through play with a Color Sorting Game : use household items (spoons, tongs, chopsticks) to pick up beads to place into the containers. Name the colors as each bead is sorted into the containers. Learning line awareness is super fun when beads are placed on the bold outlines of a coloring page or hand drawn image.

Remember : Explore, Experiment, and Play!

If you're on social media, I'd love to see your masterpieces : tag @smartstudioakron (Instagram and Facebook) @smARTSakron (Twitter)  and use the hashtags #HowToTuesday and #getsmART