A Sketchbook Practice: "Draw Your Day for Kids" by Samantha Dion Baker

Hi there!

Today, I'm featuring the book, "Draw Your Day for Kids" by Samantha Dion Baker. It's a reliable resource if you are just starting a sketchbook practice or already have a full-fledged one which I'm trying to do. 

 

I borrowed this one from the library and even if it's a book for kids, I like how the process of "how to sketch and paint your amazing life" is made simple. Keeping a journal is proof that we showed up daily and there are many ways to maintain one, not just the kind filled with written thoughts. 

"When we think of a journal, we usually think of just writing, but this book is all about keeping a visual journal filled with drawings that you create to show the things you do, see, and eat during your days. Drawing your daily life helps you learn so much about yourself and the world around you. From the biggest events, like getting braces, to the smallest stuff, like tasting a new food for the first time, tracking it all in one place is so much fun." - SMD                                                                                            

To start we'll need the following materials:

A sketchbook, pencils, a plastic eraser, sharpener, fine-line pens, colored pencils, crayons, markers, a watercolor palette, paint brushes or waterbrushes, a glue stick and a small pair of scissors. These will all go into your artist's tool kit and it can be anything from a canvas pouch, pencil case or empty box that you can take with you when the sketching mood arises. 

To get us started, let's warm up with a few drawing exercises:

We can make lines, circles and scribbles.

We can practice drawing light and shadow. This can be achieved by shading techniques like crosshatching (lines in the same direction) or stippling (dots) to add depth and shadows to the sketch. The drawing can remain this way or can be finished with color (make sure the fine-liner pen you use is waterproof). 

We can try out "blind contour drawing" or drawing the subject without looking at your paper, sketching only the outlines and avoiding lifting your pencil off the page.

Here are a few prompts to help us draw our day: Daily Rituals, Your Mood, the Weather, Nature, Animals, Everyday Activities and Items, Special Events, Travel, Home, Food and Drink, and People.

And speaking of drawing people, I love this guide on how to draw faces and bodies:

Now, it's time to put all of these elements together. Let me show you the pages that I made:

This one is all about food and drink. The coffee and the pastries are the heroes of the page and I used the negative space to write out a description. I experimented with different kinds of lettering, too.

This is a combination of nature and weather highlighting a spring day on the Boston Harbor. Samantha suggests, "Think of your page like a photograph; use the edges of the page."

This page details a day at the shore during the Fourth of July. I was able to check off some items on my "Summer List" like eating really yummy barbecue, having some ice cream, collecting sea shells and spending the day at the beach.

Wasn't that fun? A few parting thoughts from the book:

Samantha says, "Creating an illustrated journal is a practice you can continue your whole life, from age eight to eighty." All we have to do is start...no matter what age we are. 

And that is how I turned a blank sketchbook page from blah to TADA!

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