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Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp
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Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp.  All rights reserved.
about the book
The Homeschool Diner's Guide to
Homeschooling by Subject
Visual Arts

Free Art "How-To" Lessons and Project Ideas
Who needs art curriculum?  Try a new project every day!

by Julie Shepherd knapp, copyright 2006


Free online directions for specific techniques, media, and projects...


Free Drawing Lessons by Karine at Masterpiece Art Instruction

Drawspace.com -- free online drawing lessons from Brenda Hoddinott ,
forum available, you can upload your drawings to a gallery (and get
responses from other members), upgrade your membership (20.00 for 3
months) to download/print lessons.  To begin, create a free account and
login (in the upper right corner), after you're logged in you can view all
lessons on the site at no charge (you will need Adobe Flash Player to
view the lessons)

Dozens of "How-To" art books by Dover Publications -- drawing,
painting, and more

Perspective Without Pain by Philip W. Metzger

Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures
by J. "NeonDragon" Peffer, aimed at teen artists

Figure Drawing for Fashion Design by E. Drudi, also see the
Homeschool Diner's
Design section for more fashion design resources

Drawing for Classical Animation -- a free online tutorial
MangaTutorials.com -- free online guide to drawing the basics
Manga Mania: Chibi and Furry Characters: How to Draw the
Adorable Mini-characters and Cool Cat-girls of Japanese Comics
a book by Christopher Hart
Cartoon Critters Learn to Draw -- step by step for a few characters
HOW TO DRAW POLITICAL CARTOONS by Daryl Cagle (scroll down to
Dec 5, 2008) -- details of his drawing approach (not the politics)
KaBoom! -- a dictionary of comic book words as sound effects  

Youth Digital Arts CyberSchool -- (3rd grade and up)  video tutorials
on using various art software products,  create video games, music,
paintings, films and documentaries, animations, Manga and comics, and
Anime and cartoons, each tutorial+software product sold separately

T-Shirt Stenciling -- make your own designs

DIY rubber stamps -- from ExpressionArtmagazine.com

Typophile Type Battles -- challenges to create your own fonts

Postcard Creator -- from Read Write and Think, a free online activity
that allows students to type addresses and messages onto a blank
postcard format, then print it out, students can then color or decorate the
front side, fold or glue it  add a stamp, and mail it (or use their pretend
stamps for "internal mail delivery")

Window to Art – tips and project ideas for drawing, painting, graphics,
mixed media and 3-D

Windmills to Whirlygigs – artist’s yard and project ideas

Fruit and Vegetable Carving -- from the ancient Thai art of food
garnishing, to watermellon art,  to pumpkin carving

FugleFlicks -- Mrs. Fuglestat's free music videos about art

The Color Pencil Challenge – lessons and techniques

Peter Saw Watercolor tips – helpful techniques

Airbrush techniques from Marianne -- uses Copic Airbrush System

Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green by Michael Wilcox -- learn to mix
the right colors with watercolors and acrylics

How to make your own water color paints by Belinda Mooney

Plaster Casting & Construction – plaster of paris sculpting

Hand-made Paper making -- includes a video of the process

Withie Sculpture (willow twigs) -- short bendy twigs often found laying
on the ground around willow trees

Teaching Innovative Wire Sculpture -- a free lesson plan and
another
Wire Sculpture Lesson from  the Incredible @rt Department
and some amazing examples of W
ire Sculpture by Elizabeth Berrien
"Rock" and Wire Sculpture/Mobiles -- make a plaster base to hold
up your wire sculpture
Make a Wire Circus like Alexander Calder's

Scrap Wood Sculpture -- use real scraps or second-hand wooden
blocks

Mexican Metal Tooling -- emboss and color scenes onto metal foil (or
pie and potpie tins) then assemble and hang

Tape and Cling Wrap Sculptures -- this @rt Department lesson has
enough directions to get started... you can use cling wrap (plain or
colored) in place of the middle layers of tape, under layers can be
painted, top layer can be drawn on with permanent markers.  Weights
can be taped into bottom of sculpture for stability.  There are many
online examples to view -- simply Google "tape sculptures".  
NJZ
Creations has examples of masking tape sculptures (easily painted and
sealed).  

Geometric CD Sculpture -- this Truncated Icosahedron CD Sculpture
is a lesson in geometry as well as art!

Paper Craft -- amazing 3D paper models by Yamaha

SF Movie Paper Craft Gallery -- print, cut out, and asemble paper
models of Star Wars and Star Trek spacecraft, etc

Altered Books -- examples by Tera Leigh, create a work of art from an
old book by rebinding, cutting, tearing, painting, drawing, adding collage,
gold-leafing, stamping, printing, adorning, and personalizing with poetry
or portraiture, also visit the
Intl Society of Altered Book Artists website
Paper Airplane Designs -- lots of different planes, some with video
directions, experiment with flight!

Cubism Photo Montage --Joe Applebaum, Brecksville-Broadview HS

ASCII Art -- learn how to make those creative signature line pictures

How to Make GIF Animations by stevemd

For Website Development and more Computer Arts check out
the Diner's  
Computer section

Photography – tips on darkroom, pinhole camera, etc.

The Animation Learner's Site  by the University of Toronto

Paper Plate Education -- illuminate your ideas on a paper plate

Oriland -- fantastic origami project ideas

Egg Carton Ideas -- art, craft and recycle uses for foam cartons

Absolutely Free Plans -- free patterns for lots of  woodworking projects

PhotoShop Warhol Style -- explore the style of Andy Warhol, then
learn to use Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop to create similar images

Composing with Rungis -- compose a well-balanced, dynamic wildlife
painting with the help of a free interactive online tutorial

Murals by Children -- some great examples

How to Make a Dream Catcher

Bonsai Basics

Patterns for Fashion Dolls by Don McCunn

Designing and Animating Characters in Flash 8

Electronic textile Projects by Leah Buechley -- a physics major and
artist Leah has developed circuit projects that involve sewing and textile
arts, make light-up quilt squares, clothing, etc,  directions and lists of
materials/suppliers given


Related Helpful Resources

A Perfect World: Free Clip Art -- totally free, no registration

Animated GIF clips -- free!

Neat Fonts --  free downloads

Brainy Betty -- free Power Point tutorials and free backgrounds
(back to)
visual arts