Initiating an arts and crafts training class for kids is one among many profitable businesses. As something that can be home-based, it can be an opportunity for someone to make a profit over something that can be very convenient and educational for it can significantly improve not just your student’s skills, but also yours.

Here are tips and steps that can help you in starting your arts and crafts class for children:

Knowledge and Training

Ideally, you should know arts for you even to have a grasp of what you intend to start, which is an arts and crafts class. If you already have training and knowledge in the field of art, then you won’t have to worry about yourself; however, if you don’t have any, then it might be ideal if you take at least 2-3 months of training

If you’re not a graduate or a diploma hold in the field of art, you need not worry for there are still available sources and tutorials that can be found in the web; you have to search and see which one best serves you. Also, there are also available books and modules in bookstores that can help you enhance your skills and knowledge.

Here are the essential knowledge and training areas that you have to be at least well-acquainted with for your class to be thriving.

Pencils – There are a wide variety and types of pencils that serve specific uses and purposes. For example, there is a huge difference between 2B pencils and 2H pencils. This fact only emphasizes your need to be knowledgeable about these things, and incorporate it into your curriculum.

Brushes and Colors – Just like pencils, brushes, and colors also come in different types and characteristics. Mediums like oil pastels, crayons, paints and others are among the most common things that you should get acquainted with, as well as the different kinds of brushes.

Shapes and Lines – Be well-acquainted with all types of shapes: oval, triangle, rectangle, square, circle, etc. Also, improve your skill in drawing a line like slanting, dotted, wavy, curvy, and other types of lines.

Basic elements – Drawings like trees, clouds, flowers, islands, water, mountains, and houses are among the most basic drawings you should get familiar with. In the same manner, get yourself to draw some advanced elements too such as buildings, a house with a garden, and others.

Shading – Be knowledgeable about basic shading and coloring that children at a young age can understand and grasp.

Drawing figures – Learn to draw figures such as animals, birds, and even human beings with the help and aid of basic shapes.

Materials for Craft – Have basic knowledge about the various craft products that are available in the market such as papers, sheets, pens, cardboard, and others.

Investment

Naturally, no business ever becomes successful without any investments in the first place. With that being said, if starting an arts and crafts classes also entail some investments that you should be able to do. Purchasing items such as tables and chairs, basic materials, and drawing books are among the most important investments that you should buy. Aside from that, you should also spend resources dedicated to advertising such as pamphlets and card that contain information about your class.

Planning a Curriculum

Plan and tailor your curriculum for at least a year, with at least 3 classes in a week. Divide each session or class in a way that you can cater lessons and hands-on exercises for your students. Also, you should be able to consider your student’s pacing. Start from the basics before you proceed to more advanced lessons and exercises. Ideally, you should also categorize or group your students based on their age; this way, you will be able to tailor and suit your lessons better in accordance to your student’s expectations when it comes to the level of difficulty and knowledge that they can learn in your classes.

Location

One of the best ways of starting this type of business if when you start it in the comfort of your own home otherwise choose a place that’s populated. Aside from that, you also have the option of sharing a space with a playschool or a coaching center.

Choose a Name

Think and brainstorm of a catchy name that can capture the interest of your target niche. Make use of colors or even famous characters in the field of art, and do a wordplay to make it appealing.

Hire Teachers

Once your business is progressive and doing very well, you might not be able to teach your student all by yourself; thus, it might be a great idea if you hire other teachers to help you make your business more successful.

You are taking on a job of painting a disruptive reflection the moment you paint rippling water with something in it. This imagery can be tricky. So, you better make your personal reference before you begin performing it.

You can use oils for this particular painting. Hence, the following are a few oil painting techniques. Do not miss this article or some posts about basic techniques of painting to get more tips and tricks regarding this matter.

1. Create a few references

You can utilize your palette, a toy and a mirror and then stir the water to have the ripples you want to achieve and then take a photo of it for you to work from. Moreover, you can leave your reference after you if you can for you to test and experiment with various water effects. When your reference is created, you are ready to start.

2. Begin with dark colors

As you base, begin with the darks of the water. Once you are working in oils, you work from dark to light most of the time anyway, so this is a basic way of doing it. You can also experiment with working on your transparent and thin hues. Your transparent colors will be Ultramarine, Phthalo Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Indian Yellow, Viridian, Oxides (brown, yellow, orange, red), and many to mention.

Usually, a reflection ought to be darker compared to the object being reflected. The object’s shadows will likely have some similar reflection but will typically make what is underneath the visible water. Also, usually, the values are darker. In this stage, you can have fun and try different mixes of all saturated and dark colors. Then, allow this to dry. If you are working on plain air, you have to work thin.

3. Incorporate the light colors

The moment you begin on the light color, the mirror of the sky, it is great to premix the gradient. It can make selecting which the perfect colors are much easier. If there are parts with contrasting details, you can select one to focus on and think about painting back into the sky refection through utilizing shadow colors. In order to make the ripples in the painting, it is much simpler to paint the reflected sky’s gradient over most of the part and then paint the darks once more.

You want to have the correct drawing equipment at the ready whenever you are starting a new illustration – whether you are doing highly realistic pencil drawings or some quick sketches. However, choosing the ideal pencils for your needs could feel like a trial and error process.

A lot of professionals suggest buying one of every grade from 9B to 9H when first becoming familiar with using pencils for drawing. This is for you to get acquainted with the dark/soft and light/hard qualities of each. Experiment with different surfaces, and try a huge range of mark-making and strokes.

In this article, we will run through several various drawing tool choices you could try out.

• Graphite Pencils

You would want to stick with the familiar if you are just starting out. The most common type of drawing tool is the graphite pencil since their composition enables for the smoothest strokes.

Though, once you develop your confidence, it is time to enhance your scope. For example, you can try solid graphite pencils. These are solid clay composite and graphite sticks that have no casing other than a label or wrapper. They are frequently called woodless pencils and are utilized mainly for art purposes. This is because the lack of casing enables for covering bigger areas more easily. This creates various effects.

• Charcoal Pencils

As the name suggests, charcoal pencils are made of charcoal and offer a much darker shade than graphite pencils. However, they appear to easily smudge and are rougher than graphite. Also, white and sepia-toned pencils are available for double-tone techniques.

• Ink

Drawing is not simply about pencils, of course. Ink drawing is another common method that could lead to several amazing outcomes. Traditional ink and pen consists of white paper and black ink. This creates space through thin or thick lines. For texture, you can just repeat marks. There are a lot of choices for working in ink. Therefore, you would need to look for the one that best suits you. You could do this by experimenting, just like graphite.

• Pastels

You would possible want to try pastels if you like your drawing to feature colors that are vibrant. Pastels are an amazing tool for easily creating colourful artwork, with no need for palettes, brushes, or water. The main forms of pastels are water soluble pastels, pastel pencils, oil pastels, and hard and soft pastels.

• Watercolor and Carbon Pencils

And, that isn’t all. You could also try utilizing carbon pencils. These pencils creates a fuller black than graphite pencils. However, they are much smoother than charcoal. There are grease pencils that write on most surfaces. This includes photographs, metal, plastic, and glass.

In addition to that, there are watercolour pencils, developed for use with watercolour methods. Also, they could be utilized for bold and sharp lines. For short, there is a world of various drawing tools out there. Thus, begin trying various drawing tools. Do not hold back.

Choosing a pencil or a paintbrush isn’t as easy as it sounds for every tool has its unique effect. To simplify the difficulty of choosing which paint brush to use, it would be a great idea if you decide to categorize them into two distinctions: the shape, and the type of hair of the paint brush.

To help you more on choosing which paint brush to use, here are tips that can help you:

1. Type of Hair

There are two types of hair: bristle, and sable. Both kinds come in various sizes and shapes and are either made from synthetic fiber or natural animal hair. Ideally, bristles are used for rougher marks, and sables are for smoother ones.

2. Bristle Brushes

Bristle brushes are made out of stronger, thicker, and rougher hair for they originally come from animals such as wild hogs; however, brushes that are made from synthetic bristles are now prevalent. Bristle brushes are ideal for specific purposes for they can hold a lot of paint.

3. Bristle Marks

Bristle marks tend to produce paint strokes that can be visible. Most people use this feature for it adds texture and variety to paintings, and create drawing type marks due to their durability and stiffness.

4. Sable Brushes

Generally made of softer and finer hair, sable brushes are ideal for blending edges and producing softer and subtler marks. Sable brushes that are small are also good for adding more details and finishing touches.

5. Sable Marks

Sables produce very clean marks, with paint strokes that are virtually hidden. Painters usually use sables when they want to produce airbrush-like marks for blending and to achieve a more “realistic” effect in paintings.

6. Three Paint Brush Shapes

One way to categorize paint brushes is by their shape; the three basic shapes are filbert, flat, and round -all of which come in both sable and bristle hair, and also in different sizes.

7. Round Brushes

Shaped like sharp teardrops, round brushes are usually used to make drawing-like marks. Most painters usually use round brushes to draw first, then proceed to use larger round brushes to fill bigger areas.

8. Flat Brushes

Flat brushes possess a rectangular shape and produce square shaped marks. They can make chisel-like lines too, especially when utilizing a flat sable brush. Most painters use flat brushes to model form, define planes, and form a figure in a painting.

9. Filbert Brushes

Filbert brushes are, generally, a combination of both flat and round brushes. Filberts possess the rectangular shape like a flat brush, but also have a point like a round brush. Due to the nature of their shape, filberts can produce different marks.

10. Round Bristle and Sable Brush Marks

Round bristle marks resemble those of a pencil, that’s why most artists use them whenever they want to draw or make hatching marks. Round sable marks, on the other hand, are often used to blend edges and create finer details.

11. Flat Bristle and Sable Brush marks

Flat bristle brushes create square-shaped marks and visible paint strokes that are usually used for painting planes on forms. Flat sable paint brushes can create square-shaped marks, but with cleaners edges.

12. Filbert Bristle and Sable Brush Marks

Here are some examples of marks made by filbert bristle brush

Filbert brushes can produce various marks because of their versatility. From creating variety and texture, drawing edges and marks, and blending, filberts can cater to a painter’s preference and usage.

13. Large Brushes

Usually, larger brushes are flat-shaped and are made from bristle mainly because bristle can hold more paint. Large brushes are common uses when painting large areas, or for applying varnish and gesso.

14. Small Detail Brushes

Small brushes come in a variety of sizes and are almost always sables for they can preserve their stiffness and shape well. Small brushes are generally used for adding details and for blending edges.

To help you more in sorting your brushes, it is better if you get familiar with your tools in a sense that you sort them according to how you need and use them. For example, you can sort some of your brushes for blending, for adding details, or even for outdoor and landscape painting. What’s important is that you customize and personalize the way you arrange and sort them to maximize comfort and ease when painting.

Even if you already have all the necessary tools, set up your own space of work, and ready to start your journey in making art; it is still essential to be familiar and knowledgeable about the fundamental techniques in painting to aid you in creating your masterpiece.

Below are seven essential techniques that can help you in making yourself the best artist in no time.

Underpainting

When using slow-drying paints, try working the paint up from thin to thick. Creating an underpaint can be useful when it comes to establishing shadows and values. The best, most suitable medium would probably be acrylics for they are permanent and are quick to dry. In the same manner, work up to highlights as you add the brightest paint at the end.

Blocking In

Brushes come in a wide variety of shapes and types, providing you with different results and outputs. The idea is that you try them all as your paint, for you to have an understanding on which brush to use for a specific effect or usage. Filbert brushes are generally suitable for blocking in form and paint.

Building Up Texture

Use a dry, flat brush to create a smooth transition, and for blending your paint. Most artists use a lot of texture and prefer to have visible brush marks. There are also ready make texture media such as sand, eggshells, and other items that can add interest to a painting.

Dry Brushing

Dry brushing is a method where you apply a color that only partially covers a layer of paint that just previously dried out. This method usually works best whenever you apply light paint over dark areas.

Sgraffito

Removing paint can be as important as applying it

Taking paint off can be as vital as applying it. Sgraffito is the term for the method of scratching away paint while it is still wet to reveal the underpainting. This method is useful when it comes to depicting hair, scratches, and the like.

Glazing

This is the process of laying a coat of transparent medium over a dry part of the work and is usually used for adding more contrast for shadows and modulation of color.

Painting with Mediums

Fluids that can be added to paint to modulate its drying time, texture, and consistency are called mediums. When it come to acrylics, you can have different mediums that can produce a matte or gloss finish.

The humble pencil is a versatile and ubiquitous tool for drawing. There are several significant considerations when choosing your ideal pencils to get the most out of it.

Thus, these tips would offer a sound foundation for amateurs and several handy reminders for more professional artists, whether you are a seasoned professional or just learning how to draw.

• The Shakespearean Question

“2B or not 2B?” Choosing the correct pencil grade for your drawing would help you generate the ideal possible sketch. Graphite pencils are available in a hardness scale from 9B (dark, soft) to 9H (pale, hard), with F and HB in the middle of the range.

Usually, the B grades are appropriate sketching pencils, while the H grades are appropriate for technical drawing.

• Sharpening the Pencil

Several drawings need a sharp and fine point for pinning down a line that’s crisp. Some require a flat and broad side to the lead of the pencil for blocking in tone. A blunt point often could serve your purposes.

Whatever your preferences are, be sure that you always bring with you your sharpener. Be sure that it’s sharp and that you have few with you if you go out to draw if you utilize a normal handheld sharpener. Usually, a desk-mounted helical sharpener would last much longer and grinds your pencil to a point that is much longer. Always cut away from your body if you utilize a craft knife.

• Obtain the Ideal Pencil Hold

Various pencil holds are appropriate to various marks. Experiment with various methods to grip the pencil as you draw. Also, work out best grips for various methods of mark making. It is significant to consider where you’re making your mark from – shoulder, wrist, or fingers?

• Consider the Lines

The type of mark you create would greatly affect the look and feel of your pencil drawing. Give few consideration to the speed at which you create it when you create a mark. In addition to that, consider the weight that you put into your stroke. A lightly drawn line is exploratory and pale; a heavy line is definite and dark.

Try to avoid feathery and uncertain marks when you’re starting out.

• Blind Contour Drawing

The 1^st exercise, called the “blind contour drawing”, is a playful and popular exercise that helps you to unselfconsciously draw, making marks that are bold without feeling anxious about the results.

In front of you, set up a subject and fix your eyes on the top, place your pencil on the paper. Trace your eye around the subject without looking down at the paper. It should follow its contours and edges. Also, let the pencil follow the same method on the paper as you do so.

Draw in an unbroken and single line and do not look back at your drawing until you’re done. It would look disproportioned and strange. Well, it’s supposed to be like that. Regularly repeat the exercise as a warm up.