I woke this morning to the news of author Maurice Sendak’s death at age 83 (June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012). His signature book, Where the Wild Things Are, is well know and loved at our house. How amazingly fitting that I have a guest post from Fi today, showing how to create a special activity for children (and adults!) inspired by the book.
Guest Post from Fi from Destination Bali
This week I said to the children, “I love the illustrations in this book.” Apparently I say this every time I read Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak…and we read it a lot.
We decided to draw monsters in the same style as the book. This made the kids really look at how the illustrations were done. The cross hatching, washes and final colouring, the lack of straight line and the interesting textures.
The children kept going back and really, really looking. The idea was to draw monsters the same way and then try and do a completely unrelated object but in the same style a few days later.
Materials
Watercolour paper
Watercolour paints
Pencil
Fine point black pen
Water colour pencils
Instructions
1. Initially it was a sketch in pencil.
2. A watercolour wash in the areas we needed it.
3. Added lot of fine detail in a thin black pen. The artworks were left out and the children went back to them and added more detail.
4. Then more colouring with watercolour pencils for stronger colour.
Make sure the grown ups in your household have a go too. You can do this with any illustrator you love! Next up for us is The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss.
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This series of posts follows Fi and her family as they experience a 6 month family getaway to Uluwatu, Bali. If you want to know more or catch up on previous entries, visit the first post in the series here: Family Tropical Adventure in Bali.
Posts in the series
1. Family Tropical Adventure in Bali
2. A Walk: 6 Months on a Tropical Island
4. A Place: The How and The Why
5. A Scare: The Highs and the Lows
6. A Drama: Lemonade from Lemons
7. A Mistake: Why not easily fixed?
8. A Preview: Of things to come
10. An Escape: And a Special Moment
11. A Box: Small, Smaller, Smallest
12. A Chat: It’s All in the Timing
14. A Nest: What you can do with plenty of time
15. A Colour: Green
2 Comments
Leslie
May 11, 2012 at 12:44 pmThose kids seriously got some talent! RIP Maurice Sendak.
Where The Wild Things Are…Maurice Sendak | Chaotiqual
June 10, 2013 at 11:18 am[…] can be found here and here. Maurice Sendak […]