Learning Art in Your Homeschool for Free
This post is from Vicki of the Vicki Arnold Blog.
Learning art in your homeschool seems to fall in the same category as learning photography…intimidating. A lot of homeschool parents don’t feel very creative, thankfully this thing we call the world wide web is here to help again. There is a plethora of free tutorials out there. I have curated a list here of some great resources. You can also check out my Art Tutorials Pinterest board for even more links.
Art Basics & Elements
- Ideas for Teaching Art at Home – A good article to get you started in coming up with ways to implement art into your homeschool. There are also a few ideas on how to include art in other subjects like history, geography, and English.
- Art Styles – This article teaches you what an art style is and gives a few examples to help you understand.
- Art Mediums – Not sure which medium to start with? This might help, there are also links for each medium to give you more in depth information.
- Composition – Learn the rules of art composition, what it is, and how it can improve your art.
- Perspective – Perspective draws your eye in artwork. Learn the basics of it in this article.
- Color Theory – Two free tutorials on color theory.
- Teaching the Color Wheel – Mixing colors, primary, secondary…yep, you can learn it.
Drawing Tutorials
- How to Draw – This site has a large selection of PDF and video drawing tutorials available for FREE. Tutorials include baby chick, snake, ladybug, manta ray, dog, penguin, scorpion, baby Jesus, a monster, and many more. There is also a selection of Intermediate level drawing tutorials. If you sign up for their blog’s email updates, there is also a free ebook called “How to Draw 10 Monsters”.
- Free Drawing Tutorials – A collection of tutorials from Masterpiece Art Instruction. Tutorials include shape, shadows and shading, drawing grids, drawing a windmill, and a quick sketch of birds.
- How to Stretch Your Drawing Muscles – A creative exercise to build your creative muscles.
- Learn to Draw Whatever You Want – A good foundation to help make drawing easier. He teaches you how to see the basic shapes in anything and what to do with them when you do see them.
- How to Draw Animals – A collection of drawing tutorials that include horses, bear, butterfly, kangaroo, flamingo, and dolphin.
- Color Pencil Drawing Tutorial – This is a little more advanced.
- How to Draw Young Children – A tutorial for charcoal and graphite.
Painting Tutorials
- How to Paint – This is the same site with the drawing tutorials. Tutorials include mixing paint, finger painting, and watercolor.
- A Complete Guide to Starting Painting – A round-up of this blog’s posts that walks you through color theory, oil vs. acrylic, brushes, color mixing, and how drawing
- Exploding Art – This looks like so much fun! Makes for a great outdoors art project.
- Marble Painting
- Acrylic Painting tutorials – Hodgepodge has a collection of tutorials using acrylic paints. Tutorials include a cupcake and a Dr. Seuss inspired piece.
- Art with Canvas & Painter’s Tape
- How to Paint with Acrylic Paint videos – Many free videos available for acrylic painting.
- Oil Painting – If oil painting is something you are interested in, check out this guide.
- The Rule of Thirds in Landscape Painting
- Which Art Canvas Should I Use?
- Oil and Acrylic Paper Isn’t Just for Practice – An overview of using paper instead of canvas.
- Watercolor Painting Techniques – A good resource for an easier (to most) medium. The cost for this medium is relatively minimal.
Pastel Tutorials
- Intro to Pastels for Kids: About Pastels
- Intro to Pastels For Kids: How to Blend With Oil Pastels
- Oil Pastel Art Project: Monarch Butterfly
- Hodgepodge has a huge selection of chalk pastel tutorials. The post includes information on where to get supplies, what you need, and other helpful tips.
- Starting to Use Soft and Hard Pastels and Pastel Pencils – A pretty thorough overview of each.
- Pastel Accessories for Pastel Drawing and Charcoal
Other Mediums {Sculpture, 3D Art, Paper Crafting, Mixed Media, Print Making}
- Sculpting for Kids – Tutorials include a coil pot, slab pot, pinch pot, and a comparison of modeling clay to Play Dough.
- Narnia and the North! – This post is a free tutorial and pattern for creating a cardboard ship.
- How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers – Create a bright bouquet that will never wilt.
- Bleeding Tissue Paper Hearts
- Heart Collage: Mixed Media Acrylic
- Art Project: Paper Silhouettes
- Toilet paper prints – A great way to recycle empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls.
- Paper Roll Heart Stamp – Another way to use those empty rolls.
- DIY Cardboard Stamp – Create custom shapes.
- Simple Valentine’s Stamp – A creative way to re-purpose a felt Christmas ornament. Post also includes more links for DIY stamps.
Related Tutorials & Other Resources
- DIY Craft Light Box – This can be used for tracing practice.
- See the Light blog – See the Light offers a great art curriculum for sale, but they do have a selection of free lessons.
You can also find 20 Do-It-Yourself Homemade Art Supplies here.
Vicki Arnold is a happy wife to one, busy homeschooling mama to four, and blogger. You can find her blogging at the Vicki Arnold blog – where P31 & Titus 2 meet Colossians 3:23. She likes to talk about gardening, homeschooling, and homemaking. If she’s not there, you can probably find her on Pinterest.
This series is part of iHomeschool Network Hopscotch 2013.
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Hey Vicki!
What an awesome collection of links, thanks for putting this together!!! This will keep us busy for a while 🙂
Kind Regards,
Rob
You are welcome! I am glad you will be able to use it. 🙂 Blessings to you and your family!
Would love to see a list like this only for music/composers type of studies. This is wonderful!
Thanks so much for the mention Vicki! We hope many will come join us for art! 🙂
Thank you so much for this incredible list of art sites. My twin 8-year-old boys love art but have been wanting to dig into different mediums. It will be so nice to have safe and instructive sites to help them (and me).