Teach Drawing Facial Features Without Overwhelm
Teaching drawing facial features used to make my students (and me!) break out in a light sweat. The second I said “portrait,” I’d see panic in their eyes! Teaching portrait drawing to beginning art students like those in a General Art 1 or Middle School Art courses can be so tough! Over the years, I’ve […]
Inktober 2025 Prompts and Free Printable Worksheet
If you are looking for Inktober 2025 prompts and a way to stay organized during the challenge, you are in the right place! Every October, artists all over the world take part in Inktober, a daily drawing challenge designed to boost creativity, build consistency, and encourage artists to share their work. With a new word […]
Creative Colored Pencil Art Lessons for High School Art Classes
Colorful Possibilities: Creative Colored Pencil Art Lessons for High School Art Classes I just freaking love colored pencils. When it comes to engaging high school art students with meaningful, skill-building projects, colored pencil art lessons are a must-have in every art teacher’s toolkit. Colored pencils are accessible, portable, and surprisingly versatile. With the right lessons, […]
Haunted House Art Lesson with Perspective
Haunted House Art Lesson: A Fun and Spooky Addition to Art 1 The last week of October, I tried a haunted house art lesson for the first time with my high school Art 1 classes, and I have to say, I think it was a hit! The lesson, originally created by Amy Ward Creates and […]
Election Day Art Activity
Election Day Art Activity to Calm Election Day Classroom Chaos! With Election Day right around the corner, maybe you need an election day art activity that will challenge your students but keep them interested. We all know how wild election season can get, especially in a classroom full of teens and pre-teens. If you’ve ever […]
This Emphasis Art Lesson is my #1 MOST Engaging Lesson!
Looking for an ENGAGING Lesson to teach Emphasis and Focal Point (that’s super easy!)? This Emphasis Doodle Battle Art Lesson is it! I kid you not.. this emphasis art lesson has easily been the most engaging art lesson I’ve done in the last two years! And I’ve only done it for two years! More students […]
Powerful Grid Drawing Portraits!
Let me be real vulnerable…. I have an Art 1 class this semester that has absolutely been my most difficult class in at least 10 years… and maybe ever. This week we started drawing human faces and we began with my Grid Drawing Portrait worksheets. This class is my last class of the day (of […]
Penis Drawings? Number 1 Art Teacher Problem?
If You Give a Boy a Pencil…He’ll Probably Draw a Penis. The oldest art teacher problem of all? Perhaps!! I’m pretty sure there are penis drawings on cave walls! I’ve had some other interesting classroom graffiti over the years. One semester I kept finding, ” DAD?” on all sorts of things. That was odd. Funny […]
From Beginner to Confident: The Magic of Half Face Drawings
Have you tried half face drawings with your students? If not, you’re missing out on an amazing learning tool! Half face drawings are one of the best ways I have found to help students build confidence in their portrait drawing skills. I’ve found this technique incredibly effective, especially when preparing students for more complex projects […]
Fresh Facelift for this Giuseppe Arcimboldo Lesson!
I’ve given my Giuseppe Arcimboldo Lesson a MUCH-NEEDED facelift, and I couldn’t be more excited to share the updates! If you’ve grabbed this lesson from my Teachers Pay Teachers shop in the past, you can now download the updated version for free! While the core content remains the same (why fix what isn’t broken?), I’ve […]
Hot and Cool! Color Temperature Guided Cupcake Drawing with Oil Pastel
This year, I decided it might be a good practice to try a quick guided cupcake drawing with oil pastel during my Art 1 color lessons. We practiced first with Oil Pastels a little using my Oil Pastel worksheets. I’m not sure what made me decide to try this. I typically do not like […]
My Favorite Colored Pencil Lesson: Arcimboldo Inspired Self-Portraits!
Art 2 just wrapped up their colored pencil unit and our Arcimboldo Inspired Self-Portraits! I have taught high school art for 16 years now and I have done this same lesson with every group of Art 2 students that I have had! It’s a great lesson to use for colored pencils. We started with the […]