World Wide Art Websites

Last week was our school's open house and I was overjoyed to see so many parents and students swing by the art room for a visit. Several parents have asked how they can encourage their child(ren)'s creativity and develop their artistic skills at home.

For those interested in learning about (and creating!) more art, the World Wide Web is a great place to start! The Internet can be a great source of creativity and inspiration for young artists. Several tools and websites exist that allow us to learn about art, doodle, draw, and paint right from our computers.

I recommend these websites:

For Lessons:

• My Kid Can Draw! - This website is features fantastic lessons on drawing. MKCD provides free elementary art classes for young artists. Their videos offer fast, easy and effective art instruction for budding artists, ages 2-12 There are so many videos so you can learn to draw just about anything.

• Art Express -Art Express is designed for kids between grades 1 and 5. Sections include educational art lessons to help children learn how to paint and draw, including exercises on composition, design, color mixing, drawing, and much more!

• Artists Helping Children - This website has an alphabetical list of how to draw many things- from cars, to horses, to Spongebob,-and everything in between! Click on an object you want to learn how to draw and you can either practice on their virtual tablet or your own paper.

• Mark Kistler School of Imagination - This website is brought to you by the comic book artist Mark Kistler. He will show you step-by-step how to draw in his fun style. There are some free tutorials, or you could pay for more lessons.

• Hello Kids: Drawing for Kids - Here are some more free tutorials (video and pictures) for drawing basic animals, holidays, fairytales, and more.

• The Artist's Toolkit - Explore the visual elements and principles of line, color and shape as tools to build works of art using this website hosted by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

For Fun with Famous Artists:

• Jackson Pollock -Create your very own Jackson Pollock style painting by dragging your mouse cursor. Click to change to a random color.

• Picasso Head - Here you may create a cubism portrait in the art style of Pablo Picasso. Drag and drop facial features, and adjust colors to make a Picasso styled painting.

• Mondrimat -Little artists may create Mondrian style paintings. Wait for it to load, then click on different places on your screen to intuitively create a Mondrian styled painting. Click more than once on a shape to cycle through colors. Position of the shapes may be adjusted by dragging your cursor.

• Haring Kids - This is the official children’s website for artist, Keith Haring. Here you can play games, create art, and learn more about this New York City artist.

• Exploring Leonardo - This comprehensive site for 4^th-8^th graders, created by the Boston Museum of Science, brings Leonardo daVinci’s work alive through games and activities.

• Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories -Discover more about African American artist, Jacob Lawrence, through this virtual field trip hosted by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

• The Renaissance Connection - Visit the Allentown Art Museum’s interactive educational website to travel 500 years into the past to discover many Renaissance masters and their innovations.

For Creating Art:

• Art Pad - This one is a digital canvas that you can paint on. You can change colors and brush types, mix colors, and more.

• The Art Zone - This website is hosted by the National Gallery of Art and has “interactive art that you can make online” for kids of all ages. It has a wealth of information and activities to enhance understanding of visual arts. Some activities include, but are not limited to portraits, landscapes, photography, still life, color mixing, symmetry, mobiles, 3D art, interior design, and collage. You can learn about famous arts while making art in their styles online. It also has some very fun motion detected artworks and virtual art pads.

• PsykoPaint - Kids will love this tool… and adults will too! Create a full digital painting online. This includes plenty of filters and tools to play with. Also upload your own photographs and enjoy creating cool digital images from them.

• Make Beliefs Comix - Create your own comic books and manipulate the character emotions. Write in English or Spanish! Lessons are also available under ‘How to Play’.

• Paper Critters - This is a fun online origami creator! Click on Toy Creator, and then start playing with this cool origami tool. When finished click Preview to see your creation in full 3D!

• Masterpiece Drawing Tool - This digital drawing tool is an amazing way to unleash your creativity.

• Swarm Sketch - SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of lines submitted from people around the world to create an image over the course of a week. Each user can contribute a small amount of line per visit.

For Art Games:

• Getty Games - This website is hosted by The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Here you can play online games with Getty Art. Test your memory, play detective, or solve a puzzle.

• Artsology - The "Jr. Artsologist" section of Artsology is geared towards young children up to pre-teen. The Jr. Artsologist features both games and arts investigations that can be enjoyed by younger students, including such things as puzzles, printable coloring pages (based on famous works of art) and maze pages, simple games, and more.

• A. Pintura, Art Dectective - This site helps young artists become an art detective, and at the same time learn fundamentals of art, such as subject, style, color, composition, and art history.

• Tate Kids - This website is sponsored by the Tate Museum in London, England. Here, you can find some amazing games, and even create your own artworks, while learning about many different styles of art.

• Inside Art - This fun site takes you on an interactive adventure in art history, where you can choose your own path.

• Queensland Games for Kids - Check out this site to have some art fun “down under”-style! These art games are hosted by the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Queensland, Australia.

For Visiting Galleries:

• Artsonia - Artsonia is a kids art museum where young artists and students display their art. Each child can have his or her own online art gallery. You can browse other students’ galleries, or make your own! If you have family out of town, this is a wonderful way to show them all you’ve created. You can also purchase printed t-shirts, mugs, cards, magnets, keychains, and other items with your artwork! A scanner or digital camera is needed to upload your artworks.

• Albright-Knox Art Games Gallery - This is the kids’ site for the Albright-Knox Gallery in New York. Here they have interactive artworks and games to play to discover more about their collection.

• WackyKids -This site is hosted by the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. Wackykids.org is the place to explore art from around the world and the people who made and used it. All the artworks are from the Denver Art Museum.

• MOWA Kids - Take an interactive kids-style tour of the Museum of Web Art!

• Art Safari - You can go on an art safari at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City’s website. A safari is “an adventure in looking” and at this site, you can explore the world of art.

• MOMA Destination: Modern Art -Another great section of the MOMA where you can take an interactive tour and learn more about the artworks

• Google Art Project - This one is wonderful for kids and adults alike. Explore many world-famous museums, from the comfort of your home.

• Smithsonian American Art Museum - Cappy, the skateboarding giraffe is a cartoon character based on a bottle cap sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He'll show you some of the other works of art in the museum's collection and suggest some fun activities.

• Whitney For Kids – This is an excellent site for learning more about famous artists from the USA. Hosted by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, this interactive online gallery has a wealth of information and images from many American master artists. With permission from a parent, kids can sign up for their own account and “collect” their favorite artworks and more.

For A Little Bit Of Everything:

• Color With Leo - This website is wonderful for younger artists (Kindergarten-2^nd grade)! There is a drawing pad, interactive color mixing, virtual coloring book of famous artists and works, portrait maker, how to draw animals using basic shapes, and many art games. It also has printable games and coloring pages.

• Tate Kids - This website is hosted by the Tate Museum in London, England. Here you can explore their galleries, learn more about art, play games, watch art videos, and create your own masterpieces!

• SmartMuseum - This site is from the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; for students ages 7-12 to discover ways to look at, think about, and respond creatively to art.

I hope you will find these online resources informative and fun and you grow creatively to discover the artist within!

Artfully Yours,

Mrs. Kingsolver!