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Artist influences first-graders
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield artist/illustrator Christopher Leeper was invited to Karen Penner’s class at Hilltop Elementary School to show the students how an artist creates pieces of art.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Christopher Leeper created a drawing of a tiger during a presentation to Karen Penner’s Hilltop Elementary School first-grade class..He painted the sketch of a tiger with watercolors, while explaining to the students about the use of color.
By ABBY SLANKER
First-grade students in Karen Penner’s class at Hilltop Elementary School received a lesson in artistry from Canfield artist/illustrator Christopher Leeper May 27.
Penner’s class, including Leeper’s son, Jack, invited Leeper to show them how an artist creates his works.
Leeper, an illustrator of children’s books, first showed the students original pictures from books he has illustrated, including “River Otter at Autumn Lane,” which he said took him six months to complete.
He explained the process of illustrating a book.
“First, I am sent the story and I have to figure out how to show the story through my drawings. I start with a pencil drawing, creating a sketch. Then I make it a full-size drawing and the final step is creating a painting,” Leeper explained.
For “River Otter at Autumn Lane,” Leeper said he wanted to make the illustrations look warm and inviting to the child readers.
“I wanted it to look like kids would like to be there in the illustration. I wanted the otter’s den to look cozy and warm,” Leeper said.
Leeper showed the children various pieces he created, including landscapes, animals and a portrait of Jack.
To demonstrate how his pieces come together, Leeper showed the students his drawing and painting process, and broke his process down into simple steps. He started with a pencil drawing of a tiger, all the while explaining what he was accomplishing, stressing the importance of shapes. He then proceeded to paint the sketch with watercolors, while explaining to the students about the use of color.
At the end of his presentation, he fielded questions such as “How long does it take you to draw a picture?” and “Can I take that picture home with me?”
He also received plenty of praise from the awed students, including “You are the best artist I ever saw” and “You’re even better than me.”
But the one statement Leeper heard over and over again, which made him beam with pride was, “I want to be an artist when I grow up.”
Definitely music to any artist’s ears.