Carla Sonheim-Guest blogger!

 Today on the blog, we have a special guest blog and tutorial from one of my 'online friends', Carla Sonheim!  For those of you who haven't had the pleasure to 'meet' her, I wanted to introduce you to Carla Sonheim, an illustrator and online art instructor known for using innovative exercises and techniques to help students of all levels embrace a more playful approach to creating art. She is the author of "Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun" and "The Art of Silliness: A Creativity Book for Everyone."

For the last three years her focus has been on creating engaging online art classes, where she teaches and also presents well-known guest artists. She made this Paper Doll tutorial in anticipation of her next online class, "2014: Year of the Fairy Tale," which begins January 20, 2014. You can find our more about Carla and her art and classes here:

Carla's Blog: http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/

More Tutorials: http://www.carlasonheim.com/tutorials/

Info for "Year of the Fairy Tale" Online Class: http://www.carlasonheim.com/2014-the-year-of-the-fairy-tale/

Link to Carla's Other Online Classes: http://www.carlasonheim.com/store/

Here is a quick and fun way to make original paper dolls... a perfect thing to do with your kids or to nurture the kid inside you... because we're never too old to play with paper dolls!

Have fun!

Join her next online class starting soon:
"2014: Year of the Fairy Tale.

 Supplies Needed - a small watercolor set - #12 round paintbrush (or similar) - 8"x10" sheet of 140# hot press watercolor paper (or similar) - a regular pencil - an eraser (I like kneaded rubber erasers) - scissors __________________

VIDEO TUTORIAL

STEP BY STEP

1. Gather your supplies.

 2. Lightly sketch in an outline of your doll. Keep your hand loose, and try not to worry about exact proportions (sometimes the most charming characters emerge when we let go of perfection!).
3. Using lots of water, mix up a color to use as the skin tones. Paint face, arms and feet. When face has had a chance to dry, get some red pigment on your brush and "dot" it into the watercolor quickly. The color should begin to spread out a bit for some nice rosy cheeks.

4. Let dry completely.

5. Paint in some hair; let dry completely.
 6. Cut out your paper doll, and...
 7. Play!




____________ © 2013 Carla Sonheim (www.carlasonheim.com)


Carla Bio: Carla Sonheim is a painter, illustrator, and online art instructor known for using innovative techniques to help students of all levels embrace a playful approach to creating art. She is also the author of the “Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun.” Carla’s paintings have been showcased in many galleries nationwide, as well as private and corporate collections. For the last three years her focus has been on creating engaging online art classes, where she teaches and also presents well-known guest artists. More Free Tutorials: http://www.carlasonheim.com/tutorials/ Next Online Art Class: 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale Link to Carla's Online Classes: http://www.carlasonheim.com/store/ -----------------------------