One of the best animal artists for kids is Henri Rousseau. Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910) was a French artist did not start painting until he was in his 40’s. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. He tried to paint in the schooled manner of the traditional artists, but it was the innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of many avant-garde artists such as Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso. Rousseau’s loving attention to detail that made him an exceptional artist. We use Rousseau “Surprised, storm in the forest” as the inspiration for our lesson. We want the tiger’s head to look like he is through the leaves. This lesson focuses on color and space.
Materials: Sketching pencil, heavy weight drawing paper, sharpie. Finish with your choice of watercolor pencils, oil pastels or pastel chalk.
Step #1: Draw light guidelines with a sketching pencil. Draw a large circle for the head.
Step #2: Draw eyes, snout, and ears.
Step #3: Draw mouth and wiskers.
Step #4: Draw the body and the tail
Step #5: Add Triangle shaped stripes to the tigers head and body.
Step #6: Draw some large leaves, some are in front of the tiger and some are behind the tiger. Add some of your own details from birds, bugs to snakes. Rousseau loved to hid animals in his paintings.
Super! We are study Henri Rousseau and will try it today. Thanks!