My first gallery show at Nickelodeon in Los Angeles

This December I got to put two of my drawings in my very first gallery show at Nickelodeon in Los Angeles. Mike who saw this blog and draws cartoons for some of their shows invited me and my work is above and below the sign in the middle. My drawings sold and I decided to give the money to my school to build a library. There was some great art by children there and I'm so happy I got to show others how much I love drawing.

Drawing is what I do the first thing in the morning when I wake up. I put on my robe and slippers and sneak downstairs while Mom and Dad are still asleep.

When the hear the pencil sharpener go wwwwrrrrrrrrrrr! my parents know I am up and busy doing my favorite thing.

How to learn Spanish

Please click on 2010 [to the right] 2009 and 2008 under Blog Archive to see all my posts and how I am growing as an artist.

A great thing to draw is Loteria Cards and I like the pictures so much. I am happy when my friends and their families come to visit me at our home in Mexico. I feel lucky because I speak Spanish. My grandmother whispered it in my ear when I was very small. I listened carefully to her words and now that I am 8 years old I can talk to people in my town like the man who leads the donkeys down the hill in front of our house or the taxi guys who drive green cabs. I can order ice cream and my favorite flavor is guanabana and that is a hard word to say but not for me because I practice.

The first thing I like to do when a family visits us is break out the Loteria cards and it is a fun way to learn Spanish. There are all these great pictures and it is like bingo but instead you shout out ¡Loteria! We use frijole beans to mark the ones we get like El Alacran and La Campaña. I did this drawing so you will know what it is like. There is a very great artist and friend named Beth Krommes. She sent me scratch magic paper that is really fun to use so I could practice art that is a little bit like what she does. Thank you Beth. She made a beautiful book called The House in the Night that won the Caldecott Medal because it is super amazing. I sent her one of my Loteria drawings because she is really special and I'm so glad she liked it.

Chile God

Yesterday we had tacos and my Dad keeps getting me to try little bites of different salsas. I had a good one yesterday that had cranberries in it but some of them are just too hot!
We have been studying the Greek gods and goddesses in 3rd grade.

I decided to draw this picture of my own Mexican chile god breathing fire. He keeps trying to trick me to try one more chile. That is why I drew the two angels of reason carrying the lantern, shield, candle and flashlight to guide me in making good choices when eating salsa.

This Wednesday my Dad and Mom are coming to our class to work with Mrs. Lau our teacher. We are going to help my friends draw Greek gods and goddesses for playing cards. Dad and I came up with a very simple style using shapes this morning and I am excited to show you these drawings I made and tell you what I learned by doing them. You can draw things so they look real or you can stylize them like this. Check it out.

Let's Talk Turkey

Grandma Lo-I can't wait to have Thanksgiving with you and here is what I want to eat!

Exploring Greek Myths through drawing

In my third grade class with Ms. Merrill we have been reading Greek mythology. I loved these stories so much I wanted to draw them. I asked my mom to take me to the library so we could check out more books on myths and Jason was very strong and clever.

This first drawing is of Jason leaping into action with the Argonauts rowing their mighty ship.























Phineas the blind man was tormented by Harpies who kept stealing his food. These strange creatures are part human and part bird.


















The Argonauts used nets to capture the Harpies and in return Phineas told them how to find the golden fleece.

















In this scene Jason and the Argonauts are traveling through a dangerous area with rocky cliffs to get to the golden fleece. That's Hera wife of Zeus carved out of wood on their ship to watch over them.

In Mrs. Lau's class we worked in groups to tell stories about Greek myths by drawing them on 3 by 5 cards. Then we had to fill out little pieces of paper about our classmate's storytelling. Here is what Evan wrote about my drawing of Zeus.





















Thank you Evan for your question about how do you learn to draw.

Now I want to tell you the answer.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and remember to have fun!

I really like Mike

Can you believe it?
This is Mike who draws cartoons for Nickelodeon. He came to our school to talk with us and answer questions. He was really nice and we got to sit outside while he drew pictures and I kept telling all the other kids to get over here and take a look at him draw. Wow he can draw really well. You have to go see his blog and some of the great characters he made.
When you draw you have to put lots of personality into your figures and he knows how. I want to thank Mike for coming to see us and for making me this wonderful picture that I am putting in my room.

Here is his blog:
http://michaeldougherty.blogspot.com

Celebrating Halloween and Day of the Dead

I made this picture for a ghost story I just made up. Here it goes....

Once upon a time there was a ghost. He would always come to each and every house and say BOOOOOOOO! Then he saw a jack-o-lantern. One day a person was walking and then the ghost came to your house and then he came to our house, he came to everybody's house. The last house he came to didn't have anyone living there.

Suddenly, the door fell down and blue smoke came out. The ghost crawled inside the door and when he got inside he saw something covered up in a white cloth. He pulled the cloth and it fell down and a bunch of bats flew out of it.

The ghost got scared and turned around, then he ran out of the house and back into the forest as fast as he could. The bats chased him. They came to a playground and then there came a storm. The wind blew, leaves began to fall and all kinds of stuff fell. The swings began to move and the lights burned out, dead rats, mosquitos, scraps of paper, all of it came blowing through the air. The ghost ran back to the forest and went up a tree.

THE END

I have always liked to draw and tell stories. This picture of me was taken when I was five years old around Halloween. We went to a Day of the Dead Celebration and my mom and I drew pictures on the sidewalk about Grandad Jer. In Mexico people throw big parties on November 2nd and make altars and remember with candles, flowers and music the people they love.

Kids Growing Libraries

I made this poster for my third grade Peace Project. I had to come up with an idea to show other people what my project was all about. My idea is to grow a library for my school. Please check out the blog my family helped me make for this at:

http://kidsgrowinglibraries.blogspot.com

Summer 2010 Drawings

I've been busy drawing with colored pencils and pens all summer and wanted to share some of my latest creations.



I call this one Croc descending the staircase.




I love the Harry Potter books and the first scene is of Hagrid's hut followed by the Harry Potter scene selection for Chamber of Secrets because the books are movies too.



The Pixar artists are my favorites and this is a scene from UP when Russell is steering the house in the sky. Carl does not look too happy about this does he?




I read so many Roald Dahl books in second grade and he is my favorite writer! These drawings are from Fantastic Mr. Fox. Wes Anderson made a movie of the book and I wrote him a letter then did this sketch of some of his characters.



Another great book by Dahl is the BFG and here is a drawing I made of just one of the really bad giants in this story. The BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant and he is good.



Lastly here is a really crazy trailer I made and I hope you like it. See you later. I'm 8 years old and in Miss Merrill's class in 3rd grade now so I got to go.

My friend Alex the Matador

In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico I met a real bullfighter.























My Auntie Marie invited me over to her house and you know what it was my birthday. The matador's name is Alejandro Amaya and he really liked the pictures I drew for him of Ferdinand the Bull and the picadores. I gave them to him and he brought over his bullfighter's chaqueta. Then he gave me a tassle off his jacket-I was so excited and I keep it in a very safe place. I asked him if he ever gets scared of the bull and he said "oh yes". I wondered if the bull ever caught him and then he showed me the marks on his legs. He was raised in Mexico and he is smart because he keeps an image of the Virgen of Guadalupe in his jacket to protect him. These photos are from an ESPN story about him called Haunted by the Horns.

Wow it was pretty amazing to meet a real deal matador who lives in Spain!

My mom and dad visit the ATM at Wells Fargo all the time but I am more fascinated with the stagecoaches on the checkbook boxes. Did you know the password that made the horses stop running-it was Dakota.

I drew this piece with a razorpoint pen on a piece of old cardboard and it is from my favorite movie right now UP. Down near the bottom you can see Russell and Mr. Fredrickson as they were flying inside the house just before the storm.



PLEASE CLICK ON OLDER POSTS AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER TO SEE MORE OF MY DRAWINGS

Valentine's Day

I made this card for Valentine's Day. I also have a sketch I made from a book we read in Miss Karen's class-The Fantastic Mr. Fox.