How to Use Scribbles with Your Art Students -

How to use scribbles with your art students?

How to use scribbles with your art students? Here are six methods of using scribbles in art making. Scribbles are inviting, fun, and wild. Most children easily pick up a drawing tool and make marks which eventually become scribbles. Here are many ways to look at scribbles differently. Let’s define and look at how to use scribbles with your art students today.

Use a basic pencil to grip and mark a scribble in seconds.

A good starting point

Scribbles are a good starting point when it comes to art making, because kids just make them. If you type scribble art in the search bar of your internet browser, you will find many ideas and examples. However, here you will get it all in one place. How to use those scribbles with your students in art.

Have you ever defined a scribble?

First, let’s define the scribble. Sometimes the word scribble is used with writing. One may say I just scribbled the information down quickly. Or a scribble is when a person draws a quick drawing with intend to capture something that saw, maybe an idea. It is associated with carelessness. But it does not have to be-especially with children.

We scribble a list for the grocery store.

Children make marks freely.

Some of the first marks children make are usually banging marks with a drawing tool. Then those marks or dots are pulled into longer marks. These become lines. Those lines become a curved, loopy, sharp, and swirly mess on a paper.

Here are lovely scribbles by a little one.

Freedom in making those scribbles

However, there is some sort of free-flow and freedom in making those scribbles that many lose over time. People grow up and forget how much fun it is to just make marks. Artists and individuals who enjoy making art, remember or relearn the scribble motion as they dive deeper into art making. Scribbles loosen up the arm, hand, and fingers to warm those muscle memories in the body and the mind to not be so tight when drawing. When scribbling the shoulder and arm make broad motions.

Scribble drawing can be an enjoyable process

Scribble drawing and drawing can be an enjoyable process. There is no true right or wrong way to draw. Guidelines are available to arrange and/or position elements for capturing realism. There are techniques for how to shade and placement of proportion, which can trip people up. However, are plenty of hobby artists, folk artists, and kid artists that show us that a scribble that looks like nothing can be something beautiful and fun. Because drawing is mostly for the one making it to relax and find that calm creative zone of thinking.

The First Scribbles

Lines that kids use to make their first scribbles include curved and straight lines. These are the basic lines that make other lines and shapes. Many kids make loopy lined scribbles and zig-zag scribbles. The lines are combined too.

Now these basic scribbles can be led to an art lesson. All kids need to do is add color. Let the children choose colors and emphasize how the lines overlap and make shapes. Look for the shapes and color the shapes differently. Many possibilities are available for how to color the scribbles. Use solid color. Or use values of color. Even the use of lines and patterns can fill the shapes.

Use lines and pattern to fill the shapes.

Transform the Scribble

Another how to use scribbles with your art students is to take a scribble and have students really look at the scribble. So they observe the lines and how they make different shapes. How do those shapes form images. The images can be anything. For instances they could be animals, animals in clothing, strange vehicles, eyes, faces, cute creatures, and more. When the image is defined then the student will draw right on top or trace the shape and develop it further. Something nice about tracing the image is that the student can turn the scribble and see another image. Therefore the more they keep turning the scribble the more likely they will discover something in the scribble.

Furthermore, the scribbles can be cut out. Have your students cut the object out from the lines of the scribble. Then they trace the object and develop it with details and color. Or just detail it on the cut out and use it as a collage piece.

The same scribble turned in different directions. Then examined to see what we can see.

Here is the scribble from above. After looking at the lines in the scribble, particular lines were traced to bring out the object that was spotted.

How to use scribbles with your art students?

Quick sketches

Scribbles are great for capturing the essence of something observed. Or like quickly writing a list or idea down and you scribble it on a sheet of paper. Drawing is the same way in this regard. For example, figure drawing promotes gesture drawings. Gesture drawings are scribbled quick drawings. They capture the motion or position of the model. Also artists will scribble draw other objects too in order to capture the composition lightly before defining the edges.

A quick scribbled gesture drawing of a model and of some background elements

Scribbles develop value and volume

Because scribbles are made with line, the artist can use the overlapping of the lines to show value. Value that is darker with more lines indicates shadows. Where there are less lines overlapping, the object has light reflecting on it. In essence the scribble is helping with the illusion of form or three dimensions on a flat surface. It is providing roundness to the object or more depth. Look at the images below and you will see how the cone is more 3D and the flower has some depth in the middle. All because of the overlapping scribble lines.

The scribble develops more depth in the drawing with the amount of overlap placed on the object.

The artist will develop the scribble further. They will add details, erase, and possibly add color. Hopefully, you have discovered some more ways on how to use scribbles with your art students. Just defining the scribble and letting them know that scribbles are part of art making will invite your art students into a more relaxed state of making art.

Check out the following for more inspiration:

If you enjoyed this blog post, then you may enjoy the post about paper sculptures. they are like scribbles too. Because they use folded and twisted paper that define different lines going all over the place. Just like a scribble but in 3D.

Check it out here:

Make a Paper Sculpture in an Hour

Since we are talking about scribbles as lines you may find this resource enjoyable with your art students too:

Lots of Lines: Line Monster A Draw & Construct

How to Use Scribbles with Your Art Students