Teaching Graphic Design To Children

Teaching Graphic Design To Children

The graphic design field offers an abundant amount of career opportunities to individuals throughout a wide array of areas. Kids that show a knack or interest in art should be pushed to put their talents to use in an area that might lead to an exciting career down the road. Not only is graphic design creatively rewarding, but these days, it can be a wonderful way to make a living! In this article, we will offer up a few tips to help you encourage students to push their creativity toward a graphic design career.

Step 1 - Start out by having your students engage in tracing exercises. Purchase some tracing paper and have them outline a variety of images from magazines, coloring books, newspapers and ads. Once the student has completed their image, have them add something of their own to the design to expand on their creative abilities. This can be anything from added color to accessories or a landscape behind a figure. Once they are finished with their additions, have them explain the drawing, and find out why they chose to include what they did. Keep a positive and open mind.

Step 2 - Make sure your students have access to the proper art supplies. These should include sketch pads, color and lead pencils and erasers to start. They their interest grows, you can add additional supplies, such as paint, chalks and pastels. All of these tools will help aid your student's interest and investment in art.

Step 3 - Include age-appropriate graphics programs into your curriculum to help your students acclimate to computer design concepts. Instead of having students write out their names, ask them to draw them. Dedicate a lesson to teaching the class how to draw each letter individually along with some basic effects, including shadows, outlines, color overlays, etc. For a project, have the students include a picture with the name that they feel describes them best, and have them present their projects to the class. This will provide you children with a bout of self-confidence and a familiarity of software capabilities.

Step 4 - Come up with a series of design assignments for your class. Have your students create a logo for their favorite sports team or fast food restaurant. Ask students to draw up their very own super hero, first with an outline and then color filling. This will provide your students with a sense of individuality in their art and encourage them to explore their interests further.

Step 5 - Look up various graphic design tutorials online and utilize the lessons you learn with the class. This can be for computer-based programs or free-hand lessons alike.

Step 6 - Take suggestions from students and have a vote for a new assignment. Have each student write out a suggestion on a piece of paper and allow the children to vote on their favorite. Afterwards, you can have the class present their projects.