2014: Year of the Fairy Tale An On line Class by Carla Sonheim

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."

Carla Sonheim

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 20th, 2014. 

You can find out more about 

 "2014 Year of the Fairy Tale" Online Class here

 and 

Carla's other art and classes here:

Here is a step by step illustration of the Paper Doll Tutorial:

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!

Carla Sonheim

P.S. This tutorial was made in anticipation of my next online art class,

2014: Year of the Fairy Tale

paper doll tutorial

1. Gather your supplies.

- 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

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!