When Kids Say The Darndest Things!

And borderline racist things. Some comics and caricatures.

I’m working on remembering the funny stuff students say and do in my art class to make comics about them later.

Once I hear it, and it makes me laugh inside, I try my best to repeat it in my head until I can find a moment to jot it down or type it into the Notes app on my phone. The fear of forgetting the moment is intense and has happened before.

Here’s a notebook comic from the other day when we were working with clay for the first time this year. A new 5th grader was, shall we say, pleasantly surprised.

We actually hugged, and I appreciated his enthusiasm.

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The table of boys I should probably separate

Getting to know new 5th graders takes time. I don’t have assigned seats in my classroom, so students can enjoy sitting with and creating art with friends.

This group of boys consistently gets my attention with their conversations while working on their projects. Should I break them up and move them to different tables?

You be the judge…

For now, I’m keeping these guys together in class. Their banter is too rich—they're basically writing the comics for me! Don’t love how kids won’t hold back? Well, until it becomes bullying, and you have to step in. They’re not always aware of how something they say comes across.

I’ll keep capturing what I can and sharing them with you in comic form.

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Caricature drawings from this week

I’ve been starting my day with a few caricatures of people from my favorite reference website earthsworld.com. My goal recently is to improve my skills in drawing with a simple black Crayola marker. I like how easy it is to get thin to thick lines.

Using a Crayola marker worked well on this fellow.

Many live caricature artists love using Crayola markers because they can draw quickly, and each marker is cheap (only 45 cents!), so they’re pretty cost-effective.

Drew this guy on my easel.

I still try out various pens to feel the difference, but I’m choosing to grow with the Crayola marker and hope I can really get good using it over time. It should just take regular practice—you know, using them over and over each day.

Two different versions of her smile. Can you tell which one is with the Crayola?

Every now and then, a caricature can come out looking frightening.

I’m guessing the grandson would not like how I caricatured his grandpa.

I realized after the last post about being in the audience of America’s Got Talent, I never caricatured the host Terry Crews. Well, I tried and let me say, he ain’t easy!

There are several others I’m not going to show. These are the closest to his likeness.

When drawing faces, it’s getting clearer how much you have to be okay with not getting the person’s likeness every time.

Making art can be about doing all you can and then letting it go.

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Remember any funny things kids have said around you? What will you create this week?

Let me know in the comments…

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