A House for Hermit Crab Chalk Pastel Art Tutorial

This painting can be done with either pastels or acrylic paints. Our painting comes from a well-loved book by Eric Carle called A House for Hermit Crab.

You will need the following colors: red, brown, blue, green, black and yellow.

Our hermit needs a house to live in so let’s start there. Take your blue and starting in the center of your paper draw a curving line circle – getting larger as you draw, ending with a straight line or “head” of his shell.

Next is the main character – your crab! At the end or head of your shell draw a longish circle for the crab head. His eyes are not on his head but on two stems! Wow!

Let’s draw his legs next. He has six legs so that he can move fast on the sand. The first leg is right under his head, to the left next to his shell. They look like they have “crab armor” or are divided into sections. Draw long, narrow boxes for the legs. Curve the legs under the shell and make the other two legs in front straight with “claws” on the ends of the legs. There are two short legs to the back of the shell.

Now you need to finish coloring – the most fun – part of this painting! The crab is your brightest red color – outline the legs and leg sections with black.

The shell is almost sea-colored; a pale blue and green on the edges of the shell; add a bit of yellow touches and you can gently blend in areas and leave some white. Outline your shell in black.

Oops! Our crab and his shell are right in the middle of a big, white sheet of paper! Let’s put some sand under him. How about a light skumble of brown gently smoothed under him – then add a watery mix of blue and green. You can smooth this with your finger or leave it to look more like an ocean floor.

Finally, we are almost finished. We will give an artist’s suggestion of water: just a few light strokes or lines of blue across the page. Just lightly, please, your crab and his house are the stars of this picture. He does need some long antennas – draw them in with your black starting with his “pop-up” eyes and sweeping over his shell.

What a great picture! Please name your hermit crab on the back of your paper and date it. Flip it back over and proudly sign your name in the corner. You ARE an artist! Good job!

• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons (50+ free lessons now) are all contained in the post Pastels plus links to tutorials. A simple set is very affordable. Nana also teaches acrylic lessons.
  
• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.
• Encouragement: You Can Be an Artist! 10 Day series

Art for All Ages: Tips and Tutorials

Here’s what you can expect each of these 10 days! The following links will be live on each day as we go through the series:

• Your First Easy Lesson in Chalk Pastel Art
• How to Make Sky and Clouds in Chalk Pastels
• But Chalk Pastels Get Everywhere!
• Fistin’ Technique with Chalk Pastels (with tutorial)
• What is Painterly Effect in Chalk Pastel Art? (with tutorial)
• Skumbling
• Train Your Students to See Nature
• Chalk Pastel Art Tutorial
• Art is For Parents too!
• The Ultimate List of Art Fun and Encouragement

It’s an autumn hopscotch with iHomeschool Network! Be sure to visit all the wonderful bloggers! It’s a fabulous page full of categories and 10 days worth of topics!

**Thanks for joining us for Art for All Ages. We invite you to subscribe to Hodgepodge via email so you won’t miss any free tutorials! You can also join us and help spread the word about our 10 day series on Pinterest, YouTube, Google +, Facebook and Twitter. Thanks in advance for helping Hodgepodge.**

Remember….you ARE an artist!