Sumi-e Beginner Painting Lessons


sumie copyChinese New Year, Kids Painting

I had an amazing opportunity to make connections with Chinese characters on my last teaching trip to China. This trip gave me time to observe the Chinese art of brushstrokes around some of the provinces I visited. I was fascinated to learn Hanzi characters originated as pictographs as far back as the Qin Dynasty! As a beginner level… and I mean beginner trying to speak Chinese, I was curious how ancient scripts evolved over generations to simplified Chinese.

As an artist I certainly see the beauty in the scripts, but there’s so much more to learn!  Being a visual learner the pictograph nature of where these characters originated from is the art I’m presently hooked on!  Which has now led me to the art of creating Sumi-e Ink Paintings.

Screen Shot 2019-01-31 at 9.14.57 PM

Another fantastic opportunity I had was to visit Sumi-e material supplier.  I bought my first set of bamboo brushes, ink and stone. Once I got home I started practicing Sumi-e brush strokes. I quickly discovered my students would love doing this also because it’s similar to how I teach painting. In fact I would say Sume-i type exercises are idea for beginner painters!

chinese sumi-e ink painting shopping
Shopping around Yiwu city Zhejiang Province China

Why Sumi-e Ink Painting is Better

Sumi-e ink painting is perfect for children to learn because of its simplistic pictorial nature type imagery using only line brushstrokes. Sumi-e subject matter is usually natural landscapes or creatures. The focus is line brushstrokes with minimal detail, no texture, or blending.  What I like most about practicing Chinese brushstrokes is there’s no correction.

No sketching or outlining is done beforehand, unlike most painting lessons.  The movements are graceful flowing brush marks done once. In fact I would say Sumi-e type exercises are idea for starting children after the age of five. Because the technique is focused on getting control of thin and thick brushstrokes.

How to teach kids brushtrokes, lesson how o
Private brushstroke painting lesson with student in China.

 

Sumi-e Art Supplies

Now, if you’ lucky and have access to Chinese paintbrushes with bamboo handles and animal hair great, but don’t let that stop you!  One of my good art teacher friends Annie MacPherson has walked up to my art workshops and made Sumi-e brush marks just using my regular paint brushes.

She’s left me some beautiful bamboo paintings with just using a plain paintbrush.  You can teach the basics of Sumi-e techniques without traditional bamboo paintbrush.  You need paper, black paint, and a pointy tip paintbrush.

Teaching kids Chinese in painting, art lesson


Any black paint can work like kids; watercolor, tempera, liquid paint, or acrylic paint. But here’s the trick to making your paint work like Chinese Ink, you need the right consistency. Think about the thickness of milk, water down paint to this consistency.  Only thin out paints with water, not paint thinners, or paint flow solutions.  Paint thinners are usually toxic and for adult artist.

Materials List

  • Black Chinese ink, or paint
  • Bamboo paint brushes, or a pointed plain paintbrush
  • Stone well, or jar as a  to hold paint
  • Light colored paper

 . Sumi-e ink painting lessons for kids          IMG_3035

Sumi-e Ink Painting Basic Lessons

  • Lesson 1: Load paintbrush without twisting the fibers
  • Lesson 2: Wipe excess ink off the brush using the sides of a jar or ink stone
  • Lesson 3: Practice making thin, long brushstrokes with the tip of the paintbrush
  • Lesson 4: Practice making thick brushstrokes with a larger amount of the paintbrush
  • Lesson 5: Practice making spirals and lines very slowly
  • Lesson 6: Practice making dots and dashes
  • Lesson 7: Practice making bamboo leaves, with simple short and long strokes all in only one try

how to teach kids Chinese brushstrokes
Teaching and training art in the Montessori Classroom in China.

57 Beginner Brushstroke Lessons

Kids Painting has all the components, tips, materials lists, and instructions you need to ensure you will be able to actually teach your students to become skilled painters. LEARN MORE & BUY HERE!

arts and craft book by Spramani Elaun

Spramani’s Books

Teach children visual arts

Curriculum For Children

Get step-by-step art curriculum to teach visual arts. Check out our 4 art curriculums:
Painting
Drawing
Color Theory
Clay Modeling

All rights reserved © 2024, Nature of Art®

No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreign language without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.