Recently, I reviewed the book How to Survive as a Firefly and showed you a firefly art project to go along with the book.  I also received a free copy of How to Survive as a Shark from Innovation Press.  This book is illustrated in a similar style and is very cute and engaging.  There is a lot of great scientific information about sharks in this book.

From the publisher’s description:  How to Survive as a Shark provides a unique take on fish science that will entertain and educate in and out of the classroom. Full of opportunities for extended learning, this book includes fun facts hidden throughout the hilarious illustrated story – and after, a glossary of important terms and some real photos of great white sharks. If you’ve ever wondered how to think and swim like a shark, and you like to laugh while you learn, this book is for you!

To see a preview of this book, check out the link here.  

To see a preview video of the book, click here.

Paint a Watercolor Shark

Watercolor painting happens to be one of my favorite art forms.  I find it so relaxing and mesmerizing to watch the colors blend together when wet.  I decided to show you some of the techniques I use when painting with watercolor.

1.  First sketch out your sharks on a piece of watercolor paper.

Use my free shark idea guide or provide pictures of sharks to look at.

2.  Use various shades of similar colors to paint in the sharks.  For this painting, I decided not to use realistic colors.  My own artwork is typically very colorful, so I did the same thing with these sharks.  While the paint is still wet, you can drop in different shades of the same color and they will blend together nicely.

The paints I used for this project were:

Faber Castell Watercolor Paints

Bianyo Watercolor Paints

Prima Metallic Accents

Since watercolor pan paints are my favorites to use, I have begun trying out and sampling many different brands.  Each one is slightly different with different colors.  For kids’ use I like the Faber Castell ones or Crayola brand.

3.  Continue painting your sharks.  Use realistic colors or not.  Add patterns and designs, or make it solid colors.

4.  Finally paint the background with various blue shades.  Splatter in a littledrops of color on top while it is still wet.  Use a paper towel to dab up any puddles or paint that has become too dark.  After it has dried, use a thin pen to outline, add additional details and shading.

Before I decided to use the shark watercolor painting for this tutorial, I tried out another sample shark picture.  For this one, I used markers, construction paper, watercolors, oil pastels and PUFFY PAINT!

Here is a free shark coloring page for you!  And some more here.

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