Kid Art in A Book: An Update
I wanted to share an update about putting the kid’s artwork in a book. I shared about it in a previous post and was really happy to see that others have been trying it out. Anyway the photos here are from a recent book I’ve made of the kid’s art. It’s the second book, so I have a bit more of a system now.
Kid brings home art.
I gush over it and tell them that I am going to take a picture of it for the art book.
I either take the picture then or wait for daylight (I take all the photos on our wall bed in the daylight).
I washi tape the art onto the wall bed and take a photo. If the art is really detailed or special I take a close up shot as well. Then before I forget i save the photo to a folder on my phone.
Once I have 50 photos I edit all the photos at once in Lightroom with the same preset so it’s quick. Then I save all the edited photos and delete the unedited ones.
print an art book with Recently (my photo printing book of choice, because of the quality and that they do the layout for you). I use the Folder of edited photos and let Recently do the rest. Sometimes I order an extra copy for the Grandparents!
Some art is really special and I can tell it means a lot to the kids, those go on the wall in their bedroom. And after a few weeks or months it goes through the same cycle as the other art. Also I should note that I do not take photos of ALL the art. I find their art goes in waves or themes and I try to capture a certain type of art that is happening. For example Mae is really into rainbows and unicorns so I capture a piece or two that show how she draws that at this moment in time. As her style evolves I capture another one.
Sometimes I take pictures of special lego creations or sculptures.
So how are the kids with it? Well they seem to be doing great with it. Often asking me to take a picture of their latest work. They also like to look through their art book together and point out who’s art is who’s.
And here’s where I know that my system is working a little too well. Theo got a haircut the other day, which felt a bit significant because he had pretty long hair and I mentioned to him that I liked his new shorter haircut (his request) but that I still missed his old hair. He replied, “well good thing you have a picture of my old hair to look at”. Ouch.
