Children’s Author Teaches Kids How to Draw

K-Fai Steele doesn’t just write stories for children. She also teaches kids how to create their own masterpieces. In live-streamed drawing and illustration workshops, she shows kids how to embrace their imperfect and individual creativity.

“A lot of kids will say to me sometimes, ‘My drawings aren’t good,’ or ‘I can’t draw that thing.’ Your drawing doesn’t have to be perfect. Your drawing just has to communicate something.”

Video Transcript

Meet K-Fai Steele: Author and Illustrator

(K-Fai sits at a desk and waves at children in a video chat)

K-Fai Steele: Okay. Awesome. Oh my God. Okay. This is very cool.

(K-Fai points at a book and drawings of a cartoon pig)

So this is a character I’m going to be sharing with you today. Her name is Pip, and she is a pig. And there are a bunch of things that are pretty special about her, and I think the most special thing is that she has this entire book that’s written about her.

K-Fai live streams drawing and illustration workshops for kids.

You can see that she’s a pink pig with black spots. And when you look at her two parents, she ends up looking like a mix of both parents, just like how you are probably a mix.

Which one do I want to draw with? I’m going to do this one.

What I’m going to need from some folks though are some examples of emotions that I can draw. So I’m going to go back to the chat.

(K-Fai draws 4 cartoon pigs showing different emotions)

Good, the W, or M and the M. She’s like kind of holding her hands like this. She’s so happy! Okay.

(Children sit at a table and draw while watching K-Fai’s live stream)

Child: This way, but I can’t draw — well, I can’t do —

K-Fai: So a lot of kids will say to me sometimes, “My drawings aren’t good,” or “I can’t draw that thing.” Your drawing doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to be good either. Your drawing just has to communicate something.

What I do is actually, you know, really fun.

(Waving goodbye)

Have a great day, you all. Talk to you soon. Happy drawing.

(K-Fai’s voice is heard through a laptop while children watch and draw) I find that I can use ears to kind of like amplify her expression too. So I want to have her — since I know she’s…