You Can Draw
Children love to draw. Each month since 1983, Nature Friend has given children a lesson in art. Sometimes a painting, sometimes in pencil, children enjoy following the instructions to create their own special drawing.
Over the next several weeks, hundreds of children submit their drawings for consideration to be published in an upcoming edition of Nature Friend. We choose for publication from all age groups, usually 26 children's drawings per month. Occasionally we run an unannounced bonus page or two of children's drawings. Those months may have fifty or seventy-five drawings.
The white-tailed fawn lesson appeared in the April 2009 issue.
Six months of a year we have a two-page art lesson, rather than the usual one page. While all ages can still enjoy doing the drawings, advanced artists can learn more in-depth techniques from the two-page lesson. Below is an example of a two-page lesson that teaches color harmonies. 
Page 1 above and page 2 below, of a two-page art lesson.
Below are drawings children did of the chipmunk lesson from September 2008.
A blue jay art lesson from December 2008.
Children's drawings from the blue jay lesson.
Rules for submitting artwork
- Use blank white paper without any lines.
- Do not fold drawing but mail it flat, preferably between cardboard for added protection.
- Include your name, age, and address on the back of the picture or on the margin. Print very clearly. Do not write inside the picture.
- Pay attention to the deadline published in the magazine. Be on time or early!
- Address the envelope to You Can Draw a ________. Include the name of the object so we can easily file your submission with the correct month.
- Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish to have your artwork returned. Make sure the stamps are adequate postage for your package.
- You may e-mail scanned art. Please follow these steps:
- Label art with name, age, city and state. (Information appearing only in e-mail will be separated from art and lose usefulness.)
- Crop excessive margins.
- File size should be 3 inches across and 300 d.p.i.
- File name should be the name of the subject drawn, child's name, child's age. (Example: Lion-John or Jane Doe 10)
- Format should be a high-resolution jpeg file.
- Send as an attachment to: youcandraw@naturefriendmagazine.com.
- In the subject field of e-mail indicate the topic of your drawing.
