Drawing can be a wonderful tool for creativity. But many of us lack confidence in our ability to draw. Here you'll find drawing skills lessons that can be explored in the classroom (it's also ideal for homeschoolers). This children's art lesson, by Everyday Art for Kids author Carolyn Holm, allows individual development so that each child can measure success by what he or she has accomplished, not by comparing their work to an adult's.

It's a rare child who does not want to "draw better", to make a realistic rendering of a cat, a horse, a monster, the latest action figure. And realistic is the operative word here.

Anything wrong with that? Well, yes and no. Unfortunately in our culture we tend to equate being a "good drawer" with being "an artist". A well-meaning parent explained once that "one of my kids is a real artist; the other three are not." When pumped for more information it turns out that the first one is a "good drawer", adept at realistic draughtsmanship, while the other three were not standouts in that particular art form. Sadly, once labeled "non-artists", most people become self-fulfilling prophecies, and miss out on some of life's wonderful creative pleasures.

Meanwhile, there are many art forms that don't rely upon realistic rendering. From sculpture to collage, ceramics to weaving - and I'll bet you can think of many more. Drawing skills are a tool. A useful tool. But one among many in a toolbox that includes an understanding of color, skills in various media, and more. The more skills an artist has to work with, the more he or she can communicate. And that is what art is about. It's communication.

If you've read Everyday Art for Kids you know that author Carolyn Holm likes to present projects that encourage communication, that stimulate inventiveness, that invite a child to have fun with art, but most of all, that lead a child to the heady realization that he or she is indeed an artist. With this in mind, being a "good drawer" is de-emphasized in the book. Many projects encourage abstract artwork, which allows the child to learn about art without being intimidated about drawing ability. And all kinds of media are offered, so that kids explore all kinds of options, and find their own connection with art.

All that being said, however, there is still a place for improving drawing skills. With some attention anyone can become a better drawer. So we offer a drawing lesson here, to hone those skills, but we do it with a big disclaimer: Drawing does not define the artist. Remember that what you say to a child is everything at this point. Don't just hand out compliments for realistic rendering.

In fact, keep in mind that good drawing alone can be sterile. In the two tree drawings shown here, the one on the left was drawn from the child's imagination before the drawing lesson. The tree on the right was drawn after the lesson, and from an actual tree. While the one on the right is more realistic, the one on the left is actually very interesting and imaginative. It projects the very essence of massive strength that we associate with a large tree. And it shelters a charming squirrel who has taken residence in its solid trunk. The challenge now is to keep this child's imagination engaged so that she uses her new drawing skills to express just as much as she did before!

So don't let Good Drawing become too important. Remember to praise a child for her use of color, for his vivid imagination, for the thoughtful presentation, for the wild expression, for the patience with detail, for any of those wonderful things that the child has done well in doing a work of art.

Finally, try these lessons on yourself first, and maybe with a friend or two. Adults that try this are surprised at how much they can improve their drawing. And it will leave you with a better idea of where the lesson is going.

Getting Started

What you'll need:

• Pencil and paper
  
• a box (a white or plain colored gift box is ideal)
  
• a simple object, like a cup or bowl (white or plain colored is ideal)
  
• one of your shoes
  

You'll start your drawing lesson by sketching very simple objects - a box, a cup. Try to find objects that are simple in shape, and ideally of one solid color, because without the distraction of a pattern it is easier to concentrate on their shapes. Then you will move on to a shoe, using the same skills you learned on the simpler objects.

Put your dish or cup on the table in front of you. With a pencil and drawing paper, try to draw it. When finished, set it aside. This drawing will be interesting to compare to your drawing of the same object after the lesson. (The two trees shown above were done by a third grader. The tree on the left was drawn at the beginning of the lesson. The tree on the right was done after the lesson, and using an actual tree as a model.)

Now it's time for some brainstorming with your class. Think about all the tools an artist uses for drawing. How many can your children come up with? As you draw them out, kids will come up with some of the obvious tools, media and materials - soon you'll have a list of things like pencils, pastels, crayons, markers, a ruler, paper. You may have to lead them on this, but eventually someone will think of IMAGINATION. (Let your eyes light up - that's an important one!) Now ask what might be needed specifically for drawing something so that it looks just like you see it. Yes, the artist's EYES. And now that you've determined that eyes are an important tool, you're ready for the first rule of realistic drawing.

Drawing Rule #1:
Listen to Your Eyes,
Not Your Brain

Kids love this one. They love that it sounds so nonsensical, and they love it that you, an adult who normally has a bias in favor of brain activity, is actually telling them to stop paying attention to what their brain is telling them! But it's a very serious rule. Because when you look at an object your brain tries to interpret what you see, so that you draw what you think you SHOULD be seeing and not the way it actually looks. A good drawer has learned to pay attention to what the eyes are seeing, and to trust what they say, even if it doesn't seem to make sense. For example, many children, when drawing a simple cube, will draw the top as a square, because their brain tells them that it is indeed a square. The resulting drawing is clearly "wrong". Because from where the child is sitting, the top is not a square shape - it's angled away, and needs to be drawn that way. And when they trust their eyes, and disregard the brain's interpretation, the result will look "right".

The Lessons

Lesson 1 - Draw A Simple Box Shape

Place a box in front of you. (When you do this in the classroom, you'll need many boxes, so you can place one in the center of each group of students, so they can all see it clearly.) Chose a starting place on it. If you look at the example box shown above, you'll see that one edge is closest to you, and it is almost straight up and down. That is a good starting place because it gives you a reference to line up on the paper.

But don't start drawing yet. Take another look at your box. See if you can see any shapes. See if you can see where you would draw lines. Think about the lines that connect to your starting place. Do they line up horizontally or vertically with the paper? Or do they angle off? Do you see parallel lines? These are the concepts you'll want to discuss with your students.

In the example box shown here, the lines angle off from the vertical starting place, making a lopsided "Y".

Now look at the example box again. See the shape of the top of the box? It's not a square - it's kind of a diamond shape, sort of a diamond lying on its side. When you have learned to see these relationships as you draw, you will find the results are very realistic. Keep in mind that the red lines drawn on these photos are very bold and crude, to make it easier to see the process, but when you draw your box in pencil you'll come up with a drawing that looks much more refined.

Now start drawing your own box, using your eyes, and evaluating the lines, shapes and angles as you go. First draw your starting place. Then begin to connect lines to it. Notice what is parallel, what is at an angle. If it is at an angle, is it a wide angle or a narrow one? Try to draw it the way you see it.

As you draw, keep your pencil lines light so that it is easy to erase. An erasure is not a mistake - it is part of the process! If you are erasing and correcting that means you are paying attention!

As you work with your students, ask them to use their eyes, and ask each one what she sees. Does the line formed by the edge go straight like the bottom of the page? Does it go up the page? Down the page? Asking these kinds of questions will help the child learn to see this way.

Lesson 2 - Draw A Simple Dish Or Cup

Place your dish or cup in front of you. Again, before you start drawing, take a good look at it. Can you find a good starting place? In the cup and saucer shown above, a good starting place might be the rounded bottom edge of the cup, where it meets the saucer.

From this starting point you have two straight vertical lines that go straight up on either side to form the sides of the cup.

You'll notice we are not going to worry yet about the cup's handle. We can always come back to that. It's better to get the basic shapes first. We'll erase the vertical line where we need to later when we go in and draw the handle.

Take another look at the example cup and saucer. As you can see here, there are two strong repeating shapes - the oval of the cup's rim and the oval of the saucer.

Yes, these are ovals, because our eye says they are. If we were listening to our brain, we'd be drawing circles! And the resulting drawing, while possibly quite interesting, wouldn't have the realistic look we're trying to achieve here.

Now go ahead and draw your cup or dish, beginning with your starting place and building it from there, constantly evaluating the relationships of lines and shapes as you see them.

When you are finished, take your completed picture and compare it to the one you drew at the very beginning. You can see the progress!

Lesson 3 - Draw Your Own Shoe

For some reason kids love to draw their shoe. Even those who consider it a strange request when, in the classroom, they are asked to remove a shoe, place it on their desk, and start to draw it. They inevitably end up enjoying it. There is just something about shoes...

The same drawing process applies to the shoe that we learned while drawing a box and a dish. Find a starting place. Perhaps the bottom line of the sole. Look carefully at the lines that connect to the starting place. What angles and shapes do they form? Draw lightly and keep re-evaluating and correcting.

Optional Lesson 4 - Draw A Tree

This is an interesting exercise in late fall and early winter when the trees are stripped of their leaves so you can see the branches clearly. Author Carolyn Holm has a small dead tree, a dogwood that expired in her front yard, that she brings into classes for this lesson. This is the tree that was used for the drawing above.

For a starting point, begin with the trunk. Notice how the trunk splits off into the first big limbs. These limbs are smaller than the main trunk, and they gradually get smaller towards their tips. But along the way they split off, again, into smaller branches, and these split, and so on and so on. Now go back to the trunk. Notice how it swells a bit at the point where it enters the ground. This is because it is starting there to branch out into the root system that is like a hidden mirror of the branching limbs above. By paying attention to these details, by using your eyes, you can make a beautiful drawing of a tree.

Other drawing projects...

• Your class can color in their completed drawings for coloring. And you can point out to them how much better this is than a coloring book!

• You might want to follow this project with one that emphasizes using the imagination. Try this one:

  

  Cut out articles of clothing from a magazine or catalog. With a combination of drawing or painting, and collage, create a drawing that uses these clothes! Or you can create animal pictures using cut out pieces of animal heads and bodies, or a landscape starting with a small picture and continuing beyond it.

     

  You can help support this site by getting your art and framing supplies from Dick Blick when you go there from here!

   

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