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Workspace, Equipment & Materials

Warm up Exercises Introduction

Warm up Exercises 1

Warm up Exercises 2

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"My Sister" by Abbey Luong - 6 yrs old

To Parents, Teaches & Caregivers:

Encouragement is a big key!

You are teaching your child/children creative skills and processes that will be of value to them for the rest of their lives! Your involvement and encouragement* are absolutely vital to your child/students' success.

While this course focuses on teaching children to do realistic drawings of things they can see, many younger children are very happy inventing their own imaginative story pictures. This is not wrong. Such pictures are an important part of developing language skills.

As children grow older, they become more critical of their work. Many struggle when they fail to achieve as well as they would like. Fear of failure can be paralyzing.

If possible, sit with your child/students, involve yourself along with them in the drawing process, and insist on quiteness (concentration is essential) while children are watching, listening & drawing. You will find that drawing with them is fun!

When viewing your child/students' art, do not speak negatively. Look for the things you can praise.

Encourage children to stand back and look at their work. Ask them to tell what they are happy with along with anything that they are not so pleased about.

Explain that almost all artists often fail to get everything the way they would like, and that's ok. Skill comes from experience and experience comes from practice.

Point out that while some pictures may appear hard to do, if students take a step-by-step approach and are willing to put in time, they will get great results!

When there is a positive atmosphere of affirmation, you might be able offer pratical suggestions for further improvements.

Be willing to demonstrate how to refine ideas and improve technique.

*NOTE: Encouragement by family and friends was a major factor in my beginnings as an artist.

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