Drawing with Children question

[Hazelt"nut"]

I just checked this out from the library and I'm excited to read through it. I know this is not an open and go type of book. Thats ok with me. I thought I"d go through it solo (I need the help oh so very much) and then I might use what I learn to teach the kids. Are there any suggestions you might have in using this book with myself and for the kids? also an artist friend of mine has warned me of someone being taught to draw something a particular way. He says it can take years to break them of the habit. Is this book one that will do that? Thanks for the help. If it goes well I may buy the book.

Sheryl

[Pongo]

Here are some lesson plans from Harmony Art: Drawing With Children (http://www.squidoo.com/drawingwithchildrennature)
Once I figured out the book I really liked it, I use it off and on while teaching concepts. I may get the next book soon. Have fun!

[inashoe]

Not being an arty-person I didn't find this book useful. I starts off giving specific direction, but then
suddenly drops you and tells you to go and do it yourself. Even for my arty-child that wasn't enough direction.

My kids learnt a few techniques with Draw Squad, by Mark Kistler - such as foreshortening, shadows, etc that
we wouldn't have learnt with DWC.

We are now using Artistic Pursuits - I go through the first book K-3 with my two middle kids, and
my eldest works through the next book 4-6 on his own.

The kids all love art, but the work we produce is mediocre. I think only dd8 is going to show any talent,
but then she does have the patience to draw in every detail.
dc are gaining an appreciation for art, which for a non-arty family is probably quite an achievement.

[Colleen in NS]

Are there any suggestions you might have in using this book with myself and for the kids? also an artist friend of mine has warned me of someone being taught to draw something a particular way. He says it can take years to break them of the habit. Is this book one that will do that? Thanks for the help. If it goes well I may buy the book.

Sheryl

Suggestion: Use good markers so that drawing is satisfying. I use Sharpies, which are a step up from Crayola, but I'm sure there are other better ones. I like Sharpies because of the many colours, and the nice colour lay down.

I don't think DWC teaches you how to draw something in a particular way. It teaches you to draw by copying elements of shape in a picture or in a still life composition, basically. It starts off by having you copy what she's doing, but it's not like "Draw a bird's head like this and a wing like this." It's more like "Find a starting point, notice where the line goes, draw it, notice the curves, notice the dots, notice the circles, etc." She teaches you how to draw what you actually see, not what you think you see. So you start off by copying what she's doing, but then she tells you how to transfer the skills to copying other pictures or still lifes. I've used this book over the past 3 years or so, off and on, and I'm amazed at what my kids can do now. We just started the shading chapter a few weeks ago, so we are going slowly, but it's fun.

[Vita Passiva]

We are just really getting into the book as well. I did first read through the book to get a grip on where it was leading us. I am not an artsy person either and at first I wasn't sure what I was doing with the program. I think I like things layed out a bit more scripted, but we have limited resources and the library had this book, so I am finding a way to make it work, and actually, we are totally enjoying it! I have kind of tweaked it to our level, as we are K5 and pre-K3. I just let them draw and copy lines in the beginning. We sometimes used the white boards to practice and they really liked that. I have seen a dramatic improvement in my K5 son's drawing, and in my own for that matter :001_smile:.

We are actually at the place where we just finished practiced drawing the horse. We are going to take a break from the book and just draw animals. I have ds choosing different animals he would like to draw. We find a picture in a book off our shelf and talk about the line shapes. I draw right along side him and we are really having fun with it.

You can see my weekly report (http://vitapassiva.blogspot.com/) for this week. I posted about it with a few pictures. My kids love drawing! Today they stated that we should just draw over our vacation :001_smile: These two wouldn't sit for much art before we started this book. I think they just didn't know where to start or how to go about drawing. We go slowly and just have fun with it. I use what we had on hand: markers, colored pencils, and crayons.