hollyh Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Hi! So my brother is a very talented artist. My dd4 has already shown what I would consider to be really good art for her age (drawing). She draws animals better than I do! She also understands perspective - for instance, if a person is walking toward you in the picture, she will draw that foot larger b/c it is closer to you! She also will draw only one eye on an animal if it is facing sideways, etc. ... anyway, I have never taught her a thing about drawing. The other day, I let her use an Ed Emberly step by step book to show her how to draw an elephant. Since then, she tells me that she doesn't know how to draw and that she is not good at it. I'm kind of frustrated. I never saw this insecurity in her work until now. So, it makes me raise the question. Is it useful to TEACH art, or does it hinder creativity. I want to say that like any other skill, actual lessons can only improve their skills and abilities... but with art I wonder if it makes them feel like they have to fit in the box and therefore counteracts the very thing we are trying to teach! So I am opening up the discussion. I would love to hear other's thoughts. Also, if there are any studies on this, I would love to read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 :bigear: That's why I'm so afraid to follow a step-by-step art book. My dd6 has just normal artistic ability, but she does do the side-view thing all the time, from a young age. She doesn't really enjoy following the directions of Mark Kistler who does online drawing instruction. I think Artistic Pursuits has been a pretty good program without stifling the young artist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 She sounds like she's really a budding artist! That's great! My oldest doesn't have an artistic bone in his body, so the step-by-step drawings are really helpful to him, because otherwise he stays with stick figures and is afraid to branch out, but I can totally see that type of thing stifling a young artist like your DD. Perhaps you'd want to wait on the formal instructions until she's older and can understand how doing it the way the book says isn't necessarily the only way? You might pick up a program that has you look at artist paintings and do something in a similar manner without having exact, step-by-step directions. Or just study great art and have her do her own thing. Certainly formal art training can wait, since she's only 4. :) And avoid Draw Write Now like the plague. Very much step-by-step instructions. :lol: (that's what we use for art ;)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morosophe Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I would agree with the recommendation for Artistic Pursuits. It's very much about exposure to famous artists and artwork (of many different kinds), talking about what makes an artist and the basic building blocks of art (line, shape, color, etc.), and about letting kids "play" with various media. For a child like your daughter, it could be very nurturing without stifling anything. My son hates it. I have to drag him into lessons, even with the watercolor crayons (which are his favorite medium so far). I got Draw Write Now, with its step-by-step art instruction, and he has loved it. Some of us need a base for our creativity to build on, that's all. (My best artwork has been cross-stitch, which is such paint-by-number "art" that it's completely ridiculous. Still, I can feel proud of having made it myself!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trina Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I say at 4, let creativity be the foremost importance. I also showed talent (oil painting) at a young age and my parents enrolled me in art classes. It really made me lose my passion, and eventually interest for art. I say let her be creative, and when she is older you can introduce a curriculum. In the meantime you can help her by pointing out how artists use shading, lines and as you said, perspective, without specifically telling her that she needs to do it. She will pick it up herself. I have found a great program "Artistic Pursuits", you may try when she is a few years older. OR pick her up a few books from the library on how to draw, etc. We have found many wonderful books on this subject in the childrens section! But let her look through it and have fun! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I would really leave it to your daughter until she's older. No programs at all until she's 8 or 9 at least. I made a mistake with my daughter. She has an interest in drawing and I thought that I would show her some things since I draw as well. Well, she then measured herself against my work and decided she wasn't so good. I left her alone and now she's drawing a lot again. Lessons will if sh's interested but not until then. I forgot that I'm completely self-taught and the best thing about drawing when I was a kid was the space it gave me away from everyone and everything else. So let her have her fun with it. I really think kids need a passion all their own to explore and sometimes the best thing we can do is step out of the way and have nothing to do with it. Drawing is not an essential skill so you can afford to leave it alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Let her enjoy her skills and develop her talents on her own for now. When she's older carefully choose classes. We've found that classes that teach how to do something in art with dictating what to do are wonderful, but the majority of the classes we found also dictated what to do which squashes creativity. My girls take classes at an art school, but we are very picky about the teachers we choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I'm of two minds about this. We use Artistic Pursuits for our main art curriculum and try to get in a lesson every few days. My ds7 boys draw a great deal, and I have been teaching the oldest some contour lessons. (Well, I taught both, and the one persists in his symbolic drawing. No big deal. He's not ready to branch out yet.) But the one was receptive to it, and quite suddenly, his pirate ships have sails in profile! I did not give him a picture of a ship to draw, but had him draw from the model of his choice and showed him how to draw just what he sees. So much of art is teaching how to see things--shapes, the area inside and outside of a space, the relationship between spaces, the shading, the way the light casts a shadow. You can't teach how to draw without teaching the way to see things. Some individuals (I am not one without a struggle) have a talent for this. How to draw books often put the drawing down into steps which might inhibit the ability to first look for the shape, instead having the child construct the drawing from the building blocks without first showing how to see that shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I think this is so much on the individual kid. I've known some really artistic kids who crave those step-by-step lessons. And others who are just crushed by them. And, of course, others who need them to have any idea of how to draw a simple smiley face. Don't kick yourself that your kid turned out to be crushed by it. As she gets older, if she still loves art, then hopefully you can get formal art lessons, which are not like the step-by-step sort of things that younger kids use. The best advice I've seen about encouraging art is that it's important to have nice, proper supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 May I recommend a resource? Creative Art for The Developing Child is a wonderful book that gives tons of suggestions for playing with materials--I used it in preschool all the time. It's "process over product," and helps develop familiarity with all kinds of media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes Her book has about 5 lessons. Great stuff! It's always good to teach how to use each medium and take proper care of the materials. Some of the worlds greatest artist went to school to learn more and become better...... and some of the greatest artist never went to art school and were still great...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I really like this book by Michele Cassou: http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Play-Igniting-Childrens-Creativity/dp/B000BTH5BM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307247291&sr=8-3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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