teaching drawing for nature study

[Iskra]

We live in Northeast Ohio, so I need books that teach how to draw the trees, plants, animals and landscapes of this region.

 

The kid that will be doing this will be 7 year old.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. We are aware of the Draw Write Now, but it only teaches how to draw a few of the trees, animals and birds from this region (evergreens, chipmunk, frog and fox are all it has I think), so we need something more than that.

[Hunter]

The best general advice I ever got, was to just draw one small thing up close. A leaf, not a tree. A foot or a tail, not an animal. A petal, not a flower.

[Katydid]

Hey, I'm in Northeast Ohio, too! :001_smile:

 

I would encourage you to find books/programs that teach you how to draw what you see, not prescribed "how to draw such and such" type of books. You can then use those principles to draw anything. I'm not sure what to recommend, specifically, because I have just sort of winged it so far (I have a degree in Art Education, though). Hopefully someone else can chime in with ideas.

[Iskra]

Thanks for the advice guys.

So does anyone have suggestions for "how to draw what you see" type books?

[Element]

We love the "Draw 50" books by Ames, even though they are just meant for silly fun drawing. Draw 50 Creepy Crawlies actually helped ds learn how to draw bugs pretty well. It's not like a bug will stand still for you in real life. :tongue_smilie:For birds and trees, he would just identify the bird or tree and then draw it from the picture in the identification guide he was using. He can now look at a tree or a bird in real life and draw it, but in the beginning it helped to draw from a 2d picture.

 

ETA: I also have to recommend the Clare Walker Leslie books, even though they aren't drawing instruction books.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Element

[morosophe]

A lot of homeschoolers seem to like Drawing with Children.

 

If you'd prefer the step-by-step simplified drawing style, you could check out Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals.

 

I have used neither of these, although my son loves Draw Write Now.

[Colleen in NS]

Thanks for the advice guys.

So does anyone have suggestions for "how to draw what you see" type books?

 

Drawing With Children is great for this. I get my kids to use their skills from that to draw things for science study. I also started (just yesterday!) having them draw maps for historical geography study (they could do it for current geography study, too), instead of filling in blackline maps.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

It might be too old for her but Barry Stebbing has a Nature Drawing DVD,

http://www.howgreatthouart.com/products/103.html

And this book

http://www.howgreatthouart.com/products/111.html

I haven;t tried them yet but did see a sample of the DVD on You Tube and it looks great.

[Chris in VA]

I think Phonics of Drawing might be too old for you, but you could check it and see.

At 7, I'd probably just let the child draw w/o worrying about the product too much. I love Hunter's advice about drawing small areas/details of a larger object. I encouraged dd to really take her time when drawing from our nature table (things we'd gathered--sometimes that day, sometimes earlier).

As you can see below, we did a variety of types of nature study pages for our book (this was when she was 6, and 5 in the photos. I scribed for her but they are her words). Just thought I'd share. (Sorry they are turned funny.)

Edited August 5, 2012 by Chris in VA

[helena]

The best general advice I ever got, was to just draw one small thing up close. A leaf, not a tree. A foot or a tail, not an animal. A petal, not a flower.

 

This is so true for my kids.

I believe drawing from jeweler's loupes had a major impact on their nature journal drawings (and labeling). They became more thoughtful and simplified in their work.