How to Teach Drawing Techniques For Beginners - The Basics

Teaching someone how to draw is an age-old issue in art classrooms. Some art teachers argue that a student should just create and not be bound by the constraints of making things look realistic. Some strictly adhere to teaching students to draw correctly. Who's to say which side is correct?

My philosophy lies somewhere in between the two sides!  I think students should have some background in drawing accurately, but not focus entirely on this. This gives the students a basis to build on and the creativity can unfold as they gain confidence in their abilities.  An unconfident student often just gives up! We don't want that to happen for sure!

Capture their interest and make it seem POSSIBLE!

Here are several techniques I used in my classroom with great success. 

Activity 1: Vase Face Drawings from the Betty Edwards book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

You've probably seen these throughout the years. Look at it one way and it looks like a vase you can pick up. Look at it another way, then you can see two faces facing each other in profile.

The goal is to draw one face in profile and then you copy the face you have drawn in reverse. YOU HAVE TO COPY IT EXACTLY! I used to tell my students if you draw an ugly face first, then as long as you copy the ugly face in reverse you are doing great! This is a great practice to get your mind focused on what you are seeing!

 

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You should do several of these exercises to warm up. Draw large and small. If you are left-handed, you should start on the right side of the page with your profile facing the middle.

To make the drawings more interesting, make monster faces! 

Add bugged out eyes and fanged teeth. Don't get carried away with zig-zag lines though. You want to be able to redraw it accurately.

Activity 2: Reflection Drawing, Echo Drawing, Clone Design...whatever you choose to call it!

In this exercise, a student simply replicates a simple drawing as EXACT as possible! Measure and look closely, or do whatever is necessary to accomplish this task except tracing! NO TRACING!

These can be easily mad on your computer or hand draw some designs and replicate them. It is simply important to redraw simple objects. 

Here are some samples:

I've found that having my student do a couple of these is, by far, the most effective way to get results fairly quickly. 

Activity 3: Now Make Them Smile! It's like MAGIC!

Transitioning from copying one square to copying several squares is an easy way to put everything together.

So, here is where the magic begins!

Any image can be flattened and broken down into simplified shapes. This is the point when a student can begin to understand the concept of looking carefully at what they are drawing without being overwhelmed by the whole image. 

Every young artist will tell you that they can't draw a camel, or a horse, or anything! I don't know how is the commonly used phrase!!! We are about to change that!

In this case, the image has been broken down into 30 squares. The squares are upside down and scrambled. The student has no idea what he/she is drawing until most of the squares have been redrawn onto a blank grid. ONE SQUARE AT A TIME! Just like we did earlier.

You can find these in a lot of places or you can make your own. I currently have three sets of these in my TPT store. You can find the links below if you are interested. They really help students learn to draw and feel SUCCESS!

Here is one you can download for FREE at my TeachersPayTeachers page. Just click HERE!

Activity 4: Upside Down Drawings

This is another idea from the Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. This is Igor Stravinsky by Pablo Picasso. 

1. The students are given this drawing and a blank sheet of drawing paper.
2. The drawing is to remain upside down during the entire drawing process. The students drawing will also be upside down.
3. Explain to the students that they are to draw this one line at a time without thinking about what each line is. Everything is just a line that is so long and angled up or down, or this way or that way!
I have allowed students to cover up part of the drawing just so they don't think about what they are drawing. Whatever works!
4. Complete the drawing in one sitting. Even if you run out of time, it is fine. As long as the students get enough drawn to see how much detail they put in! If you can get everyone quiet and on task, you will have some amazing results!

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Activity 5: Contour Drawings To Add Some Realism 

Contour drawing of real-life objects should be the next step in learning to draw. The previous drawing of Igor is a contour drawing.

A contour drawing is an art technique in which only the outline of the object is drawn. It has been said to pretend your an ant crawling over whatever it is you are drawing.

It is easier to draw something that is already drawn. Drawing from real life, however, is much harder for the beginning artist.

Have your students watch these two videos to get an idea of how to begin a contour drawing. Then have them complete a few of their own. 

At this point, students should have a good foundation in drawing. Of course, lots of practice will definitely increase their abilities!

I will be posting a second blog on drawing techniques to take students to the next level soon!

Check out these Drawing Challenge Activities my TPT store! Just click on each cover.