Teaching Exercises For Drawing

When I describe my method of teaching drawing as a "made the drawing" I sometimes comment that the exercise has led the development stifles creativity. Another point is that "the drawing made only encourages the student to imitate the teacher. " Not only do I disagree with these comments, but I would even say that in most things we learn as children, we learn to follow direction and imitating our teacher, parent or brothers and sisters.

For most people who try something new, often the best way to learn is to find someone who can teach us. As children we learn by watching and as we age, we learn by listening to those around us. In our childhood years, we are often taught by being directed through a series of steps. What direction generally provides the basis on which we can build our skills.

In schools, this idea of a framework applies to most areas but especially in reading, writing and mathematics. Students are first letters of the alphabet and seeing the letter then go through a series of exercises to learn to write this letter. Often, they are shown how this letter is filed on paper by a series of measures directed. This applies to mathematics and to learn to put the numbers on paper first, then moving on to more complicated equations. Drawing on my mind is really no different than learning to create letters and numbers.

The drawing is a skill that can be taught. The same thing that we have a framework for writing, it can also be a framework for drawing. When this framework is applied, it will enable students to acquire skills that enable students in the direction of becoming an artist. In the case of drawing steps are fairly simple. If a person can draw circles, squares and triangles so they can get almost anything they can see. The trick is to learn the steps and sequence. My experience has been that most children in kindergarten and up can draw three basic geometric shapes. The trick then is to "manage" their attention to where these forms are in an object, then provide the steps to complete a drawing of what they see.

So do activities directed stifle creativity? For purposes of this discussion I will use Shakespeare as my example. No doubt Shakespeare had to learn to read and write like other children at school. I think it would have been shown or directed the preparation of letters and words. No doubt Shakespeare, as today's children, learned to write by copying or imitating the sentences put before them by the teacher. I do not think that any way stopped or stunted his creativity as a writer. He became the best known writers of plays, poetry and sonnets. For a more modern example, I watch my teenage son who is learning to drive my car has a manual transmission. Much time is spent directing him on how and when to change gear. He spent time looking at how this is done, then he gets the opportunity to practice what he learned. At first, he sticks pretty close to what has been taught. Does it get creative with his driving skills and my car later? I have no doubt he will. The same applies to drawing.

In a recent class of sixth graders, they learn how to draw three-dimensional houses. Once the investigation is completed their mission was to draw their dream home. Most children thought in terms of a conventional square house and gabled roof. A child has decided that his house was a dream house of light and use newly acquired skills to draw what she envisions. Was it his creativity stifled because of the lesson of drawing done sooner? I do not think so and I would like to believe that the lesson has given her confidence to move on to something different.

Perhaps the art as the music is unique in the sense that if a character.