Drawing Books

The beginning of the school year is upon us. I have six wonderful (yet very full!) classes. I am excited to see faces that I have had before and am also excited to meet the new friends (mostly sixth graders). We will start off making portfolios and then will complete the "Art in the Park" contest for the 2015 t-shirts. It's funny to think about that when it is 26 degrees outside!

Below are some of the drawing books that we will be working from in the next few weeks. I have the students for 18 weeks, so I have plenty of time to work on 2D before moving into 3D and other forms of media.

This is Betty Edwards book. I'm using the older version, but we love to work on the left and right side of the brain. The students find it quite interesting and her drawing techniques are sure to help everyone. We also work from her workbook. It basically has the same exercises, but provides a few more tips.



Mona Brooks has a great thing going, as well. She has the book "Drawing for Children" in which she breaks down how we should see things, how things are broken down into simple lines and dots, how to provide a supportive climate, and the like. We work on drawing exercises from her book. These seem to build confidence in the students' ability to really draw what they see (versus what's in their minds).

Though my students are NOT dummies, this is a great book for learning how to draw. This book also goes into the left and right brain thinking as well as providing exercises and tips, such as how to draw hair and how to work on portraits to a greater extent than the previous books.

Well folks, stay warm! The schools around us seem to be closing, but thankfully, we are here at school. Tonight, it is to get into the single digits. This is rare here in the state of Georgia. Until next time...