Looking for a book to help me teach my children to draw

[JessicaRebeccaRabbit]

My dd is four and very interested in drawing...only issue is I am rubbish so i would love a book that breaks things down and teaches you to draw basic things like animals, houses, robots etc. I am sure I have seen something that breaks it down in boxes, or stages...can you recommend anything please? Thank you

[insancerre]

I wouldn't use books, just get them drawing freehand
I'm not convinced you can learn creativity from a book. Its something that develops naturally

[SavoyCabbage]

There are loads of them around. We have the Ed Emberly ones and some Usbourne ones too.

My dd (11) got a how to draw Magna fashion one today. So it never ends.

[GertrudeBell]

We have the "learn to draw cute animals" book which DS (who is 5) loves. I quite like drawing cute animals too

[GertrudeBell]

www.amazon.co.uk/Illustration-School-Lets-Draw-Animals/dp/159253645X?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[JessicaRebeccaRabbit]

Great thanks for the ideas. Yes, they do mess around drawing but they ask me how to draw certain things and I am useless ????

[HSMMaCM]

From childhood 101

A little boy went to first grade. He listened while the teacher taught about Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, but when she told the class that Art was next, he became excited. The little boy had been drawing all sorts of things at home, and was actually very gifted and way past his years with his abilities.

The teacher said they were all going to draw a flower, but everyone would have to wait until all the papers were passed out before they started. Since he sat in the second row, he got his paper before the rest of the class and was so excited he forgot the teacher said to wait. He got out his crayons and began drawing. The little boy was was well on his way to drawing a gorgeous rose in full bloom on a long stem when the teacher looked over and saw that he was not following her instructions.

This particular teacher did not tolerate children not following instructions. She walked over to the little boy and without even looking at his drawing, picked it up, gave him a blank piece of paper, and told him to wait for the rest of the class. As she passed the trash can, she threw the drawing in. The little boy was crushed and honestly did not understand why the teacher threw away his drawing or, for that matter, what he did wrong at all.

The teacher then went to the chalkboard and step-by-step walked the class through drawing a simple, child-like flower. For each step, she told them what color to use and how to draw the line. When they were done, the teacher picked up the drawings and hung them on the wall. The little boy looked at each one and could barely tell his apart from the others.

Never again did the little boy draw a gorgeous rose, or anything else original for that matter. He had learned well to follow the teacher’s instructions and to do exactly what the teacher did.

[teacherlikesapples]

I would be very reluctant to follow a 'text book' approach to drawing.
It would be limiting to show them there is one 'correct' way to draw a cat, for example. I would look at different artists together, look at the different techniques and materials that they each use to draw cats. Look at quick sketches, and oil paintings that were developed over weeks. I would look at cartoons, abstract & life like drawings.

Becoming an artist is about finding your own creativity, your own ideas for representing your perspective.

It may be helpful to teach strategies for helping them think about what they want to draw. For example, if they want to draw a cat- you could look at photos of real cats together, then make observations about what you are seeing:
"this cat has two very pointy ears, almost like triangles, will your one?"
"This one has a stripy tail, the stripes are just lines like this, that's one way of drawing them."

Help them see that art is something that is developed over time, and that the most important opinion of their work is their own. It is a process, not just about the end product.

There is no need to him to be proficient at drawing a stick figure of a cat.
But it will be an amazing gift if you can support him to develop his own creative talents to paint/sculpt/carve/sketch his own & be proud of his work.