Drawing from Observation

Realistic drawing has a profoundly rich history, from the bulls and horses drawn in the caves of southern France to the portraits of the Renaissance period in Italy. This artwork testifies to the human desire to create a likeness of the things we see in the world. 

Children are curious and expressive from the start. We work with those interests to teach them to observe more closely. Using ARTistic Pursuits, a child carries art tools to locations which both inspire and are chosen by the child. Children are guided to observe the featured art topic of each lesson in their own environment, while making connections to real-world examples. Skills develop as each child observes nature directly and enjoys the process of creating. ARTistic Pursuits lessons inform children in all the processes needed to make art successfully. Making informed choices to create personal work gives your child a sense of accomplishment. They learn because direct observation of real world sources is the best teacher when accompanied by an understanding of the foundational elements of art and compositional ideas.

In this video, part of Artistic Pursuit's free summer drawing lessons for beginners, author Brenda Ellis explains how we draw the line where we see an edge. As children see Brenda draw four unique objects, they can grasp the concept of using a real object to create a line drawing.