Develop Yourself through Drawing

In Massachusetts, one of the required courses to cover is drawing. I personal find demanding people to draw is bizarre concept. How do you call a muse? I do understand allowing kids to have the opportunity to draw if they are so inclined and providing materials toward this end. Anyway, I explained to the kids that we did need to investigate drawing to meet this “requirement”, but that I intended this to be very informal and they could investigate and draw whatever they wished as long as they did at least one drawing a week.

DS loves drawing and this really wasn’t a big deal for him. I have also used drawing as a way for him to understand and remember his science facts.

DD, on the other hand, is very frustrated by her drawing ability. She is very hard on herself and angry when her drawings don’t come out perfectly, so I was very surprised when she took this task to heart and on her own found a subject of interest and began her drawings. DD is very interested in fashion and design, so she pulled her subject matter from Vogue. She focused on advertisements by designers that intrigued her (although she proclaims she is not ready to try to draw a model).

This has been interesting from both a drawing perspective and also in an advertising perspective as she has noticed how the photographers, ad agents, and designers work together to emphasize their products. I also find it interesting because her interest reminds me so much of myself when I was her age. I loved fashion. I drew and drew and drew so many designs you can’t even imagine. It is funny to see your own interests emerge from your children. Do they arise because they are near you? Do they arise unrelated to yours? Or is there some genetic seed that grows from soul outward?

This week I did try to look a little deeper at her drawing and critic her drawing a bit- Trying to draw her eye toward dimension. This is of course difficult when you are drawing from a flat picture. So I tried to show her how to focus on detail and focused just on the one slouch boot in the Payless ad that she had picked out.

I think she was a little frustrated by my apparent ease at drawing, but I tried to tell her that I never was a “good drawer”. It wasn’t until it didn’t matter if I failed that I did better. Perfection is not the goal – perception is and no one’s perception is the same. You cannot do art wrong. You are your own worst enemy. I think in the long run, this study will be as important in the development in her drawing as it will be in the development of herself.