Recently I caught up with my son and his family at a basketball tournament that my eldest grandson was playing in. As I walked up the bleachers I noticed one of my grandchildren, Jordan, intently filling a page in his sketchbook.
All four of my grandchildren have enjoyed drawing through the years and have helped me test ideas for my how-to-draw books. As they've grown older, their interests have changed (basketball and softball currently reign supreme in their household) but Jordan still proclaims with confidence, "I'm an artist!". At 8 years-old, on this b-ball game day, he was busy making the leap to a very crucial stage in childhood skills: drawing realistically from observation.
As he laid out details of the high school gym, I was amazed with his focused studies of the placement of overhead light fixtures and the parallel patterns of the cross-court bleachers. The boundary lines of the court were drawn proportionately and angled in perspective--early signs of showing depth of space in his composition. He would patiently observe his target of interest; then swiftly move his pencil to the page and draw it as he saw it.
In my drawing courses, from day one, a main goal is getting students to reconnect with the excitement of childhood drawing. On this hot summer afternoon, as Jordan rendered his court-side observations, I witnessed the natural instincts of the artist that we all used to be, and would like to be again.
Whenever you get the privilege to watch your kids draw: sit back, observe, and vicariously relive the magic.
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