Drawspace: A Review
The Internet is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be happy as kings (with apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson). My son recently came across a website that offers detailed drawing instruction.
Artist and writer Brenda Hoddinott has created a site called Drawspace that offers at least a year of drawing lessons, completely free of charge. The lessons are nicely categorized as Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced, and further broken down into very specific lesson areas. The Beginning series of lessons includes:
- Resources
- Learn to see
- Draw with lines
- Squirkling
- Perspective 1
- Hatching
- Shading forms
- Focus on people
- Cartoons and critters
Each of these subjects is addressed in a series of 6-12 specific lessons. The detailed listings make it easy to zero in on areas of special interest, and avoid those you’d prefer not to tackle. The Intermediate and Advanced lessons are similarly detailed.
If you’ve wanted to teach your children to draw, or even to learn how for yourself, you now have a simple, easy-to-access way of learning. Don’t wait– start now! I’m going to try the “Light Beyond the Trees” lesson, as I really enjoy drawing nature. Have fun!
Announcements
January 23-24, 2009: I’ll be speaking at Heart for Home School’s 6th annual Winter Conference in Wake Forest, NC. The theme is “Home School Harvest: Sowing and Reaping,” and some very interesting workshops are scheduled. You’ll find more details about the group and the conference at the website. I hope you can come–I’d love to meet you there!
Do you buy used books, toys, or clothing for your children? Better grab them now before they disappear! The Consumer Products Safety Commission has passed a very badly written law that will affect homeschoolers and families. You can read details at www.tinyurl.com/bad-law, then go to this URL: http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/PDFs/Safety/CPSCPetition1208.pdf and copy and mail the petition to the person to whom it is addressed along with your contact information and a statement that you support it. [This last sentence is from a comment on my profile at Facebook, and the information originated at the Fashion-incubator website.]
I have not found Drawspace all that useful. There are many other far more interesting paid websites that have much better drawing lessons. Udmy.com is an excellent example. Most of the lessons on Drawspace were very superficial.
Yes, I would agree that it is relatively superficial, but for families who simply want a tiny sample of art lessons without a commitment, it can be an enjoyable beginning.