Frustration over drawing

[wdworkman]

What I thought would be one of my son's favorite activities in Preparing is turning out to be his biggest source of frustration. He's almost in tears trying to get the drawings in the Draw Through History lessons just right. Of course, I keep telling him the drawings look fine or take a break & try again later; but, by then he's determined to keep going and finish. He draws all the time, but I guess it's different because those are his own creations, not an attempt to copy a model.

Does anyone else have this problem when it comes to art?

[Tansy]

have you thought about letting him use an over lay techniqe?
Get a clear plastic overlay with a grid on it. Then give him paper with a grid on it to draw on. He can use visual clus to keep his work neat and as much like the original as he can. You can make up gridded paper with just a ruler and a light pencil. And a sharpie on a piece of plastic or pen on tracing paper/scrapbooking velum so he gets the general shape to start with.

this is normal for this age to want to be picture perfect. Be sure to remind him the person drawing the orginal has years of practice and these are just "practice" very few of us can be picassos...

[inHistiming]

I agree with Tansy. My dd would get very discouraged with her drawing/coloring, saying it was 'bad' when I thought she was doing very well. But she was wanting it to look just like her brother's, or Dad's, or mine. I had to encourage her to keep trying if she wanted to get better at it, but told her that I liked what she was doing. I also talked with her to make sure she understood that God has gifted us all with different talents, and that she would be better at some things than others, and better at some things than other people; we also talked about the fact that there will always be people who are more talented than we are in certain areas. However, she really wanted to keep drawing. She was persistent, and it has paid off. Now, at 8, she has far surpassed any skill I may have! She does an excellent job drawing animals...that's her great love, animals. She can also do a pretty accurate self-portrait. She is just as good as her brother, and even better in certain areas. One thing she did do was begin copying pictures she wanted to draw but couldn't. She would take a drawing, place her paper over it, and copy it. Then she could color it however she liked and add lanscape, etc. I believe this helped her so much in learning how to eventually draw her on her own. She will still copy occasionally if it is something she has a hard time drawing, and she does have an occasional meltdown when she "can't get my dragon's ears right!" Overall, she feels confident and successful with her work now. So, I guess my advice would be to just keep encouraging him. Maybe you could let him trace it at first, then try drawing it on his own. That may help. I know others will be along to help, too. Take what you can from my suggestions, and discard the rest.

[Carrie]

Janet,

This is pretty normal for kiddos who are artsy! Drawing from a model is a different skill from drawing free-hand! My oldest son is a great drawer, but has a tough time with drawing from a model too. It's a good skill to have though!

We have used tracing paper to trace the drawing and then had the kiddos color it to match the picture. Tracing paper can be found at any craft store or Hobby Store. This greatly relieves the drawing anxiety (while still ending up with a beautiful picture to put in the notebook). It also helps practice the sketching strokes as they trace!

Blessings,
Carrie