To teach observational drawing you need to teach how to look. We may think that we look but do we really ‘see’. An artist looks at shape, line, pattern, subtle colour changes, form, tone and space of the object in front of them, these are called the visual elements of art. You almost need to forget what it is you are looking at and just focus the eyes on these elements and the relationships between them. When teaching children, I tell them to ‘put their artist binoculars on.’

Talk also plays a huge part in teaching how to look and children need to build up an art vocabulary to describe the visual elements. This will come with you modelling the language through your questioning and encouraging your children to use this language themselves.

Lemons are really fascinating with lots of interesting shapes and textures to draw and record. This video will take you through the steps of how to begin by preparing a background to work on, then where to start on drawing the actual lemon shape before working on the texture and shadow. These pointers will help you with any further observational drawings you wish to make.

https://www.facebook.com/artstoped/videos/631054827511338/