Review: "Teaching Drawing Without Knowing How to Draw"

I’m not artistic. I’m creative in some ways, but can’t draw or paint worth beans! So this curriculum really appealed to me! “Teaching Drawing Without Knowing How to Draw by Jeffry Byrd” (a very talented illustrator, graphic designer, and artist- check out his work here.)

I’m always looking for a good class or program that I can fit into our homeschool schedule to give the kids exposure to the world of art. I believe that it’s my job to give my kids opportunities to find their hidden talents and passions. So when I was given this chance to review Lesson 1, I couldn't pass it up!

(The author, Jeffry Byrd, is an acquaintance of mine from a small business class I'm taking. He asked me to review Lesson 1. The following is my 100% honest and personal opinion.)

Lesson 1, Creativity and You, starts with a one page introduction and explanation of the flow of the lesson. I really appreciate that it’s concise! It’s not long winded at all and is easy to follow and understand.

One of the first things I noticed was that this curriculum was written with language that makes it seem the author had both homeschool and traditional classrooms in mind. It does speak of “groups” of students, so you would have to adjust if you were using it to teach only one child. But I think it would work well whether you had a class of 2 or 50!

Included in this introduction is a small paragraph about the setting you choose to teach in. It had some great tips on how your setting might affect the way student receive the information.

Following that was a useful materials list (all things that are inexpensive and easy to obtain, like sketchbook and pencil.) Also included in the materials list are links to the images and art that are referenced in the lesson. I love that if I’m supposed to show my kids a “car rendering,” for example, I don’t have to go Googling for a good picture that fits the purpose. It’s already included! I printed out the PDF because I like to have physical curriculum to hold and make notes on, but while I was teaching I kept my tablet nearby so I could pull up the links at the appropriate time.

Next is a quick list of the lesson structure, followed by an explanation of each part. They are: assignment report, attention activity and questions, images/examples, instruction activity, and assignment. I like that there’s a predictable and consistent order to each lesson! Again, these explanations are short and sweet and show the purpose or goal of each part of the lesson.

One of things I love the most about this curriculum was the emphasis on critiques. It’s an important part of every lesson. The section on critiquing explains why it’s valuable, what students will learn, and how to critique effectively. The structure that it teaches is what I’ve heard referred to elsewhere as a “love sandwich” where you sandwich your comment about what needs to be improved between two positive observations or compliments. My children responded really well to this! I think this is a valuable skill to practice (giving and receiving critique) as it will serve them well through all areas of their lives!

After the introduction page, the lesson itself takes up only two pages (really only just over one page plus ideas for optional expansion.)  I’ll say it once again, I like it when curriculum gets right to the point!

It was helpful that an estimation was given for how long you should spend on each section. All told, the lesson should take between 55 and 80 minutes, plus easy daily homework. With my 4 children, we stuck very close to those suggestions. The exception was the “instruction activity” part where we were supposed to listen to a piece of instrumental music and draw what we imagined. We spent 40 minutes on that instead of 20-30 because the girls were in the mood to get very detailed! (Also, as you can see, my kids insisted on using crayons instead of just pencil like it said to use in the material list. Using a different medium probably contributed to the longer drawing time.)

Given that the lesson was only supposed to take about an hour, it could usually be accomplished on one sitting. However, since we spent so much extra time on one part, we had too many other things to do that day, and my little boys don’t have a large attention span for art, we broke it up into two days. It worked. I like flexibility!

In summary, I’ll give a critique in the format the author taught.

Positive: I love so many things about this curriculum! The format, the skills taught, the clear writing style of the author, etc are all excellent.

Negative: I wish it worked better for younger grades. The suggested grade levels are 3rd through 6th and I think that's accurate.  For example, the discussion on “what is creativity” was over the heads of my kinder and 2nd grade boys. My 4th and 6th grade girls, though, we’re engaged by it. I really do prefer teaching all four of my kids at once if I can. And if I can't teach all at the same time, then I prefer curriculum that my kids can use to self-teach during their independent time, and this wouldn't work that way. But that's ok! I can adjust a little to involve the boys at their level.

Positive: It’s clear the author put a lot of love and work into this project and I think it would be beneficial to a lot of teachers and homeschool parents!

I think we’ll be purchasing the full curriculum so my kids can continue with it. I’m excited to see their improvement in their drawings after going through all the lessons! Primus especially has been sketching a lot of people and fashions lately so perhaps this can help her!

All lessons are available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. The following are links to take you directly to each one. There are six total and with a price of only about $6 each, it's a great value! (As of right now, they're also all on sale!)

Lesson 1, Creativity and You (currently free!)
Lesson 2, Shapes Are Everywhere
Lesson 3, All About Lines
Lesson 4, Getting Perspective
Lesson 5, Shadows and Shading
Lesson 6, How to Practice