The ‘Obvious’ Is Always Overlooked
Take a quick look at your student’s or child’s drawing of a person. Ask the ‘obvious’ questions. “Are all the parts assembled in the ‘right’ place?” Do the arms come out of the shoulders? Are the arms and legs the ‘right’ length? Is there a neck? Are fingers described? Are facial features described? Is there clothing? Is the figure doing something such as running,bending,or jumping.
How Do YouTo Teach a 5 to 10 Year Old To Draw a Person ?
All these questions can have a ‘right’ answer if we approach figure drawing with a basic model. The Artabet model of a person is a perfect introduction for children ages 3 to 7 and it serves well for any age if the student has no previous experience with the drawing of people. I have used it for over 25 years with students and it really works as a stepping stone for creative figure drawing.Let’s take a look at the basic model.
Start with the Basic Artabet Model Person.
Watch this video and see What You Can Do with the Artabet Model
Now it is time to draw the Artabet Model and add the details that will make it ‘Someone”.
Like a Pirate !
Age 7 Pirate Drawing Using the Artabet Model (one arm extended)
Arms extend from the shoulders, not the ribs. Leave out details such as neck, fingers, toes and other features. They will be added as the “model’ is perfected. I have my students draw the model first and then they can add details. Look at some of the ‘variations’ below to see how effective this model can be!
Three Lines and A Character
Check Out the Space Person: Using the Artabet Model
‘Val’ ( from the Free Valentine Teacher Holiday Pack)
Artabet Model Drawing Age 6 ‘From the Land of Ice and Snow’
Age 6 drawing using the Artabet Model.
Now Let’s Take a ‘STEP’
After 10 or 15 practice drawings of the basic Artabet model, you will be ready to teach a 5 to 10-year-old to draw a person standing in what we might call the first position.
For the next step – which is to take a step – make a motion – and create a little drama – make your person look like it’s going somewhere. Take a look at the drawing below. Taken from the Free Thanksgiving Holiday Teacher Pack.
One foot is higher than the other, this makes it look like she is stepping forward.
Put Your Best Foot Forward
Take a Step into Spring
‘Crispen’ (from the Free Winter Holiday Teacher Pack)
I found it!
‘Little Garden Guardian’ (from the Free Hallowe’en Teacher Pack)
Observe the change from the Basic Model
The right leg is ‘longer’. Especially notice that this is achieved by making the center leg line the same as the in the basic model and then making the outside leg line on the left ‘shorter’. It really ‘looks’ like our little person is coming towards us and is not in a static posture as the basic model is presented. Now, look at JINGLES from the Free Winter Holiday Teacher Pack. Here you have another ‘posture’ or ‘stance’. As you can see the neck is still left out as it is not necessary at this level.
Let’s see how far we can take this ‘Little Model’. It could be a dancer or a soccer player.
Study the rather technical drawing below and draw it a few times trying your best to get the ‘obvious’. Such as the left foot up off the ground. Draw it a few more times without the center line and the horizontal ‘ground line’. Now scroll down to the next two drawings and see what can be done with this simple drawing of a person.
Little Dancer
Shamrock Dancer
Dancing On the Green
Well, that’s it for HowTo Teach a 5 to 10 Year Old To Draw a Person, hope it works for you as well as it has worked for over 200,000 students over the past 30 years.
REPETITION IS OUR MISSION!
Drawing is really as easy as writing your name. How many times have you written your name? How many times has your 3,5,6,7,8,9, year old written their name?
How many times has Ron Mulvey drawn the basic Artabet Model …Ten Thousand Times is Fun! … Repetition Is Our Mission!
Be patient and make it fun. It’s all in the Book.
hi
And Hi to you also. Any questions I can answer for you?
Bye Hi.
I’m just wowed. So cool!
This is genius. I will give this a try.
Thank you, very helpful
Easy way to teach kids drawing
Thanks Leena, It is easy because it is exactly what this age is thinking about and wanting to draw.Let’s keep the childhood of children ‘childlike’.
The “model” idea looks very helpful …i will try it with my 5 year old who makes stick figures presently. Thanks Ron. 🙂
Sounds good, let me know how it turns out Sudeepta.
Glad to hear this.We teach our children how to talk and so we also can teach them the basics of drawing. Keep me posted on her progress as I am always here to help where I can.
How can I order the whole curiculum
Hi Magda, I would love to give you the whole curriculum if I had one to give you.The website with it’s teacher pacs and the Artabet e-Book is the curriculum that I use. Creative learning and teaching really is not going to fit into a step by step curriculum.Study the material that I have set out and start mastering it . Then start teaching it to your students. If you followed the Artabet e-Book and added some extra material from the Teacher Pacs I am sure you can set down some great lesson plans. Once you have about developed some of your own lesson plans using the “Artabet Teaching Steps for a successful artabet class(See the Video on the website, you will have a strong outline to follow.
Here is the Artabet Class Plan:
1- Warm ups with artabet energy lines
2- Draw a character,
3- Draw a Story using the Hop Over Horizon Line
4 Paint and Color using your favourite mediums.
Everything is on the website for you to develop a curriculum.If you need any more help or clarification do get back to me as I am happy to help. Ron
hi i think it could use a little work but other wise it is good
Glad your using your artistic eye. Any suggestions to how and what you see that could be added.
hi
these pictures are so helpful ,i will mention it to my friends and family.
I also like how you name the pictures
Thanks Lizzy.Appreciate your sharing.
This was amazing
Thanks Beyonce, Glad to be of help. Is there anything you need? I have teacher’s and parent’s instructional videos on Skillshare that you may be able to use to develop artistic talent. let me know and I can forward you some complimentary classes.
Hey, this is great, did it with my art teacher, and it went omgsies GREAT!!! Thanks for the characters, interesting I learned quickly, thanks again!
– Ruby a student.
YOU ARE REALLY ON FIRE SO KEEP IT UP !!!
This was absolutely awesome! Thanks, did it with my art teacher, she found this video, it was SOO nice! Thanks!
– Signed Ruby the smart student!
Thanks Ruby and we need all the Smart Students we can find and less smart phones.
This is soooo helpful Ron!!!! I will be using this for my class. Thank you!!!!!!!
Hi I am new hope I enjoy the game
Thanks for your comment New Hope.
Hi I am hope it is fun
If you are not having fun you are not doing art!
Hello fellow people
My 5 year old son came back from school very despondent this week as he’d been asked to draw a picture of himself and just couldn’t. He said he’d tried three times and it was still rubbish. So I took to Google to find a how-to to help kids draw people and found you. Suddenly we’re drawing our extended family, pirates, robots – he’s SO HAPPY!!! I’m a creative sort and have enjoyed doodling along with him. Absolutely brilliant!
THis is great it helped me so much for my book
Glad to help. What type of book did you make?