Learning to Draw with Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My kids and I were so excited to try out a new art curriculum for the whole family over the past few months! Beyond the Stick Figure Art School has provided us with an excellent way to learn art together in our homeschool with their Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses! Art is one area that I have never been skilled enough in to teach well, so a complete video curriculum was perfect for us to try!

All about the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses

When you purchase the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses you gain access to an in-depth online course teaching the basics of drawing that could be used for the whole family. The drawing course consists of 55 lessons divided into 3 parts. After you complete the drawing course they lead right into the bonus courses. The first bonus course is Pen and Ink, which provides 15 lessons to introduce this new median. Then, there are two more courses that focus on painting. 42 lessons in the Watercolor course and then 24 lessons in the Acrylic course. The last bonus course dives into a different form of art and has 30 lessons on 3D Design.

Each lesson provides a video with instruction and an assignment for practice. Many of the lessons in the drawing course also provide a printable worksheet to guide practice. The Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course begins with the very basics! So even young children can join in. Sally, the creator of this course, says that “if you can draw a stick figure you can learn to draw and paint”. She begins by teaching us to recognize and master drawing circles, dots, lines, and curves. Then she breaks down drawing a complete work into simple steps of using these shapes.

The course gives a lot of practice and easy to follow instructions in each lesson. Therefore, Beyond the Stick figure is a course that anyone ages 5-95 can participate in and enjoy. Some younger children may have some difficulty with the later lessons in the complete drawing course and the painting courses. However, they are certainly able to follow along and join in with older siblings. You whole family will learn and improve their artistic skills and knowledge.

What do you need to use Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course?

The Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course provides you with a supply list at the beginning of each course. Sally has certain supplies that she uses and recommends you purchase to complete the lessons. Part of her course teaches that it is best to get quality art supplies from the beginning to learn to use correctly. The drawing course uses a quailty marker brand (She recommended a prismacolor marker set and I have to agree now. I hesitated buying them. However, later I saw that they did make a world of difference and my boys enjoyed learning to use these nice bold markers). She also recommends a sketch pad, and having plenty of plain white copy paper on hand. The painting courses require a few more materials than the drawing course, which she lists in detail before each course.

How our family used Beyond the Stick Figure

Last month my family added the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course to our regular home school curriculum. We have been completing one lesson each day. My boys were excited to try out this new art course so we dove right in! It worked out great for them right away. They loved the short video lessons (most were not more than 5 minutes) and enjoyed the practice with shapes right away. My 5 year old loved that it was something he could participate in and feel successful in right from the beginning. The first lessons teach about recognizing shapes in our environment around and she sends them on shape hunts for several lessons. My boys (10, 8, and 5) immediately turned it into a scavenger hunt race and challenged each other to see who could find the most. The had a blast!

The first part of the course provides repetitious practice in drawing basic shapes. It was perfect for my 5 and 8 year old kids, and though easy for may 10 year old he enjoyed making designs and being creative with practicing the basic shapes each day. He loved the lessons that gave him freedom to create whatever he wanted with shapes! I even enjoyed seeing how many perfect circles and dots I could make and practicing overlapping the different lines and shapes to make designs. She then moved into drawing a basic flower out of the shapes. At first my boys were good with it, but soon got tired of drawing flowers and wanted something different (just a little boy thing!)

The Second Part

The second part of the course we found a bit confusing at first. After a color lesson, Sally begins teaching small designs. She provides a printable worksheet where you practice tracing, then copying a design over and over to perfect it. Each lesson gives you a different design. My older kids liked it at first (my 5 year old lost interest in part 2), but then began to get tired of it. They didn’t see the point of what they were doing and like most little boys began to get anxious after multiple lessons without a finished product that they could see. I wasn’t sure where it was going either so I looked ahead.

After you complete part 2, you find out in part 3 that you will use all the little designs you practiced to make one complete drawing of a beautiful flower. After I looked ahead I told my kids that each design would later be a part of a picture we would draw. This gave them the encouragement they needed to continue to practice. They just needed to know that there was a purpose to what they were learning.

I think for my kids it would help to have a completed work sooner to encourage them that they are learning, or at least possible tell them that they are working towards putting it all together into a competed drawing. We are almost to completing part 2 and about ready to finish our complete drawing course this summer (we took a short break to start our summer schedule). I am excited see their finished projects next week as we come to an end of our Complete Drawing Course.

More to come!

My 10 year old and I are also excited to start the Pen and Ink and water color classes this summer. It will be a fun course to add some learning to our relaxed summer schedule in our homeschool! I’ve looked ahead through these courses and I am looking forward to using these bonus Beyond the Stick figure courses to learn these new techniques with my son this summer. The lessons are short, but detailed. She breaks down a project into simple steps that teach you a technique and really allow anyone to learn to paint and draw using her method.

If you are looking for an art curriculum for your family to enjoy, Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses is worth checking out! It will be a great fit for a family wanting to learn the basics and produce several completed works of art together. i

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