Drawing by Aaron Shelton, Age 6
“For a curriculum that teaches the basics of drawing, this has
been added to my “favorite resources” list.”
This has been a fantastic find. For a curriculum that teaches the basics of drawing, this has been added to my “favorite resources” list. My husband (who’s had some college drawing and art classes) appreciated the foundational structures set up in each book. Each drawing is taken down to a very basic structure, and then built upon line by line. This is excellent for developing attention to detail, observation, and introduces a new way in seeing the world around you. Student confidence soars when they are able to recreate real-looking pictures (some are quite detailed – you should see what I drew! Me, a former non-drawer – parent confidence also soars). Lee Ames is delightful. He has had a distinguished career, and even worked at the Disney studios back in the 30’s. The man has a passion for teaching new generations the basics of drawing, and it comes through with his fun subjects and huge selection of categories from which to choose. The Draw 50 books are a wonderful way to add art into the classroom.
Jenefer Igarashi, TOS Magazine
“In the next weeks and months, the pages of Ashley’s sketchbook were being filled with some truly awesome drawings of horses, dogs and cats.”
As a Homeschool Mom of two young girls, I was enthusiastic to find and begin the perfect art curriculum for our Homeschool. I did the necessary research, attended an art class with my oldest daughter, and purchased the curriculum. We were ready to go.
Unfortunately, as the next days, week, and months rolled by, I found that we were not doing art on a regular basis. We were doing are only rarely. The cause for our inconsistency had nothing to do with the curriculum. The problem was myself. I am just not a very “artsy” person, so I found it was easy to put it off until tomorrow. You know – that elusive tomorrow that never comes.
The solution to our un-artful homeschool came quite by accident when my oldest daughter, Ashley, who was 11 years old at the time, bought herself a book at one of our local mega bookstores, called Draw 50 Horses. Being an 11-year-old girl, she loved horses and wanted to learn to draw them. After a short time, Ashley was creating some great drawings. The following Christmas she asked for a sketchbook and art pencils. She was off and running. In all her spare time she was drawing. She next purchased Draw 50 Dogs. Her younger sister, Cassie, then purchased Draw 50 Cats. In the next weeks and months, the pages of Ashley’s sketchbook were being filled with some truly awesome drawings of horses, dogs and cats.
A few months later, I was approached by a friend at church, who runs a small private school, who asked if I would be willing to teach art at her school. It turned out, I had to decline the offer, because, of course, I had absolutely nothing to do with the beautiful drawings in that sketchbook.
Now, I am going to turn this review over to Ashley, my now 12-year-old daughter, since she is the expert on this subject.
“The drawings are step-by-step, so if you follow the steps, the drawing will turn out great.”
Hi! My name is Ashley and I LOVE the Draw 50 series because they taught me to draw perfect pictures and it isn’t very hard. I have purchased many drawing books, but these are my absolute favorite. The drawings are step-by-step, so if you follow the steps, the drawing will turn out great. My friend, Amanda, and I would sometimes spend hours just sitting at our kitchen table drawing. My neighbor friends ask to see my pictures of dogs, horses and cats and ask to draw with me. These books are great!
Sheri Atkinson and Ashley Atkinson, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
“Again, after following the easy steps, I created another picture that looked good! This was incredible to me and I haven’t been able to put down the Draw 50 books since and neither have my siblings.”
When I heard of the Draw 50 series, I was excited for my siblings, especially my 8-year-old sister, who can actually draw. I also realized that until my siblings were tired of them. I would hear from them constantly saying how my pictures looked like scribbles and I would have to explain what it REALLY was while they showed me their exact replicas of The Money Lisa (no, not really). My point is, I have NO artistic talent.
When I got home late one night after babysitting, I noticed that the books had arrived and my sister, Ryann, was already working on one. The next morning I saw her drawings sitting on the table; there were some great drawings there! My siblings and I were able to choose a few that we wanted. We must have dug through the pile ten times before we could narrow down our selection to only so many. My siblings dove into them instantly, creating the best drawings I’ve ever seen for their age level, while I did my homework, watching them every so often bringing the picture to my Mom, coming back for the book to prove it wasn’t traced, and then coming back to draw more masterpieces. I was amazed.
Later on that day I decided I would try to draw one. I took the Holiday Decorations book and sat down trying to do the elf. Wow, I thought, it kinda, actually looks like what it’s supposed to! Then, I moved on to the alien one. Again, after following the easy steps, I created another picture that looked good! This was incredible to me and I haven’t been able to put down the Draw 50 books since and neither have my siblings.
There are so many to choose from including Airplanes, People, Famous Faces, Boats, Cats, Horses, Dogs, Endangered Animals, Animals, Famous Cartoons, Aliens, Baby Animals, Flowers, Birds, and People of the Bible. There are many more than I have listed, but theses are ones that stood out the most to us.
Coie Igarashi, Age 14
Do you have a Draw 50 story, experience or masterpiece you would like to share? If so, we would love to hear from you. Just send your testimonial (and your favorite sketch if you wish) to Debbie@learntodrawnow.com
We will constantly be updating our testimonial page as more stories come in. Who knows, maybe someday YOU could be a famous author/illustrator/animation-in-betweener like Lee J. Ames!
