Drawing God's Magnificent Garden Teacher’s Guide & Resource Book

The student lessons are designed to be studied in the order given in the text – jumping around the lessons might confuse the student and frustrate the incremental skill building planned into the course. The lessons can be repeated using different models, especially if a certain chosen model seems too easy or too complicated for a student; in fact, the entire course can be repeated using different models and mediums.

The larger Crayola® sets have all of the color wheel colors by name and are critical to the color lessons – please do not substitute them. This approach helps the student to see standard colors and learn their names. The graphite pencil set can be substituted or added to, and students can also experiment with many different types of pencils, pens and erasers. Hard erasers can be cut to fit tight spots in a drawing; the kneaded eraser is important for lifting or blending dark areas.

As much as possible, use the models God supplies in your area each season. For example, if it’s autumn use leaves for models along with pumpkins and squash. If you have a field trip planned use it to also teach a drawing exercise. In the dead of winter bring in shell collections, or look for unusual and colorful produce at the market – or in your yard.

Have students draw each day if possible. They should repeat certain exercises (especially color wheels) using the other color mediums – oil pastels, colored pencils and crayons, and then compare them. Some students are heavy handed, some are light, some sketch, others line-draw, some crosshatch, some scribble-shade and the teacher should encourage each of them to develop their own shading technique. I used a smooth blended style in my examples, but by no means should that be taught as the only way to draw – see Lesson Fourteen for ideas.

It often happens that a favorite drawing gets lost, ripped, spilled on or otherwise ruined. It’s important that along with showing the student sympathy, he is guided to offer this disappointment to God as a sacrifice. God, to Whom it was offered in prayer, has seen it and knows its importance to the artist, and since the world can no longer enjoy it, it becomes a gift just for God. This helps teach the student holy detachment from his art and prevents artistic egotism.

No two examples in any of the exercises will be alike due to personal style, light source, different models, and other factors making student comparison impossible. It takes a lot of practice over time for the student to be able to see accurately enough to draw well, so don’t push the process, it will happen over time. Emphasize that they are not drawing pictures for praise; they are learning skills and developing their own style, which will take repeated efforts and some ‘ugly ducklings’.

As the student progresses in the course he will acquire more skills and draw more accurately, he will automatically choose the techniques which help him best (contour line, basic shapes, negative space, etc.). However, he will probably use a combination of these techniques to check his work, but he doesn’t have to use them all in a particular drawing.

Read each lesson carefully before you teach it; if possible, do the lesson yourself before you teach it to make sure you have all needed supplies and that there are no surprises! The Answer Key on page 59 of the student text can be removed. Sample Lesson Plans, ideas for grading, and many more suggestions for teaching are in following articles.

Softcover, 40 pages.