12 May 2020
Beyond the Stick Figure Art School Review
May 12, 2020
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.
Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses comes with
a Complete Drawing Course, Pen & Ink, Water Color, Acrylic, and 3D
Design.
This can work for young children ages 5 & up. You will want kids to have some basic skills with
holding a pencil and be able to do basic shape and some decent fine motor skills.
Older kids and adults can also do Beyond the Stick Figure Art School. The neat
thing about this art course is that the whole family can do it together.
All the courses
are created and taught by Sally Stansfield, a homeschooling mother of eight and
a trained professional artist.
This is a video
based art course. I recommend a decent internet, and the ability to print off
PDF worksheets. All the videos are broken down by short step-by-step
increments. The videos are anywhere from 2 ½ to 6 minutes long. The project
lessons are labeled Day 1, Day 2, and so on. You can easily complete more than
one a day with most of the projects. Some projects require drying time.
Students can work on their project while viewing the video, as it’s easy to
pause each lesson. Most kids should be able to do this independently.
The lessons are designed to go in order so you cannot jump
around in the course until you have completed the lessons in order. You have to
hit the tab to mark it as completed. Once you have completed the lessons you
can freely go back to the other lessons.
There is a
complete material list provided for at the “material” tab on your main
dashboard page. At the beginning of each course there is also a short video of
the material needed to complete the course you are getting ready to do. Just an
overview of some of the supplies you will need: a realm of copy paper,
scissors, masking tape, mechanical, HB and 2B pencils, putty eraser, fine tip Sharpie,
and a few more basic supplies. Mrs. Stansfield recommends that you invest in
some quality products. Some supplies you may need to order are Strathmore
Sketch Spiral Pad, quality watercolor and acrylic brushes, Strathmore 140lb
cold press watercolor paper pad, Cotman watercolor paint, Prismacolor® Premier®
Art Marker Set, Chisel/Fine Primary Set, 12-Color, Galleria Winsor and Newton
Acrylic paint masking fluid, polymer clay, and air-dry clay.
Complete Drawing
Course:
This course is
broken down in 3 parts. The first part has you cutting up copy paper in smaller
squares. This is so the student is not overwhelmed learning the techniques and
doing projects on a larger scale at first.
It starts out very
basic drawing circles, straight lines, curved lines, and dots on your small
sheets of paper. Then you start adding color to your design. Eventually you get
to adding all the elements together. Your student can do scavengers hunt to
look for the shapes in your environment. You are learning about negative space
and how to draw shapes next to one another and how to overlap them.
A Few examples of the PDF files |
You then start
adding in the PDFs that you can practice more detailed-controlled designs with
a pencil and then with your fine tipped Sharpie. At first you are connecting
dots to make lines and then you graduate out of the “dots” to doing it
freehand.
You are also
making a color portfolio so can see the colors in a larger scale and not have
those mistakes after you have already colored the picture with putting the
wrong color on your masterpiece.
The lessons are
building the foundational concepts of art. It may seem mundane at times but it
all comes together to create a masterpiece. The drawing course ends with you
putting all those shapes together to create a stunning flower.
A self evaluation rubric scale at the end of each course |
The lesson ends
with a rubric that your student gets to evaluation their own work and access
what they have learned using a scales.
Pen & Ink
Pen & Ink Part
1:
You are working on
a small canvas made out of the watercolor paper. Your project is a landscape illustration
that you will be making with your Sharpie pen and then add in the medium of
watercolor to make the project pop out. With the pen you are learning how to
make the horizon and how to make the elements in the picture look realistic
like your meadow or grassy area. You also focus on negative space and the
skyline. You are also learning how to mix your acrylic paint to make
watercolor. You also learn how to control it when you put it on the paper to
prevent it from bleeding out everywhere.
Pen & Ink Part
2:
The next project
you are working on is a larger scale picture. You print out a PDF and using
tracing paper you trace the tree onto the watercolor paper. After you have
traced it you will trace over it with your pen. You start filling in doing
“cross hatching” to make the tree have more depth and character to it. You will
add grass, minor landscape details into the horizon and then leaves to the
tree. After you are done with your project you add your watercolor and blend
colors to your masterpiece.
Watercolor:
The first part
goes over some basic landscape techniques. Using small squares (8) that you cut
out. The steps are laid out nicely to teach you how to create your horizon,
sky, water, and hills. You learn how to overlap elements together. You will
paint each of the mini canvas and let them dry in-between to advance to the
next step. All the skills you have learned with the shapes really start coming
together as you apply this to a larger drawing with adding in many elements.
You also learn how to mix primary colors to make secondary colors. The lesson
ends with a rubric that your student gets to evaluation their own work and
access what they have learned using a scales.
Acrylics:
With the acrylics
you are still using your small scale mini projects with making more background
landscapes. You start mixing more colors together. The techniques get more
advanced and the paintings are more complex. There are 3 parts in acrylic with
a total of 23 lessons. Your student can also evaluate their projects and what
they have learned.
3D Design:
Your student will
start to work with clay to create a 3D animal and a coiled pot. You learn how
to work a clay slab to create your projects. There are a total of 30 lessons
broken down in 3 parts. As all the other sections you can evaluate your work
with a rubric scale.
How did I use Beyond the Stick Figure Art School in my homeschool?
After I had access
to the course I spent some time looking over the course to see what it was like
before I started with my kids. I went through my supplies I had on hand and had
the majority of the supplies. The only thing I didn’t have was clay and masking
fluid. With the pandemic going on all craft stores are closed an ordered just
those two items at this time wasn’t cost efficient. Plus my kids have never
been to fond of art with clay.
My artists
who have been creating masterpieces are my 17 year old daughter with special
needs and my 14 year old son.
My daughter is a
bit challenged with drawing and art but she loves art. The first lessons have
been a good fit for her. At first she was a bit offended that I would start her
out doing basic shapes as she already knows them. I asked her to be patient and
see what happens. Being a trooper she is she was able to move fairly quickly
through Part 1 in the Drawing Course with doing more than one session a day.
My son is my
artist but he prefers drawing the most. He didn’t want anything to do with the
Drawing Courses as he felt it was a bit too basic and slow for his liking.
However he was intrigued with the Pen & Ink course. I had to manipulate the
system and play the videos of the lessons to get to that point because remember
the lessons go in order. I had to keep a mental note of where my daughter was
as it looked like she completed the course with it being marked as complete.
My son's first Pen & Ink creation |
This was my son's favorite Pen & Ink course. He did have to retrace it again as it had it the wrong way the first time. |
His completed masterpiece |
My
son enjoyed the Pen & Ink lessons and was a bit disappointed that it had
only two projects. He worked a little on the next course, Watercolor. He liked
how Sally Stansfield taught the lessons. She did a great job explaining the
steps and techniques. He wanted the lessons to be combined on the lesson
instead of the short videos. I actually preferred the short sessions to give
you stopping points if needed but at the same time you can move ahead immediately
if needed.
I would love to
have had the ability to move ahead without manipulating the video order. I get
how important building the foundation of art is and 100% agree with how Sally
Stansfield did the course in steps. This is one of the most complete art courses teaching the foundation that I have encountered. For a student who already has those
concepts down it was painful. I had two students on both ends of the spectrum
one the going through each step was essential but the other not so.
My son really loved
the sessions he did but he wanted more. I would love to see more in that area-I
mean a lot more. Sally Stansfield is an amazing art teacher and you can tell
she is very passionate about it.
I would also
recommend that you invest in the Prismacolor® Premier® Art Marker Set. We had a
72 count set already. The markers are totally worth it. I personally don’t let
my daughter use them as she presses extremely hard due to her disability. My
son makes some impressive projects with them.
Social Media
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondthestickfigure/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britladyinamerica/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/beyondthestickfigureart/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCROy5BkqT_cZvQu1dTPRYzw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britladyinamerica/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/beyondthestickfigureart/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCROy5BkqT_cZvQu1dTPRYzw
I am 1 of 55 reviews of Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School. Click here or on the graphic below to read more reviews.
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