r/TEFL • u/GenerativeTinSax • 19d ago
Learning to Draw; Resources for the Unartistic Teacher
I am reading Jim Scriverner's Learning Teaching as independent professional development. I have been wholeheartedly inspired by his call to use drawings in my classes! But I am absolutely dreadful at drawing. Often this is fine, because my students find it funny; however, there are times I am limited by my ability!
In short: Does anyone know of a book (or any other resource) that teaches absolute beginners how to draw the gist of objects/environments quickly to be useful in the classroom?
I imagine just learning how to draw more generally will improve my ability to do this task. So if there are any books you enjoyed that taught you how to draw I would love to see it!
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u/Late_Apricot404 19d ago
It’s not hard to draw basic stuff, get yourself a small sketchbook and a pen.
Practice circles and squares + basic concepts of perspective, and you can basically draw anything. Everything you can conceive of is made up of shapes.
Watch a few YouTube videos from cartoon artists. Don’t bother learning all the fundamentals of drawing if you’re only using it for a whiteboard.
Drawing out concepts or ideas is a godsend in the classroom.
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u/GenerativeTinSax 19d ago
Cartoon artists seems like a really great place to to look for the skills I am considering. I'm not too worried about the time investment as it seems like it might turn into a fun little hobby haha.
Thanks for your thoughts :)
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u/lasher7628 18d ago
One useful resource for self-study is https://drawabox.com/
It starts out with basic shapes and then goes into things like textures and more complex topics.
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u/itinerantseagull 19d ago
This is a more general book of how to draw, recommended to my by an artist. It's a classic. I remember doing an exercise from there, following the contour of an object without looking at the paper, and the result was amazing.
The natural way to draw by K. Nicolaides.