Drawing Exercises

Some creative ideas for a first year drawing class?

What do students want to get out of a beginner's level drawing class? Obviously formal elements ought be covered. Any fun creative exercises?

Public Comments

1. Prompts inviting them to draw something that would most likely never happen. Like something that would never happen at a football game, or putting something from one time period in another.
2. drawing something they like a sport,art,dancing,swiming.there family.there releigion.something tells u something important bout them then u can get an idea wat they like to draw.
3. Draw someone in the class but have the students use different methods of drawing/painting....perhaps impressionist style or something like a caricature.
4. Are we talking first year, like kindergarten, or first year college? If it's college, I did a lot of still life drawing of really odd, unrelated objects, all painted white, so as to be able to draw JUST the object, without concern for details like patterns or wood grains,but just light,shadow, and form. Also, even tho' it's a little gross, take a visit to the local medical school's Gross Anatomy Class where med students practice on cadavers(dead people), things like autopsies, and draw from "life-models" that NEVER move, and what is even better, you get to see the human body opened and viewable from a surgeon's perspective...try drawing a closeup of the thigh muscles as they are attached to the femur with all the nerves and veins exposed...gross but interesting! Also, be fore-warned...the initial odor that hits you as you enter that room will sicken you(you do get past it), it's formaldehyde, a preservative used to keep human flesh from rotting. Pretty CREATIVE, huh?
5. i am an art instructor for all ages. i have found a couple of exercises that seems to intrigue and motivate most all students. i have them choose a picture of something (i.e. horse) and display the picture upside down and have them draw the lines they see without thinking of what the actual body part it is. also i have clippings out of mags of full faces (beauty mags usually have full views of models faces) the clipping is cut down the middle, then glued to a matte board. they are to draw the other side of the face to complete the picture. hope this helps. would appreciate any ideas for ages 5-7 and 8-12 drawing and watercolor classes.