Beyond the Stick Figure (A Homeschool Review Crew Review)

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.

When it comes to art, I have two kids who couldn't be further from each other on the spectrum. My youngest loves art and spends most of her free time drawing her sketches on paper or making  animations on her tablet.  On the other hand, my son never enjoyed doing anything artistic.  The only picture I have that he's ever done was of a creeper from Minecraft and that was with tons of coaching on my part just to get that.  This is why usually, when you see an art instruction review on this blog, it's almost always featuring Ashleigh and her work.

When members of the crew were given the opportunity to review the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School, I saw an opportunity to get Garrett doing his own artwork.

The video based course is taught by Sally Stansfield, a native of England who followed her dream and attended Loughborough College of Art and Design in England where she obtained her degree in art.  A wife and homeschool mom to eight children, she felt that art could be taught incrementally in a step by step manner like any other school subject. She saw first hand how traditional teaching methods for this subject can be detrimental. Now, she wants to share her passion with children young and old to ignite their own love of creating art.

Using the Curriculum

The very first video was entitled "Just for Mom" and I found this video perfect for setting the tone for the class.  Basically, it's a video telling moms to allow the child to do their own work the way they want to do it and not the way you the parent or anyone else wants to do.  Instead of correction, allow the child to explore their own creative nature.  I thought this was an excellent message to start the course with.

The course is broken up into various sections, with each section having a number of video lessons.  For example, the Drawing course is divided into three sections, each containing anywhere from 5 to 33 video lessons for that section.  We were given access to the Complete Drawing course as well as the Pen & Ink, Watercolor, Acrylic, and 3D design lessons as the bonus courses.  Also included was a second course entitled Paint Your Own Family Portraits.

Since I wanted to use this curriculum with Garrett, we started from the very beginning of the course.  I want to reiterate that I was doing this curriculum with a kid who hates drawing.  While the course is called Beyond The Stick Figure, my kids hates even drawing stick figures and will do them as the peak of his effort when asked to do any sort of illustration. Even when the drawing subject is something that Garrett enjoys, such as Minecraft, he does only the most minimal of work.  So we opted to start with Drawing Part 1.

For the portion of the course we were able to use during the review period, we needed a pack of Prismacolor markers, white printer paper and a Strathmore brand sketch pad.   As the course progresses thru the different mediums, the student will need other materials, such as watercolor and acrylic paint and terracotta air dry clay.  The drawing course does have printable workbooks for the course that can be printed out as well. 

The course starts extremely basic.  Students learn to draw straight lines, curved lines, dots and circles. Then they learn how to put these different style of lines together to begin actually creating artwork.   They also learn concepts such as color theory along the way.  Each part is broken down into daily lessons that feature a video of the instructor presenting instructions for the student, which they can follow along with on their own.  Once the assignment for the day is complete, the student can mark it as complete.  When they long in the next day, the next lesson will be waiting where they can easily pick right back up at.

I wasn't entirely sure how Garrett would do with this program.  Turns out, he has enjoyed it.  I don't overload him with it, so he does his lessons three days a week on M-W-F and I only require him to complete one lesson each day so it keeps things very manageable for him.  He watches a lesson, then he grabs his markers and his sketchbook and he gets to work.

To say that I'm impressed with this art curriculum would be an understatement and I'll be interested to see how Garrett's skills in his art studies improves as he progresses through the upcoming lessons.  But the fact that he's drawing flowers and abstract art after years of crying over being forced to even just draw a stick figure for assignments is a positive improvement in my book.  It will also be interesting to see how he takes to doing watercolors later down the road.

For more information about the Beyond the Stick Figure Art School, visit their website.  You can also find them on the following social media sites:

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

Members of the review crew have been usingBeyond the Stick Figure Art School with family members of all ages, including themselves.  Be sure to click the banner below and read their reviews.

Creating a Masterpiece (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Recently, members of the Homeschool Review crew were given a one year subscription to the online Drawing Program from Creating a Masterpiece.  Anything art related is always a huge hit in our household, and since this program includes four different levels of drawing lessons (Beginner and Levels 1-3) with  29 different drawing projects,  Ashleigh was absolutely thrilled to discover that she would be learning various drawing techniques using pencils, colored pencils and charcoal. 

Created and taught by Sharon Hofer, Creating a Masterpiece is a series of online streaming art lessons that teach students of all ages and expertise how to successfully create works of art using various art mediums. A master artist in her own right, Mrs Hofer has years of experience teaching students one on one in her own home studio.  She has now begun to offer those same lessons through video instruction for those who cannot attend her classes, allowing those outside of her local area to have the same quality of lesson as those who attend her physical class.    

Each project starts with list of art supplies needed to complete the project.   Any supplies that are not currently on hand can also be purchased quickly using the "Purchase Supplies" button which adds the required supplies to your shopping cart from a very reasonably priced art supply retailer. 

Once all supplies are on gathered, students are ready for create a masterpiece.   Each project includes step by step video lessons that show exactly how to create the targeted artwork.  Each project is split up between short videos, allowing an easy stopping point if a break is needed, as well as making it very easy to jump back into the project when returning to it. 

 Students are invited to follow along, pausing the video as needed, as Mrs Hofer demonstrates each step of creating the drawing.  She tells the student what supplies to use and shows how to use them, shows how to sketch the drawings out and how to polish the project in order to creating a piece of art the student will be proud to display. 

For our review, we focused on the Beginning drawing portion of the lessons.   I would like for Ashleigh to work through all three levels while we have access to the lessons and feel that starting from the beginning will allow for her to learn the various techniques  as she works thru each level. 

Ashleigh really enjoyed being able to take either my laptop or her tablet to the table to work on her artwork.  She preferred to use the computer, mostly because she could make the videos larger.  The instruction is such that honestly, I wasn't needed at all. She would get her supplies out of the drawer, start the video and work on her own completely independently.  She found the instruction very easy to follow along with and the projects fun. 

The first project she wanted to work on was the giraffe in cartoon which was a lesson using drawing pencils.  This was a super easy project and a great introduction to the drawing program.  All Ashleigh needed was a 6B drawing pencil and a regular piece of paper (we used printer paper). 

Ashleigh did take her project a step further and opted to use colored pencils.  I really liked her color palette that she choose. 

The next two drawings she selected was "Simplicity" and "Hoot Owl".  Both of these used were also using drawing pencils, but used more advanced techniques then the giraffe project.  With "Simplicity", she even learned to use a tortillon. 

Each project teaches the student different techniques.  For example, "Simplicity" teaches how to see and incorporate values and shading, as well as the basics of planning your drawing and moving through a pencil project. 

I personally was extremely impressed with her final results with the "Hoot Owl" project.   This project demonstrated how to use shading and texture to really make the project pop.

For her final project for this review, she decided to work on "Moonstruck", the first colored pencil drawing that Ashleigh worked on. This project teaches the basics of value, shadow, and highlights.  The project was suppose to be drawn on vellum paper, which we did have, but Ashleigh opted to instead do the drawing on a piece of drawing paper.  I personally think she did a great job.

This was the second time that we have had the pleasure of reviewing art lessons from Creating a Masterpiece. Our first review was for the Core lessons and we really enjoyed those as well.  This is a great product that really helps students build their confidence in artistic abilities.  

For more information about the various video art lessons offered by Creating A Masterpiece, visit their website.  You can also find more information at their Facebook page. 

Be sure to click the graphic below to read the Crew reviews and see what other families thought of Creating a Masterpiece, as well as to enjoy the artwork done by each family. 

Creating A Masterpiece (A Homeschool Crew Review)

We love art in our family.  My husband took art throughout high school, I took classes in middle school and both of my daughters seem to have the artistic bug as well.  Somehow, the gene skipped over Garrett, who doesn't even like to color, but everyone else seems to have an artistic talent to some extent. When we were given the opportunity to review the monthly plan for Creating a Masterpiece, I already knew it would be a huge hit in our household.

Created and taught my Sharon Hofer, Creating a Masterpiece is a series of online streaming art lessons that teach students of all ages and expertise how to successfully create works of art using various art mediums. A master artist in her own right, Mrs Hofer has years of experience teaching students one on one in her own home studio.  She has now begun to offer those same lessons through video instruction for those who cannot attend her classes, allowing those outside of her local area to have the same quality of lesson as those who attend her physical class.

For the purpose of this review, members of the Homeschool Review crew were given 6 months access to more than 50 lessons.  The lessons offered start at the Beginner level and progress through Levels 1-5, depending on how experienced the student is.  Art medium instruction offered include: Acrylic, Batik, Block Painting, Carving, Conte' Crayon, Copper Tooling, Glass Mosaic, Gouache, Ink, Mixed Media, Oil Paint, Oil Pastels, Pencil/Charcoal, Sculptures, Silk Painting, Soft Pastels, and Watercolor. Each lesson clearly states which medium will be used as well as a list of required and suggested materials needed to complete the project.  On average, lessons take between 30-40 minutes to complete, although in some projects, that time is extended over the course of a few days as mediums such as paints need time to dry between steps.

Interface makes it easy to see the projects and determine what medium it uses

For our projects, we opted to start with some of the Beginner and Level 1 projects.  We already had oil pastels, soft pastels and watercolors available to us, so with that in mind, we sat down together as a family (minus Garrett) and decided which projects we would all like to work on together.  Over the last few weeks, we've worked on three different projects: Lessons in Watercolor (Floral Medley), Lesson in Oil Pastels (Winter Cabin) and Lessons in Soft Pastels (Peaceful Lake).

Each video lesson is broken down into sections as Mrs Hofer breaks down step by step how to copy her techniques and create your own masterpiece.  Through the lesson, she gives various tips and advice on how to make the most of each medium and how to avoid (or correct) mistakes that might be made during the process.  Her lessons are clear and concise as she demonstrates how to turn a blank canvas or piece of paper into something any student could be proud of.  Pausing or rewinding the lesson is very easy, so that you can stop the video and take the time needed to work on your own project before moving on.   We found it super easy to just keep the laptop within arms reach on our kitchen table where each of us could see it easily and hit pause/play as needed.

For our first lesson, the Winter Cabin from the Beginner section, it was just myself and the girls working though the project.  Pastels were a new medium for Ashleigh to play around with and this project was a perfect introduction on using them and we were all very happy with the outcome of our projects.  We did realize we were using the wrong paper for pastels (we were using watercolor paper instead of pastel paper) but even still, everyone's picture came out nice.

Winter Cabin  - Alyssa on top, Mom and Ashleigh's on the bottom.

For our second project, we opted for one of the watercolor lessons as we were waiting on an order for the proper paper for pastels.  For this lesson, Dad decided to join us and the four of us decided to try to Floral Medley together.

We did worry when Mrs Hofer started using pancake watercolors and we had tube style watercolor paints.  But this turned out not to be that big of an issue and is one of the beautiful things about her lessons - Your artwork does not have to look exactly like hers and you can experiment with other media.  Our tube paint worked perfectly fine and as we followed her lessons step by step, we once again came up with some really nice finished projects.

The water color projects do take few days to finish as each step needs time in which to dry, so this project took us a bit of time to complete.

This project also showed us that each of us interpret her instructions differently.  None of our projects looked anything alike but each turned out nice. I was really impressed with Ashleigh's finished project as her flowers reminded me of Hibiscus flowers.  It also showed that regardless of age, anyone can achieve something they would be happy to display.

Floral Medley in Watercolor:     Top - Alyssa and Dad    Bottom - Mom and Ashleigh

For our final project of this review period, everyone agreed they wanted to try the Peaceful Lake which was a lesson in Soft Pastels.  By this time, we had finally gotten the proper paper that we had ordered (they were out of stock when we ordered after the Winter Cabin lesson and we had to wait for it to arrive).  Again, the four of us sat at the table - this time opting to remove our table cloth since we had been warned ahead of time of the dust created by this medium.

Working on the Peaceful Lake project with soft pastels

Soft Pastels indeed turned out to be an extremely messy process and the girls had a lot of fun.  Granted, when all was said and done, both were covered head to toe in colorful streaks (as they decided to rub their smudging fingers on each other's face) but everyone had a great time working together.

My oldest with her project  along with her "War Paint"

Once again, I was very impressed with how everyone's finished project turned out.  Everyone's looked equally wonderful and without our signitures on our artwork, it would be hard to distinguish which one was done by an 8 year old and which one was done by a 41 year old. 

Peaceful Lake in Soft Pastel :  Top - Mom and Ashleigh   Bottom - Alyssa and Dad

Although, I take that back, it would be pretty easy for someone to figure out which one was my husband's.   

The Peaceful Lake has been invaded by War of the World's Alien Tripods

As a whole, we really enjoyed the Creating a Masterpiece website and the lessons offered and we look forward to continuing to spend family time making some really nice artwork together.  I can easily see how the techniques and tips that we are learning from each lesson can carry over to when we decide to venture beyond the step-by-step lessons and planned projects.

For more information about Creating a Masterpiece (including a free lesson using soft pastels), visit their website. You can also find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/createamasterpiece

Czech Cats, Hungarian Bugs and Haitian Geckos (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

One has only to look at the what was once white walls in my kids rooms to see that Ashleigh loves to draw.  Her walls are currently covered with drawings of cats and girls and butterflies and whatever other animal strikes her fancy.  She loves to draw and create paper crafts and I've wanted to find her some formal art instruction to help develop her artistic talents.  It worked out perfectly for us that we were asked to review the Entire Level 1 art lessons from ArtAchieve.

ArtAchieve provides a  series of online art instruction classes that uses inspirations from around the world to walk students through creating their own pieces of art.  Each class gives students the options of viewing the lesson via a Powerpoint presentation or a video that provides step by step instructions on how to draw the current project. A drop down menu provides access to all lessons purchased.

The lessons are taught by John Hofland who studied with the late Josef Svoboda, the famous Czech artist. Hofland went on to develop University level drawing courses before developing the ArtAchieve online lessons for homeschool students.

Lessons start using very simple materials that most homeschool families already have in their home:  white paper, a sharpie marker, and washable colored markers.  Later lessons introduce more advanced materials such as watercolor pencils, oil pastels, and acrylic paints.

Lessons are not strictly limited to art instruction either.  One of the great things about the lessons is that they are much like mini-unit studies that provide lessons about the country in which the lesson was inspired.  For example, one of the lessons entitled The Sheep from Wales actually provides lessons in about Great Britain.  These lessons cover the countries that comprise Great Britain and then provide information about Wales itself, such as location, the Welsh language, the Capitol city of Cardiff, the sheep of Wales and the wool they provide.  Lessons also provide suggestions for other resources to incorporate in with the lesson to provide cross-curricular connections for math, science and history such as books about the region, literature suggestions, and writing assignments.

How We Used It:

ArtAchieve was generous and gave us full access to the Entire Level 1 art lessons for a period of one year.  The Entire Level 1 lesson offers a total of eleven lessons - the first two lessons are offered free of charge to allow you to get a feeling if Art Achieve is right for you.  The other nine lessons can be purchased individually or as a bundle.

Lessons always suggest listening to relaxing music while doing the lesson as well as doing a warmup to get you ready.  The kids had already gotten use to listening to relaxing classical music during our school lessons so this was easy for us to incorporate.

We began the lessons for the very beginning at Lesson 1.  Lesson one is a multi-session lesson that teaches basic line drawing and shading both angular and round objects.  The line drawing lesson consisted of three actual assignments for different levels: Easy, Medium and Advanced.  Ashleigh flew through the easy level pretty quickly and also through the medium.  She also did equally well with the Advanced lesson - line drawings weren't much of an issue for her.  However, the shading proved to be a bit harder for her, especially the angular shading lesson.

Other lessons start with a Warmup which includes practicing various parts of the lines that are included in the project.  We used these often, however, I noticed that when it came to her final drawing, Ashleigh tends to improve and make the project her own.  So far, she has completed the Czech Cat, the Hungarian Bugs and the Haitian Geckos.  In addition to creating her own artwork, she had really enjoyed learning about the inspirational piece of art that inspired the art lessons and wants to create similar sculptures later down the road.

When asked what her favorite piece so far has been, she quickly stated the Hungarian Bugs.   Here she is posing with her picture and I think her look says it all.

ArtAchieve offers five different levels of online art instruction, each slightly more advanced than the previous level.  Individual lessons can be purchased for a one year license from $4 to $11, depending on the level, or you can purchase all the lessons for each level bundled together for a discounted price.

I'm looking forward to sharing more of Ashleigh's artwork (and Garrett's too as he has suddenly shown interest in doing the lessons as well) in the future and as she progresses we will probably revisit each lesson at least once while we have access to them to see how she progresses.  We're absolutely thrilled with ArtAchieve and will continue to use their product as part of our art curriculum in the future and who knows, it just might help get us our security deposit back once we repaint her bedroom walls ;)

For more information about ArtAchieve, visit them at their website or at one of these social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artachieve

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artchieve  @artachieve

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/artachieve/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+artachieve

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnahofland/

ArtAchieve was very generous and allowed 100 members of the review crew access to one of three levels offered on their website. Be sure to click the banner below to read reviews for all three levels.