A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Art

Review: Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

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FTC disclaimer review

For the past few weeks I have been reviewing Beyond the Stick Figure Art School.  I have been working my way through Sally’s Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses.  As I told my bosses at the Homeschool Review Crew… if she can teach ME to draw, she’ll have done good!  Let me say this… I just might surprise you!  Come along as I walk you through this review.

Beyond the Stick Figure Art School Review

What I am Reviewing

Beyond the Stick Figure will provide you with 55 drawing lessons, 15 pen and ink lessons, 52 lessons in watercolour and 24 lessons in Acrylic.   On top of all these lessons you will receive 30 lessons in 3D Design.

This course is for the entire family from 5-95!

Each lesson includes video, often at least one worksheet and lots of practice time. 

Included is a list of materials to help you make purchasing decisions.  For some of the classes having top quality materials will help your work come out better.  For other classes, just use what you have a hand and make accommodations for your expectations. 

logo beyond stick figure

About the Designer

Sally, the designer for this course, is a homeschooling parent!  She received a degree in art from the Loughborough College of Art and Design in England.  You can hear her English accent in the videos.  🙂 

sally beyond stick figures

The Details for Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

There are four parts to the Beyond the Stick Figure Art School.  The main part is the drawing course.  Then the three bonus courses.

The drawing course has three parts to it.  Part one (17 lessons) Part two (33 Lessons) and Part three (5 lessons).   The set up is the same for each lesson.  A video (sometimes two) along with a worksheet to print off. 

Then there are the three bonus courses.  

The Pen & Ink along with the Watercolour Course.  Pen & Ink has two parts with 15 topics total.  The Watercolour course has part 1 (10 lessons), part 2 (19 lessons) and part 3 (23 lessons).  

The Acrylic course follows with 24 Lessons divided over three days.  The 3D course gives us 30 Lessons divided over three days. 

The three days can be a bit of a misnomer since some of the lessons are quite quick, other lessons require practice time, and yet other lessons need time for the previous lesson to dry.   Completing multiple lessons in one day is quite possible. 

parts of course

Step by incremental step, Sally walks you through the world of art.  Each lesson contains at least one video where Sally explains each step and often includes hints.  These hints are there to help you develop better habits as an artist. Sally works hard to ensure the success of her students. 

Video and worksheet location

The worksheets open as printable PDF’s.  Same window unless you ask it to open in a new window.  Everyone that I opened was one page in length, and they did not each need to be printed off.  

warning to complete

One of the aspect of the Art School that it took a while for me to adjust to was the need to mark each lesson, and then each day as complete.   If you failed to do so you would get this warning reminding you to do so. 

seeing lesson overview

I loved that as I watched each lesson I could see clearly where I was in each days work. It gave me a goal to work toward.

How Did I use it?

The drawing course wasn’t quite what I expected. I expect lessons where I would learn shading, perspective, and a variety of other aspects of drawing.  What I received were numerous lessons in how to draw specific lines, and then how to colour them in. I understand it was a very incremental process that as an adult reviewer I found myself chafing at.   I do like that even I managed to create art!  🙂 

drawing course beyond the stick figure

Water Colour

I looked at the Pen & Ink course and thought “OH COOL”, but then decided that I’d rather move on to the Watercolour portion.  I’ve done a bit of watercolour in the past but have never really received lessons. I really liked that I learned new skills, how to make grasses, and use the side of a paintbrush, and more skills.  Rather neat! I look forward to completing the rest of the lessons. 

watercolour

Acrylics

My favourite part of the course?  ACRYLICS.  I was shocked!  Seriously.  I admittedly didn’t have the materials that would have served me best.  Living in Canada, and dealing with Covid-19 restrictions and the um… rather LARGE prices for items on Amazon had me making do with the products that I had in the house.   Afterall.. what if I hated acrylics.. what a waste of dollars that would have been.  But I LIKE IT! I plan to do more.   Just look at what I created!

acrylic paintings

I do need to explain the bottom painting.   It was supposed to be a cloud painting and that was it.  I felt so… UNFINISHED when I was done so I went on to complete the lesson with the one above.  Then I thought, I wonder if I can do with acrylics what you do with watercolour and tried to make grass.  My goal was to create a swampy region with trees in the background.  Was it stellar piece of work?  No.  Hubby and son like the top one the best, but I was delighted that I decided to be creative and take a lesson from one part of the course and apply it to another.

lesson hint
Lesson hint for finding the horizon

3 D Design

The 3D Design Course was more difficult than I thought it would be. ADMITTEDLY I made an oops.  I honestly thought I had the right kind of clay on hand, and didn’t. Therefore I needed to make do with the air dry clay I had on hand. The lad mentioned, “OH, I used it up mom!”  “Gah!”

Ah well, it was still fun to make what I call a foxling.  A mammal that lays eggs and guards them.  🙂   He’s not quite done in the image below.

foxling, 3d design

Should you get it?

I loved parts of this course, and other parts I chafed at, but at all stages I learned something.   In the drawing course I learned the importance of using guidelines to help me achieve the curve I wanted in a line, in watercolour to practice new skills.  Acrylics was simply fun, playing with paint, building on skills learned in watercolour.  3D design was simply a nice break to test out working with clay again.  I’ve worked with clay a lot with my lad and have built a number of items. Creating my egg-laying foxling was great, bringing an imaginative creature to life was a hoot.  Now to write the story to go with him.  🙂 

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses is an interesting set of courses.  Worth taking the time to look at,  give it a look-see, you may find that it suits the artistic needs of your family.  

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

I urge you to check out the 80 reviewers for the Beyond the Stick Figure. Delve into the world of artistic expression and see how you too might surprise yourself with your ability to be an artist. 

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course {Beyond the Stick Figure Art School}

Art tells a Story

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I originally wrote this post in April of 2015 as part of a blog hop.   I am making some adaptations as it’s now more than 4 years later.

Learning how to create art in my household took some figuring, it was harder than I thought to have my lad do art with me.  Real life art for us has always needed to involve a story.  Let me expand upon that, maybe your children are the same.  🙂  Maybe they too, need to see how art tells a story.

I don’t know about you but I have a creative child.   He draws, writes, story tells and creates.   He plays minecraft and creates these little worlds that are very specific in their purpose.  “DAD!   Don’t do that in this world.   That’s not supposed to happen!”   This is a frequent cry in the afternoon.  He still plays minecraft and when he plays with his friends it’s in worlds he has created with a story line in mind.  Wouldn’t it be fun mom to live in an ice world where you need to stay within ___ feet of heat in order to survive?  Imagine how hard it would be to find or create resources!

It’s rather fascinating at times with what he creates.  One of my desires it to  create more often with my child.  Therefore, I would come up with marvelous ideas that I think might tickle his fancy.

Any thoughts on how often I am successful?

Well…absolutely NONE!  I’ve needed to realize this truth:  If I can’t sell the art as a way to tell a story, we have no art.  No story no art.  It’s just the way it rolls. 

Art Tells a Story

Finding the Story

If I can find a story, I can create the art with my lad. Not finding the story means going through the art form without actually doing art.  It has no significance for him, and therefore is a meaningless exercise.  Finding the story… even if it’s from a poem… and Voila!   We have art.

In the found these marvellous books at the library called “imagine a day”.   I would read the poem of the day to my lad.  I read it without showing him the picture.  I’d cover up the page as much as I could so I wouldn’t be influenced.  We would then each sit down and draw a picture of what the story told us. We had SO MUCH fun with these books.   When we were done we would compare our pictures with the picture in the book.  Sometimes we were quite similar to the book and to each other and other times we had good discussions on what we did and why. It was such a fun time together learning, thinking, and drawing together, letting our imaginations soar.

Art Tells a Story

An example of finding the story

Another example would be the day we worked with doing a fresca.   Here I didn’t stop to think and merely followed the instructions given. Draw lines of colour to  get used to drawing with fresca.  I was met with a complaining child “what’s the point of this mom?”  Then I turned it into a story.  What do you think might happen if we did a boat that would capsize?   How about we have a clan cat hunting for a mouse?   Suddenly my story-telling lad was full of ideas and colours he could use.

Imagine a day when art tells a story

It’s taken us time to learn something really important.  Art is story. It’s not always a readily seen story, but it always tells a story of some sort. The colours, depth, humour, lighting, solemnity, shading etc… it all tells a story. 

Use the story to create the art, let the art tell the story.   

I was recently watching a glass-blowing competition and one of the participants always had to come up with a reason, or a story, for any piece that she did.  Did she want to tell the story of her first ever cupcake, or tell of the struggle of women in the glass-blowing world, or the lost child.  What story could she tell through her glass work? This was her focus.  She did some amazing pieces. 🙂

So tell me something, how do you do art in your homeschool?   Do your children happily engage in any art opportunities that you offer them? Or are they more like my creative one… needing a story freeing them up to explore?

blog hop

Hey!  Follow The crew through this Annual Not Going Back to School homeschool blog hop!  Links of participants below

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop  
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling 
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms 
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling 
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling. 
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School 
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling

Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Want to Learn Art?

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Art, it’s a wonderful part of the life don’t you find?   Today I am focusing on visual arts like drawing, painting, sculpting and what not.   Things you look at and make with your hands, feet or mouth.  🙂   Not everyone does art the same way do they?   So if you want to learn art, here are some places to go.

Want to Learn Art?

Art for Elementary School

Created by A Net in Time
Want to Learn Art?
created by A Net In Time

Art for Middle School

 

Want to Learn Art?
Created by A Net in Time

Art For High School

Book Reviews you might want to check out

I adore the 642 Things to draw series.  I’ve reviewed a few of them and think they are fantastic for inspiring conversation and imagination over an art prompt idea. You will find one review here. And another here.  Grab up a couple of drawing pages, sit down and draw.  Talk about how an art prompt inspired you.  Laugh, be amazed, and just draw.

Want to Learn Art?

Draw, Print, Paint like the Great artists continues to be a favourite of mine.  And this Zentangles book made for a really fun class at HOPE days that I would happily do again.  I had a series of How to Draw books that we used for ideas when stuck.  Fine Art Adventures was a great book as well that we have used. You must check out this Doll Crafts book as well.  So many great ideas for making dolls!  Don’t fail to check out the Get into Art Places book.  These are just a few of the great books I’ve been honoured to review. 

If you want to learn art, there are so many ways to do so.  🙂

SchoolhouseTeachers has over 20 art classes as well as many art components mixed into her other courses. Some of the teachers are Art Achieve, Jan Bower, Everyday Easels, Inkscape and Studio for Teens. Do check out their amazing deal.  $5 for a month of art?  Videos and on-line lessons.  Access wherever you go. It’s a great deal eh?  Get all your school needs met in one place. 

And do some art!

Want to Learn Some Specifics?

The Art of Gardening

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Do you recall my post from a couple of weeks ago?  I talked about what’s been keeping me busy lately?   Well seeing as it’s Wednesday I and normally (when I have arty type books) do an art post, I figured gardening is another type of an art form isn’t it?  At least the art of gardening seems real to me.

The art of Gardening

I’ve been busy moving gardens around.  They used to be vertical to the rabbitry but I found that didn’t leave me a lot of space for when I do a major clean up.  Easy for me to trip and fall.  I thought I’d move them horizontal and see how much room that left me.  TONS more room!  🙂

So here’s the old way they were set up looking out from the rabbitry.

The art of Gardening

And the new way I have them set up, again looking out from the rabbitry. 

The art of Gardening

What I’ve ended up giving myself is an extra two feet for maneuvering rabbitry items in and out.   I have goals to rearrange where the mice are, and where our pet rabbit Wafer’s cage are but that will take time, some figuring out and room to move.   That bare patch of dirt below is the room I gained, isn’t it great?

The art of Gardening

You may have noticed those white barrels.  My goal is to paint them some lovely colour (whatever is recycleable paint cans) at some point, probably not til late August for me to get that done.  These three above hold my mint.  I think it will make them more containable!  Mint spreads fast if you let it. 

The art of Gardening

Art of gardening

This is my newest bed, well okay, perhaps not my NEWEST bed, but it’s my “make me smile” bed.  Buttercups, allium, irises, lilies and daisy type flowers.  They make my heart smile when they flower.  Isn’t that what art does?  Make a heart smile?  Gardening does it for me.

And of course my metal chicken!   I have other garden things to put in here yet, but just haven’t gotten them in yet from my original perennial bed.   My mom gave me those green chickens that are hidden under a coreopsis plant.  Brilliant yellow flowers will come out in July (if this wet weather ever goes away).

The art of Gardening

I used to have a lovely BIG rooster in my perennial bed. But chicken met active boys and unfixable damage happened so I lost that lovely big rooster.  I was rather sad but accidents happen when boys are having fun, apologies happened and life moves on.  Someday I hope to replace him.   

IGNORE the weeds PLEASE!   I haven’t gotten to them yet, but do enjoy my purple allium.  Isn’t it lovely?  🙂

Behind the perennial bed I have my fruit bushes.  Gooseberry, black currant and goji berry.  I am hopeful this year to get more than TWO goji berries. They do have a lovely taste. If they don’t start producing better I’ll be getting rid of them.  I’ll give them this year and next to prove themselves. A friend told me I have berries coming, so maybe I need to yell at the squirrels and birds faster.  🙂   My red currants are on the other side of the yard.  Bigger bushes so they need more room to spread out.

Next Project

The art of Gardening

I’m actually divided on what my next project is.  The biggest part of me wants to move these three small gardens and then move the pond up two feet and three feet longer.   I’ve done a bit of research on how to make a better pond and want to put that knowledge to work. 

BUT then again, I have a front bed that needs some rather significant work on it. I’m kinda wondering if that will need to wait until the fall though.  Bushes to move, new ones to start.  If I bend down a branch and weight it on the ground I can start a new bush and kill off the old one…. the original is too close to the house. I want the bush, but not the work of digging it all up, so if I can get a new one growing then I have less work overall.   

So overall I think pond and small gardens first.  Oh that reminds me.. I need to bring my dahlias up out of the basement! 

I have convinced out bumble bee to let me move her home (hence the bare patch in-between the gardens).  She didn’t sting me when I moved her home and I’ve seen her going in and out from where I moved her hollow log too, so that was a huge YAY for me.  🙂

The art of Gardening - pond frog

This fellow here is a big part of my reason to change up our pond.  I want to make a deeper end so that we can put in water lilies and other pond plants.  I want to encourage dragonflies, water striders, frogs, toads and other such critters to come hang out. It doesn’t need to be pretty (though that would be nice) but it mostly needs to be inviting. Right now our goldfish & catfish are happy, but I want more critters.  I also love the moss growing. I have NO CLUE why, but it makes me happy so it stays. 

Did you know that SchoolhouseTeachers. com has a huge selection are gardening helps? Free organizers, copywork, colouring pages, and plant observations pages as well as member only resources for square foot gardens, raised beds, sensory gardens, designs for garden containers and so much more.  It’s remarkable the number of resources they have.  I may have my lad work through some of it to get a horticultural credit. 

schoolhouse

Builds By The Lad

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builds by the lad

Nerfed Sniper Rifle. This thing works amazingly well! It shoots really far and accurately. Took him a day thinking, permission to rework his marshmallow shooter and a day’s solid labour.

Nerfed sniper rifle

His shield, which I just think is amazing. This project took him about a week from start to finish.

shield

He’s also made this highly accurate crossbow. It took him a long time to make it. This is the second one he’s made and you could tell that he learned a lot from the first one. Better cordage, better shafts and a more accurate trigger system. It’s well made and he won a first place with his cadet corp.

crossbow

The lad asked me today why I take pictures of the things he builds. I said “it’s cause I’m proud of you”.

His response what that he doesn’t want everyone knows all his business. He DID give me permission to do ONE post but I’m not to share it everywhere and make a big deal about it. 🙂 He also doesn’t want it on facebook and what not. I’ve gotta respect his business right? 🙂

Filed Under: Art Tagged With:

The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts

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Looking for easy to make crafts for a variety of ages?   Enter in The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts.  150 crafts of a wide variety to entertain and educate the children and youth in your life. 

The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts give you over 150 crafts to choose from.   With clear step-by-step instructions, crafts organized into four themed sections, and detailed colourful illustrations, even the littlest hands can make a big impression. 

Four sections divide up the 150 crafts provided in this book.

  • Imagine and Create
  • Wear and Use
  • Make and Play
  • Decorate and Celebrate

Imagine and Create contains crafts such as wiggling caterpillar, egg-cup chick and rock painting.   

Wear and Use gives us pasta jewelry, magic wands and decorated baskets. 

Make and Play gives us sock sacks, marble mazes, puzzles, folded frog puppets and much more. 

Decorate and Celebrate allows us to make decorated eggs, doily angels, paper cutouts and party favours. 

Clear materials lists and instructions makes the completion of each craft a breeze.  The full colour pictures put words into image helping to reinforce each step to the completion of a successful craft. 

Clear materials lists and instructions makes the completion of each craft a breeze.  The full colour pictures put words into image helping to reinforce each step to the completion of a successful craft. 

My Thoughts

I like this book!  The sheer variety of crafts available and the ease of use make this book a keeper in my eyes.  Judy Ann Sadler did an excellent job of putting these crafts together, and Caroline Price’s illustrations brought it all very much to life.   The only thing I would have liked would have been to see actual photographs of the finished craft. 

Crafts that I want to do… button puppy!  It’s too cute!  Bead buddies intrigues me for a doll class I still want to teach.  The Pom-pom bear would just be fun to give a try to, brings back memories of games I used to play with my lad. 

Five Tips for Teaching Yourself Art

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I would love for you to welcome my neice to my blog today! WOOT WOOT! 🙂 Nicole writes over at Inkwyrm about book reviews and writing. I think she does a fantastic job at both. Anyways, she’s looking at selling some of her art work (as a gal’s gotta make a living right?) and I thought, how nice it would be if I could support her efforts! To that end…. Here’s Nicole.

Hello everyone! My name is Nicole K., and Annette asked me to be a guest blogger for today’s post to talk a bit about what I do, so here I am!

I am an artist and writer in Alberta, Canada, and I’ve been doing art all my life. Starting around eight, I began to take my art more seriously. Ever since then I’ve been doing it steadily. I currently do a range of art styles, with my background mostly being pencil and leaning toward realism. My usual is style based off of anime and manga, mostly using ink and alcohol-based markers, with a few other mediums thrown in.

Aside from a stint of lessons when in elementary school (a short stint), and the public school art classes, I am an entirely self-taught artist. Every art skill I have because I sought out the information myself, whether it be through people I knew who were better artists than me, looking up tips online, or through stubborn experimentation.

Today I want to talk about that, and give five tips on teaching yourself art.

Tip #1: The internet is your best friend

You can find just about anything on the internet, and art tips and skills are no exception. Using the powers of google and YouTube have saved me MANY times as I’ve struggled through a piece, from looking for references to looking for ways to keep watercolour paper from wrinkling. Not sure about how to use an art supply? Look it up. Want to know how to do a different type of texture? Look it up.

The internet is your best friend, and there’s no shame in using it.

Tip #2: IT’S OK TO COPY

Speaking of the internet, references are one of the BEST things you could ever use. I’ve heard from people time and again ‘I’m not an artist, I can only copy’, but I say NO to that. Where copying someone’s art and calling it your own is one of the worst things an artist can do, it’s perfectly fine to copy a piece for practice. During my high school years, where I developed most of my current style, all my time was spent copying other people’s work. It’s how I learned proportion, expressions, body language, linework, and SO MANY other things that I apply to every piece I do now.

Don’t know what something looks like? Find a reference online and draw it. Then draw it again from a different reference. The more you copy, the more you understand what you’re drawing, and the better you can do when trying to draw it from memory.

Tip #3: Mistakes are OK

Make mistakes. If you’re not making mistakes, it means you aren’t learning. Mess up, see what went wrong, and use that knowledge for future improvement. Try new things, and don’t be afraid of messing it up. That’s what sketchbooks and scrap papers are for.

Tip #4: Learn to take advice

Understanding that there is always something that can be improved upon is a huge part of learning. You don’t have to follow every piece of advice you get, and you don’t have to listen to every criticism you get. Be willing to listen if somebody points out an issue with your art. Having a critical eye for your own work can be hard when it’s a picture you’re really proud of. Remember that most people who give honest advice aren’t out to get you, they just want to give you a hand and help you improve.

Again, you don’t have to follow all advice you get, and some advice won’t be good, but hear them out anyway. You never know what you might learn.

Tip #5: NEVER tell yourself that you will never be good enough or have no ability.

A couple years ago, I taught an art class at a kid’s summer camp that my church held, and this was the first thing I told my students.

There are few things I hate hearing more than “I’ll never be that good”, or “I’ll never be able to do it”, or “my art sucks and I hate it.”

Guess what? ALL ARTISTS HAVE FELT THAT WAY BEFORE.

Your favourite artist? They’ve felt that. The most successful artists? They’ve felt that.

ALL OF THEM HAVE FELT LIKE THEY CAN’T DO IT.

But you know what they did? They refused to give up. They looked at their art, and instead of saying “I’ll never be able to do it”, they said “I can’t do it yet, but someday I will”.

DON’T. GIVE. UP.

Getting down on your art does nothing. We all have good days and bad days for art, but what matters is getting past the bad days and pushing onward, moving forward even when it’s hard. If you have to, leave a piece for a while and come back with fresh eyes. Relax. Art is supposed to be fun, so have fun with it and stay positive. We’re all in this together.

In Closing

If you are trying to teach yourself art I hope these five tips gave you ideas or a hand up. If you like what you’ve read and seen here, you can find me on my instagram where I post most of my art (@inkwyrm), my facebook page Inkwyrm Art, or check out my own blog Inkwyrm, where I post book reviews and talk about writing.

Thanks Annette for having me as a guest! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Me adding this information.  My neice is selling Commission pieces of art.  She’s not selling stuff she’s already done (it’s too dear to her heart) BUT if you have something you’d like her to do (like dragons! or your favourite game character or whatever).. give her a shout via her facebook account  or her Instagram (above) and she’ll be happy to work with you.

The pricing is $50 for an original and custom 5×7 piece, of any character you like. This includes drawings of yourself or loved ones. Larger pictures and more characters are available at a higher price.