Review: ARTistic Pursuits Inc.

 

We've reviewed for ARTistic Pursuits Inc. before, and it was a great success, and so we jumped at the chance to review for them again. This time, I was reviewing Art in America, K-3 Vol. 8.  This was a part of an entire volume: K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8.

(You can read my past review by clicking here.)

The book I reviewed (which came with attached DVD & Blue-ray disks) is just one of many products available from ARTistic Pursuits Inc. You can see, from the screen shot I included below, that there are a ton of other products available, and this was just one of many:

The book I reviewed is designed for children in grade 3 or above who want more instruction on how to draw using pencils and colored pencils. It focuses on pencil drawing instruction using graphite and colored pencils. I used this product with six children:

• Gabe (age 13 -- 7th grade)
• Ana (age 12 -- 6th grade)
• Isaac (age 10 -- 4th grade)
• Kari (age 10 -- 4th grade)
• Sidge (age 10 -- 4th grade)
• Abigail (age 7 -- 1st grade)

Art in America, K-3 Vol. 8. presents a practical guide to the ways of drawing, especially suited to the eight to ten-year-old who wants to learn to draw better. Children learn:

• What to look for
• How to start
• How to proceed

as they draw from direct observation of source materials that they can find in their own home. The book also includes drawing and painting by American artists (from the 18th-20th centuries) with a focus on Modern Art. 

You are able to purchase this product three different ways on the ARTistic Pursuits Inc. website.

• Book only
• Book & Supplies
• Supplies only
• 8 Book Set (Includes Volumes 1-8)

If you chose to just buy this particular book, your list of supplies is actually very short. Items needed would include:

• Colored pencils
• Pencils
• Eraser
• Pencil sharpener
• Drawing paper
• Ruler
• Compass
• Construction paper

There were 7 videos to watch. Those included:

• #1 Drawing is Moving (Lessons 1-2)
• #2 Drawing a Good Line (Lessons 3-4)
• #3 Identifying Light and Dark (Lessons 5-6)
• #4 Colored Pencils (Lessons 7-12)
• #5 Layered Colors (Lessons 13-15)
• #6 Ruler and Compass (Lessons 16-18)

We worked through many of the lessons during our homeschool days here, but I wanted to share just two lessons.

One we really enjoyed was Lesson #9.

After being introduced in the book to John James Audubon and viewing his painting Hairy Woodpecker and answering a few questions about it, the kids had the opportunity to choose their own picture of a bird, and were taught some techniques for using colored pencils (video #4). Here are some of our final projects and projects in process:

A work in process by Abigail (age 7)

Isaac (age 10) working on his bird

This picture shows Abigail and Isaac both working on their birds

Gabe (age 13) working on his bird

Abigail (Age 7) finished picture with Puffins.

Ana (age 12) with a work in progress and one that is finished.

Another picture by Ana (age 12)

Gabe (age 13) finished picture

Isaac (age 10) finished picture (I gave him a hard time about his "Brid")

Kari (age 10) with a finished picture and one she was working on.

Ana (age 12) during her work on one of her pictures.

On a different day, we did Lesson #7 where we learned how to use our colored pencils to draw things from a model. We decided to use fruit as our model. Here were some of the results of that adventure:

I think you can tell from the pictures included: this product was a hit in our house. Some of the reasons we loved it:

• Kids of many different ages could participate!
• The supply list was short!
• Both a DVD and a book helped make learning work for different kinds of learners!

This is an incredibly affordable product (under $40!) and is a fantastic addition to your family's school day. Art so often gets passed by, and we have really made a point to make it important this year for our children.

I want to encourage you to click on the link below to read more reviews by fellow crew members. Some reviewed the same product as me and some reviewed different ones.

And as always, you can contact me directly for more information.