Drawing is both an activity and an outcome. The act of drawing is more than a vehicle for relaxation, and more than a technical skill…

The first thing we need to do as a teacher or facilitator might not be to “teach” skills, but instead to expand what drawing is and can be. Drawing is an exciting, dynamic subject, and it embraces lots of different skills, activities, intentions and outcomes.

So, your first task as an educator, is to open your OWN mind as to what drawing might be, and in doing so develop your own relationship to drawing. Visit, research, read, watch, and take part – what is drawing to you?

And then remember; every pupil will have their own experience of drawing, their own preferences, their own likes, dislikes. All valid. And your job is to feed that experience.

Then, when you begin to plan WHAT to teach and HOW to teach it, keep that “openness of experience” in mind. Make sure you don’t inadvertently close down what drawing is, and in doing so exclude or alienate some pupils. Just concentrating on technical skills like shading is an example of closing down the pupil’s experience of drawing, and in doing so you will lose some children along the way.

So, the answer to “What is Drawing?”

Drawing is an exploration of marks on a surface, made by a person, with different intentions. Don’t be fearful of drawing – instead enjoy and embrace drawing in all its creative glory.

This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.

AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.

What We Like About This Resource….

“The life of Madge Gill that Sophie Dutton recounts here gives us real insight into the challenges that Madge Gill experienced, and how these challenges would have been common among women at the time. When we study the work of Artists, it adds a rich context to our experience of their work to consider their personal history, and helps us ask questions like ‘why do you think the Artist painted in this way or was inspired by this subject matter?’ If you introduce your class to Madge Gill, begin with looking back over her younger life to try and better understand her motivations as an Artist” – Rachel, AccessArt

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What We Like About This Resource….

“This project provides a real opportunity for children to engage with a range of different processes to produce truly individual final results. Jan Miller is an experienced teacher and connects her projects well with learning outcomes. In this case, children are encouraged to have a loose approach and to make their own creative decisions – which is such a valuable part of any child (or adults!) creative education”. – Rachel, AccessArt

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What We Like About This Resource…

“We’re really grateful to Jake from Draw Brighton for sharing this activity which became so well received during lockdown 2020. 

This is the perfect reminder that wherever we are in the digital or physical world, we have our eyes, hands and faces, and drawing provides a wonderful opportunity to come together in small groups to make sketches of each other. Use this activity as an ice breaker before a workshop, or as a transition activity between classes or events. Thank you Jake!” Paula, AccessArt

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