What Is Drawing?

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.

Which Artists: The Life & Works of Madge Gill

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

Henry Moore’s Shelter Drawings

Knowledge Organisers for Art in Primary Schools

Raising the Profile of the Art Department

Talking Points: Faith Bebbington

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of sculptor, Faith Bebbington.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.

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We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.

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This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

ages 5-8
ages 9-11
ages 11-14
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Faith Bebbington

Faith Bebbington is a nationally renowned sculptor based in Liverpool. Faith has worked with a range of big name clients, from the Football Association to campaigning for endangered species. Faith is best known for her sustainable practise; her large sculptures utilise lots of waste materials, with her biggest sculpture to date re-using over 2500 deconstructed plastic milk bottles!

itv Reindeer For itv Creates reimagined Brand Identity by Faith Bebbington (Illuminated Plastic Milk Bottles)
Polar Bear In The Studio (Created With 3000 Plastic Milk Bottles) by Faith Bebbington
Recycled Plastic Bengal Tiger for Veolia Environment by Faith Bebbington

Find out more about Faith Bebbington’s process in this “Which Artists?” post.

Questions to Ask Children

What materials can you spot in the sculptures?

Why do you think that Faith has used recycled materials to make her sculptures?

How would you describe the sculptures?

Which sculpture is your favourite? Why?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Using Art To Explore Global Issue

This is featured in the ‘Using Art To Explore Global Issue’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

Be Inspired by Flowers in a Glass Vase by Jan Davidsz de Heem

Inspired! Making at Linton Heights Junior School

Talking Points: Hormazd Narielwalla

How might we re-imagine discarded items and give them a new purpose?

Hormazd Narielwalla is an Indian-born British artist. Repurposing discarded garment patterns in his work, he explores how previously unwanted materials and objects can be made into something new, and in turn change our relationship with things we might once have dismissed as no longer needed.

Watch the videos below and answer the questions to explore Narielwalla’s work further.

Please Note:

This page includes links and videos from external sites, verified at publication but subject to change.

Teachers should review all content for classroom suitability.

Report any issues, and check school firewall settings if videos don’t play.

ages 9-11
ages 11-14
ages 14-16
free to access