TOS REVIEW: Artistic Pursuits (Senior High Book 1)

My daughter likes to draw. No, scratch that- she loves to draw. But what she seems to draw most is anime (not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with that) and generally doesn’t like to branch out to other things (it’s one of those we-are-our-own-worst-critic type things).

Enter Artistic Pursuits. We are always excited when we see a new drawing/art book in our house I will be honest and say that Lee wasn’t as excited as I was when she discovered it was not Book 2, which deals with color. Personally, I think she has color down well, and some basics she doesn’t. I thought this was a good fit for our family.

We received Senior High Book 1, Elements of Art and Composition (for grades 9-12). What the title doesn’t tell is that this book also goes through quite a bit of art history.

   

This first half of the book focuses on space, line, texture, shape, form, value, contrast and unity. The second half of the book looks at composition: balance, rhythm, depth by overlapping, depth by position, one and two point perspective, atmospheric perspective, proportion and the face, proportion and the figure, and clothing the figure. Each unit (and there are 16 units) includes Visual Vocabulary, Art Appreciation and Art History, Techniques, and Application.

They do have a suggested schedule of two classes a week that are about 1 hour long for 32 weeks. Thankfully, they also say that it is flexible. A point they make is that this an independent study (and it truly is) so the time that is scheduled is the student’s not the parent/teacher’s. I’m not sure there are any suggested schedules that our family follows exactly- this one isn’t any different. I’ve let this be a totally student-directed subject. She decides when and for how long she does the class. Some assignments take less than one hour and others…well, she can really get into drawing!

At the end of the book is an evaluation sheet to help when grading art work. I do not ‘grade’ art work but did have a look at the sheet when looking at dd’s work. It is very simple: completed the work, obtained objectives= 25 pts; completed the work, obtained some objectives= 20 pts; completed assignment, did not obtain objectives= 15 pt. It is repeated thus for understanding of concepts, understanding and use of materials/techniques and for following instructions on the Application project in each unit. Unless they do not do the work, they cannot fail.

I like that- unless they do nothing, they’ve not failed, even if there is room for improvement (isn’t there always?).

To complete the assignments in the book, additional items will need to be purchased:

First half of book:

• 2- 2H drawing pencil
• 2- HB drawing pencil
• 2- 4B, 5B, or 6B drawing pencil
• 1- vinyl eraser
• 1- metal handheld sharpener
• 1- drawing pad

Second half of book:

• 6 to 12- sticks of charcoal
• 1- jumbo stick vine charcoal
• 1- package of compressed charcoal
• 2- charcoal paper pads
• 1- blending stump
• 1- kneaded eraser

The art supplies can also be purchased (in a pack) through Artistic Pursuits. They’ve made it easy to gather all the necessary items you’ll need. It’s like your one stop art instruction shop

some additional supplies that are recommended in the book:

• drawing board
• hairspray
• cotton ball or cloth
• ruler
• exacto knife or cutting tool
• 12” x 12” cardboard box

We’ve not progressed far enough to use the second list of supplies but we had everything from the initial list already in our house.

Lee’s AP work VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

What did I like about this program?

One thing that I enjoyed were the student submissions throughout the book as opposed to having only famous artists’ works or even the author’s work. This gives the student more confidence that if others can do it, so can they. Also the inclusion of many assignments (well, three or four in a unit) helps the skill to grow. And I like the varied art presented to help the student visualize the concept. The book is spiral bound with bright heavy weight paper. The images are good quality.

What did my 15 yo dd think of this program?

It’s good. You learn some art history as you go through the lessons. One thing that is both good and bad is that they do not give you step by step instructions on the assignments. You end up developing your own style as you go. (in her own words- emphasis mine)

What I would like to see included-

Well, actually there isn’t anything in the program itself that I would suggest as a change that would be an improvement.

Other points that I’m mentioning:

Printing on both sides of the paper in the book would be a good idea. This book isn’t terribly expensive (at $42.95) and it is a good program but by printing on both sides of the page, it could cut down the cost even more. It would also be slightly slimmer- if that matters to some with space issues. The book has 88 pages. I don’t know if they single sided printing is so that the student can draw on or take notes on the blank page. I didn’t see any reference to it when I was reading through the book. Perhaps it was to preserve the quality of the images printed (sometimes double sided printing warps the page, sometimes messing with the images?). And just because I’m picky about how my books smell (actually I have ‘allergies’ to different scents)- this book smells so …strange… that it gives me a major headache. I’m sure it’s the ink they use in printing. My daughter doesn’t seem to mind, however, which is great since it is her book.

Bottomline:

Good program and worth the cost. I would definitely recommend this to others.

Artistic Pursuits offers art instruction for Preschool through High School (and I see no reason that it could not be utilized by adults that have never had art instruction).

Have a look at what others have to say about products from Artistic Pursuits at the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the above book from Artistic Pursuits via the TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for an honest review. I was not given any other compensation and all opinions are my own, or those of my family members. See Disclosure/Policies.***