(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way).
Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses by Beyond the Stick Figure Art School is an online drawing class. But it is so much more!
In addition to drawing, your budding artist will learn and practice pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic, and 3D.
Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus courses is appropriate for your first time art student as well as your seasoned artsy student. For example, my son, who loves art, is experienced in some aspects. However, he did not mind at all going through the basics all the way from the introduction of shapes.
Sally, the artist and teacher gives you a materials list that is very specific because she wants to make sure that your student purchases high quality art materials from the start. This is one of the things you learn as an experienced artist. The quality of materials you use can make a HUGE difference in the experience.
Beyond the Stick Figure Art School is basic and non-intimidating.
The drawing course starts out very basic, from the beginning. However, even if your budding artist has experience with lines, shapes, colors, and the color wheel, it’s still a really good review.
The drawing portion of the course is extensive and complete.
For instance, part one covers 17 topics, part 2 covers 133 topics, and part 3 covers 5 topics.
What I think is a really good thing about the course, especially from my son's perspective, is that Sally shows the work and her two hands and you’re looking down at the paper almost as if you were the one drawing and she shows you exactly what to do and my son doesn’t like looking at peoples faces so this is a really good thing because whenever there’s a face in a video it always distracts him and so he actually is enjoying this course immensely and it even seems to calm him down as he’s following along.
The following four pictures show my son’s circle, dot, wavy line, and straight line projects. Sally encourages the students to do several of them. However, my son only wanted to do one. This was fine for us because he has actually learned some of the concepts. While he was working on them I sense that it was having a calming effect on him.
And the videos are pretty much five minutes or less so broken down into small chunks. This is perfect if you or your child have a short attention span.
The course is currently set up so that you have to go in order. 6/29/2020 UPDATE – This has been fixed so that you DON'T have to go in order! Yay!!! 😁
However, nothing says that you can’t skip through all the lessons.
For example, simply mark as complete the lessons you want to skip over, and then return to them later. Of course, this requires a bit of work to make sure you start in the right place when you back. However, I didn't think it was a big deal.
Especially since with the Covid-19 thing going on. We're not able to run to the craft store and buy what we need. For example, last week I went through all of the drawing lessons so that I could get to the pen and ink lessons. By doing this, was able to determine which materials my son would need, make printer copies, and such. I needed to have for those lessons and sure enough I can get them through Amazon but obviously I had to wait for them to be delivered one of them may not come here for a week.
Bonus #1 Pen and Ink Techniques Course and Complete Watercolor Course
We’ve been working through the “Pen and Ink” lessons this week and last. Learning how to transfer an image from paper to another page and pen strokes.
Here is what Nathan did on Friday using an ultra-fine Sharpie.
Bonus #2 – Acrylic will give your student even more experience with individual art media. There's nothing like hands-on experience to help differentiate between different types of paint. The hands-on experience your budding artist receives here will help them better determine which type of paint is better to use depending on the goals.
Bonus #3 – 3D art is a completely different form of art and includes clay, paper, and other types of sculpture. This bonus course provides 30 days of design in 3D instruction.
Bottom line for us is that my son is really enjoying the courses. And, in my opinion, they are really well done. Since the courses are fairly new, and they have recently transferred to a new forum, they are still working out a few things. However, rest assured, if you find something missing or you’re having technical difficulties, they have really good customer service. They will help you with any questions or concerns you have.
Don’t forget to check out Beyond the Stick Complete Drawing Course Plus Three Bonus Courses from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School by clicking here.
And don’t forget to check out the other reviews from the homeschool review crew by clicking the image below.
Thank you for the review. We love to make our students happy, so here are some tweaks we have made based on recent reviews:
1. All course videos are open and do not require sequential completion–although we still recommend it.
2. We contacted Vimeo and they have improved the video experience by installing volume control and full screen options on all videos.
3. We added more options to drawing part 2 to help it move along more quickly for younger students.
Hi Sally, thanks for the update.