December 5, 2024

Observational Drawing or Copying Drawings?

This week I thought of featuring some of the drawings of my son. He is going to be 10 years old this year. Below are some of his drawings. There is special about these drawings. He shows his drawing skills when he looks at some object or another drawing.

Is this called ‘copying a drawing‘?

I have this doubt in mind. Is it good for him to draw such pictures by looking at another artwork or photo or even an object?

Observational drawing

He started showing this skill or attitude when he was a preschooler. Those days he looked at his toys and drew those. I was surprised because the drawing is almost similar to the toy he referred and I understood he has some skills.

Sometimes, he spends time following YouTube videos that teach him on drawing popular cartoon characters and similar drawings. He follows the steps until he completes his drawing.

But, when it comes to creative drawing, he is a little lazy. 🙂

Observational drawing

The below drawing of a smoothie is for T Tuesday this week. But it is a funny fruit smoothie as per my son 🙂

Observational drawing

Sometimes he likes to surprise me with drawings such as below.

Observational drawing
When it is closed
Observational drawing
When the drawing is opened.
Observational drawing
When it is closed
When the drawing is opened.
When it is closed
When the drawing is opened.

I experienced some benefits of such drawings for him. This is a good activity for him when he is bored. He spends his screen time watching how to draw a character. He improves his concentration by carefully drawing these which I believe is good for his attention span.

When it is closed
When the drawing is opened.

Now I want your advice. Is it good for children to draw by looking at other drawings? Or characters?

Or, do they only want to be creative with their artwork?

Anyway, recently I asked him to add his imagination and creativity to such drawings too to make them more beautiful! 🙂

**Check the link parties that I like to join.

Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi

Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi is the founder of this blog. She shares her parenting and lifestyle experiences of raising a child in Singapore.

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10 thoughts on “Observational Drawing or Copying Drawings?

  1. I think it is awesome he loves to learn and create art-thinking as he gets older he will be inspired to create his own without a reference.
    loved the drink he drew-fun.
    Happy T Kathy

  2. He is very good. I look at others artwork, that is how I learn. I am no expert, but it seems it would be okay. Happy T Day.

  3. Your son has a lot of talent. It’s fine copying other drawings or objects to learn how to draw them, and he is really good for his age. Enjoy your funy frozen smoothy! Happy T Day, Valerie

  4. These are such fun drawings Amila. It’s not a bad thing to learn to draw by copying. Even famous artists did/do that, even after years of drawing or painting. If you want to a draw a scene, you are copying that scene from a photo or from sitting at the place. It’s a great way to get details of a situation. At 10, the fact that he is drawing someone else’s creation is really a good thing because he is learning to draw. And he is very good at that. Have a wonderful T day and week ahead. Hugs-Erika

  5. All of the great painters learned to paint by copying masters like Michelangelo, Raphael, etc. There is learning in copying. He might grasp concepts quicker such as perspective, light and shadow, color by copying instead of reading about it in a book or watching a video. You will have to remind him that copying the artwork is ok to learn, but he cannot pass the artwork off as his own. His smoothie drawing is very fun and the folded paper drawings are quite imaginative. Happy T Day

  6. I think he has real talent and he learns a lot by copying other drawings. It’s what many artists do and did, including the very famous ones. We tend to worry too much about what our kids are doing might be “wrong”, but I think this worry is really one we don’t need to have. With time he will develop his own creativity and find his own way and style. This is his current way of exploring and it’s a good one.

  7. In case you didn’t see today’s post, there was a power outage in my neighborhood and I was without power for nearly 24 hours, which is why I’m late visiting.

    Your son is very talented. The drawings from toys, animals, etc. come from a different skill set than those he imagines. He is already quite clever, and PLEASE, Amila, don’t discourage him in either skill set. As he matures, he will determine where he wants to go with his art. He will either continue drawing or decide on another career path. Regardless, either way, he needs to determine that for himself with only encouragement, while not forcing him into a corner he hasn’t chosen.

    I think his drink reference is quite cute and clever. He certainly has a mind of his own. Thanks for sharing his incredible art and drink with us for T this Tuesday.

  8. I lOVE your sons’ drawings. I think that it is great that he is looking at others work to get inspiration. Eventually he will branch out on his own. I still struggle with finding my own inspiration and I think it just takes time, practice and the right inspiration. I recently got a book from the library that he would like…it has the same kind of drawings that fold out. And they are unusual and all from the artist’s head. The books are “Imagine” and “The Land Of Neverbelieve” by Norman Messenger. Check them out if you can.
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate Yetter

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