Sketch turned watercolor by a student

We have moved on from watercolors recently and were focusing almost entirely on pencils and were about to move over to charcoal as well to mix things up for the students. Every now and then a student will come in with something that we were working on months ago and it always makes me happy when this happens. While we never have homework and I wouldn't expect the students to actually do it if I were to assign it, I am delighted when someone in one of my classes uses their own spare time to utilize the methods that we have discussed in class.

this was the end result that a girl who is around 12 years old showed to me the other day.

I think that is really quite good especially when you consider that she got the shading from light and shadows done pretty good. This is normally something that is quite daunting for someone that is just starting out. She was honest with me and told me that she used a grid program to get the base outline of the end product and that is fine. I have been doing art for 30 years and I still use a grid program every now and then. It seriously eliminated a lot of errors that can kind of ruin a picture or at the least, turn it into something that wasn't intended, which is also fine!

So if you are an artist, or even just someone that thinks they might like to try to be one. Just get some paper and do something. I've pointed it out before but some quality paper, some watercolors, a felt-tip pen and some pencils can all be purchased for around $10 total.