Beyond the Stick Figure ~ A Review

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.

Over the past weeks, my daughter and I have been enjoying the many art projects through Beyond the Stick Figure Art School . We had the opportunity to review Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses. The Drawing Courses are broken down into three parts. A final project at the end of the drawing sections combines drawing down to create the final work of art. The next section is Pen & Ink. Students will not only draw with pen, but they will then use paint to finish one of their projects. The third section is Watercolor. My daughter and I had so much fun working with watercolor paints. We were unable to do some of the watercolor projects due to the use of a LATEX product in two of the projects. We did not get to the last two sections, Acrylics and 3D design. Beyond the Sticks works in a cumulative model, so that you are not able to move onto further parts of the program until you complete sections laid out in the course. 

On the website there is a tab entitled, Materials, where you can find all of the necessary art supplies needed for the courses. Beyond the Sticks is designed for students ages 5-95. This course can be enjoyed by the entire family. Both my daughter and I greatly enjoyed the time we spent together creating art and the time we will continue to spend together as we continue to work through the rest of the curriculum . Lessons are very short. On average they are around 2-5 minutes in length. Often times my daughter and I completed multiple lessons in one sitting.

Drawings Part 1, 2, and 3

With Covid-19, and shelter in place keeping us inside, my daughter and I decided that 

we would work through this together. I have to say that I enjoyed Beyond the Sticks as 

much as she did. As we began with Drawing 1 we had so much fun. 

It was fun using our creative minds to come up with our own artistic works of art. 

Due to Covid-19 we did not have the Prismacolor® Markers. We had a HUGE 

bucket of markers that worked just as well and provided more colors,

which we liked. 

My 11-year-old daughter, hard at work on one of her projects. 

Sally had students section a normal piece of paper into fourths. She 

then had them use a ruler and section off the smaller piece of 

paper into 16 smaller sections. 

For a quite a few of the lessons you can print out a lesson copy for 

practice. One with dots and then one with lines. My daughter and I

never did this. 

The lessons are quite short. You are able to pause them if needed. 

After awhile doing 16 sections just got to be too much, so we 

started sectioning off the paper off into 6 sections. I will have to say
that at this point, my daughter and I felt like the drawings 
got kind of monotonous. We did not see a point to all of the 
"crazy" drawing or what Sally was trying to accomplish with all 
of these, in our opinion, ''nonsense drawings''. 

Then, after awhile, it turned to sectioning the paper into sections of 4's. 😂

After the first 58 lessons you will have created a picture using 16 of 
the shape drawings from above. I do not want to say what the final 

project is and ruin it. That is why I have purposefully 

shaded out the name of the final project below. 

It is really neat to see how 16 of the above shapes 

come together to create a picture. 

Of course, I now see why Sally had us drawing all of the crazy pieces

of art. Eventually they would all come together to make something fun. 

My daughter and I do think that it was a bit excessive to have the

students draw and then color 16 of the drawings in each lesson. 

It was just too much!! We felt like we were never going to complete 

the drawing section. 

 Pen and Ink!

My daughter and I were so very ready to be done with drawing
and get onto something else!! 

We had so much fun listening about what we were going to do. 

We printed out a tree template from the lesson.

We then took a piece of tracing paper and used masking tape to 

affix it to the template. 

Secondly, we used a fine tip Sharpie to trace the pattern. 

Here is the final pattern traced. 

Next, we turned the tracing paper over and used a pencil and traced the

pattern with pencil. 

After this, we turned the pattern back over and affixed the pattern to a piece of watercolor 

paper. We then used the end of a paint brush and gently rubbed over the pattern.

This transferred the pencil pattern onto the watercolor paper. 

Here is the transfer. 

Here is a screenshot of Sally showing us how to make 
cross hatching on the trees. 

Here is our attempts at making the cross hatching. 

Next, we were to add leaves, grass, and water to finish the picture. 

Last, came the painting.  Gulp. 

My daughter was ready for the CHALLENGE.

Sally walked us through how to use the colors to get the perfect 

colors and balance.

Here is my daughter's completed picture. 

Here is my completed picture. 

My daughter and I were shocked at how well our tree landscapes turned out.

We truly felt like true artists. We were so proud of our final works. We 

went around the house showing everyone!

Watercolor Part 1

Here is my daughter's completed watercolor scene. 

Here is my completed watercolor scene. 

Oh my goodness!!! This project was so fun! My daughter and

I thought that there was no way that we would be able to 

do this. Well, as you can see, we did it! We were so proud of our final

projects! We felt like true artists. It made us want to do more. 

Watercolor Part 2

Warning ~ One of the products used in this 

lesson uses a LATEX based product! 
Both my daughter and I have a severe 
LATEX allergy so we had to skip through this
project. Always check new and 
unfamiliar products and their
base ingredients. 

We were so sad when we realized that we would be unable to 

do the next to projects. I am just grateful that we realized before

we purchased the product online that it contained LATEX. 

Watercolor Part 3

Warning ~ Again, this project uses

Masking Fluid which contains LATEX!

The website keeps track of your progress. So far we have completed 

69% of the curriculum. We only have Acrylic and 3D to go! 

We had wanted to get into the Acrylic lessons before this review was

due but again Covid-19 got in the way. We looked online and the soonest

the canvases could have gotten to use were the end of this week. 

We are excited to begin Acrylic!

Even though my daughter and I did not get to the Acrylic lessons,

here is an example from the website. 

Here is an example of the 3D design from the website. 

My daughter and I cannot wait to get into the Acrylic and 3D design

sections. 

Be sure to check out what my fellow Homeschool Review Crew Members had to say about 

Beyond the Stick Figure. This art program is definitely one that I would recommend to friends and educators. This would be a great summer art curriculum for your student. Check out the website too for some short videos about the curriculum. 

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