If you’re looking for a unique art lesson for your students, then you’ll want to try this spin on drawing fairytale characters. Students are typically shown and told to draw characters from the front, but what if you challenged them to draw them from the back? You’ll have a whole new creative assignment on your hands!

Benefits of Drawing Fairytale Characters

By elementary school age, most children have seen their fair share of fairytale movies or have at least had the stories read to them. These are considered essential stories for childhood-aged children, and rightfully so. They have a way of portraying moral lessons through the characters often depicted in the stories.

They are captivating, spark imagination, and enhance creativity skills. All the more reason for using them as a fun, yet valuable art lesson. In addition to these perks, the way in which most fairytale characters are drawn are usually in unique ways that often bring certain physical attributes into focus. 

Some characters use bigger eyes with smaller noses and lips, while some use larger head shapes with narrow bodies. It is within features like these that children can be taught a variety of ways to draw.

How to Use Fairytale Characters as an Art Activity

Every 2nd-grade class I taught studied a different fairytale. I took the opportunity to help my students see drawing outside the box when I told them that we would be drawing the characters from the back instead of the front. 

They had to practice on scrap paper quite a bit before they drew their actual artwork because they had to focus on proportion and details. Things look much different from the back than they do the front, and although it seemed like less to draw, there were still just as many details (if not more).

To complete the activity they needed:

• Drawing paper

• Pencil

• Paintbrush

• Watercolors (pearlescent and watercolor cakes)

After practicing their drawing, they drew their final draft on the drawing paper. They used pearlescent and watercolor cakes to add color and added salt on top of the watercolor to create the texture. 

Conclusion

The students were happy with their finished products, as was I! This is a great art activity to do with your students and a fun way to include a little fairytale learning in your lesson. Have you ever used fairytales as an art lesson? I’d like to know how so let me know in the comments below!