Odel Zaden is a young student at Mission Renaissance taking basic drawing classes where he is learning the visual art fundamentals of line drawing, tone, use of color, and perspective.

His studies paid off as his adorable kitten drawing was awarded a Pentel Award at the 38th annual ICAE art competition.

We are proud of Odel and his accomplishment and look forward to the works of art he produces as he continues his art studies with us!

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You may wonder why we have so many winners that have created their art work in pastel charcoal sticks.

The answer is really quite easy. After teaching children how to draw for over 30 years, and we are literally talking 10s of thousands of children, we know what works and what does not.

Having a child learn the basics of visual art, such as perspective/dimension, use of color, tone, light and shadow, etc., is much more effective in the easier medium of drawing than it is in painting.

This sets up the child to win and create beautiful works of art much more quickly. The student does not get frustrated and of course this helps him/her continue in their studies.

We use the color charcoal sticks simply because the are easy to use and the children love the colors!

By the time are child student graduates all of our drawing courses and moves into paint they already understand all the tricky fundamentals of visual arts, so they are now properly prepared to focus on the more difficult medium of paint.