Drawing for tweens: how to keep 10 to 12-year-olds drawing

Tweens keep drawing when the activity feels grown-up, gives impressive results and fits their interests. Grid drawing, character design, comics and a private sketchbook all work well for 10 to 12-year-olds. What doesn’t work is pushing, grading or anything that feels babyish.

Why tweens stop drawing

Around 10 to 12, kids enter what art educators call the stage of “dawning realism.” They want drawings to look real, they compare their work with older artists online, and they become very self-critical. Many decide they are “not artistic” and quit. They aren’t missing talent. They are missing methods to get from the picture in their head to the paper.

What helps

Give them methods, not just encouragement

• Grid drawing teaches proportion and close looking, the two skills behind realistic drawing. See what is grid drawing?
• Light sketching lets them plan and fix before committing.
• Cartooning shows that stylized art is a real art form, not a lesser one.

Let them choose the subject

Tweens care about their taste. Horror, gross-out humor, anime-style characters, sneakers, video games: all of it is drawing practice. Strange subjects like mutant animals and weird creatures often hook kids who are “too old” for cute animals.

Make it private

A sketchbook that nobody grades or checks can be the place a tween feels free to try. Don’t flip through it without asking. See sketchbook ideas.

Give it a purpose

• Design a character and its backstory. See character design for kids.
• Make a comic to share with friends. See making a comic.
• Draw a gift for someone. See turning drawings into gifts.
• Create sticker or T-shirt designs.

10 drawing ideas tweens actually like

1. A creature that’s half animal, half machine.
2. A villain and a hero for the same story.
3. A grid copy of a favorite character.
4. A shoe or skateboard design.
5. A monster version of a family member (with permission).
6. A comic strip about school.
7. A map of an invented world.
8. Hand-drawn lettering of their name.
9. Twenty tiny doodles in twenty boxes.
10. A redraw of something they drew at age 7.

What parents can do

• Ask about their art instead of praising it. Try these questions to ask kids about their art.
• Provide better supplies when they ask: sketch pencils, fineliners, markers. See art supplies by age.
• Don’t compare them with siblings or friends.
• Show that adults draw too. Doodle next to them.

The right books

Draw by Grid books work well for tweens because the results look impressive and the method is a real artist’s technique (see grid drawing through history). For tweens who like stories, How to Draw books with cyborgs and aliens are a quick way to build a cast for comics.

The book that helps

Weird Creatures and Mutant Animals are strange, funny and a little gross, which suits tweens. Drawing them by grid gives results that look properly impressive.

Draw by Grid: Weird CreaturesSee it on Amazon

Draw by Grid: Mutant AnimalsSee it on Amazon

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