How do you draw using a chopstick? {heART Studio review}

Sea creatures have always fascinated Angel to a great extent. She loves to read books on them, loves to watch videos of them and a visit to the aquarium never fails to light her face up.

So, when she was told that she could choose a sea creature to work on in her second art project at heART Studio, she was absolutely thrilled.

Theme #2 - Underwater

From a selection of shark, jellyfish, dolphin, turtle and squid, my girl chose the one marine animal that is striking, colourful and usually a stunner in photographs - Yes, the jellyfish.


In her first class, she learnt to spell the name of and draw the animal. With the help of Teacher Syafiq and his drawings to guide her step by step, she came up with her first ever jellyfish.

From the stomach pouch, bell to tentacles and oral arms, she drew them gradually using arcs, straight lines, curved lines and zigzag lines. After that, she also learnt to draw simple corals and added some circles for the bubbles.

For this project, students were tasked to use oil pastels and were taught on how to distinguish between dark and light colours.

We learnt an important art technique called etching - which means carving into a surface in this case. To start off, using light oil pastel colours, Angel filled up a piece of white paper. Next, using black paint which had a little detergent mixed into it, she painted a layer of it over the paper, making sure to conceal all the colours.

After that, she started to 'draw' using nothing else but a chopstick and we saw the magic appear before our eyes! I had to admit that even I myself was fascinated by how it turned out. The more strength you used in pressing down the stick, the more vibrant your colours would be.

In her second class, it was time to start on her final etching artwork - which was 20" by 15" in size! On a piece of brown paper, she was free to draw lines on it and create her own 'pockets'.

Then came the time-consuming part. She had to pick out light colours, alternate them and fill up all the pockets she drew using the oil pastels. Which, by the way, she drew many pockets because her lines intersected closely to each other.

This could probably take up to an hour, depending on how meticulous you are in colouring. So, while the kids did the first half of it, Teacher Syafiq helped to accelerate things a little and finished up the second half so that they were all set for their third and final lesson.

Yes, it was time to etch! Since the artwork was pretty huge, Angel was able to draw not one, but two huge jellyfishes. Although she still needed guidance here and there, the first class had been very helpful in letting her have a general idea of how to go about drawing her jellyfish.

Next, she added in some beautiful corals, seaweeds and bubbles for their home. Personally, I feel that art and craft is a very good way to train up my girl's patience level, concentration skills and attention span. She tends to be one who is very easily distracted by her peers and surroundings, making it nearly impossible to complete a five-min task on her own. Her perceptive art teacher had noticed this too and would pay extra attention to help her get back on track whenever her mind seemed to wander off.  

And ta-dah, it was done! This was her final artwork! How do you think her underwater piece looked?

She was definitely happy and proud of it. So am I because guess what, much as I tried, I still can't draw a jellyfish as beautiful as hers.

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heART Studio believes in providing quality Arts education for all their students to gain mastery in making art, to nurture their creative potential and to cultivate a community of artists and art lovers of all ages. Its class programmes include age appropriate activities uniquely designed to engage and inspire young artists, aged 3-12, to cultivate their creativity and learn technical art skills. For more information, visit www.heartstudiosg.com.

Disclosure: This is part of a series of reviews between heART Studio and A Happy Mum. Angel attended complimentary art lessons for the purpose of writing this review. No monetary compensation was received and all opinions are my own.