“Learn to Draw” by Ron Wheeler is not a typical class. But then again, it’s not for typical students. It’s for those students of all ages, elementary age through adult, who want to learn how to recognize and cultivate their God-given creative abilities (not just in cartooning), and somehow discover a way to use those talents with a sense of purpose.

For teachers and/or parents who want to be a catalyst in that growth, here are three ways to use this course.

Self-discovery:

This is for the special kid who was born with a pencil in one hand and a paintbrush in the other.

• Give that teenage kid this course and turn him/her loose, or sit next to the elementary age child one-on-one, and go through it together.

• Most true creative pursuits are a self-discovery process. In these videos Ron shares the secrets growing up of what he learned about cartooning (and himself) in his own self-discovery journey.

• (The Sketchbook Manual is a tool the student can draw in as a refresher to help reinforce the concepts learned.)

Pick-and-choose:

This is for teachers and home school parents, videos can be pulled out to augment what is already being taught. For example …

• Teaching a unit on creating comic strips? Use the “Creating Comic Strips” video to get you started.

• Want some fun games to make drawing time a fun time for your students? Watch “The Value of Drawing Games” and introduce these games into your classroom.

• Teaching the basics of how to draw characters in different positions? Follow Ron’s techniques in “How to Draw a Dancing Bear” as well as in all of his digital illustration videos.

• Want your students to know what it means to give their gifts totally to the Lord? Have your students watch “Ron’s Story” and “The Ministry Aspect of Cartooning.”

• (Use of the Sketchbook Manual here will be more effective if the material covered in the manual is already watched on video.)

Stand-alone course:

This can also be used in a classroom setting, but you will need to develop your own syllabus according to the length of time you have available and what you want to emphasize. Keep in mind …

• The material naturally builds upon itself. Start with the first video and work your way through.

• There is roughly seven hours of teaching over nearly three-dozen videos. Some last only a few minutes, and some are quite long.

• Sometimes you may be able to go through several videos in one sitting and other times you may want to take extra time on one facet and watch the same video more than once.

• For example, you may want to spend extra time developing clay models after watching the “Clay-Molding” and “Clay-Drawing” videos. Students can then learn how to draw their sculptures from various angles so they can more easily create a comic strip or a picture book around a single character.

• In other words, if there’s an interest, you can spend a dozen hours applying what Ron teaches in a dozen minutes.

• (The Sketchbook Manual can be printed and given to each student as a place to take notes and create further drawings based on the concepts learned.)

This course has the flexibility to be used in a way that allows you to place extra emphasis on areas where there is extra interest.