How Do We Choose Art Exercises to Match a Participant’s Skill Level?
Updated: Sep 28
A well-chosen exercise should be neither too easy nor so difficult that the participant spends most of their time struggling with problems they are not yet able to solve independently. That is why, when learning drawing or painting, the subject of the work itself matters less than the skills it requires and what it is intended to teach.
When selecting art exercises to match a participant’s level, we focus primarily on the way they work. Two people may draw a similar still life yet need completely different guidance. One may observe proportions accurately but struggle with light and shadow. Another may handle a pencil confidently but draw objects based on their idea of what they look like rather than through careful observation. These differences are what determine the next exercises.
A Participant’s Level Is About More Than the Number of Works They Have Completed
The question “Am I a beginner?” comes up regularly during classes. The answer is not always obvious. Someone may have been drawing as a hobby for several years and still struggle with proportions and perspective. Another person may have started relatively recently but quickly understand three-dimensional form and analyse what they see effectively.
That is why we do not assess a participant’s level solely on the basis of experience. Observation skills, control of the medium, understanding of proportions, the ability to create a sense of space, light and shadow, and colour all matter. Independence is also important: can the participant recognise that something in their work is not functioning properly and identify the cause of the problem?
The first exercises therefore also serve a diagnostic purpose. The aim is not to assign a grade, but to identify the areas that should be addressed first.
Beginners Need Solid Foundations Above All
At the beginning, ambitious subjects can be especially tempting: a portrait, a realistic eye, a landscape, or complex architecture. The problem is that such works require many different elements to be controlled at the same time. If a participant is only beginning to learn how to judge proportions, adding perspective, texture, light and shadow, and details can make the learning process unnecessarily difficult.
That is why the first exercises usually limit the number of problems that need to be solved at once. Instead of trying to create an impressive finished work, the participant can focus on relationships between sizes, the direction of lines, simple three-dimensional forms, or differences between light and shadow.
This does not mean spending many weeks on monotonous technical exercises. A simple subject can be interesting when you understand exactly what you are trying to observe and learn from it.
Each Exercise Should Have a Clear Purpose
If we are working on proportions, the participant does not need to reproduce the texture of a material perfectly at the same time. In an exercise focused on light and shadow, understanding form may be more important than refining the contour. When learning to mix colours, observing colour relationships takes priority over meticulously finishing every detail of the painting.
Separating problems in this way makes it easier to understand why a particular work was successful or what needs improvement. It also allows the participant to receive more precise feedback.
What Changes Once the Basics Have Been Mastered?
As skills develop, exercises do not simply have to become “more difficult.” Instead, we gradually increase the number of relationships and elements that need to be controlled simultaneously.
Someone who can confidently judge basic proportions can move on to more complex arrangements. Once they understand three-dimensional form, greater attention can be given to light. When they can mix basic colours effectively, they can begin working with more subtle differences in colour temperature, saturation, and tonal value.
The instructor’s role changes as well. A beginner may sometimes need a specific error to be pointed out: “this angle is too wide” or “compare the widths of these two elements.” A more advanced participant can instead be asked a question that encourages independent analysis. The aim is to gradually reduce their dependence on the teacher’s corrections.
Why Don’t All Participants Approach the Same Exercise in the Same Way?
Even within a group of participants at a similar level, the differences can be significant. One person works quickly and needs exercises that teach patient observation. Another analyses each individual section for so long that they lose control of the composition as a whole. Someone else may understand structure well but press too hard with the pencil and struggle to create subtle tonal values.
The same exercise can therefore be modified without changing its main objective. We can limit the working time, change the format, reduce the number of elements, introduce a different tool, or ask the participant to produce several quick variations instead of one highly refined work.
This allows participants to continue working on the same general issue while adjusting the level of challenge to what each person currently needs.
Mistakes Help Determine Which Exercise Should Come Next
A mistake in a piece of work is not merely something that needs to be corrected. It also provides information about the participant’s way of thinking.
If proportions repeatedly become distorted in a similar way, simply correcting one drawing after another is unlikely to change much. An exercise involving comparisons of distances and angles may be necessary. If a still life looks flat despite having an accurate contour, it may be worth returning to simple three-dimensional forms and analysing how light behaves. If colours become random or muddy, limiting the palette and consciously mixing just a few colours may be more helpful than beginning another complicated painting.
An instructor should therefore not try to correct everything at once. It is more important to identify the mistake that is most limiting the participant’s further development.
What About Participants Preparing for Art School?
In this case, exercises may be selected somewhat differently than for someone learning purely as a hobby. The fundamentals are still necessary, but conscious composition, working within a specified format, analysing more demanding subjects, and making independent decisions become increasingly important.
However, this does not mean automatically moving on to difficult exercises. If an applicant struggles with structure or proportions, a more advanced subject will not solve the problem. Sometimes returning to a simpler exercise is precisely what helps eliminate a habit that has been visible in many previous works.
How Can We Tell When It Is Time to Move On to the Next Stage?
There is no need to wait for perfect execution. In art education, consistency is more important than a single successful piece.
If a participant begins to consciously control the issue they have been working on, can identify some of their own mistakes, and applies the principle they have learned to new exercises as well, the level of complexity can gradually be increased.
Progress does not always mean producing a more realistic drawing or a more impressive painting. Sometimes the most significant change is that a person begins comparing proportions before making a line, anticipates the effect of the next layer while painting, or can explain why a particular colour does not work with the others.
Well-Chosen Exercises Encourage Greater Independence
The goal of learning is not to create a collection of works completed correctly thanks to constant guidance from the instructor. It is far more important to develop a way of seeing and analysing one’s own work.
That is why, as participants progress, exercises should leave increasingly more room for their own decisions. At first, the instructions may define each stage of the process in detail. Later, the participant decides how to begin, what order to work in, which palette to use, or how to approach the composition, while the instructor’s feedback focuses primarily on the consequences of those choices.
Choosing the right level therefore does not mean avoiding difficulty. An exercise should present a problem that requires effort but can still be solved with the participant’s current skills and appropriate guidance. This is when an exercise stops being merely another drawing or painting and becomes a specific step in developing artistic skills.
