Drawing with Hand, Head, and Heart: A Natural Approach to Learning the Art of Drawing

"What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?"
―Rollo May, existential psychologist and author of Love and Will

Drawing with Hand, Head, and Heart is a comprehensive and practical guide to the art of drawing and to the process of visual thinking that is part of our full human intelligence. More than 500 illustrated exercises and examples―collected and developed over many years of Waldorf classroom experience―show teachers, parents, and students how to learn to draw simply and naturally, as a child would learn to draw.

The introduction examines contemporary research on brain development and its relationship to learning, showing how the process of picture making contributes to the development of visual thinking. An overview follows about how children learn to draw and how their visual intelligence can be engaged through age-appropriate drawing exercises. Many useful examples of form drawing, portraiture, and geometric and perspective drawing illustrate the art and science of drawing for students of all ages and ability levels.

Van James also provides samples of inspiring blackboard drawings and main lesson book pages for teachers and students and includes an informative appendix on therapeutic drawing, a bibliography of resources, and an index. Includes 576 color and black and white illustrations.

Drawing with Hand, Head, and Heart provides an invaluable resource for teachers, parents, and visual artists.


“Van James helps us to understand visual art by enabling us to enter into the world of form and color as such, not simply as the media to depict representational reality...he guides us into developing new ways of seeing.” ―Hans-Joachim Mattke, international Waldorf school consultant, author, actor, and stage director