You gotta have shapes!

   If you ain't got a shape, you ain't got a thang! Do wop, do wop, do wop, do wop.  Ok, we artists can take creative license in more ways than one. Whether it is great creativity of verbage or not... the shape IS the thing. I recently was teaching a charcoal class to all ages and when they saw me draw looking at my paper upside down and facing away from me they were surprised. How did I make it look right? Focusing on the shapes of a thing is what it takes. No matter how you look at it, you don't draw a house...you draw squares, rectangles and triangles, etc. Monet said it, I believe it.  Every student left happily with a wonderful and complete drawing.