I find the “open-ended artist interpretation method” (yes, I made that name up) very effective in helping children and adults be more confident in their artistic process.
We are learning about Aphrodite this week in the after-school goddess class. We are using watercolors and my class sample is a face—she was MY interpretation of Aphrodite. Trying to draw or paint a face elicits a bone-deep anxiety for most of the girls. Many of them are afraid to even try.
If I took the approach of “We are all going to paint THIS face regardless of how you feel about it,” I would lose a lot of the girls. Their fear would keep them stuck. They would get analysis paralysis. They would try to copy my sample and not even attempt to express themselves artistically. They would get frustrated and discouraged.
Instead, I choose an open-ended approach. The project parameters look more like this: “You can choose to create the likeness of Aphrodite just about any way you want. All I ask is that your watercolor somehow embodies LOVE AND BEAUTY, because that is what Aphrodite is the goddess of. Take a few minutes to think of how you could make other people feel love and beauty when they look at your painting.”
Some of the girls were uncomfortable creating a face, and they didn’t want a tutorial. Instead, they chose to create paintings where you see their interpretation of Aphrodite from the back. I LOVE this strategy.
One of the girls was not in the mood for paint at all. She opted to sketch and then use colored pencils. It was the most engaged and focused I have seen her in a while. If I had forced her to paint, she wouldn’t have been NEARLY as engaged. I LOVE that she advocated for herself.
Some of the girls didn’t feel comfortable in their abilities to create a face right out of the gate, so I sat with them and talked to them about scale and how to proportionately set up their face.
I taught them how to draw more realistic eyes, full lips, and craft a basic nose. I helped them learn how to hold the pencil as they sketched (Because, guess what? When kids are nervous, they have a death grip on their writing/painting instruments and it makes it very difficult to get the result they want). I LOVE that they asked for help and were willing to accept feedback.
These girls are in 3rd-8th grade. I want them to continue to love and nurture their artistic process well into adulthood…and that’s why my philosophy works so well. We are progress-focused in the studio, not perfection-focused.
Remember, the goal of most of my classes is to BOOST SELF-CONFIDENCE, ELEVATE SELF-ESTEEM, and ENHANCE POSITIVE SELF-TALK. Drawing a perfect face is a nice bonus, but it’s not the ultimate goal of the class. 
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