Begin with a lesson on drawing objects accurately by studying their shape and form. Direct your student to practice pencil drawings of simple geometric shapes: circle, oval, triangle, square, and rectangle.
Talk about shapes in nature. Ask your student to give you examples of common objects that look like the five shapes drawn. Find things in the room that have simple geometric shapes and have the student draw them. Hint: Try to find flat objects such as coins, books, an oval plate, and a triangle scarf or cracker.
Introduce the concept of three-dimensional shapes: sphere, square pyramid, cone, cube, rectangular prism, and cylinder. Demonstrate how to draw these as solid objects. Let the student practice drawing them. Don't forget to be helpful and positive.
Look for objects in the room that have similar shapes and have the student practice drawing them. Note: At this point, he or she should only be drawing lines and curves--shading light and dark areas comes much later.
Explain "form" as the structure of an object. Study and discuss things with more complex shapes such as the bottle or the piece of fruit. Ask the student to examine the fruit and tell you what shapes he or she sees in the form of the fruit. Have the student draw the fruit using shapes joined together.
Set up an interesting still life arrangement of the bottle, the bowl and the fruit. Explain "negative space" and the shapes that form between and around objects. Use vine charcoal as the media for this session. Show the student how to draw an object by drawing the area around it and then let them explore drawing negative space.
Use contour drawing as another method for training students to see objects, not as objects, but as form occupying space. (This technique also improves hand and eye coordination.) Rearrange the objects on the table and drape the fabric in interesting folds behind them. Instruct the student to place pencil to paper and to draw the objects WITHOUT LOOKING DOWN AT THE PAPER. This will force the student to follow the line and form of the object with the eyes as they are drawing. The student will no longer be seeing a bottle--he or she will be seeing the complex relationships between form and space.
Offer constructive feedback to your student throughout these exercises. As he or she begins to build confidence, you can be more open with your criticism. Always remember that art is a personal struggle for most individuals. It is an emotional experience to recreate on paper that which exists before us.
Demonstrate light's effects on objects in a still life arrangement during the next session. Vary the position of a goose neck lamp to show how light casts shadows differently according to its "source." Show how to shade a drawing with the side of a pencil and how to very its darkness by pressing the lead to the paper more forcefully, or by shading over the area multiple times. Work with the student as he or she learns to master light effects in art.
Allow the student to arrange the objects for the next art session. This helps him or her learn to create interesting composition in a drawing or painting. Now is the time to begin teaching the student about color. Soft pastels are the perfect choice for their blending capabilities and their similarity to pencils and vine charcoal.
Experiment with new (and old) ways to teach art and design. One of the best ways to learn art is to emulate the techniques other artists have invented. For instance, you might want to consider projects using pointillist and cubist techniques.