A car drawing made by a student. I think it shows real promise for the kid

In my classes the kids are given suggestions about what to do and certain techniques to perhaps accomplish it. However, art is not physics, and there is no one correct way to get results. Therefore, I never tell any student that their way is "wrong" because in art there is no one way to get the job done.

Recently I asked the kids to find a photo of something that they like and to attempt to recreate it. They could try to make it a one-to-one exact replica, or they could make it cartoonish. Basically they could do whatever they want.

One of the students' father has a passion for classic cars and this student had an affinity for a particular one which was a 1968 Corvette Stingray. He showed me the original image that was his inspiration for the drawing in the first place.

That is a very nice looking vehicle for sure, but I think that many people would really struggle to replicate this 1-1 especially when we start considering the reflections that come off of the pristine paintjob. Here is what the kid has accomplished after what he said was around 2 hours of working on it.

now before anyone gets judgmental we need to consider that this boy is 8 years old and the fact that he would attempt something this complicated is admirable on it's own.

Most of the other students chose something considerably easier such as a Pokémon character or some sort of cartoon. In my mind, this car would be considerably more difficult and I admire the kid for not taking the easy way out. There are not grades in my classes and participation is completely elective. The kids don't even have to turn up if they don't want to and many times I think the parents use this simply because it is an hour of free babysitting.

Since the kid in question is using pencils and high-quality paper that we provide, he can make many revisions to this and I am looking forward to the end result. Whenever a child is excited about something I think it is important to not be overly critical of anything they have done because you run the risk of ruining their passion for something. I just suggested that maybe he sharpen his pencils a bit more frequently when working on the "fine lines."

So far I think he has done a pretty great job though. What do you think?