Thursday, April 26, 2012

Garden Still Life!


 A still life is typically a scene featuring mostly inanimate everyday objects whether natural, man made or manufactured. The foreground, middle ground and background are brought very close to the viewer's space and the composition is easily distinguished from a portrait or landscape.
 
 
We drew the objects that were closest to us first in permanent marker, except for the flower pot or gloves which we wanted to visually pop off the surface of the paper. 


We colored the entire picture with Prismacolor markers, and then used texture plates and Artstix to achieve different mark patterns on our objects and surfaces.
 

 We cut out the objects we had drawn for the 3-D effect and elevated them with spacers to create a multi-layered look.

 Our students enjoyed brainstorming  and adding their own elements in their compositions.

Even our younger artists had no trouble with overlaping shapes and drawing things in the proper perspective.


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Woman and Fantasy Tree!

Fantasy is a great way to stimulate young minds! This project centered portrait of a dramatic looking woman with a fantasy tree and background.

First we drew the woman's face, then the middle ground, then the background. Then we colored in the drawing with Prismacolor markers.

Some students chose to make the drawing into a self portrait.

 Others chose to create an underwater scene.
 Movement is created by
the use of lines. We worked out how the viewer’s eye should travel
through the artwork.
 Rythem is created by
repeating shapes and colors.

 Abstraction is a difficult concept to grasp, and some of our little artists jumped in and tried it!

 

The Sphinx!

Did you know that the Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is over 6,400 years old and is the largest sculpture in the round on earth? Our students drew the Sphinx on paper in charcoal, creating a range of light values to indicate volume, space and distance.

 After drawing the outline of the sphinx and pyramids, we started shading the forms.

We also added some details like a sun, birds, and excavation tools.

Since we used vine charcoal, we  were able to make any edits we wanted to.




Thursday, April 12, 2012

Candy Shop!

What would be more fun than designing your own candy store? We made a storefront with a glass case in the front and shelves stocked with sweet treats.


We brainstormed ideas on what to put in our shelves, and how to decorate the shop. When we had made some design decisions, we drew the store in pencil, and then went over the lines with permanent marker.
Everyone came up with their own name for their store, and designed a sign for it.

We then colored in the picture with colored pencil.








Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Safari Collage!

 One of the most difficult challenges for young artists is to put colored media aside and try to achieve a working composition using silhouette imagery. The first thing we did was draw our animals and background using only black and brown markers. We also designed some animal print paper along with some that we found and drew plants which we cut out. We then created a border by tearing the paper and adding it in sensible places, and finally added a handmade picture hanger.
 
Our students were encouraged to come up with some creative changes appropriate to the project.

The younger kids had just as much fun learning as the older kids did!
                                                             
There is nothing like knowing you did a good job to inspire confidence!



Monday, April 9, 2012

Lighthouse in Charcoal

Erin from Cardinal Elementary.

Black and white media is not only elegant and classic, it's also a wonderful tool for learning how to visually represent light logic. Students learned how to turn a form using shadows and reflected light and how to create a focal point using varying degrees of contrast.