Friday, January 24, 2014

giving them a lift:)


This week the 1st graders tried out making things look 3d for the first time this year. I share the work of Cbabi Bayoc with them for inspiration. Cbabi is primarily a portrait painter and we looked at a number of images form his website to see how he made flat shapes look more round by using light and dark colors in his paintings.

I really enjoy how Cbabi works with the human form and how he works with planes of color. A couple years ago he did a painting a day called "365 Days with Dad". I talked about this with the kids; how he wanted to celebrate the importance of father figures in African American culture in the lives of children. These father figures could be dads, or stepdads, older brothers, cousins, teachers. Basically any older male in a child's life that serves as a role model for children.




I emphasized that our project would be about family. Is the child you or a brother or sister? Who is the adult? Mom or dad? Uncle or aunt? Somebody that lifts you up and makes you feels good.

We drew out the bodies together, added hairstyles, and then used light and dark to make the shapes look more 3d. I started the project with pastels on dark paper, since the last project before break used the same materials. However, after a couple classes I switched to color sticks because I felt their drawings were getting out of control with the pastels. After a couple more classes I switched from dark paper to white. I think the light and dark effects are most successful on the white paper, but I do like the way the outlines are not as obvious on the darker paper.

What do you think?





















1 comment:

  1. Love this lesson! These are really touching. I like them on both the light and the dark paper. The children did a great job adding light and shadow which makes them pop.

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