looking into the eye of the beast.

During this rotation, my 5ths are exploring paint, color value, and symmetry. We have been looking at the work of Australian artist Brad Eastman for inspiration for this experience. Brad is a very prolific artist who draws much inspiration from the patterns that are found within the natural world. I really love his play of geometric and natural shapes, his use of contour line, and his wonderful sense of composition as he pulls everything together in works that range in scale from intimately small digital works to immense wall murals.

I start the activity by sharing two murals that Brad has done that are similar in subject, symmetry, and use of color value gradations. We spend a few minutes identifying these elements and talking about what these works remind us of- what the students see in them.

To start the hands on activity, the students and I create a small sketch inspired by these two paintings. I want them to see how they can break up the picture plane to create a design that emphasizes symmetry and repetition. We start with the eye form and then add matching lines to the top, bottom, left, and right of the eye. The point of this is for them to see how they can start with simple large shapes to set up the compositional framework. Then, I encourage them to add more lines to give their sketch more detail.

Once that sketch is complete, students create a second sketch that starts with a shape of their choosing. They break up the picture plane in a similar fashion to the first one.

With both sketches done, students choose one and enlarge it softly onto a large (12x15") sheet of watercolor paper. They hold off putting their name on the paper until the drawing is complete. They do this, so that they can use the back of the paper to restart their drawing if the need arises.

To create the bold contour lines, students may trace their pencil lines with a crayon, chisel tip sharpie, or fine tip sharpie- or a combo a couple/all of them, depending on the detail present in their drawing.

When students move on to the painting step, I demo creating light and dark values by adjusting the amount of water used with the tempera cakes that we are using. Each student gets a scrap of watercolor paper to test out colors while they are working. Students choose a brush to start with- large, medium, or small. If they need to change brush size, they are responsible for cleaning the brush in the sink, putting it back if the right bin, and getting a different size brush. They are also responsible for changing the water in the cups that they are sharing with their paint tray team.

Most students have needed about 2 hours to complete this activity. Some more, some less. I meet with my 5ths for 90 minutes, so this activity has been completed over 2 sessions. When they complete their painting, students reflect on their process by answering 3 questions on an exit slip.

I am really emphasizing question 2- What was the hardest part of this activity? How did you deal with it.

I want them to really think about that. How did they solve that problem?

I really have been digging the variety in approaches to this activity. The students have been thoroughly engaged during the painting experience.

lining space with gp.

The 3rds are experimenting with line as they look at the abstract compositions created by Gary Petersen for inspiration. To start the lesson, we look at several of Gary's brightly colored abstractions. Specifically, we look at how, even when an artwork is non-objective, it can still have a sense of 3d space that is achieved with repeated diagonals and the changing height and width of included lines.

After identifying how space is created in 3 of Gary's pieces, we experiment in a similar fashion on our practice paper. When doing so, I remind students that these are not expected to be perfect, but I do want them to try their best while they play with line.

After we practice, I ask the students to select one sketch they like more than others and to think about why they think that one will be more interesting as a larger drawing. We then partner up and share our reasoning for choosing one sketch over the other. I point out that this oral practice will help them write a reasoning statement about the project once their drawing is done. They are using this oral sharing to rehearse their reflection sentence.

When we draw out the larger design, I remind my student artists that they may add more detail to it with line and shape and that it's okay if the design changes some from the preliminary sketch. Students are free to use color as they like- I do model changing hand pressure to create light and dark color values because this could heighten the implied 3d qualities of the drawing. I also express that they can leave areas white if they want to do so.

This guy's shirt was a fantastic example of spatial line!

I love that even though we practiced similar compositions, there is still a wide array of variety in the compositions created. Students wrote out the reasoning statement that they rehearsed as a quick wrap up activity.

getting 3d with ricky.

My first rotation with the 5th graders focused on using line to create an abstract design using overlapping shapes and to use color value to make those elements look more 3d and real. The inspiration for this project was the work of Ricky Watts, a super cool painter based up in the Bay area of California.

To start  the lesson, we looked at several of the murals Ricky has done around the country. Kids noticed that he repeats lines and shapes a lot in his work. They also saw how he used overlapping and color value changes to add a 3d quality to his compositions. They were able to figure out that he was adding white and black to his colors to make them darker or lighter. The kids loved checking out Ricky's work. The vibrant colors, the glow, and the scale really stood out to them.

Since we would be working on paper with color sticks (basically short colored pencils without the wood), I asked the kids how they would create a similar effect in their work. The answer- adjusting hand pressure.

As kids started to brainstorm and sketch, I emphasized that they are attempting to create an image inspired by Ricky's work and not copies or replicas of it. Once they did at least 2 sketches, they were to choose one for their final design and explain their reasoning with a a detailed because statement. They could then move on to white or black paper to draw out their design softly.

 

Students tried to capture light, medium, and dark color values in their design by adjusting how hard they pressed when coloring.

When their drawing was complete, I encouraged them to go back and take a closer look at it to see if they needed to revise any areas that could be improved. When that step was done, they could move on to the reflection piece of the process and complete their exit slip. Again, trying to add specific reasoning and details in their responses.

This project went over one session (80 minutes) and into the 2nd session for about 20 more. For the 2nd session, I gave them about 15 minutes to reflect/revise, and then I introduced them to a new project.

This project applied the color value skills they practiced in the Ricky Watts drawing to a video gane character design project. We discussed some old school and not so old school video games that use pixelated characters. We also revisited a pixelated print project from 4th grade. The kids noticed that these characters looked flat because of the lack of value contrast.

Their new role was to be a character designer for a video game and to also make parts of the character look more 3d by using light, medium, and dark color values. They sketched a couple ideas, picked one, explained their choice, and then drew it and added color to it on a larger sheet of paper.

The bonus... students that finished early and who had executed them properly, could build their character on a Bloxels board (a peg baord that goes with the Bloxels Builder app) and then take a photo of it with the app and actually drop it into a video game!

This was a BIG hook. I have been piloting game design with a small group of 4ths an a weekly basis and this was a great way to introduce the 5ths to the process as well. It provided an engaging and fun extension of the content of the first lesson too:)

Check this one out! She followed the project rules of just horizontals & verticals and using light and dark. Way to push the envelope!