if you were a concept artist...

and you're job was to create the look of a secret hideout for one of the character's in an animated film, what would it look like?

This was the prompt that greeted 2 classes of 5th graders when they came in to my art room last week. I gave them about 10 minutes to write what that place would look like. They could describe anything about it. This was definitely new territory for them. I have never asked anything like this of them before, although they have done a couple creative writing exercises as part of exit slips when they finish their projects. Some kids were stumped, others jumped right in. I emphasized that they should attempt to create something original, not just copy another animator's character and/or setting. I also informed them that they would be making drawings based on their written descriptions, so the more detail the better.

When their time was up, I shared these early concepts for Elsa's castle from Frozen. We talked about why she built it where she did, and how the colors create a strong sense of mood in the pieces. I used this to introduce how artist's can use analogous colors to create unity and mood in art.

From here, students were to make a couple sketches based on their written work. They brainstormed in writing and were now making rough drafts for the larger drawing. Once they had their sketches done, they moved on to their final drawing. I emphasized that they needed to use only one color family. When selecting their analogous group, I asked them to be thinking about WHY that set of colors. We also talked about the use of tints and shades to create depth and volume.

When they finished their drawings, they reflected on their work by responding to the following exit slip questions.

This is the lesson that I stopped doing last week when I switched over to the lesson inspired by concept art from Coraline. In hindsight, I kind of regret cutting it short. It took a while to get some kids going and this was frustrating me. Not so much that they needed time to process, but that too many kids were not focusing on the content of their work. Our 5ths are SOCIAL:) and my classroom management style can be too laid back at times... I switched lessons in order to instill a bit more structure and accountability. That said, as I looked through the completed work today, I was more impressed with the quality I saw in the drawings and the details included in the written descriptions than I thought I was going to be.

building bridges.

The 2nd graders are starting their color unit by learning about warm and cool colors this week. To help them with this, I'm using a piece of concept art from the Disney movie Big Hero 6. (the big bummer for me right now is that I can't figure out who the concept artist who made it actually is!)

Before starting with the day's work, we review what the kids learned in their last project- the abstract landscapes inspired by Jason Messinger's clay tiles. We talk about dark and light, hard and soft, and big and small. I tell the kids  that we are going to use all that stuff again today and that all of those are examples of contrast in art.

We then get into one more pair of contrasts- warm and cool colors. We identify them and I write them on the board. I also show the kids where they are located in my room, so if they aren't sure when they are working on their drawing, they can look at the list on the board and/or look at the visual examples posted in the back of the room.

When I share the bridge drawing from San Fransokyo, we talk about how it is an example of combining two places- San Francisco and Tokyo, Japan to make something new. The concept artist took the Golden Gate bridge and modified it with traditional Japanese architectural elements. We also identify that the sky is cool and the bridge is warm, that the sky is light and the bridge is bold. The bridge is big in the front and small in the back.

The project is done with both chalk pastels and oil pastels. Students pick warm or cool to use in the chalk background and use the opposite on the foreground bridge with their oil pastels. We do the sky first and then draw over it for the bridge. Students can add flair to their bridge and light posts if they wish to make it more unique.

This has been a very successful project in terms of correctly splitting their drawing into warm and cool parts, as well as creating a sense of 3d space.

I love the dragon head light posts!

look at baymax fly!