continuing contrast

This week the 4th graders finished up their Rodney Alan Greenblat drawings. They also completed exit slips that had them reflecting on how they created contrast and what was the most successful part of their drawing... and WHY:)

That left each class with about 45 minutes to do a quick line drawing activity that reinforced the same concepts while creating something that looked a lot different than their RAG compositions.

For this activity , I shared a couple illustrations done by Mexican designer and illustrator Victor Melendez. He uses variety in line to create contrast in his work. He also heavily relies on contour line to define his shapes and add pattern elements that enrich his work further. We also looked at how one of his final designs was different than the sketch he did. We talked about how this type of revising is an important part of the artistic process. Changes, improvements, and risks are still taken when preliminary work is translated to finished pieces:)

"Tell Me Jaguar"

Inspired by a song of that name from the Mexican rock band Jaguares.

 

After introducing his work and how it compared and contrasted with Rodney's, students were tasked with creating 2 different animal designs that showed symmetry while also used line to create pattern and shape. They picked one of those designs to do slightly larger (6x9) and drew it out softly. They used thick and thin markers to create contrast again and then added color to the background to add contrast that way as well. Now, these drawings aren't as refined as their first projects, but I wanted to give them a chance to explore similar concepts with a different look in a shorter amount of time.

 

There was a lot of variety in the individual approaches to this activity, just as there was with the RAG drawings. I'm looking forward to the ideas these kids explore for the rest of the year!

Below, are a few more RAG inspired drawings that were completed this week. Cool stuff!

learning line with rodney.

My official art rotations have begun and this week the 1st and 4th graders are exploring line in their lessons. The 4ths are doing a project that is inspired by the abstractions of Rodney Alan Greenblat. Rodney has been making illustrations, paintings, and designs for a good while now. He actually designed the cover for the first They Might Be Giants album back in 1986 (not that this matters to the kids, but I loved that album... and Lincoln after that one:). His style ranges from figurative to non-objective abstract, but it all has a good degree of funk in it. It is his more abstract work that I am focusing on with the kids.

When I share a few of Rodney's pieces with my classes, we talk about how he uses contour lines to define most of the shapes in them. We then look at how he uses different thickness of line to create contrast. Certain shapes stand out because their outlines are more bold than others.

We also talk about how his work and abstraction in general, allows people to see different things in an image. I like this because it breaks down the stress involved for students in the project, especially for their first drawing of the year. They can include the shapes they want and if they don't draw them perfectly, the image can still work... as long as their shapes and arrangement of those shapes is interesting.

I've been sharing this quote from Rodney's website about abstraction-
"Stop making sense. When you have abstract paintings in your house, you can read a language without words. You can see forms that have are non-representational. You can enjoy freedom from meaning. You can appreciate line and color for what they are. You can make up your own associations and stories about the works if you want. You can easily ignore them. You can easily enjoy them. Your guests will be impressed, and might imagine you know something about art. If you want, you can say they are influenced by Kandinsky and Calder, or you can say they remind you of a child’s birthday party. Either one is Ok. They are abstract."

For this project, students create 2 small sketches before moving on to their final drawing. Each of these must include a minimum of 3 main shapes, a minimum of 7 supporting shapes, and a use of line or shape to make a minimum of 2 patterns. When doing this I emphasize that the types of shapes and placement of them is up to the students. I don't want copies of Rodney's work. We are using his work as a springboard for their own investigations of line, shape, and abstraction.

 Pulling focus words from the word wall.

Breaking things down.

When their sketches are done, the kids are sharing with a neighbor why they are picking one over the other. Then they draw the chosen design on a larger sheet of paper.

Then comes the contrast part of the project. Students need to trace most of their pencil lines with a thin sharpie and they go over a 2-3 of those with a thick sharpie. This way they have 3 different thicknesses of line in their final drawing.

They can color the shapes in their final drawing any way they see fit, as long as they leave the background white, so that they contrast against each other.

Most kids have finished, but we haven't had enough time for their written reflections. Next class, they will come back and identify how they made shapes contrast from each other and identify what the most successful part of their project is and why.

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!