luchadors looking around!

This week the 4th graders are experimenting with facial proportion and symmetry. To make this a bit more engaging, we are looking at the art of luchadors and superheros and trying out a couple apps on our ipads.

To start off, we talk about proportion and how I would look pretty unusual if one of my ears suddenly grew 5 times larger than the other one. We look at how the parts of the human face fit into the whole in regular and symmetrical ways. We practice drawing a face on a small sheet to get a feel for eye size and location, nose and mouth placement and width.

Then the fun begins...

I share a few examples of luchador masks and art inspired by them and talk about how these characters are similar to superheros in that their masks keep the person's identity a secret. We notice that in these examples, the facial elements we just practiced are present.

When I explain that the kids will be using ipads to create there is quite a bit of excitement. This activity is a collaborative experience because I want them to be able to teach each other as they go.

Once each team has an ipad, I share my video tutorial with them in chunks. We are using th Autodesk Sketchbook app to create a 3 layer drawing. We build the basic mask first, followed by a detail/pattern layer, and wrap it up with the eye, nose, and mouth details for the 3rd layer. With the video, I can rewind it and repeat to emphasize steps and I can assist some while others are watching the video. When their drawing is complete and saved to their camera roll, we open up the MotionPortrait app and add the drawing from their camera roll. We can then play with mouth and eyes locations in the app. This allows our characters to blink, talk, and move around.

sketchbook tutorial

motionportrait tutorial

When done, they save them to the camera roll and I then download to my mac, so I can email to their teachers later this week.

This foray into digital art and animation has been a whole lot of fun for the kids and I alike.

playing in the snow (and learning about proportion).

This week the 4th graders are finishing up winter scenes that they started last week. In this project, they are focusing on creating 3d solids and getting an understanding of proportion in nature and in art.

I started the lesson by sharing a couple diagrams of bodies and we looked at how parts measured up to each other and the whole body too. Then we drew a practice body (mannequin style) to get a feel for how to measure these parts and put them together. We also drew a target. Both drawings were then shaded to turn them into 3d solids. We then added a a couple details to the target to make it seem like we were looking at it from above.

I then shared a few illustrations of people making snow angels. I made sure to point out the use of shading and how things looked different than usual if your point of view gets changed.

Their job, then, was to create a winter scene that included a body making a snow angel, a snowperson, and at least 2 other setting details. Each thing in the drawing needed to be shaded or colored light to dark, to make them seem 3d.

Last year as 3rd graders, these kids made lego self portraits and they had to use light and dark to make them look 3d. I allowed students to use mini-figs as their subject as long as they still could demonstrate an understanding of proportion verbally and on their exit slips.

birds and bones

This week I am sharing the work of one of my all time favorite illustrators with the 1st and 4th graders. We are looking at images that the great Charley Harper created. I love his sense of shape and composition. He had such a wonderful modernist take on the nature that he loved so much.

The 4th graders are focusing on identifying symmetry and understanding what proportion is in art and nature. We look at several of his images and talk about how he simplifies the animals and plants he is inspired by into more geometric shapes. We then look at how, in many of these images, symmetry is present. It could be in one element or it could be the entire composition.

We then look at the focus image for the lesson. It's called "The Wrenters". In this piece 2 wrens have made a human skull their home and filled it with nesting materials.

I have students identify what parts show symmetry and what parts throw the symmetry off. I then introduce the concept of proportion and how it is essentially how things fit together into a larger whole. Proper proportion is when the parts look they are a good fit or size for the whole thing. I demonstrate this on the board by doing a quick skull drawing and making the eye sockets way to big for the skull. I make them too small. I do the same thing with the nose hole. I ask them to be aware of this when they are making these same shapes on their own skull images.

The image that we are making is collage and drawing. I have the students fold a piece of paper for the skull, identifying the fold as the line of symmetry. We mark the folded paper on the right side edge at 3 points- 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4, so we can refer to them as we draw the skull shape. The skull shape gets drawn and cut. We then fold a black piece of paper and do some eye measuring for the nose and eye sockets. I ask the kids to make the nose shape about a 1/3 of the skull from cheekbone to head top and the eye sockets about half that size. Before gluing the shapes on, I ask students to place them on the skull to see if they're a good fit. If not, they can try again with their leftover paper.

We add lines to the skull to add detail and more symmetry with colorsticks. Then we cut out the bird shapes, add detail to them, and then add the branches and leaves to the image.

At the end of the activity, students fill out an exit slip to reinforce the visual art, math, and ELA content of the lesson. Students must identify what parts of their image show symmetry and they need to look for contrast between their image and Charley's image.

Note- I do not think of this as a holiday image. Some of my students believed so. Also, a few students thought it was a little disturbing. I told each class how a doctor had a skull from medical school and had left it in his backyard, and that birds made it their home. I got this from the story from the Charley Harper studio website description of the image. I explained that it may be a little disturbing to us, but to the birds, that skull represents nothing but shelter from the elements.

I did have a student that was really upset by the image and I had them work from another image that Charley did, while still being able to work with symmetry and proportion.