Design Your Own Shading Style

Hello again! Summer is over and we’re finally back into the swing of things! My Art 4 students, by this age, are often tired of the same old, same old shaded drawings so I’ve recently been challenging them to come up with a new way to shade.  If you google “scribble shading,” the variety of ideas that come forward are amazing.  

by Vince Low

I’m especially a fan of Malaysian artist, 
Vince Low and his celebrity portraits.

Here is a great video demonstration of what he does.

(And here is another inspiring video that could tie in with this project:  
Embrace the Shake!)

To get students warmed up, I asked them to design a few different “styles” of scribbling or mark making.  They could then choose whichever one worked best for their chosen photo.

The trickiest parts of this project were controlling the values (the buildup of marks takes patience) and getting the smallest details defined as best they could.  Sometimes, simplifications were in order.  

Students complained at first, but once they got the hang of it, they did well and the artworks were created surprisingly quickly!  Yeah for techniques that are easier than they appear!!

Happy Scribbling!

Middle School Animal Pastel Drawings

I haven’t found a group of students of any age who does not enjoy drawing animals.  This animal project is a great introduction to pastels for my 7th graders.

After I introduce the pastels and give them a demonstration on how to use them, I set them loose.  Each table receives an animal photo that all at that table will draw.  I prop the photos up on a table easel so everyone at the table can see it.  They really enjoy the pop of color the pastels give them when used on black paper, so I pass out 12 x 18 black construction paper and they sketch in pencil first.  

When they begin with the pastels, 

I remind them to layer and blend colors, look for shadows and highlights and get in as many details and animal textures as they can. I remind them to use our "Color Rule:"  Always use more than one color (whether its paint, crayon, colored pencil, etc.) in any one section.  The blending/pushing of colors makes any artwork more interesting.

After the first drawing is finished, students switch animal photos and try another one.  These are surprisingly short drawings and the kids enjoy them, which makes it a pleasant experience for all of us! 

Happy Drawing!

3D Paper Shading

I start each of my high school classes out at the beginning of the semester with drawing skills practice and shaded drawing projects. This post is about a cross between a skill practice and a project.  Its one that you’ve seen before, I’m sure because the first time I saw it was in Dick Blick.  Its a good one!

What I love about it is that it

uses the most simple materials (PAPER!) to create a challenging shading exercise.  They are given two sheets of 9x12 heavy drawing paper.  One sheet is the base, the other is used to create the shapes they will then do a shaded drawing of.   If done well, these look awesome! I ask them to dramatize the shadows they see so they can achieve the contrast needed for a successful drawing.  The white on white paper makes them REALLY pay attention to the shadows. I love how the kids’ shading styles come out in the way they approach this. No two look the same - and in the end, that’s what we are all about in the GR Art Room!  

At the same time, I give the students a tutorial on the many and varied pencil leads from 6H to 6B. They each receive a set of pencils and erasers that they get to keep.  Its like Christmas in the Art room!  I ask, when they do this project, that they use all of the pencils they’ve been given so they can get used to the hard leads of the “H”s and the soft dark leads of the “B”s.

It is always encouraging to see how much they learn from such a simple idea.   

Happy Drawing!!

Surrealistic Shaded Drawings

For high school students, the Surrealism movement is an easy fit.  They always seem to enjoy the strange and interesting work of Salvador Dali and Renee Magritte. For me, “The Persistence of Memory” is on the list of “you need to recognize this” paintings.

 

In Art 2 (sophomores) we start our Surrealism Shaded Drawing unit with a video introducing Salvador Dali and the surrealism movement.  We look at several works by Surrealist artists (especially Dali and Magritte) and then they begin crafting a surrealistic idea of their own. 

To help them with this, I remind them that they are putting things together that you would not normally find together and shading these items in a very realistic way.  (Sur-realism = beyond realism.)  

To jump start their brains when they give me blank looks, I ask them to make a list of places (big and small, but small seems to work better) and objects and then use those lists to mix and match items and places in unique and interesting ways.

Once they have sketched out a few ideas and chosen the one that visually works best, I ask them to either take resource photos, or find resources photos that can be combined to help them make the final drawings as accurate as possible. 

This part of the project adds an extra dimension of challenge as students work to make their resources appear as if they belong together, dealing with lighting changes and value challenges that need to be resolved to make the drawings work.

Happy Shading!

Homecoming! How to Draw a Wildcat

(Photo from gliddeniowa.com)

Its Homecoming week!  We are a PreK-12 school housed all in one building, which is a rarity in today’s world.  While this sometimes provides challenges, there are a lot of benefits to our students.  One neat aspect is the cohesiveness we have in our building.  We are truly a family - as a staff and as a student body - looking out for each other. 

So when Homecoming rolls around, its not just the junior high and high school students that get fired up...the elementary students like to participate too!  One way to help them feel included is to do a homecoming themed art project in each upper elementary class (4th, 5th and 6th) that we can display around the school.

For the fourth graders, we start by learning how to draw our Wildcat logo.  They think it is so cool to be able to draw this - it then begins to show up on folders and notes and other random bits of paper.  This handout can also be brought out and referred to in older classes in case they forget...but it all starts right here in fourth grade.

    

(Forgive the quality of this image...I struggled with the scanning.  I'm learning, learning all the time! :-) )

This year we used those wildcat logos on Homecoming pennants. GO CATS!!

Shaded Hands Holding Objects

We start the year with foundational drawings in most of my middle school and high school art classes. Some students love to draw and others weather through it because I promise more exciting projects are coming!

 My challenge is finding subject matter for students to draw that will a)interest them and b) come from a resource they have created.  As much as possible, we try to stay away from the “find a photo on the internet” kind of drawings.

For this project, I asked students to go into the Photobooth program loaded on their MacBook Pros and take a few photos of their hand holding something.  What they chose to hold was up to them - it could represent an interest they have, something special to them, or something completely random that would work great in a shaded drawing.  I also asked them to keep the background neutral so it was easier to concentrate on the hand and object.

I was pleased with the variety of items students brought in. Without always realizing it, they were expressing who they are just with their choice of subject matter! (Ninja self-expression!! )

At the beginning of this class, students are given a set of drawing pencils (from 6H to 6B) and we do some exercises to practice using the various leads to get used to them.  During this project, they were required to use at least three different pencils while working on their shading techniques.  Its fun to see how each student is developing their own drawing style and its starting to come out in their work!

This was the first time I had given this drawing assignment and I was happy with the results.  Next year, we may try to add some sort of background to the piece...either from the photo they take or something they create that relates to the item they are holding.

Ahhh...the project tweaking never ends!

Happy Drawing!! 

Digital Art Game

This year we became a 1:1 school in our 4th - 12th grades. It has been so exciting for all of us!!  As we begin the journey of integrating more technology into each class, I am on the lookout for ways to use and create digital art using open source programs.  I’m also interested in reinforcing the hands-on creating we do in class with digital resources that get my students’ attention and highlight what I’m trying to teach in a fun and engaging way.

In my middle school and high school classes, we always start the year with drawing skills and shaded drawings.  One thing students sometimes struggle with is shading dark enough to give their drawings real power.  

I discovered a unique website that has several interesting “drawing games” on it.  (www.mrdoob.com/projects/harmony) The game I highlighted allows them to play around with shading and really see the difference those dark areas can make to a drawing.  After demonstrating this website, I asked them to create a nonobjective illustration.   They started out using “sketchy” in the toggle button, but they could also experiment with different “brushes.”  

We did a small critique and discussed how much more interesting their artworks were when there were a variety of contrasting values involved. The kids had fun experimenting and I was able to get my point across to them, which benefitted their drawing skills!  Win Win!!

p.s. To save your work, hit the save button and then right click (or control click on a Mac) and download to your desktop.