Today in both my special needs classes we printed flowers using markers!
I drew the flowers in vases on styrofoam plates for each student ahead of time with a black sharpie.
Students then traced over the black lines with a dull colored pencil, pressing into the styrofoam. This creates an indentation in the surface of the styrofoam where ever it has been pressed in. With my help and the help of Para’s in each class, we assisted each student hand over hand. This is a great muscle strengthener and fine motor control building art activity for people of all ages and levels!
Once the black lines are traced entirely, students then colored in the flowers, leaves, and vase with washable markers. They could use any colors they wanted.
Once colored, I sprayed water, using a recycled spray cleaner bottle, 6 times on a sheet of 9×12″ 80# white drawing paper. Two sprays at the top, two in the middle, and two at the bottom. Then students helped wipe the paper with a pre-dampened sponge, to help spread the water over the paper evenly.
Then the styrofoam was placed color side down, over the damp paper, and students pressed using their hands to transfer the image from the styrofoam to their papers.
(Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a photo of these few steps)– then after pressing all over the back of the styrofoam, students used a brayer to roll over the back of the styrofoam to help further transfer their marker image.
Then the styrofoam was lifted off the dampened paper, revealing their wonderful flower print! I LOVE how they all turned out!!
It’s always so fun to show students a new art making process, and students loved it!!
To check out a more detailed description with additional photos on printmaking with markers, click on my 3rd grade art lessons page HERE and scroll down! My 3rd graders are all currently learning about printmaking with markers as well, and will be posting their “Complementary Creature Prints” soon!!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY!!!
PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE AMAZING STUDENT ARTWORK!!!
This fun self-portrait 3 day lesson combines art exploration in abstract art and color theory.
I’ve done this a few years now and it’s definitely one of my favorite lessons for 2nd grade!
More details on how they were created below students artwork!
Students could pose anyway they wanted for their photos— I Love the variety! Some fun and silly, some serious and contemplative, and some just happy and smiling!
DID SOMEONE SAY HEAVY ON THE PHOTOS PLEASE?!!
YOU GOT IT!
DAY 1
On the first day of the lesson, I showed students my examples, students artwork from previous years, as well as just the abstract drawings before paint was applied. I asked students what they thought abstract artwork might be while looking at all the examples. Students noticed that the drawings and paintings were basically lines and shapes! We discussed how abstract art focuses mainly on lines, shapes, and colors and didn’t show a “picture” of anything (a person, a dog, a tree etc.)
Students then looked at a fun, quick slideshow of artwork by various abstract painters (Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock and William de Cooning).
Students drew various lines and shapes on 12×18” tagboard in pencil, then went over all the lines with crayons being sure to press super hard (later on we would do a crayon wax-resist). They then filled out a short questionnaire with questions asking about their favorite things and questions about themselves.
DAY 2
On day 2 of the lesson, they painted their drawings with watercolors creating a crayon wax-resist.
While students worked, I took each students photo (which I later printed as a high-contrast black & white photo on printer paper).
DAY 3
In the following art class, students added additional color using NEON oil pastels by drawing shapes and lines on their dry paintings. I LOVE the addition of neon to their paintings!! Adds a nice layer of texture and so much color! This step was a new one this year, and kids and myself are happy of this new edition to the process!
LOOK AT ALL THIS FABULOUS LAYERING OF BRIGHT FUN COLOR!!
They then glued their black and white self-portrait onto their painting as well as their printed sentences that were cut into strips ahead of time.
ET VOILA!
I hope you enjoy these awesome abstract self-portraits as much as I do!!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR CHECKING OUT MY BLOG! MORE ARTWORK (ALONG WITH SOMETHING EXCITING AND NEW IN THE WORKS FOR 5TH GRADE!!) ALL COMING VERY VERY SOOOOOON!!!!!!
LOVE IS IN THE AIR Mixed media art lesson by 1st grade
This fun 3 day lesson incorporates the elements of art; Shape, Color, Line, Form, and Texture! We also review overlapping, and crayon wax resist painting throughout the lesson.
Kids finished them up JUST in time for Valentine’s Day!
DAY 1: CREATE WARM TISSUE BACKGROUND
Students glued pre-cut warm colored tissue paper onto a sheet of 12×18″ tagboard using watered down glue. They glued an area of the paper first, then tissue, one piece at a time, then applied another thin layer of glue on top of each piece. This ensured the tissue laid flat and stuck to the paper.
Students were encouraged to overlap as they glued pieces, and to fill up the entire paper.
Day 1- gluing tissue for the sky background — Let me tell you… creating art with tissue paper and glue are probably my LEAST favorite art materials to work with! So flippin MESSY, and seems to get EVERYWHERE!!! BUT… in the end, I think the beautiful artwork created was well worth the mess and clean up
DAY 2 – CONTINUE GLUING TISSUE / CREATE PLANE
Students continued gluing tissue until their paper was filled in entirely. Then they each received a sheet of 8.5 x 11″ medium weight tagboard with a pre-printed outline of a plane. (I drew the plane ahead of time and photocopied them)
Students drew a variety of lines and/or shapes using crayon, pressing hard inside their plane, leaving a bit of white background showing.
Once colored to their liking, they painted over the entire plane using watercolors, creating a crayon-wax resist. Students could paint with whatever colors they wanted. Planes were set aside to dry along with their tissue backgrounds until the next class.
DAY 2: CREATING THE PLANE WITH CRAYON WAX-RESIST
DAY 3: ADD PLANE AND HEART!
Students cut out their planes, and glued using a glue stick to their tissue paper backgrounds. Then glued on the cotton batting for the planes smoke in the shape of a heart!
I demonstrated how to take SMALL chunks from the bag, and pull with their fingers creating a thinner line of “smoke” before gluing into place. This was the trickiest step! Kiddos did great!!
DAY 3: ATTACH PLANE AND COTTON BATTING FOR THE HEART! ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICS OF THE PROCESS!!!KIDS LOOOOOVED FEELING THE TEXTURE OF THE COTTON!
I found out late summer that I was no longer going to have to teach art off a cart, and I’d have my very own art room! Of course, as you can imagine I was thrilled with this exciting news!! I had been teaching from a cart, rolling it with art supplies for each class, down the hallways to each classroom for 4 years in the district I teach now. So since Sept. 2014!
I couldn’t wait to set up my new space and decorate all the walls! The room is awesome and has huge windows all along one wall, a sink (my other classroom at the other school I teach at doesn’t have a sink) and is pretty spacious but still cozy!
I took the video above in early December before the holidays, so that’s why you’re hearing “Christmas Time is Here” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio in the background.
I bought all my twinkly curtain lights from Amazon, which are not just up for the holidays but I am keeping them up all year round. I think it adds a nice warm, cozy, inviting (and soothing) environment.
I was so excited to show my students once I put them all up and they looved them! I had kids work with only those lights on in the room for the majority of the holiday season. With all the windows, it’s still plenty of light to be able to see while creating art!
Here are some pics of what the room looked like BEFORE below!
art room BEFOREart room BEFOREart room BEFOREart room BEFOREart room BEFORE
Here are some AFTER pics!
So here’s a re-cap snippet of SOME of the things we’ve been working on in the art room since September!
3rd-5th Monochromatic Mini Self-Portraits
Students at Amvet in 4th and 5th grade drew mini monochromatic self-portraits. Each class had their own designated color of the rainbow. At this school, I have (3) 4th grade classes and (3) 5th grade classes. At Roosevelt I had 3rd, 4th and 5th create them, since there are only 2 classes per grade level.
Students learned a variety of ways to draw different expressions and what monochromatic means. They learned how they can achieve a monochromatic look by pressing hard or light with their colored pencil to achieve various values of one color, and can create a variety of values by using various shades of a colored pencil.
Students in 1st and 2nd grade drew circles creating an abstract collaborative mural inspired by the artist Wassily Kandinsky (BELOW). They colored using a variety of colorful oil pastels, then painted around the circles filling in the remaining space of the square paper with watercolors. Once complete, I assembled them on a large sheet of black paper and hot glued into place.
1st and 2nd grade completed a Kandinsky inspired collaborative mural
Below are some art lessons we did in order by grade level so far. (These are not all of the lessons however we have finished up to this point).
1st Grade:
Hot Air Balloon Collage
This is a lesson I teach 1st grade every year, but decided to switch it up a bit, by having students draw themselves rather than glue on a photo that I take of them.
To view Hot Air Balloon Collages from previous years – click on 1st Grade Art Lessons under the main menu and scroll down! Or click HERE.
Mixed-Media Alphabet Soup
1st Grade Mixed-Media Alphabet SoupThis photo is from my hallway display from last year. Art will be hung up once the spoons and plastic letters are hot glued into place!! One of my favorite lessons for 1st grade!
Here are some cute pics of students working on their soups!
First graders creating their background plaid tablecloths for their alphabet soup!
To view additional mixed-media alphabet soup art from previous years, learn how it was made and what the learning goals are for the lesson, check out the 1st grade art lessons page HERE and scroll down!
2nd Grade:
Birds Eye-View Snowman Collage
To learn more about how we created these adorable snow people and what the learning goals are for the lesson, click HERE and scroll down!
Catching Snowflakes
Click HERE and scroll down to check out previous years “Catching Snowflakes” and to learn more about this lesson!
3rd Grade:
Day of the Dead Skulls
To learn more about this lesson and see additional Dia De Los Muertos Skulls – click HERE and scroll down!
3D WINTER MUGS
To learn more about this lesson and see additional mugs (using paint rather than markers) click HERE and scroll down.
4th GRADE:
Mixed Media Donuts
To view additional mixed media donuts by 4th grade, and learn how we created them, click HERE and scroll down. To view my YouTube video tutorial click HERE and select the video!
5th Grade
Falling For Foreshortening
To view additional Falling For Foreshortening artwork by 5th grade and learn how they created them, click HERE and scroll down!
Holiday Lights
Students at Roosevelt were able to complete this lesson before the holidays but unfortunately, due to time constraints classes at Amvet didn’t have time to create these. Next year I will start this lesson earlier and try to make sure everyone in 5th has a chance to do this fun lesson for the holidays!
This wonderful lesson was inspired by the amazing art teacher artwithmrsnguyen
To view additional Holiday Lights and to learn how these were created -click HERE and scroll down to the lesson!
Here are some fun pics of students creating them! Enjoy!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be posting more artwork very VERY soon!!
Hello again everybody! Sorry for the long hiatus….. I meant to post this over a month ago when school was just out, but things have been pretty busy around here (and by busy I mean basically just totally chillin out and relaxing focusing on family, friends and my health—-but c’mon, can ya blame me?! It is summer break after all!
But back to the art lesson I’m posting about—-Grid drawings inspired by the amazing artist Chuck Close!
This was my last art lesson of the school year for 5th grade. I have taught this lesson now for 5 years (4 years at the schools I’m teaching in now, and 1 year within another district). I think it’s one of the more challenging lessons for 5th grade.
The images I print out aren’t super easy and although students have a choice on what image they want to draw, the lesson requires a lot of attention to detail and focus. Usually it takes students about 6 (sometimes even 7 (40 minute) classes to complete.
So with that in mind, I have NO IDEA why I planned on teaching it with only about 4 art classes left in the school year…. (you’d think by now I’d of realized doing so would mean kids probably wouldn’t finish. Well… that is what happened. BUT—art isn’t always about the final product. It’s about the PROCESS. Learning about new techniques, learning about different artists, creative decision-making, discovering things about yourself, learning from mistakes and persevering through challenges.
Many students did finish, and I’d say most were probably ½ way finished. I DID however, have them draw on WAY smaller paper. In previous years kids drew on 9×12” or 8×10”, but this time round, I had them draw on 5×7” to help speed things up a bit, while still keeping the same learning goals in mind.
Students worked so hard and I’m truly impressed with their beautiful drawings! Even if unfinished.
Ok, sorry….that was a lot of text to read… so here’s the artwork!! 🙂
Students selected one black and white photo of an animal. They could choose from about 15 different pictures.
I looked for images on Google that had a variety of value changes, were challenging enough in that they had some nice details, but tried to find ones with a simple background. Then I printed each of them as a 5×7” on 8.5” x11” printer paper.
When making a selection, I laid out each image in stacks of about 10 along a long table, then called groups of kids up (5 or 6 kids at a time) to make a choice.
Students used a 1” strip of cardboard to create their grids. I’ve had them use actual rulers before, but it proved to be too tricky getting accurate measurements and straight lines.
They drew a grid on their chosen black and white animal picture, then numbered each square, then drew the same exact grid on a piece of 5×7” drawing paper and numbered that grid as well.
Here’s some pics of students doing just that!
I explained to draw very lightly on the white drawing paper (so later on the grid lines and numbers wouldn’t show as much) but they could draw pressing much harder on their black and white animal pic in order to see the grid lines and numbers better.
To help students draw with a lighter touch, I showed them how to hold the pencil so their fingers gripped near the eraser rather than towards the pencils tip. The closer your fingers are towards the tip of the pencil, the more likely it is you will draw darker lines.
Once their grids were drawn and numbered, they drew just the contour lines of their animal, while observing just one box at a time. Like so…..
Once all the contour lines are complete, we reviewed what VALUE meant and after doing a demo under the doc camera, they started shading using various drawing pencils. I had them use just 2B, 3B, 4B and 6B.
I also had small handouts to refer to on a value scale with references on what pencil would probably work best for each value within their picture.
We also reviewed how you can change the value of the pencil marks by simply pressing harder or lighter as well.
Students also learned how to use a TORTILLION or aka a blending stump to soften/blur lines and create lighter values.
You can see the tortillion (not tortilla! Tortillion I joked with the kids) on this students picture of a giraffe.
Kids were amazed at how much detail they acheived and how accurate they could draw what they were seeing—-just by simply slowing down, and really paying attention to all the little details and nuances within each and every square!!
To view a great video and interview with Chuck Close himself– click on the video below!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=milXH-433vs
And another if you like!….
To view additional Grid drawings by my 5th graders in the past—- go HERE and then scroll down until you see it! This is also where you can view the learning goals of my lesson.
Thanks for stopping by!! I will be posting again within the next week or so—so Stay Tuned!! 🙂
Every year, near the end of the school year, I’ve had my students do this quick, fun lesson!
We draw just a portion of our heads large along the bottom of a 12×18″ 80# sheet of drawing paper. I demonstrate on how to draw a “rainbow line” along the bottom and then add eyes and eyebrows.
We talk about different facial expressions and how our eyebrows go up when we get excited!
We went around the room and shared a variety of ideas! They then drew images on what things they wanted to do over summer break within a large thought bubble. They could incorporate words too, but I told them to focus more on drawing than writing.
I demonstrated on how to draw a few ideas (one being a pair of sunglasses that looked three-dimensional, which kids loved drawing and did a fantastic job!)
Once complete in pencil, they outline all lines with a black sharpie then colored and painted!
One year I had students create a cut out version of themselves. After drawing, they cut out the entire head and neck and then cut the top portion of their heads off and glued it onto separate 12×18″ paper hinged open with the thoughts/images coming out.
AND NOW FOR SOME CUTE PICS OF KIDS CREATING THEIR ART! ….
I LOVED her t-shirt so much I had to take a pic!
1ST GRADE- “DREAM HOUSES”
On the first day of this lesson, I read the book “The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Pinkwater.
I LOVE this book!! If you haven’t read it to your child, or students you should!
It’s about a man, Mr. Plumbean, who paints his house to “look like all his dreams”. In the beginning of the story, a big orange splot of paint falls on his house. Instead of getting rid of it, he adds to the splot, and paints his home with a ton of bright, vivid colors, and pictures of fun, random things. His neighbors get upset at him and want all the houses to look the same. Neighbors one by one, try to have a talk with him to change it back, but…. instead… each neighbor gets inspired, and ends up changing all their houses to look like their own dreams!
After reading the story, we discussed how it’s important to be yourself and to not be afraid to stand out. I showed students examples of previous 1st graders dream home drawings, as well as a few of my own, then kids got started!
I had no rules for this art lesson except to add a pattern somewhere within their work! Kids could draw whatever kind of house they wanted! It didn’t have to be rectangular or square like most houses—it could be any shape! It could be a slice of cake, a puppy, a cookie, a robot, a spaceship, a boat, a unicorn, slides coming from the roof to a pool in the yard….you get the idea!
I just wish I took more photos of their artwork….It was on their last art class that they finished them up and time just escaped me!!
Below these kids pics, I posted some other dream houses created by my 1st graders from last year to make up for that!
LOVE THIS STUDENTS T-SHIRT!!! AND FUN MULTI-COLORED HAIR!
SOME PICS FROM LAST YEAR….
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!
TUNE IN SOON FOR 5TH GRADERS SUPER AWESOME GRID DRAWINGS!!!! ……
In the last few art classes, before summer break, my special ed students made these lovely creations!
These snails were a cinch to make! We used model magic air dry modeling clay, liquid tempera paint, pipe cleaners, and large googley eyes!
It was a 2 day process since the clay needs more than 24 hours to dry before painting.
I demonstrated how to roll out the clay like a snake, then rolled one end on top of itself to create a large spiral for the shell.
We rolled out another “snake” for the body with another piece. We then curled up one end of the body creating a hook shape for the head, and wrapped it around a pipe cleaner that was made into two spirals on either end for the eyes. Students watched me demonstrate first and then we did it together as I demonstrated again.
The snail shell (large spiral) was then attached, by just pressing onto the body.
I love model magic since it’s so soft to work with AND STICKY! which adheres instantly to itself. Great for so many art lessons! —-A little pricey to to buy in large quantities if you ask me, but when you need small amounts per student or for small classes like this, it’s perfect!
I let them dry on tinfoil sheets on a paper plate, until the following class when they painted them. Kids could pick whatever colors they wanted. For a final touch, I hot glued the eyes on after they painted them!
These flowers came from Pinterest. I’ve seen many varieties on this easy paper strip flower and thought we’d give it a try! All it took was pre-cut strips of paper, punched out construction paper circles for the centers, and glue sticks. I thought it was a great lesson to strengthen students fine motor skills. They did a fantastic job! I wish I had more photos of kids art and of kids working on them- but at least there’s 1!
These butterfly beauties were all created with just cut up tissue paper and watered down white school glue!
I did a similar lesson with students using this method on fall pumpkins (these can be viewed here (then scroll down to see them) which I LOVE. I just love how the colors all bleed into one another. The centers were done with just smaller strips of black tissue.
Students each received a 9×12″ 80# sheet of drawing paper with a pre-drawn butterfly in black sharpie.
They used pre-cut warm colors and did the gluing themselves, overlapping colors as they glued.
On a separate sheet of 9×12″ they used pre-cut cool colors (just various blues really) to glue on the entire paper for the sky background while overlapping shades of blue.
It was okay to go beyond the black outline since they would be cut out later. Same with the blue background– they could go beyond the papers edges, since the edges would be trimmed off later as well.
*** …I DID cut out the butterfly for students and attached to the blue background to save a step (and save time!)for one special ed class, but for my other special education classes in my other school, we had more time, so students cut them out and glued them themselves. However…. I completely forgot to take photos of them before they snatched them up and took them home!!
For our FINAL art class before the break- they created a quick construction paper ice cream cone!
I had pre-drawn ice cream scoops on various colored papers as well as pre-drawn cones that kids cut out themselves, and assembled together. They added sprinkles and texture for the cones with crayons.
They also decorated their own cute white cotton baseball caps! I got these at Michaels art supply store. They used fabric markers for decorating whatever they wanted!
Thanks so much for visiting today! 🙂
Be sure to check back sometime tomorrow to see 1st-2nd grade final art lessons of the year as well as 5th graders AH–MAAA-ZING Grid drawings!!
HAPPY SUMMER EVERYBODY !!!! Especially to you art teacher friends out there!!! Woo-Hoo!!!
I had JUUuuust enough time to squeeze in one more art lesson before the last day of art for 4th graders at Roosevelt—–so they created these wonderful animal drawings!! Students at Roosevelt had 4 (40 minute) art classes to work on them.
The goal for this lesson was to draw at least 1 animal within it’s natural habitat (kids could choose their own animal to draw), and draw them either in the foreground or middle ground, with objects drawn in all 3 areas- showing an understanding of the elements of art –space, and value, as well as foreground, middle ground and background.
I had a variety of “step-by-step” how to draw handouts on various animals (deer, sloths, pigs, horses, rabbits, foxes, owls, among others etc. ) for students to refer to, as well as packets of images of animals to refer to when drawing.
Students drew on 12×18″ drawing paper, and could draw on it vertically or horizontally.
I showed them my examples as well as students drawings from previous years on a powerpoint, and we reviewed foreground, middle ground and background. We discussed how objects in the foreground appear to be the largest, and are drawn large and along the bottom of the paper, things in the middle ground appear a bit smaller to show they are further away, and are drawn smaller and near the middle of the paper, and things in the background are the smallest to show they are the furthest away and are drawn smallest near the top of the paper—which creates the illusion of space!
After students finished drawing, they began coloring in everything with colored pencils.
Before coloring though, I went over the element of art VALUE and we talked about how when we see things in real life, objects that are CLOSEST to us, tend to look darker and have more detail and contrast than objects that are further away. Particularly things that are very far away. Those objects tend to look lighter in value, have very little detail, and appear blurry.
The goal for coloring their drawings was to color in the foreground with darker values, and show detail and texture, and students colored in the middle ground and background the colors should be lighter in value.
I showed them photos of animals in their habitat that depicted this to help them understand better, then we reviewed how we could change the value within artwork using colored pencils. In a previous lesson on Victorian Architecture (these can be viewed under “4th grade art lessons” under the drop down menu) students learned about “value” and created a monochromatic house with colored pencils. We reviewed how to change the value by simply pressing hard while coloring the color would appear darker in value. By pressing with a lighter touch while coloring- the color would be lighter in value. Another way to change the value is to select a variety of shades of one color (say dark forest green, a medium green, and lighter lime colored green).
Students did a great job! Take a look below!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Check back again very soon for 5th grade Grid drawings, 2nd grade “thinking of summer” drawings, and 1st grade “dream houses”!! Plus more!!….
This was my 3rd graders last art lesson of the year before summer break! Kinetic Piranhas (OR…. any other creature really!) In previous years I had students draw only piranhas, but decided to open the lesson up to anything the students wanted to draw! They came up with some fantastic and creative ideas!
Students learned that kinetic artwork is art that moves and depends on motion from someone or something to make it move, in order to reach it’s full effect. This could be from a bunch of rotating gears, a computer, batteries, the wind, solar power, water etc. or in our case—hands to open and close the folded paper!!
Students looked at kinetic artwork by artists Theo Jansen, Arthur Ganson, Anthony Howe, and Mark Nixon before they began their drawings. Below the photos of students artwork, is a video of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeests” kinetic creatures– watch the video! It’s incredibly amazing!
Doesn’t the one above remind you of something from Monty Python?! Or is that just me?
Here are a couple videos on artist Theo Jansen and his AMAZING kinetic Strandbeests…..
Hope you enjoyed this post! Be sure to check back in a few days to see 1st grade “Dream Houses”, 2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-portraits”, 4th Grade “Animal Drawings”, and 5th Grade “Grid Drawings”!! I will be posting these throughout the week!
If interested in checking out artwork by grade level, click on the grade level under the drop down menu!
They’re done!! (Well… most of my classes anyhow!) I LOVE them so much! It’s a new lesson I started this year and I think it’s a keeper! Read below the pics to see how these were created!
This lesson took (4) 40 minute art classes to finish.
This lesson focuses on The Elements Of Art: (Line, Shape, and Color) and the Principles of Design: (Balance, Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Contrast and Pattern) as well as enhancing knowledge on drawing facial details and proportion.
I don’t think this self-portrait would be the same without the POP OUT 3D element! It makes it SO much more fun!
Plus, If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram account this year, you’ve probably noticed a lot more 3D artwork in the mix. I’ve made it a goal to incorporate more 3D elements in different art lessons for each grade level, since we don’t have a kiln for firing clay pieces at either school I teach in. This was definitely a fun lesson to teach and students seemed to really enjoy it!!
DAY 1:
On the first day of the lesson students drew their self-portrait large on a sheet of 12×18″ neon construction paper. Students had a choice of pink, lime, orange, yellow, or green.
I demonstrated under the document camera to start drawing the head a little bit more than halfway up the paper, and we reviewed ways to draw facial features. I also said they could draw their eyes closed or open, or winking! They were also encouraged to draw a pattern on their shirt for added detail.
Once drawn in pencil, they went over all their lines with a black sharpie to define them and make them stand out.
I absolutely LOVE the texture and movement of this student’s hair!
Check out the pattern on this student’s shirt! Loving the detail!!!
DAY 2 – 3
The following art class students finished drawing and outlining if needed, then carefully cut out their self-portrait leaving a little neon color all the way around the edges.
They then traced their cut out self-portrait along the bottom of a piece of 12×18″ black construction paper, vertically with a pencil.
After that- they set the cut out one aside, and wrote positive attributes in pencil all around their traced self-portrait. We talked about VARIETY and BALANCE and to write some words larger than others and some diagonally, sideways, and straight across.
I had a printed list of adjectives that each student could refer to for suggestions if they needed it. Kids could write other things as well of course if it wasn’t on the list, as long as it was positive.
Then they went over their words with a white colored pencil, making sure to make some brighter and more bold than others. The bright white lettering adds CONTRAST against the black paper.
DAY 4:
On the final day, students then traced a variety of colored chalk pastels all along the traced outline on the black paper. We went over the color wheel beforehand and reviewed primary, secondary, warm, cool, complementary, and analogous.
They applied the chalk pastels in short, thick lines and then using their finger- smudged the chalk going outward and away from their outlined self-portrait to create a glowing affect.
Students washed their hands (or used baby wipes) after using the chalk pastels, then took their neon cut out self-portrait again and traced it once more but this time, onto a sheet of 12×18″ white 80# drawing paper. Then went over those pencil lines with black sharpie.
Then carefully cut that one out –leaving a bit of white paper showing all around the edges. Then glued it into place on the black paper using a glue stick.
Then later on I attached their NEON cut out to go over the white one. I originally thought it would be a good idea to hot glue strips of cut cardboard to mount between the two in order for the neon one to pop out.
HAha…. That proved to be waaaay to time consuming cutting cardboard into strips. Plus I’d have to layer more than two strips to achieve the thickness I wanted.
SOOOoooo…. scrap THAT idea!
Then I tried bending strips of cardboard (from the neon paper packaging) into an accordian fold and hot-gluing those in between the two. Like so…
That DID work….however….. it too was VERY very time consuming (and kinda hurt my hands after awhile folding back the cardboard over and over and over).
I knew it wasn’t a very good method, but went on with it anyways. I wanted to get what I could done, since I planned on working on them that afternoon, and only had those materials on hand to make the pop out portion work. I think I got through 20 pieces of artwork.
THEN…. had the idea of using SPONGES!!! I went to Dollar Tree the next day and basically bought out the store of ALL of their sponges!! They sold them in packs of two, for just a buck and I only needed 1 sponge per students art.
I also cut each one up into smaller pieces to help spread and distribute the needed pop out support. Cutting them with scissors was super easy, thank goodness!!! It went SUPER quick and worked out perfectly with the hot glue!
YAY! (insert happy dance)
TA-DA!!!
Would LOVE to hear what you all think! I hung up a bunch so far at both schools, (I have a total of (5) 4th grade classes doing this project) and will be adding everyone else’s SOON!! 🙂
To view other artwork by 4th grade from this year (and previous years) click on “4TH GRADE ART LESSONS” under the drop down menu!
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Be sure to check back SOON for more amazing artwork! Take care and be kind everybody! 🙂
