Drawing Projects and Lessons

Blooming Amaryllis Drawings and Paintings

     I received two amaryllis bulbs in December, and after planting them in pots and watching them grow very quickly, I decided to bring them to the classroom in February to show the children. A teacher came up with the great idea of drawing the amaryllis before it bloomed on 1/2 paper, with the time & date written below it, and then coming back to the flower after it bloomed and drawing it again, with the date & time written on the other half.

Materials Needed:

• large thick white paper (approx.11x24")
• chalk pastels or water-based paints
• pencils
• water-color brushes (optional)
• water & containers (optional)

1  Fold the paper in half and draw a line down the middle. Be sure to do the first drawing on the left side of the paper.

2  Place the plant in the middle of the table and draw by sight with pencil, then go over with another medium in color.

3  Write the time, day, month, year and name at the bottom of the paper.

4  After the amaryllis has bloomed, place the plant in the exact location as before and do the second drawing with the information written at the bottom on the right side of the paper.

I encouraged everyone to fill in all of the paper with the chalk or the paint, and to use a different color in the backgrounds for the second drawing.

Lessons in Perspective Drawing

     This school year I decided to undertake the task of teaching the idea of perspective to all the grades, meaning kindergarten to sixth grade. Of course there were a lot of modifications, and varying degrees of understanding among all the grade levels, but overall it was quite successful and many students came away from the unit with a greater understanding of drawing principles and were very excited about this "new trick".

     I decided that I had to start with very basic concepts, because for many of them this was a totally new experience. I also wanted to keep the amount of fun in the room going strong so as not to scare anybody away from the art room. So I introduced the ideas of perspective as a magic show. I found two object of the exact size and shape (in this case I used two #2 pencils), and while standing in front of a group I used my magician/show person's voice: "Ladies and gentlemen! Here you see two objects that are exactly the same! But watch closely, for I will make one smaller then the other!" At this point I held one pencil close and the other pencil farther away. "Close one eye, put your thumb and index fingers in front of your open eye, and measure the size of the pencil in front with your fingers. Now, without moving your fingers, measure the pencil in the back. Is it bigger or smaller?" Invariably the children will say, "Smaller!" Of course, there are always those wise crackers, but they're in every audience. Anyway, whether they're in kindergarten or 6th grade, almost every one of them was "Wowed"!

     After this magic show I introduced some vocabulary terms for their perspective lessons: horizon line (the limit of a person's view in a location), foreshortening (when objects appear larger as they come closer to the viewer's eye), background (the distant part of a scene) and foreground (the nearest part of a picture or scene to a person looking at it). Then I proceeded to have them practice these basic principles in the following project.

Perspective Lesson 1: Foreshortening

                                     

Materials Needed:

• large white drawing paper (11x17 or so)
• watercolor or tempera paints
• magazines
• glue
• drawing materials (crayons, pens or pastels)
• scissors

1  Fold the paper in half (either horizontal or verical is fine). Unfold paper, and the fold line becomes the horizon line. Draw over this with a pen or pencil.

2  Paint the upper half (above the horizon line) the sky color (usually blue, but can be any color they choose. Paint the lower half the ground (or sometimes the sea) color.

3  While the paint is drying start choosing  magazine pictures to use as collage on the paper. The aim is to find different images of varying sizes (minimum of three images in three different sizes: small, medium and large) that can depict the concept of foreshortening, or how objects appear larger than they really are when they are closer to you, or smaller than usual when they are further away. The largest image will go in the foreground while the smallest image will go in the background.

4  Once the students have chosen their images I have them lay them out on the paper so that I can come around and review them, making sure that they are indeed different sizes and give them ideas about how to place them before they glue them on the paper. This is the point when it gets very confusing to a lot of people. Well, why would the kitten picture be up front  and the gorilla picture in the back when everyone knows gorillas are bigger than kittens? Yes, but remember the eye trick? And many times I have to review this with them before they grasp the idea and can move on.

5  Glue the images onto the paper, using the ideas of foreshortening, background, foreground and horizon line.

6 Now it's time to get creative! Draw around the images, make up silly scenes with the giant pictures and little pictures, or draw any way you want.

Fun Printmaking Projects!

     This is an appropriate art form to follow in the foot steps of the Chinese New Year. Why? Well, let's go back 2000 years ago, to the time when paper was invented, which is usually (but not always) required to make prints. Paper was invented in 105 CE by a Chinese eunuch, Ts'ai Lun. The Chinese also invented the woodcut, which is the oldest form of printmaking. There were wood-block pictures and texts in China hundreds of years before the first prints appeared in 15th century Europe. And thus the book was formed.

     There are four types of printmaking processes that printmakers use, which is listed below. Because the art room does not have it's own printing press and some of the printing techniques involve sharp tools or toxic materials, I do the best I can to teach the basic ideas of some of these techniques with modified materials.

1) Relief printing: Woodcut, linoleum cut, stamps, rubbings, etc. This is making a print from a raised surface. The design area stands out and receives the ink, while the rest of the area is cut away so it cannot print when the surface is inked.

2) Intaglio printing: Etching, aquatint, engraving, drypoint, etc. Intaglio prints are created from a cut or scratched surface, and the cut areas receive and hold the ink for printing.

3) Stencil (serigraphy) printing: Silk screen (serigraph), photographic silk screen, paper stencil, etc. Prints are made from ink forced through openings of a surface of cut material.

4) Planography (surface) printing: Lithography. This process must be done in a studio equipped with special and some toxic materials, so it is not something usually taught to children, unless they are fortunate to have access to a lithography studio. Prints are made from ink which has been rolled on an image drawn on a stone or metal surface with a greasy crayon or ink and treated with turpentine and water.

MONOPRINTING

 I like to begin my series of printmaking lessons with some fun monoprinting projects. Mono, meaning one, is the process of laying the ink or paint onto a hard surface, and making one print off of this design. It's a good way to loosen up, and to grasp the concept of how it takes certain steps to create a print, and that the print will always be a mirror image of the picture drawn on the plate.

Materials Needed

• newspapers
• glass or plexiglass plates of various sizes
• tempera paint
• brushes of various sizes
• thick white drawing paper
• water and rags

1 Have a few sheets of newspaper under a clean, dry plate, put out a variety of tempera paint colors in cups with brushes and water.

2  Make a fairly quick painting on the plate (the tempera will dry and won't be able to print if it sits too long) while being careful not to lay it on too thick or the paint will smear when printed. I also discourage using letters: it gets too confusing to figure out how to write backwards on the plate, and this project should be about freeing up the creative juices! 
       
3 When the painting is finished make sure that the newspaper beneath the plate is free of paint, change if needed, then center the paper over the plate, lay it down and start gently pressing and rubbing your hands over the paper. You will know the print is ready when the image begins to lightly appear through the paper.

4 Lift the paper by the edges and see what appears!

BUTTERFLY PRINTS

A lesson in symmetry, printmaking and folding.

Materials Needed

• newspapers
• high-gloss paper (fingerpainting paper is good)
• tempera paints
• water, brushes, cups and rags

1 Fold the paper in half

2 Paint half of a butterly wing, head and antenna on the folded side of the paper.

3 Unfold the paper, then refold and press the blank half over the painted half and rub all over the paper with your hands.

4 Unfold the paper and voila! A beautiful butterfly!

Stencil Printing

See what happens when you add paint or ink to negative and positive spaces. The example in this project shows a 4th grade student's stencil print of a simple leaf shape using 2 tempera paint colors on the back of a grocery bag.

Materials Needed

• cardboard or mat board
• scissors
• printing ink or paint
• paper
• rollers and brushes
• newspaper
• pencil

1 Design a simple shape on a piece of cardboard. Add details inside the shape such as circles, lines, etc. to add interest and create more negative spaces.

2 Cut out the shape, and all of the interesting details. This is the stencil.

3  Lay the cardboard stencil over a piece of paper. Roll a color over the stencil, and use a brush to get into the holes if necessary. Be sure to get all around the edges!

4 When the stencil is lifted off of the paper you will see the how the covered areas are left blank. It's fun to try painting the stencil with a lighter color first, lay it on the paper, then roll over the stencil with a darker color.  

Multiple Color Printing Plates

This was a somewhat difficult printmaking activity, best taught to grades 4th and up. I think the most confusing part is to understand that this is about taking away areas to make an image rather than adding to areas, as you would to a painting. The students really enjoyed this project though, and the outcome was almost always successful.

Materials Needed

• newspaper
• printing ink
• 3 or 4 plexiglass or glass plates of the same size
• brayers (rollers)
• paper
• pencils and black markers
• cotton balls, swabs and paper towels

1 Create a fairly simple design on a piece of paper. The paper must be the same size as the ink plates.

2 Trace over the drawing with a thick black pen.

3 Turn the paper over and trace over the lines from the other side, then go over again with a black pen. You should then have the same drawing on both sides of the paper, but in opposite directions.

4 Line the plates up in a row on a table. Each plate will have it's own color of ink. The first plate will be the lightest (for instance yellow), then medium (red) then darkest (purple) last. Three colors seemed to be the easiest to work with.

5 Apply the ink to the first plate and roll evenly with a brayer.

6 Place the back side of the drawing under the first inked plate. This is the side that was traced from the original, and is the mirror image. Now with a small paper towel piece, cotton, or swab take out the inked areas that you do not want to show up on the print.

7 Remove the drawing and place the original side onto the inked plate. Roll vigorously over the paper with a clean brayer. Lift paper off plate.

8 Repeat steps for the next two colors. Remember to use the tracing of the original (the backside of the drawing) under the plate when taking away the color, and to use the original drawing over the plate when making a print. 

Chinese New Year Wall Display

Chinese New Year Art Projects

SUMI BRUSHWORK/CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS AND SYMBOLS


   On Monday we introduced and reviewed  the basic concepts of the Chinese New Year celebration. The year 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon, which only occurs once every 60 years. It is believed to be an especially lucky year. The New Year began on the first day of the New Moon in January, and ends on the first day of the Full Moon. There are 12 years represented by different animals, and the children had the opportunity to learn about what animal year they belonged to and the basic characteristics for that animal.

     When the students entered the art room they were given a practice sheet of paper, a sumi brush and ink in a container. After a basic lesson on the use of the sumi brush (keep the tip pointed and at an angle to the paper, while holding loosely and making broad strokes, rather than stiff and sketching) and practicing on their sketch paper, they painted their animals on thicker white paper. I tried to encourage them to fill the whole page by putting their animal in an environment, or use design elements around the animal. They were then given a handout of Chinese symbols representing the name of their animal, and by eyeing the symbol they transferred it onto a part of the ink drawing. The kindergarten and 1st graders were given the option to try this part of the lesson, and a few actually liked doing it!


Recommended resource: kimloong.org. This site offers helpful information about  Chinese astrology.


CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY/GOOD FORTUNE BANNERS

     To decorate your home with symbol of good fortune, here are two fun projects to do with children. But before they start their final piece have them practice their brushwork and writing skills. I use a handout that another teacher introduced me to, which has the symbol of good luck with numbers and arrows to follow. This can be downloaded and printed from teacherlink.ed.usu.edu  . Chinese writing characters go back more than 3000 years. The symbols began as pictures, which were drawn to resemble the items they represented. Have the children see if they can recognize pictures in the characters. For the younger ages, don't worry about accuracy, it's the practice that counts, and this is an excellent project for promoting small motor and handwriting skills.


     Red and White Calligraphy Sign

          Materials Needed: Small white drawing or rice paper (approx. 4 x 6"), larger red or orange construction paper (to have at least 2" border around white paper), glue sticks, black ink, sumi or paint brush, wide and short cup for ink best to prevent tipping), hole puncher, pretty string (I use gold threaded).

     Before they begin to write their characters center the white paper onto the red or orange construction paper and glue together at the corners. I use the colors red or orange because in the Chinese culture red is believed to represent happiness while orange or gold represents wealth and happiness. Offer the children handouts of good fortune symbols and have them choose their favorite ones to copy onto the paper with the sumi brush and ink. Some examples would be: longevity, good luck, prosperity, and double happiness. I found a lot of good fortune symbols to download and print on www.zein.se/PATRICK/chinen11p.html. After they write their symbols they or you can write the English version beneath it in pen or small paintbrush and ink. Hole punch two holes at the top and loop a 10" string through, tied at the top to be hung banner-style.


     Paper Wall Scrolls

     This is a fun one that I came up with after a frantic moment looking for rice paper that I thought was still stashed in one of the paper drawers. Instead I found piles of donated bamboo and paper window shades and an "aha!" moment flashed before me. I used a paper cutter to cut the shades into smaller sizes (approx. 4" x 8"). They actually work really well as tracing paper, so after the children have practiced their brushwork and transferred by eye, this is a good chance to copy the symbols by tracing. It then has a greater chance of accuracy and it's satisfying to make something that really looks nice. I also hole punch 2 holes at the top and loop with the gold string. See how translucent it looks in the window.

     Recommended resources:  www.familyculture.com, www.china-family-adventure.com, and the book "Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting. Its History, Aesthetics and Techniques" by Kwo Da-Wei, Dover Publications, Inc., New York. 1981.


EGG CARTON DRAGONS

     Now here's a good open-ended art project for all ages! The credit for this idea goes to another teacher, but I really enjoyed doing this in the art room.

     Materials Needed:  Egg cartons, glue, glue gun and sticks (optional), scissors, tape, craft supplies such as crepe paper, ribbon, googly eyes, paper scraps, glitter, sequins, pom poms, tempera paint, feathers, recycled material.

     You will need a large table for this project, and prepare to get messy! Cover the table with cloth or newspaper and have the art supplies readily accessible to the children, especially the glue, tape and scissors. We worked in teams of 2-3 students per dragon, but it can also be done alone.
     After handing the egg cartons out 1 per team I showed them the supplies and encouraging them to make up their own designs. I would refill supplies, monitor the glitter, use the glue gun or help when they were having difficulty problem-solving, but otherwise I stepped away from the table and let them work on their own.  Because we had just watched a traditional Chinese New Year Lion dance the children were easily inspired to come up with their own ideas. It woud also be good to read a book before the project to find out more about the history of the dragon in the New Year's celebrations.
     This was a good project to help encourage group and creative problem-solving skills.

Recommended Books: "Dragon Dance A Chinese New Year Lift-the-Flap Book" by Toan Holub; "The Pet Dragon A Story About Adventure, Friendship and Chinese Characters" by Christoph Niemann.

Day One Chinese New Year

Gung Hay Fat Choy, kionghee huat tsai, gong hei fat choi, kung hei fat choy, gung hey fat choy, gung hei fat choi, gong xi fa cai, kung hei fat choi!

It's late and I'm just getting started. I have some great Chinese New Year lesson ideas, so keep posted. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now up and running.

Your Chinese New Year lesson plans will be coming this week!