Virginia Art Education Association Conference 2021- Surviving and Thriving in the Middle School Art Classroom

Please click the link below to access information from the 2021 VAEA Conference

VAEA 2021 - Surviving and Thriving in the Middle School Art Classroom

 

Abstract Watercolors and Figure Drawings

This project was completed with my gifted art students in grades 7 and 8. 

Students began this project by talking about what abstract art really is. We looked at various contemporary artists like Brenden Spivey, and of course the masters like Wassily Kandinsky. 

Students were given a 9x12 piece of watercolor paper to complete their abstract watercolor painting. Before they began, we talked about what a color scheme is, and how to choose what colors they wanted to use. I suggested that they use 3-4 colors for their background and then choose a contrasting color to add in at the end, however I did not limit their choices. 

After the completion of their painting (and after it dried) they were instructed to outline their paintings using a sharpie marker. This task proved to be difficult when looking at every brush stroke they painted. I found that outlining was very soothing for me personally, many students felt the same way. They had the option to outline the entire painting, or only certain parts. Many chose to outline the painting in it's entirety. 

When the paintings were completed, we began talking about gesture drawings. We talked about how they are fast drawings which simply capture the essence of a person in motion. 

To practice creating gesture drawings, I asked for volunteers and students posed for us to draw them. Students found this exercise to be a lot of fun. Another option that some students chose was to look up images online of people in motion (sports photos, etc.) and complete their gesture drawings that way. I had students complete between 5-10 gesture drawings. 

Following our discussions and practice with gesture drawings, we began looking at refining the gesture drawings into figure drawings. Unfortunately I did not have enough wooden mannequins for my students to use, so I found an alternative in the form of an online posable form. Students used the website below to manipulate the person into whatever position they chose. I had them complete two figure drawings focusing on proportion.

Posable Mannequin

Lastly they chose one of their two figure drawings to recreate in a slightly larger scale. Once they completed the drawing, they outlined it with sharpie and they were instructed to add some color using the same color scheme they used in their watercolor background. We used colored pencils for this task. 

 Some students who used a warm color scheme for their background decided to use a contrasting color scheme for their figure. I let them have a bit of freedom in their choices throughout this project so that I would have some variation in the outcomes. 

The last step in our process was to cut out their final figure leaving a small amount of white paper around their drawing. Finally they glued their figure on their painting after moving it around to find the perfect place. I am so proud at how well they are doing on this project! 

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Step 3: 

 Face Your Fears 

The idea for this project came from a student. Our last project was in reference to the Fauves and Fauvism. We are still 100% virtual for my gifted art classes and sometimes hearing things clearly is not the easiest. When I was saying "Fauves" one student thought I was saying "Phobes" and thought we were doing Phobia drawings. Thus the birth of this project idea. 

Face your fears incorporates our previously learned knowledge of value and shading. 

In class we reviewed the 4 ways we learned to add value (stippling, hatching/crosshatching, scumbling, and blending)  We talked about drawing facial features and decided to start with the eyes. 

We watched a tutorial video on drawing eyes: 

After the video, I walked them through drawing an eye step by step including proper shading techniques. We talked about expression- and how the eyes can convey different expressions. I asked them to practice drawing different eyes and we used this image as a reference:

Next up was the nose, which students feel is the hardest feature to draw, and I agree! We talked about the mistakes students make (drawing the sides of the nasal canal, drawing complete circles for the nostrils, etc) I mentioned how most of the nose is made simply with shading to make it appear 3D as opposed to drawing the entire outline.

We watched this tutorial video:

After the video I walked them through drawing and shading a nose. 

When the noses were complete, we moved on to the mouth.

After watching the tutorial video, I walked them through drawing a mouth step by step.

The last feature we focused on was the ear. We watched a tutorial video on how to draw ears: 

After the video I walked them through drawing and shading an ear step-by-step.

When we finished practicing drawing facial features, I asked them to tell me some different fears that they or people they know might have. I got everything from fear of spiders to the fear of holes and everything in between. Once we had a list, I asked them to choose one fear and think about how they can illustrate that fear. 
When students had decided on a fear, they had to choose a facial feature that they would draw to "face" their fears. I asked them to think creatively and figure out how to incorporate the fear of their choice coming out of their chosen facial feature using proper shading techniques. 

These drawings aren't meant to be huge, they are mostly no larger than 6"x6" 
I will update the post as soon as students begin to complete their drawings. 

Student Project Examples:

 Line Portraits 

This project has so many options for variation! I began this project with inspiration from two artists, Lui Ferreyra, and Kris Trappeniers.

Lui Ferreyra is an artists who works largely in portraiture and his fragmented prismatic portraits are absolutely beautiful!

The other artist we looked at is a Belgian based artist named Kris Trappeniers. He creates these wonderful continuous line portraits and sometimes even with extreme patience and precision cuts them out with an X-acto knife.

For this project, we began by practicing out continuous line drawing skills. Many times students feel this is a most difficult task as they want to pick up their pencil, especially whilst drawing a portrait. I had them look at a simple contour line drawing of a face and complete a practice drawing of that face using a continuous line. 

After our continuous line practice, we ventured into the proportions of the face. We looked at a video from youtube showcasing the proportions when drawing a side profile view face. Next I gave them a tutorial on how to draw the proportions of a face in a frontal view. 

Once we have practiced with proportion and continuous line we talk about the options students have for their project and the materials they might need to complete it.

Materials: 

Pencil

Paper (white, brown, watercolor etc) 

Colored pencils, paint, marker, etc

 Sharpie (optional)

Magazines for collage (optional) 

Requirements: 

Students must choose a photograph of a person to be able to draw a portrait from observation ( itcould be someone they know, themselves or an image from someone on the internet) 

Students must consider proportion when drawing their portrait. 

Students must utilize continuous line in some way on their artwork (on the portrait itself or in the background)

Students must utilize some sort of color.

Options:

Create a background utilizing sharpie, watercolor, collage or any other type of material. 

Extension activity:

Students can utilize Google Drawings, or even Google Slides to create the following extension project.

Students will begin by saving a photo of a person and uploading it into whichever platform they are using (slides or drawings) 

Using the scribble tool, they will create continuous lines on and around the face and neck of their chosen portrait. 

The continuous line should intersect in different areas over the face to create new shapes. 

Using the line tool, students will select different colors and create repeated lines in each space on the face that was created by continuous line. 

Students are currently working on this project but please check back for more student examples :)