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 :)
Imaginative Realism is the realistic depiction of the unreal.
Think Dungeons and Dragons, Wings of Fire, Magic The gathering. Fairies, Monsters, Trolls, Dragons, Mermaids, and all sorts of other make-believe creatures.
Students began with an introduction to the artwork of Jesper Ejsing who creates characters and scenes for Dungeons and Dragons, along with other fantasy creations. Some of his work is pictured below:
After learning about what Imaginative Realism is and some of the characteristics of that type of artwork students were asked to create their own original character based off of the common characteristics of the style.
Students must include value and shading appropriately on their characters, and had to create some sort of texture as well as including details to make their character really come to life.
We reviewed different techniques for creating value using colored pencils and then I taught them different textures that could be achieved with colored pencils.
Materials: Pencil Brown paper Sharpie (optional) White Gel Pen (optional) Colored pencils
The examples I made are:
Student projects are trickling in... in this virtual world were living in, it is most difficult to get things turned in when students have so much else going on in their lives. I'll take what I can get though!
I began this lesson with a google slide presentation which covered what a contour line drawing, still life drawing are and what composition means. I have not completed this lesson with students, but will update this post with student art when they start rolling in :)
White paper (needs to be at least 8.5x11, larger is better)
Pencil, sharpie, colored pencils, blending stump (if you don't have one, you can use your finger, paper towel, or tissue)
RULER or STRAIGHT EDGE (use a book or something that has a straight edge if you do not have a ruler)
Directions:
1. Arrange an interesting still life composition of 8-10 items.
2. Using pencil, create a contour line drawing of the composition. (DO NOT SHADE)
3. Using pencil, draw 8-10 of the same geometric shape (they should be different sizes) OVERLAP your contour still life objects
4. Using sharpie, outline any pieces of the items that are NOT inside of a box.DO NOT OUTLINE THE BOXES!!!!
5. Decide which materials to use inside which boxes. You are adding value/color to the items, but ONLY inside the boxes. Some should be done with just sharpie, some with pencil, and some with colored pencil.
6. Lastly- you need a background that doesn't take away from your drawing. I decided to create evenly spaced vertical lines through the back of mine. It is your choice what to do for your background.
Background Rules:
Should be done only with pencil and sharpie. (pencil first for sure!)
So I have a new gig this year, I am the Focus Art teacher for my county. I go to all 8 of our middle schools, to work with students who are identified as gifted in the visual arts. I see each group of students approximately twice a month and meet with them on consecutive days. So far, its been AWESOME!
I have a theme this year for my instruction, and it is "Unconventional." These gifted students are used to drawing with pencil on paper, and painting with acrylic on canvas so I want them to experience new ways to make art!
Our first mini project was for students to create a work of art on a notecard. The size was where the idea of unconventional art came in- I gave them free choice of their subject and materials.
After an unconventional sized work of art, we began talking about the kinetic performance artist Heather Hansen.
Students viewed this video and learned about her art style.
Not one of my students had ever tried drawing with both hands at the same time so it was an interesting project approach for them. They had to begin by using both hands at the same time, their subject could be realistic or abstract.
These works of art are on a piece of 18x24 drawing paper. Students enjoyed working on a larger piece of paper which I taped to the table so that it wouldn't move as they were drawing with both hands.
