Children's Book Illustration

I heard a great story on NPR about a team of divers saving a whale. I decided to retell it to the class with great detail and emotion, of course, and then asked them to consider the possibility of transforming it into a children's book. The student's made some wonderful sketches so I decided to focus this week on the art of Children's book illustrators. I selected some of my favorite illustrators to highlight. We looked at their work and discussed everything from first impressions to more in depth analysis of the samples and then ended with a video of Eric Carle.

The students will be taking the ideas that they've sketched and turning them into finished works of art, so before taking that on I wanted to explore some new techniques. One aspect that makes Eric Carle's work so appealing is the way he uses texture and color. I mixed up some paste for the students using cornstarch and watercolor and demonstrated a fun and simple way to create some interesting textures.
I then asked the students to use a harmonious, analogical color scheme (3 colors next to each other on the color wheel) to create a decorative piece of paper and then create a texture on top of it with the paste. Along with this technique students are creating virtual textures through the process of press printing.

Next week we will finish these things up and explore ways to incorporate these techniques into our finished illustrations.

Tile & Quilt Design

Students are creating symmetrical tile / quilt designs using the elements and principles of art and their knowledge of fractions. Students are selecting two art elements and applying each one to contrasting spaces in their design. The elements featured in the above example are color and texture.

OP ART

OP ART or Optical Illusion Art is artwork designed to create the illusion of movement, hidden images, the impression of flashing or shimmering areas, warping, swellings and other illusions created by applying basic art principles in clever ways.
The elements and principles most emphasized in OP Art are: lines (curvy, straight, converging), tones (shading, extreme contrast), shapes (patterns, repetition and overlapping).

 

The term OP Art wasn't coined until the mid 1960s, however artists certainly explored these phenomenons before then. One of everyone's favorite artists whose work provided inspiration for the Op art movement of the 60s was MC Escher. He liked playing with the techniques of perspective drawing in order to use depth as a way of fooling the viewer into believing what they see in spite the impossibility of it.

Enlarging Your Drawings Using a Grid

The students will be working on a group mural project. They will learn how to use the grid system to enlarge a drawing. This is a traditional method that is still widely used today. Often people use a projector to enlarge their designs onto a wall, however this is not possible in every situation and therefore it is very important to be familiar with other methods. The grid system is very reliable and can be used not only for murals but also simply to transfer your drawings from one surface to another.

Spring Semester 2015

Welcome back students!
Let's make this a great semester.

Our first order of business is to make a portfolio. These portfolios need to remain in the classroom for the duration of the semester and they need to be stored in the correct spot. This is very important because if I can't find your work to grade at the end of the week, you may get a zero when that's not the grade that you deserve.
Make you portfolio unique by decorating it and have your name on it so I can recognize it. Thank you and once again, have a great semester.

You do your part and I'll do mine, together we can make it GREAT!!

Basket Weaving

Basket Weaving is known to have played a role in every civilization ever, throughout history. It has been around for 10s of thousands of years. The materials are readily available an the functions are numerous. Baskets have been custom made to carry just about everything from food and water to babies. Weaving is also used to make hats, traps, strainers, moulds, umbrellas, chairs, mats and the list goes on.The methods are simple but require a bit of practice. It takes a very skilled weaver to make a basket tight enough to hold water, but it has been done.

The students are learning how to weave a basic basket. While weaving the reeds have to soak periodically and so while their basket is soaking they are working on Celtic Knot Designs. These two projects work well together because drawing a Celtic knot requires the same rhythmic, over and under pattern.

TONES

Fred and Ginger 

Understanding tones is such an important aspect of art, whether it's painting, photography, sculpture
or design. In many cases the variation in tone does more to define and enhance an image than color does. Have you ever seen a really beautiful black and white film from the 1930s or '40s. These films from that Golden Age capture everything from sparkling diamonds to misty forests and there is no color.

The students are doing several exercises that will give them a change to work techniques that are used to enhance tonal variety in their work