Year 7 Charcoal Drawings

I have been working as a Visual Arts relief teacher at a Secondary school for the last four weeks and was invited to write a project for a Year 7 extension class. I decided to teach the kids about German Expressionism, focusing particularly on high contrast woodcuts. I got the kids to first trace photographs of dogs with pencil and then apply expressive mark making techniques with their charcoal. I think the results are really striking!

They are now creating two designs based on photographs of their own pets in preparation for creating a lino-cut. They will have to choose the design that they think is most effective in capturing the essence of Expressionism.

Cherry Blossoms and Pandas with my 7-10 class

For the last two lessons we have been looking at Japanese and Chinese scrolls. I have been collecting lots of sticks from my back garden in preparation for this project. We began by painting large pieces of paper with mixes of pink, yellow and white. Some students deliberately aimed to emulate a bright sunset in their backgrounds while others added lots of white for a more subdued effect. Once dry, I showed the kids how to draw branches with black ink, starting thick at the bottom corner and gradually getting thinner. We then applied the cherry blossoms by dabbing small areas of bubble wrap in pink, red and white paint and printing over the top of the thinner branches to create a varied effect.

While the paint dried the kids learnt how to draw realistic and cartoon pandas and prepared the room for a mini-exhibition. We then wrapped the ends of the scrolls around the sticks at the top and tied string to each end. I taught the students about the different roles involved in setting up an exhibition and they got very excited about being little curators!

Texture and Pattern with 8-11 Drawing Class

We started this lesson by looking at this beautiful scraper board drawing by Andrea Foenander and discussing the marks she used in order to create texture and pattern. I then showed the students how to draw an owl from the same angle by dividing the face and body into simple shapes and gradually adding more detail. We then practiced using different tools to create different marks on the scraper board paper before the students completed their own versions of owls. 

Self-portraits with 9-13 group

With each new group of students I like to do a guided self-portrait exercise. The class involves the students observing their own faces in the mirror and following my instructions until their portraits are complete. The exercise allows me to explain the proportional tricks with each facial feature and demonstrate on the board, the common mistakes people make when trying to draw themselves realistically. 

Some of these mistake include:

1. Eyes far too big without enough attention to the eye-lids and creases surrounding the eyes. Once students take their time to look at the unique lines that create their expressions they will begin to see a resemblance. Some of the eyes in the examples below are still a bit big but a huge improvement from the originals.

2. Drawing every little hair and eyelash (that you can't really see when you look at yourself in the mirror). I encouraged the students to sketch tonal areas for their hair. I also encouraged the students to focus on the movement of their hair and how it falls around their face. Drawing consistent strands will make drawings look like cartoons rather than realistic observations.

3. Big, round nostrils. While some people look like they have permanently flaired nostrils, it is quite uncommon! Once I taught the students how to create the form of their noses using shadows and highlights, their faces began to look more three-dimensional.

Overall the activity took just under 2 hours with a break half way through. Next lesson we will be adding final details and tonal backgrounds.

Please excuse terrible lighting of photos!

Year One Relief: Warm Hands and Cool Backgrounds!

Pet Rock fish and Fish bowls!

Motivational Posters and paper curling borders with my 9-13 group

Paul Klee Inspired Cats with my 7-10 group

Jim Dine Hearts: Finger painting, oil pastels and paper weaving with my 7-10 class

Cats and Dogs in Space: Holiday Class with 5-7 year olds

Easter Egg Cards with my 7-10 Group

Painting Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol with my 9-13 group

For the last three classes we have been gradually building up portraits of Warhol and Frida. We began by lightly outlining the faces onto the canvas using the grid method, based on printed out photos of the artists. We also made monochromatic scales, mixing as many shades of purple/green as we could. The students first applied their midtones then focused on applying darker tones, then finally lighter tones. The students were then asked to choose a colour that complements one of the shades of green/purple for the back ground. They were shown a colour wheel in order to make this decision (choosing a shade on the opposite side of the wheel).