Easter treats Still Life Lesson

 In these videos you will learn about drawing a still life!

1.Grab some of your treats from Easter or a stuffy and some things
2. arrange them so that some things are in front and some things are behind (overlapping)
3. draw whatever is up front and closest to you first
4. draw whatever is directly behind the front item noticing where the line begins and ends on the item in front to create overlapping
5. draw whatever is in the very back now
6. Add shadows and highlights where you see them
7. color or paint your creation using different dark and light shades of each color

 

Composition and Design Drawing

This is an easy project you can do in one day.
It is awesome because it covers many principals and elements of art and design.

1st it teaches composition, the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work. It can also be thought of as the organization of the elements of art according to the principles of design.

The term composition means 'putting together,' and can apply to any work of art, from music, to writing, to photography, that is arranged or put together using conscious thought. In the visual arts, composition is often used interchangeably with various terms such as design, form, visual ordering, orformal structure, depending on the context.

It also teaches about OVERLAPPING shapes, negative space, and the illusion of movement.

Below are the steps I used to teach it.

1.select 3 different color markers

2. Draw 6 shapes using only one color, and decorate the shapes. They need to be large and some can run off the edge of the paper. They need to be very simple shapes. Geometric or organic. They can turn them into something, make concentric lines inside, or fill them in completely.

3. Draw a "ribbon" beginning at the top of the paper and winding down to the bottom going "under" every shape, and touching the sides of the paper as it meanders down the page

4. use the third color to outline the nagative space creating NEW organic shapes. Do not touch the other shapes or the ribbon but stay very close. 

5. decorate the inside of the new shapes with a congruent pattern using the same color (stripes, polka dots, wiggly lines, stars, etc)

6. decorate the inside of the ribbon with only the ribbon color

I did this with kinder and 1st today and it was amazing to see them thinking about and planning their composition. Besides a few that didn't finish, we had great success. I think this would be good for any age level. I plan to do it on a larger scale with the older groups.

Here are some kinder, first, and a few second grade works

Still Life Roses 101

When teaching a still life my goal is to take them from drawing the "swirly" rose in Exibit A below



to the rose in Exibit B below....using their eyes!

Students must learn to use their EYES to draw.

When we draw the roses I tell them to pretend their pencil is an airplane, their paper is the runway, but they must use their eyes to fuel the plane so that it can take off across the runway!!
 Their brain tells them to draw the swirly curly center, but they must train their mind to DRAW WHAT THEY SEE!

So here is how I teach Still Life Roses

First, look at LOTS of Roses and talk about them! I had these LSU roses because a teacher got them for V-Day and they were SO cool!!

This turned out to be a great SCIENCE lesson about how they got the roses to be this color!

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 1. Draw a contour line around the rose using your eyes.
 It is like tracing your hand; go all the way around with nothing in the middle.
I tell them over and over to keep their EYES on the rose and draw every point, bump, and hill.
Also remind them to draw big. I tell them the rose must be the size of their hand. They draw a very light oval around their hand and try to fit it inside. That also helps with placement on the page if they are drawing more than one.

2. Then they begin with the bottom petals because they are in the front.

3. Then they move around the rose, drawing the outer petals first, saving the center and top of the rose till the end. Keep reminding students to keep their EYES on the rose!

4. When they draw the center of the rose, I tell them to look at each petal as a shape, and see where that shape connects to the other shapes. NO SWIRL in the middle. Look where each petal starts and stops. 

5. When they draw the leaves/stem, they must look at each leaf as a shape. If it is sideways, it will be a long, thin shape, also notice when the leaves overlap the stem, they won't always be on either side of the stem. 

Keep your eyes on the ROSE! 

These are third grade drawings below...

Keep your EYES on the ROSE 

We used white roses because that was what I got for Valentine's Day, but do not use white if you have a choice. Dark red or multi colored roses are easier to see!!

When they finish drawing we outlined the roses with an extra fine-tip Sharpie. They could draw and decorate a creative flower vase if they wanted. 

Some of the fifth graders finished quickly and started painting today.

We talked about how to create value with watercolor. They looked for the highlights where they must paint very light, and the shadows which need to be darker.

The roses below are from fourth grade! I cannot wait to post the finished results next week! They are going to use liquid watercolors in all different colors!