Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Artfulness Among Us!!!

Toward the end of 2020, interest in electives at my school was waning a bit. I decided to hop on the "Among Us Train" in an attempt to keep my artists working! Here are a few ideas we have explored using these little "sus" guys as inspiration!



After watching a few YouTube videos about the game and how to draw the characters, students followed the above steps from artprojectsforkids.org using a wide popsicle stick (No rulers being shared this year!) to keep their drawings at least 6 inches! Students first created a simple drawing and learned to shade it as shown above. Then they could add different "hats" and accessories to personalize or try following the steps of a video to create a more unique drawing.

We then tried a few Op Art ideas using this theme. The above is drawn on notebook paper coloring every other stripe, varying inside and out, and then shading a bit to create a simple illusion.

Students used gridded paper for a 2nd Op Art version using warm and cool colors.

For a beginning assignment for the new semester, students personalized an Among Us Character with at least 10 images of things they were interested in. 


Students then added to this project by learning to draw and color graffiti names and draw and shade a brick wall behind their character.


Overall, it was fun to use something that is trending with students to interest them in creating. If was awesome to see how different projects using this simple little drawing could be expanded upon to work with different ideas and media!


Color Wheel Op Art

 

As part of our Color Unit, we combined the idea of Optical Illusion and Colored Pencil Shading Skills to create this Color Wheel Op Art.

Before getting to the project, we reviewed Color Theory with the above worksheet learning how to blend a primary and a neighboring secondary to create an intermediate color. Students then walked through the steps on the worksheet below (sources unknown).

First, separate the page into 12 sections.

Then draw consecutive wavy lines alternating 
the curve as it meets the section lines.

Don't forget to lightly label the colors in color wheel order before coloring alternating light and dark area. Be sure to shade darker on the edges of each "cone" and lighter toward the middle blending the layers of color so each cone does not look too "stripey"!


It was interesting to see how unique the projects turned out, even though following the same steps, depending on students' blending and shading styles. These turned out fun and of course, colorful!


PROJECT SEEING 2020

In 2020 I committed to a plan of creating 10 page spreads in an art journal after taking a class taught by my friend Kayann Asherman of fromvictoryroad.com called Project Seeing 2020. Every month there was a list of daily prompts. I chose the word or words that inspired me to create during this strange year. Here are just a few of my page spreads.










A few of these pages were inspired by famous artists who inspire me. Others were inspired by all the things going on in 2020. These are just a few of the 120 finished page spreads. It was a great challenge to accomplish finishing 10 page spreads per month and as it turned out, the perfect year to do it in!

A Shoe All About YOU!!!

As a getting to know you activity at the beginning of this school year, I was inspired by this A Shoe About You idea from The Imagination Box.

There are several drawings of shoes available online, so I just chose a couple for students to trace. They could keep all the details, leave some out, or add more to turn into a style of their own. 


After getting their shoe shape established, students were to fill the spaces inside the shoe with images that represented their interests. 


After shading with pencil or coloring/shading with colored pencil or both, students decided on a background for their shoe to live in.



Overall these turned out awesome and it was a good intro to Art Class this year after a long summer and possible creative break for some!


Teaching Art Remotely in 2020/2021



Well, I have taken a bit of a hiatus from myartfulnest for a few years...but I'm Back!!!

 It has taken this CrAzY year to get me back online to share lessons with my students and now I am back to share all the fun with y'all! YAYAYAYAYA!!! The things we do when we are forced out of our comfy shells, right? I am hoping to spend the next few days, weeks, months getting back into this platform that I have loved and missed, but just haven't had the time (or energy) the past few years to invest. But it feels good right now to even be just typing and thinking of ALL the awesome things I've been doing in the classroom and on my own art time to share with you! 

I hope to continue to inspire you, my fellow teachers and creatives in many new ways!

So to start, here are just a few samples of the work I and my students have been up to the past year. Links to follow as I create pages about each idea!



Collage Drawings

So friends, stay tuned for future posts coming soon detailing all these fun projects and lots more!  


Friday, November 18, 2016

VIVA LA FRIDA!!!



My new 8th grade reading/writing/math/ART class recently studied the artist Frida Kahlo.  We used the free worksheets from Art with Jenny K to introduce students to working in a grid. (Thanks Jenny K!)  We studied the writing concept of Ex Votos and then wrote special notes of thanks on the mats of these projects.




Students then worked in small groups on 20" by 24" Fridas that I enlarged for them.



This group incorporated several of Frida's quotes into the background.