Magazine Color Collage

Collage is a French word which means “glue.” The term was coined by Braque and Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century, when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.

1. I've found this to be a really good project for kinders and 1st graders. They enjoy the hunt for images, and benefit from some simple guidelines. Each student needs a couple of magazines, white paper, scissors and glue stick. They are to choose one color, and then collect as many different objects or swatches in that color as possible.
3. All of the images are glued onto the white paper, with the goal of overlapping and filling it up. This is really simple, but the fact that each picture will have a theme really unifies the images and can create some stunning artwork. Plus, everyone is getting lots of scissors cutting practice, without really thinking about it!
CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Kindergarten
2.3 Make a collage with cut or torn paper shapes/forms.

Read more »

Fruity People Collage

One CA Visual Art Standard centers around how to create feelings with one’s own artwork. This book “How Are You Peeling?” is full of some very creative photographs of fruit and vegetables, all made to reflect a wide variety of emotions. Reading it first helps to make connections that certain shapes can look a lot like faces, when using one’s imagination.

1. I’ve collected some photographs of fruit and vegetables, the low resolution type that are free for comp making. You can download the 2-page file HERE. Print as many copies as needed on inkjet paper.

2. I recommend that the students start by choosing a large shape to make the head, then the body, legs, arms, and finally details on top.

3. After all the body parts are collected and laid out, they are glued down with a glue stick.

CA Arts Standard: Creative Expression. 

2.5 Use lines in drawings and paintings to express feelings.

Read more »

Pastel Spring Eggs

One arts standard for elementary students is to learn to tint colors. My kids seemed to really enjoyed seeing how many colors they could make by just mixing yellow, red, orange and white together.

SESSION ONE: I made an egg template which is downloadable HERE and gave one to each student along with white, yellow, red and orange tempera paint on a plate, a brush and a cup of water. They were instructed to see how many different colors they could make – all were to have some amounts of white in them. The eggs and background were painted.

SESSION TWO: Students were allowed to draw designs on their eggs with oil pastels, but they were to keep the same color palate as before. In other words, they were limited to the paint colors as before – red, yellow and orange. This repetition of colors makes the painting more harmonious to the eye when complete.

CA Visual Arts Standard: 2.2 Mix and apply tempera paints to create tints, shades, and neutral colors.

Read more »

La Boca House Collage

La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires and is a popular destination for it’s colorful houses. Looking at lots of photos of these amazing buildings is a good way to start this project.

1. I discovered these really cool Fiskar paper crimpers at JoAnn Fabrics, and brought several to class. Older students can try to roll the paper themselves, and younger ones can watch a demonstration to see how they work. I started with giving each student a white background paper, and then lots of crimped paper to experiment with. I prefer the nice stock used for scrapbooks, but I think any construction paper will do.
2. Ask the students to cut large rectangles and matching roof shapes for their homes, and distribute white glue for attaching them to the white paper. The buildings should all be sitting side by side. Rotating the texture adds interest to their collage.
3. Finally, flat paper may be drawn on with a marker to create windows and doors. These shapes are cut out and glued to the buildings.
CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade One
2.7 Use visual and actual texture in original works of art.

Read more »

Tinted Valentine Hearts

First graders need practice mixing secondary colors, but I just can’t get too excited over making color wheels on paper plates. Instead I had them focus on just mixing purple (plus a little white) in honor of Valentine’s Day.

1. I made an 11" x 17" size template of printed hearts which you can download HERE. Print at 77% for an 8.5" x 11" size template.

2. Students received printed paper, a paper plate of red, blue and white tempera paint, a brush and a cup of water. They were to see how many new colors they could mix, and then fill in the hearts as they wish.

CA Visual Arts Standard: 

2.2 Mix secondary colors from primary colors and describe the process.

Read more »

Lois Mailou Jones-style Drawing

This Lois Mailou Jones-inspired drawing is in honor of Black History month (coming up in Feb). During Lois’ remarkable life, she painted, designed masks, textiles and stained glass windows, traveled the world and never stopped learning. Her “Les Fetiches” art has a style that is fun to imitate.

1. Starting with a black sheet of paper (I prefer art paper, not construction...

Read more »

Wild Side/Calm Side Self-Portraits

This lesson starts with a discussion about how lines and colors can show emotion. A great book to read first is "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" which shows a lot of emotion with simple line drawings.

1. Give the students a head and shoulder cardboard template to trace in pencil on a sheet of paper. Ask them to draw a line down the middle of the head.
2. After a discussion about...

Read more »

How to Draw a Turkey

I found this turkey shape in a stock art illustration, and I think it works well for a basic turkey drawing lesson. It also uses radial symmetry, which is one of the Arts Standards for the 2nd grade.

1. I plan to have the students follow along with my drawings steps as shown in my diagram. The most important thing is that they draw large and fill up the paper they are given.
2. After the pencil drawing is complete, they will trace all their lines with a black Sharpie. I like the variety of using some thick and some with fine points.
3. This turkey is actually painted in with instant coffee and then sprinkled with salt before it dries. The salt soaks up bits of the water and leaves a cool textured look behind. A bit of red orange paint completes the picture.
4. When the coffee is completely dry, brush off the crystals to reveal the texture pattern behind.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Two
2.5 Use bilateral or radial symmetry to create visual balance.

Read more »

Day of the Dead Skull Drawing

Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and Latin American on Nov. 1st and 2nd. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to remember friends and family members who have passed on. I like how the festivities include lots creative imagery with patterns. This project was inspired by a Day of the Dead postcard which featured a very patterned skull drawing.

1. In order to get the students drawing their patterns as soon as possible, I made cardboard templates of skulls for them to trace with a pencil on a black piece of paper. I reminded them that when they drew their eyes, they should be in the middle of the head, sitting on a imaginary line across the center, not up in the forehead. The triangle nose is halfway down, and the mouth halfway down again. I find you can’t remind students often enough about these feature placements. There is just some natural tendency for some to draw their eyes up in the top half of the heads.
2. Once the features were in their correct place, I gave each student a silver Sharpie marker and had them trace their lines. They could then draw in whatever patterns they wanted, I just stipulated that all shapes must be balanced to make the drawing symmetrical. If they drew a flower on a left cheek, they had to draw the same flower on the right. I think this is a good introduction to symmetry for those as young as first grade. Older students can get the idea reinforced,
3. The students were instructed to fill the face with as many symmetrical shapes as possible. When spaces got smaller, they could make lots of circles, and when the spaces were smaller still, they could fill them in with dots.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Four
2.2 Use the conventions of facial and figure proportions in a . . . study.

Read more »

Symmetrical Owl

This project fulfilled all my criteria for a successful lesson today: it was seasonal, a visual art standard (symmetry) was covered, and it really peaked all the student’s interest.

1. To make a pattern, I gave each student an 8.5" x 11" sheet of old newsprint and had them fold the paper in half the long way. They then drew the outline of a simple owl as shown, making sure the center was on the fold of the paper. With the paper still folded, they cut the owl out.
2. The newsprint owl was centered on a sheet of 9" x 12" sheet of black paper and traced around the edge with a pencil. Working only on the black paper now, the rest of the owl was drawn. I recommended starting with the brow lines, then the centered diamond beak, then the eyes and then wings. The goal was to have the owl drawn as symmetrically as possible.
3. When the drawing was complete, the students traced the pencil with a black oil pastel. To color the owl, I required that they use realistic colors (brown, white or gray).
4. After the owl was thoroughly colored (no paper showing) the students cut them out. One teacher opted to tape groups of them to long ribbons so they could hang in her room – lots of possibilities for decorating.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade Two, Creative Expression
2.5 Use bilateral or radial symmetry to create visual balance.

Read more »

A Positively Negative Pumpkin

I tried this with 2nd and 4th graders, and they both seemed to enjoy the puzzle aspect of making a whole pumpkin from cutting out just a half. I like how this is an example of using both positive and negative shapes, and positive and negative colors.

1. Give each student an 8.5" x 11" sheet of cream paper and a 5.5" x 8.5" black sheet of paper. With my sample, I first aligned the black paper on the left side of the cream.
2. Starting on the middle edge, students draw a large half of a pumpkin. Next, one eye and one half of a mouth are added. When complete, the eye and mouth are cut out, all as complete shapes, not in bits and pieces. I show students how to cheat with the eye triangle by cutting a line over to it and then cutting around to get the triangle out. The little slice will seal itself back up when glued.
3. The negative shape is glued down on the left, and the newly cut shapes are to be flopped from their cut out positions, and then glued down with a glue stick on the right.
4. Finally, the students could add some detail to their pumpkin, using black marker on the cream side, and white colored pencil on the black side.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Four, Creative Expression
2.6 Use the interaction between positive and negative space expressively in a work of art.

Read more »

Witch Hat Drawing

A Halloween stock art image inspired me to make this witch hat drawing. It’s a good example of using positive and negative space in a very seasonal manner.
1. I started with a 6" x 9" piece of black drawing paper. I made a dot on the top center, and drew a hat that touched it and the two bottom corners. A band and star were also drawn in pencil.
2. I traced all the lines with a white Prismacolor pencil, and then shaded in the outside (negative) areas white. Sometimes this is also called “underglazing” a drawing. Note: Crayola pencils will not work for layering, they are not soft enough. Test your pencils before you try this lesson.
3. Orange and yellow pencil color went on top of the white, and also on the band and star. I experimented with adding pressure with all the pencils to get the maximum burst of color.

CA Standards of Visual Arts: Grade Four
2.6 Use the interaction between positive and negative space expressively in a work of art.

Read more »

Contour Tree Drawing

I’m stilling enjoying the artwork of Friedensrich Hundertwasser, who inspired this contour drawing of a tree trunk.

1. I used a square paper and drew the outline of a tree trunk with a few finger-looking shapes pointing down. After adding a few vertical lines for definition, I made a series of curved, or “jumping” lines going across and filling up the trunk.
2. I drew a curvy horizonal line, and then filled in the ground below with more horizontal wavy lines that jumped across the tree roots.
3. Lastly the sky got a few wavy lines also. When the pencil drawing was complete, I traced all the lines with a thin black marker.
4. I chose a main pencil color for the trunk, ground and sky. After filling in those areas with medium pressure, I went back and filled in some random lines with darker and lighter versions of each color.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade Three
2.3 Paint or draw a landscape, seascape, or cityscape that shows the illusion of space.

Read more »

Textured Fall Leaves

One of the California Visual Arts Standards for 1st graders deals with adding texture to art. I made these paper towel leaves to give this painting some very real bumps and wrinkles.
1. I used Bounty paper towels (I like the spongy look to them) and cut out about 3 large leaves and 4 small ones. Mix up a small amount of 50/50 water and glue. Dip the leaves, get them completely wet, and spread them on watercolor paper as desired. Let dry overnight.
2. Choose one crayon for each leaf and trace around the edge, pressing firmly. Add a stem at one end.
3. I made some extra watery watercolor from my tube set, and painted the inside of each leaf. Dabs of different color in each leaf can add some more interest. When complete, paint the sky. Some splotches are going to pop up from the glue and water, but I think they add to the un-fussy look of the picture. Finally I used a small stiff brush to add brown vein lines on each leaf.

CA Standards of Visual Arts: Grade One
2.7 Use visual and actual texture in original works of art.

Read more »

Layered Landscape

I found this project at www.artsonia.com, a wonderful source for creative ideas.

1. Each student is to position a piece of paper horizontally, and draw three lines that tilt a little to each side. These sections will each represent foreground, middle ground and background in the picture.
2. Draw three simple tree shapes, one extending up from each line. All should be spread out to give the branches room.
3. The ground lines within each tree then need to be erased. The students will then trace all the pencil lines with a black sharpie.
4. Lastly, the hills, trees and sky are to be filled in with oil pastels. Most pastels have a dark and light green, orange and yellow and brown, which may be used to shade each section to give it depth. If you use water-soluble pastels, you can brush the artwork with water to smooth the edges between the colors.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade Three
1.3 Identify and describe how foreground, middle ground, and background are used to create the illusion of space.

Read more »

City Block One-Point Perspective Drawing

One of the CA Arts Standards for 5th graders is one-point perspective drawing. To be honest, I’ve struggled with covering this concept in the past with just one 50-minute class. After discussing what it means to have a “vanishing point” in their drawing, I once had students make their own guidelines to follow, only to have much of the class not get past this point. And I once tried pre-printed guides, only to find they get confusing and end up being too much information that can’t be erased. This year I’m going to try starting with this series of squares, which you can download here. I think it will give students the angles they can see to follow their own vanishing point, without overwhelming them with too many lines.

1. Just the fronts of their buildings are drawn in each square, leaving room for the rest of the building.
2. A vanishing point can be inside a picture or outside, which is true for this guide. The students should visually follow where all the angled lines on their guide would intersect off the paper so they can picture where their vanishing point is. The sides of each building are drawn, making sure that they all point to this imagined vanishing point. The sides of the city blocks will help guide them.
3. The ends of the buildings are connected to finish the buildings. It’s best, of course, to start with just simple cube-shaped buildings before more complex ones are taken on. Some blocks may just have trees, if desired.
4. All of the drawing is traced with an ultra fine point marker, and colored in with pencil crayons.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Five
2.1 Use one-point perspective to create the illusion of space.

Read more »

Drawing Practice

When students have a photo to refer to, I think they are often pleasantly surprised at what they can draw. This is one of my “Finish the Picture” templates, where the students are asked to fill in, shading and all, the missing half of a photographed face. I’m happy to share my wolf template with everyone HERE.
1. The students first practice their shading by matching the values of the grays at the top of the paper. The goal is to have them see they can make not only dark and light pencil shades, but medium light and medium dark as well.
2. The drawing starts with finding and drawing as many edges of the face as possible. The eyes and nose are pretty easy to see, but the ears take a little more time.
3. This wolf has a mostly medium gray base to him, so once the edges are in place, the entire wolf is shaded lightly with the side of the pencil. Students should be reminded to keep the direction of this sketching the same direction as the fur. No quick shading in one direction just because it is faster; nice drawings take time.
4. Lastly, the students need to look for really dark areas that they should fill in with heavy pressure. One tip is turning the drawing upside down to get a fresh look at it. I’d love for students to learn they can draw in layers like this, which encourages a greater depth to their shading. Sketches with lots of light, medium and dark tones make for a much more interesting picture than those without.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Three
2.4 Create a work of art based on the observation of objects and scenes in daily life, emphasizing value changes.

Read more »

Bandage Halloween Head

Halloween can offer lots of creative drawing opportunities, some even with valuable art principals. I got this drawing idea from a piece of clip art, and found that it helped to teach students how to make a round head look more dimensional, simply by adding curves instead of flat straight lines.

1. I made cardboard head templates to help my students get started. After they traced it in the middle of their paper, they drew one large eye, two circle dots for the nose, and a mouth. For the bandages, they made several curvy lines across the face. I demonstrated on the board how curvy lines would add roundness to the head, and how straight ones would simple make it look flat. To finish, any “unbandaged” area could have a few lines added, going in other directions. The goal was to have the face look like it was completely covered, without too many lines that would be hard to color in.
2. When the drawing was complete, all the pencil lines were traced with a fat black Sharpie.
3. All the areas of the face were then colored in with Crayola Construction Crayons. These work great on colored paper and almost give the look of pastels without the mess.
4. The face was cut out and glued onto a different color piece of construction paper.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Four
2.1 Use shading (value) to transform a two-dimensional shape into what appears to be a three-dimensional form (e.g., circle to sphere).

Read more »

Watercolor Resist Patterns

Kindergarteners learn about patterning, and this is a colorful way of reinforcing the concept.

1. I recommend watercolor paper be used, if possible, as it really does make a difference in the color brightness. Prep 9" x 12" sheets by drawing marks on the top and bottom every 2 inches across. Ask the student to connect the marks with a pencil so that they have 5 panels on their page. Trade the pencil for a crayon and ask them to trace the pencil lines.
2. Show some examples of line drawing patterns that they can choose from (circles, squares, hearts, stars, etc.) The students are to choose one type of pattern for each panel, and then draw each directly with a crayon.
3. I like to dilute watercolor tablets in water and give students liquid paint to fill each panel. They students are to paint each panel a different color, or a pattern of colors.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression 2.1
Use lines, shapes/forms, and colors to make patterns.

Read more »

Collage Figure Study

This project makes learning figure proportions fun, while still allowing room for creativity. Many poses are possible when your figure can bend in so many ways.
1. Background collage: Each student needs a background piece of 9" x 12" construction paper, and then 2 other panels that were roughly 5" x 12" (I used green and blue in my sample). To get some random sizes going, I asked the students to cut off the end of one panel to make a large square about 5" x 5". They were to cut and rounded off the corners, and glued it somewhere on the background paper. Next they were to cut two medium squares about 3" x 3", round off the corners, and glue those somewhere on the paper. Lastly, they cut some small rectangles to fill the remaining spaces, rounded out the corners, and glued to them down too. A small amount of space was left between the all the shapes, so that they looked somewhat like tiles that fit together.
2. I explained just a few rules about body proportions, namely the ratio of head to body size being 8 to 1, and that the waist generally falls right in the middle. To help them start their bodies, I gave each student a black construction rectangle about 3" x 12". I had them fold the body in half and cut to the find waist. The top section was cut up to make a head and top torso. The bottom half of the paper was cut to make a bottom torso and two sectioned legs. Another strip of black paper was needed to cut out the arms. All the pieces may start out as rectangles, but need to have their edges rounded before gluing down. The body is posed on the background collage and glued down.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Fourth Grade
2.5 Use accurate proportions to create an expressive portrait or a figure drawing or painting.

Read more »