Fall Tree Painting

The basic concept behind perspective is learning that the further away objects are, the smaller they appear. This painting idea comes from one of the Usborne art books, all of which I am very fond of.
1. The students need a set of watercolor paints and good brushes (including small thin ones for detail work). They can start by painting an off-center tree, with trunks and branches. Remind them that trees tend to make forks and split off again and again as they grow up.
2. Colored leaves in varying sizes are painted next. Some may be left on the tree, some floating away or even off the page, and a few extra large ones. Some details may be added with the brown paint used for the tree.
3. If you have time, let the tree and leaves dry before proceeding. The grass may be painted next, taking care to go around the leaves.
4. Finally, a sky fills in the background.

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In Your Face Cow Drawing

This idea comes from a funny painting I found in a home decor catalog. I love how it exaggerates the proportions of the cow.

1. I started with a 11" x 14" drawing paper, and folded it in half four times to get a grid of guidelines like those shown on my diagram. Have the students start by drawing half of the head as shown on my diagram, and then adding the opposite side with as much symmetry as possible.
2. Tilted eyes are added at the widest part of the head. The top of the nose is added to make a nose that looks like a square with rounded corners.
3. Ears are drawn extending out of the top of the head, and as they are really large, going off the paper.
4. The body of the cow is added with legs below and the back above. You can give the students the option of drawing the body to the right or the left.
5. When the drawing is complete, the students trace the art with a black Sharpie and then color in with oil pastels. Encourage overlapping the edges of different pastel colors so they get a fuzzy look instead of any hard line.

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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.

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