Grinch

This was a step by step drawing lesson I did with the 2nd grade. I found it funny that most of the students recalled the live action Grinch movie rather than the cartoon which is my memory. They had fun following my instruction and creating their own version of the Grinch.

3D Christmas Pictures

I had to think of a quick little project for the 5th graders this week because of vacation. This simple project was perfect. The students got two printouts that they cut and interlocked to form a demential mug. They they were free to create any scene they like.

Village Paper Lanterns

I'm so happy with the way these came out. The 6th grade class worked on layering. Using some reference pictures of buildings and villages they drew with black sharpie onto tracing paper. They had to plan so the foreground, middle ground and background structures appeared correctly. The paper then was attached to recycled lids and a battery operated tea light placed inside. When the room lights were turned off the lanterns look outstanding. I hope the students got them home safe to display.

Claymation Art Club

Claymation in Art Club has ended, but I've started a channel on Vimeo to showcase some of the work done in class. We really used the class as time to play with the process. The app we used is called "Stopmotion" and it's free on iTunes.

http://vimeo.com/artclubshs

K2 Fringe Cutting

As part of our cutting skills in K2 the students work on cutting fringe. Each student got some strips of white paper that they cut carefully. Not one student cut to far up. The finished strips were transformed into a polar bear. Look next week to see the paint polar bears they are working on now.

Kaleidoscope Names

Here is a sample of the great work done by 4th grade. These funky looking designs are actually the students name repeated and reflected. It was a long process, but it payed off.

Two Point Perspective Gift Boxes

So I normally save two point perspective for 6th grade, but I thought this 5th grade class could handle it. They more than handled it. I'm really impressed with how much they got done in one 40 min. class. This will give them the tools to draw any structure in proper proportions. 

Nutcrackers

The 3rd grade class watched a video on how a nutcracker is made. Then they followed my instruction on how to draw a basic nutcracker shape. From there they were free to make it into their very own style of nutcracker. We ended up with quite the variety.

Superhero Action Figure

Here is Fantastic Man. 

He all started with the idea of a Kindergartner. 

Then finalized in toy form by an Eighth grader.

What we did was have each of the K2 students create their own superhero, give them a name and powers. Then they drew it in color. The drawing then was giving to an eighth grade student to recreate using white Sculpty, paint and designed packaging.

Their very own action figure.

Acrobats in the Clouds

I do this project all the time because it's always a hit. This time though I did it with the 1st grade instead of the 2nd. They got it no trouble. The goal what to draw what the acrobat would look like from the front and the back. They all got creative with how the figure was hanging from the swing. They look great hanging from the clouds in the art room.

Underwater Sea Life

When I showed an example of this project to the 6th grade some of the students recognized it from a paint program their Mom's did. I didn't know it was suppose to be an adult project, but though they could handle it. As you can see they did an excellent job. The first step was working with blue paint and add white to get the background. Then using some sea reference they added the silhouettes of the sea life and plants.

Picasso Blue Period Guitar

After looking at work by Picasso during his blue period we talked about cubism. Picasso was also a master at the cubism style. Some of his pieces feature guitars. The 5th graders where giving examples of different styles of guitars, there really are a lot of them. Then using paint, and collaging paper they made a guitar in the style of cubism and in tones of blue, black and white. That's not it though. Then they did their name in the same style.

Aquariums

The forth grade worked on a little perspective drawing with this project. The tank was drawn out with rulers showing the proper perspective. Once that was achieved they got to fill the tank with a variety of aquarium fish. For inspiration I had a video of live aquariums playing on the big screen in class.

Abstract Sculptures

Here is a look at the second grade hard at work on painting the shapes that will be their abstract sculptures. We started the class with a slide show of various sculptures. Their job was to find the ones that fit the category of "abstract". 

K2 Cardinals

This little cardinal project took two classes. It started by the students painting blue watercolor paint all over the paper then adding salt when it's still wet. After it drys it looks like snow, very cool. The birch trees where done by dragging black paint with a piece of cardboard over white paper. That was done the first class. Then second day was time to construct. The trees and bird were cut and all glued together for a masterpiece.

Yarn Mosaic

Who said that 3rd graders have no patients? Can you believe the craftsmanship on these yarn mosaics? It all started with the students tracing a star shape on to a piece of board. Then they got little piles of blue and red yarn to cut to fit in the star and background. They got to choose what would be blue and what would be red. White glue was brushed on a section at a time and each strand was added. All done in two 40 min. classes. Hats off!

Pastel Pipes

Here is the finished product. It might look a little wonky from the pano iPhone thingy I used.

K2 Superhero Action Figures

We actually started this some time ago. It all started with the K2 class. I asked the students to create a superhero and draw a picture of them. I walked around and wrote down the name of the super hero and what the super powers are. Above we have "Supergirl".

Next I gave the 8th graders the drawings to transform to a clay action figures. Here you can see them before being cooked. After the cooking the 8th gr. will finish off by painting the figures to match the drawing. That's not all. Then they will also make the packaging for the action figures. I will keep posting the progress. Fun, fun.

Art Club (Comics)

Here is the first batch of comics made by the art club students. Everyone did a great job. I'll have copies available to view in the school library.

Pipes

This is still in progress. I'm showing the portion mostly done. The seventh graders had one section done with pipes. They were instructed to work as a team to finish the pipes and add shading and shadow with chalk pastels. I kept it up for the following classes and all the other students enjoyed looking at it and now want to try it.