Animals in Art: Comic Strips

8th grade Animals in Art students have been working on creating cartoon animals, specifically focusing on creating comic strips. Students have read a series of articles learning about the basic idea and must-haves to incorporate into comic strips. They have learned vocabulary words such as comic strip, character, panel, gutter, and sequential art. Below is a practice activity we completed where the students developed a character and introduced it in the first panel. The second panel should begin to tell the story by showing the problem or situation that is happening. The final panel is the solution or surprise that ties all 3 panels together into one story. They were encouraged to incorporate text (through thought bubbles, speech bubbles, or captions), use variety in their character drawings (not all the same pose), and using close-ups was optional. 



Painting: India Ink

Painting students are in the process of working with India Ink. This week they have been creating books filled with different practices and techniques. Some of the concepts we worked on are listed and shown below. Others, such as landscapes, swimming ducks, and combinations of practices, are not shown.

On Monday, they worked on creating value by watering the ink down as well as creating lines of varying thicknesses.


On Tuesday, they worked on different bamboo brush strokes and practiced making leaves as well as bamboo plants.



 On Wednesday, students painted birds as well as plants or flowers.


Thursday, they painted designs that had positive and negative space. 


 To finish this activity, students will complete their final 2 pages any way they want. They will be assembling the pages and submitting this in the form of a book. 

Black and White Photography

Black and White Photography students are beginning to be out and about taking pictures. Students have learned how the cameras work, including all of the parts and functions. They learned about the film structure and process of developing it. Soon they will be in the darkroom with their negatives creating prints of their photographs.


Painting: Beyond the Border

Below are some examples of the finished "Beyond the Border" watercolor paintings. The entire subject should be detailed and in color. The background is painted using color within the box, but black and white in the border.


Animals in Art: Dot Paintings

8th graders have finished their dot paintings. Students were encouraged to use at least 2 different sized dots and include 3 colors in their backgrounds. They were also asked to use color to separate their animal from their background so the colors used should be different. Below are some of the projects close to completion. Update will be coming soon with more of the finished ones once they have been graded.
 


Painting: Beyond the Border

For their last watercolor project, students are working on paintings that are partially colored and partially black and white. The areas that are colored include the main subject and the spaces within the box. Black and white areas are found in the background areas that are located within the border. This transition should help make the subject stand out nicely.




K-12 Art Show at the Northbridge Mall

If you didn't get the chance to come to the Art Show opening on Sunday, March 8th, you still have time to check out the work! All artwork will be on display until March 21st, 2015. Stop in between 2-6 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays; Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.; or between 1 and 4 p.m. on Sundays. 


Below are a couple of links to news stories about the show. Click them to view the article or video.


Black and White Photography: Photograms

Black and White Photography students are finishing up with their first darkroom project. They will soon be out taking pictures, processing film, and using the enlargers and darkroom supplies to develop prints of their images.



Animals in Art: Dot Paintings

The 8th graders have chosen their Australian animals or insects and drawn them out on colored paper. Most of them have gotten pretty far if not finished with adding colors within their animals. They are using both ends of a crayon to achieve the different sized dots withing their paintings using acrylic paint. Below are examples of the animals in progress.



 Before moving on to their backgrounds, students were required to practice creating a pattern. The required pattern is a series of repeating circles that uses 3 colors and 2 sized dots. Colors should repeat in the same order and dots should alternate between large and small. Students will be able to use this technique on their backgrounds as soon as their animal portion of the paintings are complete.

 

Painting: Watercolor Landscapes

Painting students are working on landscape paintings. Some are choosing to do scenes that portray cities and houses, while others are focusing on nature. Students were challenged to show atmospheric perspective by making things in the distance appear less in focus than things that are close up, which would have more details. Below are some of the projects in the first stages.



Below are a couple of finished projects.