Digital Photography: Using Color

After choosing an image of an object with black and white stripes, the students in Digital Photography used various settings to change the colors of the stripes. Their next task was to find a picture of a tree and change the color by using the "Curves" feature in Photoshop. Once they had their tree cut out and the color settings adjusted, they needed to cut out a flying object that they had chosen at the beginning of this assignment. They combined all 3 cut outs onto a landscape image that was also chosen towards the start of this assignment. These 4 images needed to fit together seamlessly which could be achieved by refining the edges of their cut outs and by adding realistic shadows. 

Mixed Media A: Coil Baskets

 Mixed Media A students have started the basic concept of creating coil baskets by working on wrapping the coil core in yarn and stitching it all together. This week they are working on making a coaster or 2 before beginning their baskets next week and taking on the idea of making a three-dimensional work of art. 

Animals in Art: Magazine Mosaics

Animal Mosaics are almost complete! In the next couple of days the 8th grade students will have finished gluing down all of their squares and will be moving on to their 3rd project and learning to use oil pastels. Below are a couple of the mosaics in progress.

Mixed Media A: Thematic Weaving

Below are some examples of finished thematic weaving projects. Students were able to choose the colors and words they wanted to use to fit their theme and decide what shape to make their project. Some of the examples  include colors, sports themes, and movie themes.

Mixed Media A: Thematic Weaving

 Mixed Media students are finishing up their thematic weaving projects. They picked their theme and made a list of 10 words that fit this theme. Each student chose a minimum of 5 of these words to place onto their projects and found the letters to spell them out in magazine advertisements.

    

Animals in Art: Magazine Mosaics

 After collecting colors from magazines, the 8th grade Animals in Art students have started to assemble the pieces to their mosaics. They chose their images at the end of last week while in the computer lab, but designed the area surrounding their animal on their own. Many students are adding borders and some are also choosing to incorporate other shapes and designs around their animals.

Digital Photography: Using Color

Our next project in Digital Photography continues to focus on cleanly cutting out objects from different photographs and seamlessly combining them by refining the edges and adding shadows. The new focus for this assignment is color; the students are working on being able to change and adjust the color in specific areas of the images they have chosen. Each student found an image that contained distinct black and white stripes. With their image, they are adjusting the color of the white stripes using various techniques.

Mixed Media A: Thematic Weaving

Now that the students have planned the theme for their weaving project and finished with painting and stamping their pages, most of them have started to weave their pieces together. A few of the students decided to make their project a little bit more challenging and are creating shapes that match their theme. Some of these ideas include musical instruments and sports related shapes. Soon the students will be finding letters from magazines to spell out the different words that they came up with to fit their theme.

Animals in Art: Magazine Mosaics

After choosing 2 animals as possibilities for the next project, the 8th grade students spent 2 days in the computer lab researching their animal. They printed images to use as a general idea of what their mosaic will look like and were able to complete rough drawings of their animals at the end of last week. Now, they are working on locating the colors they will need from magazines and are cutting those colors into small squares. We will soon be gluing these pieces down to create out animal mosaics.

Animals in Art: Completed Zentangles

After drawing our animals, creating patterns, painting with watercolors and tracing with permanent markers, the zentangle projects are complete! Below are a few examples of what the 8th graders created. 

Mixed Media A: Thematic Weaving

In Mixed Media A, the students have started working on a thematic weaving. So far they have decided on what their theme will be and selected a list of 10 words that are possibilities for them to incorporate into this idea. They were encouraged to come up with 2 options for the overall shape of their project including one that is a realistic object related to their theme. We spent a day or two working on watercolor paintings using the techniques learned in our first project. Using acrylic paint, we have started to add stamps with bottle lids, yarn, toothpicks, and crayons. Some students had extra time while waiting for their paint to dry and have started gluing strips down or searching for letters in magazines to get a head start on the words that we will incorporate. 

Digital Photography: Animal in a New Location

Students have finished up cutting out their animals and placing them somewhere new. Below are some of the examples of finished work. Adding shadows was something that the students practiced and incorporated into this project.

Mixed Media A: Watercolor Books

Students in Mixed Media A have completed their first project that combined watercolor techniques with magazine shapes and lines that were created by using permanent markers. The theme of the project was "Dreams". Below are some close ups of student work for this project. 

Digital Photography: Animal in a New Location

The students in Digital Photography have been working on a series of practice activities to help them become more familiar with the tools in Photoshop. Their first assignment to complete is to take an animal from one image, cut it out, and place it into a location that you wouldn't expect to see it. The goal is for the animal to appear to actually be in this new location and look realistic. Below are some examples of the student's work in progress.