Miss Young's 10 Tips for Better Art

One of my students is moving out of state. She's been one of my top students since I began teaching at this school. Of course I'm going to miss her! I hope her next art teacher is supportive, enthusiastic, and creative. But no matter what her situation at her new school is, I wanted her to leave Indiana with the tools to create amazing art on her own. So, I typed this up for her, and I decided to share it with all of my blog readers:

Miss Young’s 10 Tips for Better Art

1.     Contrast. If the picture is black and white, the darkest spot should be pure black, and the lightest part should be pure white. This goes for photography and pencil/charcoal.

2.     Composition. Put things in the picture in an interesting way. Don’t make it symmetrical!

3.     Completion. Make sure you’ve finished the whole picture. There shouldn’t be any white spots, except for things that are supposed to be white.

4.     Texture. Unless something is supposed to be smooth, avoid coloring it in solidly. For grass, Layer dark green and light green. For a furry animal, use pressure (pushing hard or pushing gently) to vary the value.

5.     Color. Consider making things more bright and beautiful than they are in real life. Or, use color to show a mood; for a raining day, everything can have a hint of gray in it; for night, everything could be a little blue.

6.     Value. Anything that is not perfectly flat will usually have shadows and highlights. Adding dark spots and light spots will make your art more realistic.

7.     Emphasis. Something needs to stand out in your art. The viewer should be able to tell what is important in the picture.

8.     Space. If your art has a background and a foreground, it should be obvious what’s close and what’s far away. Close objects should have more details, and should be bigger. Far away objects can be small, blurry, partially behind a closer object, or placed higher on the page.

9.     Unity. Everything in your picture should match. If you draw one thing very realistically, and one thing very abstract, the art won’t look unified. Use a similar drawing or painting style throughout the piece.

10.                         Balance. If we fold your picture in half any way (top-bottom, left-right, or diagonally) and one half of the picture is empty, your artwork is probably unbalanced. Balance isn’t the same a symmetry; it just means your art isn’t lopsided.

And lastly, you don’t need to use every tip in every piece of art J.

1st Grade Toucans

After learning about artist J. J. Audubon, my 1st grade students tried their own hand at drawing a bird with all of the details. We looked at a photograph of a toucan as we drew. This began as a guided drawing. We looked at the photo, and I said, "see how the beak curves? Make a line like this for the beak." Then, as we progressed, the students used their own judgement to draw what they saw. For example, on the beak, I showed them the orange shape, and the red tip, but then I asked them to draw the blue parts however they thought it looked. Then, I asked them to find a green crayon that they thought was the right one for the rest of the beak. Most students chose yellow-green, but a few chose regular green. Both options were fine, because I really want the students to learn to draw what they see on their own. We finished the picture by drawing tree branches (again the students had much freedom here), and blue liquid watercolors for the sky.

Group Project

Yesterday I was asked if I'd have time during art class today to help a second grade class make a birthday card for their teacher. I was happy to oblige, and here is what the students made. One of the students drew the vase, and each student drew a flower. Several students were able to draw at once, since the card is large. The stems were added last. Then, I picked a smart, responsible student to do the lettering inside. I asked her if she could spell "happy", and she said yes. "Birthday?" Yes, she could spell it. "Mrs.?" Yes. And the teacher's last name? Oh, yes, she said.

Well, she spelled her teacher's name wrong! She used a "k" instead of a "ch". Somehow it just added to the charm of the card....it really is cute how she wrote out the message inside! Then, each student signed their name inside while they were in line to get paper for their art assignment of the day. And we still got most of what I had planned for the day done! During recess, the students told me that no one had told the teacher about the surprise card yet (she'll get it tomorrow). I think she'll have a wonderful birthday tomorrow! Especially since the Parent Teacher Organization at Carroll bakes cookies for every teacher on their birthday!

Van Gogh Sunflowers

This year, my school is participating in a fundraiser called Art to Remember. A2R give parents the opportunity to purchase things like mugs, plates, mouse pads, key chains, iPhone cases, and grocery bags with their  child's artwork on it. Part of the proceeds from each item purchased goes to the school's art fund (yay!). A2R sent me "special" paper for the students to create their art on. It's a sturdy white paper, 8"x10".

Since parents ordering keepsakes requires nice art, I had to think of lesson plans that every student could succeed at, and that were beautiful and colorful. A2R says to use bright art supplies, like markers, crayons, and paint, and to stay away from colored pencils and construction paper. I often "cheat" by having my students start their art on colored paper. This saves the students from having to color the whole background.

Usually, art projects that have very rigid rules and instructions produce the best results. Since I want keepsake-quality art, I needed a lot of structure. I decided that my 2nd and 3rd grade students would paint Van Gogh-style sunflowers. I introduced the lesson with plenty of art history. Then, the students drew their vase, and signed their name on it (like Van Gogh did on his). The following week, we added stems, leaves, and brown centers for the middle of the flowers (all in crayon). Then, we used a watercolor wash to paint the background. Finally, the last week, we painted the petals with yellow tempera.

I did Van Gogh sunflowers with 2nd grade 2 years ago, but the results weren't as nice because I did my typical colored-paper thing. Using colored paper for background color is partly a budget issue; paper comes out of general funds, and I have a mostly unlimited supply of it in the teacher workroom, whereas paint comes from my art money. But, if A2R is a success, I'll be able to afford a lot more watercolors!

Below are some finished sunflower vases by 2nd and 3rd grade. Nearly all of them are truly beautiful. But, I had one concern: what if some of the kids really didn't like their sunflowers, and didn't want to order anything with a flower vase on it? I really wanted to have my students create two pieces of art  for A2R, and choose their favorite to send in. But, A2R only sent us one paper per student, with just about 70-80 extras. So, I asked them if we could create art on a paper with a similar weight, cut to the same size. A2R said yes! So, after the sunflowers, we are going paint Homer seascapes. I think out of those two projects, all of my students will have at least one they love.

Elements and Principles of Art

In the past 2 years, I've felt that I've been a little weak in teaching art vocabulary. When my students talk about art, they are quick to share what's happening in the picture, but slow to describe the formal qualities (elements and principles of art). This year, I decided to begin with an elements and principles game for the first day of art class.

I started out by making these posters.

Then, we went through the lists and the students defined the words if they could, and found the elements and principles in the art prints on my walls. The students knew many of the terms, because I usually focus on one element or principle on each art project. 

Then, we played elements and principles bingo! I made bingo sheets with the elements and principles of art in the boxes (a few words got repeated since a bingo card has 24 spaces, not including the free space). Then, I hung up an art print, and the students raised their hands to share an element or principle of art they saw in it. They had to describe how they saw it, for example, "I see balance because the shapes on the left side are the same size as the shapes on the right side." After the student explained his answer, I wrote the term on the board, and all of the students marked it off of their bingo sheet. If they had that word twice, they marked it off two times!

It went really well, and my students are really really using the elements and principles of art in descriptive sentences now! I am feeling really good about the start of this school year!

5th Grade Zentangles

One of the last projects my 5th grade students completed this year was zentangles. With a creative, positive group of students, this can be really fun! Unfortunately, the kind of students who see art as just another assignment have trouble enjoying doodling.

The students began this project by tracing a letter with pencil. Then, they gave their paper a border by lining a ruler up at the edge of each side of the paper, and tracing the other side. This makes a perfectly even border with no measuring! At the end of the project, the students were supposed to erase all of their pencil lines, and they were not supposed to trace the letter or border with a pen. Of these student examples below, the last on (letter T) is the most successful because that student followed those directions perfectly. The first one (letter R) is quite aesthetically appealing to me anyway, because the student used his letter outlines to create a 3-dimensional effect. A few other pictures (J and B; 3rd and 4th from the top) are simply unfinished; the student never erased the pencil marks. I guess I should be a little more firm with following directions! Although, in the upper elementary grades, I like to give the students space, rather than breathing down their necks the whole time. If they can follow all of the directions without constant reminders, they will receive a high grade, and do very well!