6th grade Self Portraits - Student Work

6th grade self portraits

The sixth grade classes starting to work on oil pastel painted self portraits.  In the past, I have had the students create a grid across the black and white photo, then slowly transfer the image by drawing the lines and shapes found in each square in the grid onto grid squares on their drawing paper.  However, I found that the grid drawings take a LONG time.  Too long!  So, we have taken a short cut and left out the drawing aspect of the project.

Instead, we are simply going straight to the painting step of the project.  Here are the steps as we followed them:

• After receiving an 8" x 10" black and white photo of themselves on plain copy paper, students use a pencil to outline every value change they can identify in the image.  
• Then students create a 5 level value scale in black and white. 
• Next, students select one to three colors of oil pastel, a black, and a white.
• Using the oil pastels, they create a color scale right on the gray scale that matches each value.
• Now students can use the value scale to select the right paint value to go in each area that they outlined in the beginning and paint RIGHT ON THE PHOTO!

3rd Grade Color Harmony Example Project

Each student selected random objects throughout the art room to trace onto their paper.  Using a black crayon, each object was carefully outlined and the paper was quartered.

On the back of the paper, the students wrote the names of the four color harmonies that we learned about in class, then selected colors to fit each one.  Once the color choices were selected, the students painted each quarter of the artwork with its own harmony using watercolor paint.

This is a challenging assignment because it requires so much planning and understanding of color theory to do it well, but the students did a fantastic job!

3rd grade - Color Theory, part 2

Color Harmonies

Now that we have reviewed our color wheels and tint and shade, it is time for some new information on color!

When an artist chooses the colors to put in an artwork, there are some rules for choosing well. They are called COLOR HARMONIES.

A harmony is a collection of things that go well together. For instance, in music, a harmony is two or more notes that sound really nice when played at the same time. In art, a harmony happens when two or more colors are used next to each other that look really good together. There are many different color harmonies. We are learning four of them this year. They are ANALOGOUS, COMPLEMENTARY, TRIADIC, and MONOCHROMATIC.

ANALOGOUS

An analogous color harmony is made up of colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. These colors naturally blend together nicely and create a very calm and peaceful feeling picture. A perfect example is a sunset.

COMPLEMENTARY

A complementary color harmony is made of two colors that are opposites on the color wheel. Color opposites are very striking together and make a picture POP! They are very exciting together.

TRIADIC

A triadic color harmony forms a perfect triangle on the color wheel. The colors are exactly the same distance apart on all three point of the triangle. This creates a very balanced feeling picture.

MONOCHROMATIC

Mono means ONE. Chromatic means COLOR. So, monochromatic means ONE COLOR. A monochromatic picture uses tints, shades, and the original hue of one color. Monochromatic is not technically a harmony, since it is really only using one color, but we include it in this lesson anyway.

Fourth Grade Printmaking Project

This year the fourth grade classes made some collographic prints with Ms. Rowland, our student teacher. 

The students used tag board to build an image on their stiff printing board.  Some students layered the tag board, others did not.  On printing day, four palettes were set up in the room; a 2 color warm/tint color combo, a 2 color cool/tint combo, a 2 color warm/shade combo, and a 2 color cool/shade combo.  Students painted the colors of their choice onto the board, then laid a blank paper on top, rubbed gently, and peeled it back off.  Students were encouraged to make up to four prints using various different color palettes.  We recommended a black print paper for the tint combos and a white print paper for the shade combos.  The students then 'editioned' their prints (numbered them in the order they were created, signed them, and gave them a title) and framed the one they felt was the most successful print.

It was a very fun project, and as you can see, created some beautiful results!