pencil – Art & Soul

Anatomical Heart Art

Posted on February 25, 2016

Art II students completed an assignment in which they studied and drew the human heart. I think to some people it seems a bit creepy, but the anatomical heart lends itself so well to illustrative pursuits…

We did gesture sketches of a model of human heart (borrowed from the Health Occupations teacher), studying it from different angles. Then students did several pages of sketches, in which they brainstormed different ways to morph the heart into something else. These are highly imaginative drawings. i had them experiment with different media, as they could choose which they wanted to work with. The results include a mixture of pen, charcoal, graphite, colored pencil, and soft pastel. This was a really engaging project, and my students enjoyed it and came up with some awesome interpretations of the heart.

Graphite and Grid Drawing…awesome!!

Posted on October 8, 2012

Art II Drawing students have been studying value and basic shading techniques. We did a collaborative whole-class artwork that really turned out beautifully–and was a good teaching tool to show how important the element of value is to successful artwork.

Each student was given a 1″x1″ square cut from a black and white copy of a photo. They were instructed to enlarge it onto a 6″x6″ square, paying careful attention to value and proportions. When everyone was finished, we glued the results together, and crossed our fingers! —one thing I found helped was laying out the pieces, letting everyone look at the “big picture,” and then letting them add or subtract value, etc. to enhance the drawing.

The fun part was that no one got to see the photo they were working from until we finished, so the result was a lovely surprise! Enjoy!

Still life with skull…

Posted on September 5, 2012

In Drawing class we build up our skills; I like to start the year with all of my students coming in every period doing a really focused, sort of centering exercise so we’ve been doing a lot of blind contour line drawing. It’s pretty silly feeling at first but they have gotten really good. We’re about to move on from there. I found a few photos hanging around from last year from my drawing class of still lifes we had done after we got into value and started shading techniques. I believe these just show shading and stippling, but no crosshatching. This year I should have examples of all three. Getting excited about putting together some autumnal still lifes! I think. I’m also really thinking trees right now too. I want to get that in. Hmm. Branches in the still life? Well, here’s the photos, just a few…I remember being so excited because Mrs. Price, our other art teacher, let me use a skull she had in this still life (cow?), and bones make very nice shading and such. Hope you enjoy, and I’ll be posting more soon!