Line Drawing with Copper texture overlay

Line Drawing 

This lesson is not about color or anything other than the essence of a line. There are so many line combinations and variations that the design possibilities and endless.

I conducted this lesson with a higher level student. They were required to put a different line in each section of at least 10 areas.

Then use a thin copper plate or aluminum to cover one section and transpose the image by using a pencil to make an impression. Overlay the metal piece on top of the completed section for a dazzling focal point.

 

Value with watercolor

 Value Painting with Watercolor

Ever since I was in school, I've always had an appreciation for watercolor. The color variations, tones and values that can be achieved are the most interesting part. Although watercolor is vivid and beautiful, it is not a very easy medium to use if you are a beginner. Watercolor has a bit of "science" incorporated with the need for varying water amounts and paying attention to the pigment strength. 

With that being said I will give you a visual aid to help you and your students understand the best ways to render with watercolor paint.

Choosing your paint

Although most watercolor paint is very workable, I would suggest buying a set of watercolors that are less translucent. Crayola brand watercolors have proven to be just right for the task.

Don't forget to obtain the correct watercolor brush. A brush with synthetic fibers is perfect.

Examples of Value Painting with Watercolor and Printmaking

Algorithms in Visual Arts

 Art from Ideas

A geometry teacher asks you to make a drawing using "arcs and bands in color." What would this look like? Do you think the person sitting next to you would interpret the phrase the same way?

Abstract artists like Sol Lewitt combines seemingly simple lines and shapes into eye-catching geometric designs. His famous works are larger-than-life drawings and paintings executed directly on museum and gallery walls.

This is a type of artistic algorithm created by Sol Lewitt.

Algorithmic art or algorithm art is art, mostly visual art, in which the design is generated by an algorithm. Algorithmic artists are sometimes called algorists.

Most of the time algorithms are computer generated and based on simple calculations.

For this lesson we will be making an artistic algorithm that follows 2 simple instructions.

Rules:

Color the inside of the line and use black and white contrast on the outside of the line.

Procedures: Start by having a conversation with students on the different types of lines for line drawing. Commonly these lines are:

straight

curved 

dotted

loopy

zig zag

wavy

castle

dashed

bouncy

spiral

Then assign a different line to all students. 

The first student starts off by drawing a line across the page. Then that student must make their line parallel in order to be able to color inside of. The next student can not start drawing until the previous student finishes. This will direct the next student where to start their line and continues until until all students have drawn their lines. 

After the lines have been drawn, the students must use a black marker to trace their work. 

I choose to have the students use markers to color inside of their lines and we use black paint or ink on the outside only.

The results are phenomenal! The contrast pops and leaves a design that shows how students collaborated mathematically to create a line design all together.

Class Bulletin Board

 

Pop artist, really famous for the "whaam!" plane cartoon which is in the Tate Modern.