Wiley Inspired Self-Portraits

Students in grades 4-6 made these self-portraits inspired by contemporary American painter Kehinde Wiley. We began by drawing out the portrait- I explained all the proportions of the face so the students would know how to lay features out in the right places. We also used mirrors and as students filled in with colored pencils we incorporated highlights and shadows to increase the 3D effect. We then learned about painter Kehinde Wiley, most famous for painting the official presidential portrait of Barack Obama. Wiley often uses complementary colors in the backgrounds and very detailed patterns. Students rocked these portraits and the resemblance of each one is amazing!

Winter Cityscapes

Students in grades 4-6 created these lovely winter cityscapes as an exploration into architecture, value and shading! We began by creating a unique cityscape- drawing homes or buildings and adding detailed architectural elements. These were drawn in pencil and then traced over with sharpie. For the background, I let students choose a color of paint and then create a gradient sky. We talked about the art element of value- the lightness or darkness of a color. Adding white to a color is called a tint and adding black to a color is called a shade. Students were to mix the colors and create a minimum of 5 different values in their sky. The final step was to cut out the cityscape and attach it to the value painting. We also used oil pastels in the same color to create some shadows on the buildings and white paint to add snowflakes. 

Make-A-Robot

Students in grades 1-3 created their very own robots! We began by looking at many examples of robots, from cartoons to real life models. Students then sketched several different types of robots while being encouraged to include a lot of details. For the next class, students chose their favorite design and drew it out large on a colored paper. They painted the entire shape gray and had to make sure each side of the robot came close to every edge of the page. During the final class, students drew in the details with black crayon, painted highlights on one side with white paint and a shadow on the other side with black paint. We also added a bit of color to the robots, some aluminum foil for shine and rubbed a texture into the background. The students were very proud of these and each robot has so much personality!