Reverse Value Drawings

This project really makes my students think!  Their job is to draw the high lights on the skull rather than the shadows.  This project also helps to prepare them for drawing their portraits by having the examine elements of a skull.

Personal Interest Portraits

I love this project!  I use it as an icebreaker for the first few days of class.  I got the idea from a fellow classmate while I was working towards my Masters in Education.  

Step 1: Photograph the student.

Step 2: Upload photograph into Photoshop and change the image to black and white.  You want to have strong shapes and shadows in the image.

Step 3: Students overlay a white piece of paper over the image and trace all the black spaces with a pencil.

Step 4: Students use fine tipped Sharpies to write about themselves and fill in the areas they traced.

As you can see, this project is open to the student's interpretation! 

Christo Chair Drawings

One of the tools that is useful to use when teaching students how to draw is to set up a still life.  However, students can get bored with this concept.  To make a still life more interesting for my students, I had them begin by studying artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their wrapped artworks.  We watched the video The Gates, which documented the artist's recent work in New York City.  The students  began their still life studies with a warm-up drawing of the negative space of a chair.  Next, the students wrapped the chair in fabric and twine.  Students spent several days working on these drawings.

Negative/Positive Space: India Ink

In order to learn how to draw, it is important to study the concept of negative and positive space.  One of the ways I have taught this concept is by having the students make an india ink drawing of a potted plant that I keep in my classroom.  The results are always beautiful!