What's Going on in the Classroom: Computer Graphics Project

As promised, here is the post showing off the computer graphic skills of my students! Since this is an intro course to most of the mediums we teach at higher levels, we did a very simple project, but the kids still had so much fun with it and really used their imagination. Their assignment was to draw or paint an image that they then incorporated into a digital image that the found online (royalty free of course!) They used Adobe Photoshop to complete this assignment. Their goal was to combine their drawing with the found image as inconspicuously as possible. I have to say, even the ones that weren't very inconspicuous were still pretty cool! Check out a sampling of their work:

What's Going on in the Classroom: Social Issues-Group Paintings

Hello all! I know it's been a bit and that's my fault. I have no excuse other than the end of the year causes me to be lazy. Okay, okay I know it's not technically the end of the year, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, especially since our annual art show is over. Everything builds to that show and now that it's over, it feels like we're going down hill!

So in the art room, we just finished a Computer Graphics project, which I will post examples of in  a day or two. However, we are finishing out the quarter strong with a group painting! Students were put into groups of five or six people and given the task of composing an image based on a social issue. Their goal was to bring awareness to something happening in the world today that they felt strongly about. After choosing their topic, they brainstormed ideas and images that they could use. Every student had to be involved in the drawing and painting of the large image. Check out their work so far!

And as a side note, look at the fun little portrait I found while cleaning up. Someone painted it on a palette. So creative!

What's Going on in the Classroom: Watercolor Painting Project

I'm soooo glad we have moved back into a two-dimensional media! This quarter students will be exploring painting and some 2-D mixed media as well as printmaking and computer graphics. We've started off with watercolor painting. As we enter the second half of the year, students are really striking out with their own voice and ideas. So for this painting, instead of telling students what their subject matter should be, we are focusing on their composition or how they arrange that subject matter. But before we got into any of that, we practice and played around with different watercolor techniques. Students learned how to do a watercolor wash and some different textures with salt and straws, etc.. then they tried their hand at painting realistically with some fruit as their inspiration.

Now students are beginning their compositions. The chose any subject matter they wanted, however they had to include one distinct focal point. Students had to place that focal point on their paper according to the Rule of Thirds. Then they were required to incorporate a watercolor wash and a texture technique somewhere in their work. Here are a few that are just getting starting. More finished pieces to come!