May 2nd- May 6th

Calvin and Hobbes

Up next...the Cartooning Unit!

In the beginning of the week, sixth grade students will finish up their foil relief projects. Once those are completed, we will move on to our cartooning unit. The students will create their own cartoon character and incorporate it into a comic strip. We will kick off the unit by exploring famous comic strip characters throughout history. We will learn how to create movement, emotions, and gestures in our characters. They will also learn how to include a funny "gag." According to Helen D. Hume, "a cartoonist exaggerates reality and tells the truth with a twist. Yet cartoons are close enough to real-life events that we can relate to the artist's version of the truth. Because of their attention-getting simplicity, cartoons have many applications." I am looking forward to the student "applications" in the Lakeview art room!

April 25-April 29th

Line Designs

Sixth grade students will continue to work on their foil relief designs. Some students will be using copper foil as stated in my previous blog, however, others will be using aluminum and gold. The students have been working diligently in creating five different line designs to "etch" into their foil using a ballpoint pen and other tools. By the end of the week, all students will be extending their designs onto black matting with white pencil.

April 18th-April 22nd

This will be a short week for the sixth grade art classes. We will all be attending a field trip on Wednesday, there is an early dismissal day on Thursday, and no school on Friday. That being said, we will still jump into a brand new project that will most likely take us into next week. Our newest project will focus on Copper Repousse, or the technique of tooling small sheets of copper paper to create a low relief made from creative line designs.

April 11th-April 15th

This week, sixth graders will continue to work on their cityscapes in one or two-point perspective. While drawing several buildings last week, the students used rulers to accurately draw guidelines to their vanishing point(s) in an effort to make their skyscrapers or other structures appear to be three dimensional. This week, finishing touches will be added. This will include careful outlining in black marker and shading in with colored pencils. The art room is filled with creative architects designing the next great city skyline!