I just finished creating this new op art video tutorial for my 4th and 5th grade students and wanted to share! We will be starting this art lesson later next week. I plan on stretching this lesson out over (4) 40 minute classes. I created an OP Art video for this lesson a few years ago, when I first started making YouTube videos, but never liked how it came out and always wanted to recreate it. So here it is! Hope you like it and can use it for your art class, or if you’re a student, can draw along with me at home!
5th Graders did such a fantastic job creating these op art paper cone drawings!!! I’m super proud of their hard work!!!
Students LOVED it too and couldn’t believe it could be created using just sharpies, and colored pencils!
This lesson took about 5 (40 minute) art classes to complete.
ON DAYS 1 and 2: Students were introduced to various OP Art by artists Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley, and learned what Op art was (Optical Illusion Art) with a quick slideshow of work.
Six straight lines that intersect at the same spot, were drawn ahead of time on 80# 10×10″ paper for each student with a ruler; Creating 12 “slices” in total.
Students followed along with me while I demonstrated under the document camera how to draw alternating curving lines within each pie slice, starting in the center.
Then they labeled every other slice with a “B” lightly in pencil, to mark that space as black.
Students then started tracing over the smallest slices labeled “B” in the center, using an extra fine point Sharpie, then filled in.
As areas got larger, kids switched to a Fine Point Sharpie, (since it has a thicker tip), and filled in the rest.
ON DAY 3, I reviewed the element of art VALUE with students and showed them how to create subtle value changes within each pie slice with colored pencils.
Students used a white colored pencil in the black areas first to create highlights, pressing hard with the white colored pencil down the middle, creating a bright white strip. Then as they drew from the middle outward, to each side, they pressed lighter and lighter, leaving the sides black.
Then, using a black colored pencil in just the white areas, they drew darkest along the sides and gradually pressed lighter and lighter towards the center—leaving the center strip white.
This lesson ties in nicely (and is a great precursor) to the grid drawing lesson that occurs later on in the year!
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the page “STUDENTS CREATING ART” —NEW PICS HAVE BEEN ADDED : )
AND BE SURE TO CHECK BACK THIS WEEKEND FOR 4TH GRADERS VICTORIAN HOUSES!!!
Hello again everybody! Sorry for the long hiatus….. I meant to post this over a month ago when school was just out, but things have been pretty busy around here (and by busy I mean basically just totally chillin out and relaxing focusing on family, friends and my health—-but c’mon, can ya blame me?! It is summer break after all!
But back to the art lesson I’m posting about—-Grid drawings inspired by the amazing artist Chuck Close!
This was my last art lesson of the school year for 5th grade. I have taught this lesson now for 5 years (4 years at the schools I’m teaching in now, and 1 year within another district). I think it’s one of the more challenging lessons for 5th grade.
The images I print out aren’t super easy and although students have a choice on what image they want to draw, the lesson requires a lot of attention to detail and focus. Usually it takes students about 6 (sometimes even 7 (40 minute) classes to complete.
So with that in mind, I have NO IDEA why I planned on teaching it with only about 4 art classes left in the school year…. (you’d think by now I’d of realized doing so would mean kids probably wouldn’t finish. Well… that is what happened. BUT—art isn’t always about the final product. It’s about the PROCESS. Learning about new techniques, learning about different artists, creative decision-making, discovering things about yourself, learning from mistakes and persevering through challenges.
Many students did finish, and I’d say most were probably ½ way finished. I DID however, have them draw on WAY smaller paper. In previous years kids drew on 9×12” or 8×10”, but this time round, I had them draw on 5×7” to help speed things up a bit, while still keeping the same learning goals in mind.
Students worked so hard and I’m truly impressed with their beautiful drawings! Even if unfinished.
Ok, sorry….that was a lot of text to read… so here’s the artwork!! 🙂
Students selected one black and white photo of an animal. They could choose from about 15 different pictures.
I looked for images on Google that had a variety of value changes, were challenging enough in that they had some nice details, but tried to find ones with a simple background. Then I printed each of them as a 5×7” on 8.5” x11” printer paper.
When making a selection, I laid out each image in stacks of about 10 along a long table, then called groups of kids up (5 or 6 kids at a time) to make a choice.
Students used a 1” strip of cardboard to create their grids. I’ve had them use actual rulers before, but it proved to be too tricky getting accurate measurements and straight lines.
They drew a grid on their chosen black and white animal picture, then numbered each square, then drew the same exact grid on a piece of 5×7” drawing paper and numbered that grid as well.
Here’s some pics of students doing just that!
I explained to draw very lightly on the white drawing paper (so later on the grid lines and numbers wouldn’t show as much) but they could draw pressing much harder on their black and white animal pic in order to see the grid lines and numbers better.
To help students draw with a lighter touch, I showed them how to hold the pencil so their fingers gripped near the eraser rather than towards the pencils tip. The closer your fingers are towards the tip of the pencil, the more likely it is you will draw darker lines.
Once their grids were drawn and numbered, they drew just the contour lines of their animal, while observing just one box at a time. Like so…..
Once all the contour lines are complete, we reviewed what VALUE meant and after doing a demo under the doc camera, they started shading using various drawing pencils. I had them use just 2B, 3B, 4B and 6B.
I also had small handouts to refer to on a value scale with references on what pencil would probably work best for each value within their picture.
We also reviewed how you can change the value of the pencil marks by simply pressing harder or lighter as well.
Students also learned how to use a TORTILLION or aka a blending stump to soften/blur lines and create lighter values.
You can see the tortillion (not tortilla! Tortillion I joked with the kids) on this students picture of a giraffe.
Kids were amazed at how much detail they acheived and how accurate they could draw what they were seeing—-just by simply slowing down, and really paying attention to all the little details and nuances within each and every square!!
To view a great video and interview with Chuck Close himself– click on the video below!!
And another if you like!….
To view additional Grid drawings by my 5th graders in the past—- go HERE and then scroll down until you see it! This is also where you can view the learning goals of my lesson.
Thanks for stopping by!! I will be posting again within the next week or so—so Stay Tuned!! 🙂
5th Graders knocked it out of the park with this lesson!! I’m super proud of their hard work!
Students really LOVED it too and couldn’t believe it could be created using just sharpies, and colored pencils. More on this below!
This lesson took about 5 (40 minute) art classes to complete.
ON DAY 1: Students were introduced to various OP Art by artists Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley, and learned what Op art was (Optical Illusion Art) with a quick slideshow of work.
Six straight lines that intersect at the same spot, were drawn ahead of time on 80# 10×10″ paper for each student with a ruler; Creating 12 “slices” in total.
After kids got their papers, I demonstrated under a document camera as they followed along with me for the first step.
Students then drew a series of concentric curved lines alternating the direction of the curve within each “slice”.
Once finished with that step, students labeled every OTHER slice with a “B” lightly in pencil, to mark that space as black.
This step helps speed things along as kids color in– (just locate the ones labeled “B”), AND reduces any potential mistakes while using Sharpie.
Once that’s all set, students then started tracing over the smallest slices labeled “B” in the center, using a extra fine point Sharpie, (so it wouldn’t bleed too much into the small white sections), then filled in.
As areas got larger, kids switched to a Fine Point Sharpie, (since it has a thicker tip), and colored in the rest.
These 2 steps took about 2- (40 minute) classes to complete.
ON DAY 3, I discussed the element of art VALUE with students and showed them how to create subtle value changes.
Then I demonstrated the next step —using a black colored pencil in the white areas to create shading and shadows, and a white colored pencil in the black areas to create highlights.
Before students started this on their own artwork, I had them practice first on black and white papers.
I explained to students it’s important to draw the lines close together.
It’s also key to press harder with the white in the center, and gradually get lighter and lighter as the white gets closer to the edges of each slice, leaving a bit of black showing along the sides.
Then, using the black colored pencil in just the white areas, they drew darkest along the sides and gradually pressed lighter and lighter towards the center—leaving the center strip white!
Students loved seeing the 3D effect start to emerge!!
Here is my step-by-step video tutorial on this lesson
This is my first you tube tutorial (eep!) I’ve ever created….This is all a bit daunting to me, so please be kind as I’m excited (and NERVOUS!) about creating art tutorial videos. But it’s a goal of mine as an educator to try it out, and my hope is to get better and better at it -eventually adding additional art tutorial videos in the future!
To see more 5th grade art lessons, click on the MENU icon and select 5th Grade art lessons and scroll down!
