Physically Manipulated Photographs high school art

Photoshop is a neat tool, BUT going old school and printing out a photograph and attacking it with a scratch tool and bottles of ink-that has fun written all over it.

Another outside-the-box skill building assignment. The mannequins have returned as props. Below are the results. Sorry for some of the glare.

The tools

Brush and Ink drawing High School

We ordered colored inks this year and thought we should learn how to use them. I showed my students different examples of techniques and let them experiment with styles to figure out a process that best suited them. They choose a technique by means of brush stokes as a form of expression. The project was strictly brush and ink. Students used a camera to take photos of their subject matter. Approx. side of projects 18" x 24"

Now for some shameless self-promotion. I've been writing and illustrating a book about the 80's Denver Punk Rock Scene that I was a part of. Below are a few illustrations using strictly brush and ink from the project.  To see more, click here

Newspaper paintings high school art project

Painting and drawing on book pages, in books and on pages of a newspaper seems to be the rage the past couple of years if not decade. I tried not to give it but some art teachers out there have really done a nice job with their students. One art teacher, Miriam on her blog arteascuola has posted some fine examples. I asked myself what could I add to this trend, not much other than the effect of using Arabic newspapers as the canvas (note: some of the newspaper stories mention the recent protests and violence going on in the country at the moment.)

The students worked from photos they shot during our current photography unit. Photos coming soon.

adding lines

inking

7th grade ink portraits

It was sad to see my grade 8 students rotate to their new elective. In return I have inherited a lovely group of grade 7 students who are willing to just about try anything...this is good news from any teacher perspective. In keeping with the Mr. Bob tradition, self-portraits are always a good opening project. This round we worked with ink using the concepts of line and gesture. Below are a few examples of finished projects. 

Background results

I will admit that I liked the backgrounds better than the final product. I had students experiment with contrasting and analogous colors when creating the faces. I felt that the faces for the most part were overly cartoonish and at times crowded or crammed in the space. There objectives for the project were minimal, I was more interested in seeing how the students interpreted my ideas, being this is my first attempt at this project. In the end I felt like the students had the opportunity to try out new concepts such as cropping and managing space with the faces.