Op Art, Spheres & Cones

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This was the 3rd project in our series of Op Art lessons.....Students took their knowledge of creating "spheres" and added "cones" in the background. Big thanks to Jodi at One Crayola Short for sharing this super lesson. It's a great primer for getting students to really wrap their head around how adding "values" can truly make a big difference in their art! (My students are high school, but Jodi did this lesson w/ 5th graders -- Younger kids can handle this, they'll just need more direction and time.)

Step 1: Students followed same instruction for creating spheres as in sphere lesson.

Step 2: Draw and even number of diagonal lines emanating from a point somewhere near the middle of the page. Remind them to "jump over" their spheres.

Step 3: Students drew curved lines inside each cone shape, alternating between "smile" and "frown" curves on every other cone.

Step 4: Place black dots in the areas to be colored black, then colored them.

Step 5: Color the rest of the shapes being careful to darken the outsides of each shape and leave the middle lightest. (High values in the middle, and low values near the edges of each shape. Sometimes I even had the students put their finger in the middle of each shape to remind them not to color that area as dark.)

Big Thanks North County Christian High School Art Students, 2010-11!!!

Op Art "Floating Spheres"

Kids love the power of being able to create optical illusions - and they're always shocked at how easy it is! I've done this lesson with students age 11 and up. Younger students make the shapes larger, and older students have fun overlapping, etc. Here is the lesson that inspired me, and another fun Op Art lesson is here too.
Step 1: Trace some circles on paper.
Step 2: Add curved lines (we call them horizontal "smiles and frowns" & vertical "c's and backward c's - OR "longitude and latitude" lines) to turn the circle into a sphere. Younger students can make less lines.
Step 3: Draw a grid for background, and remember to "jump over" the spheres with the grid lines.
Step 4: Color shapes, leaves every other shape white b/c the negative space is necessary to help create the optical illusion.
Step 5: Add shadows on sides of spheres.

Thanks North County Christian High School art students!!!!

What kids say...............

Image via Wikipedia You know those moments in the classroom when you're expecting one thing to come out of kids' mouths, but instead something wildly different appears? You know, the "stop dead in your tracks" moments trying to wrap your brain around what just happened? (I'm referring to the good ones, we can just forget about the bad ones - although they do happen too.)

Well, many moons ago I was Ed. Director at our local Performing Arts Center at the university. One of my favorite duties was leading "backstage tours" for schoolchildren. We did a short skit w/ each class, during the tour, where a couple kids went onstage and told some jokes. They were announced over house p.a., and spotlighted, etc. while their classmates sat in the audience. While the kids were preparing backstage, I would prepare the audience. I pointed to a sign and said, "Now this sign says-" and before I could finish my sentence a very young boy shouted out "APPLESAUCE!" The sign actually said "Applause". Well.....you know the rest, kids told jokes, applause sign went up, kids gave their applause ----and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day:)

Seeing with your "Artists Eyes"

New school, new year!!! Guess what, this year I actually have a classroom of my own (well technically, it's not my own, it's also the Staff Room at a small private K-12 Christian school) - but I LOVE it just the same! I'm teaching one art class, everyday, each afternoon & it's 10th, 11th, & 12th graders mixed together....how enjoyable for me! I'm thouroughly challenged by all the new prospects and ideas swirling in my head. So, so many ideas, now to just get them organized in a manner that will bring them to fruition, ahhhhhh - guessing you all can imagine my prayers these days.

First day we talked about looking at things differently, noticing details, using our "ARTIST EYES" - then the students drew these fabulous eyes for our first bulletin board.

Here's a tutorial I found on drawing an eye, (so sorry I forgot to note the address and author). There are million eye drawing tutorials, but I thought this was a good one for beginners. We also spent some time looking at each other's eyes, what a great thing to do to break the ice on the first day of school!

Big thanks to North County Christian School, high school artists!!!