Teaching Art by Exploring Art Techniques

Let's explore Art Techniques!

Art can be a spontaneous way to express what has been learned in any subject area. Give children room and materials,some food for thought and it can often flow naturally.However, sometimes plans are needed to help you as a parent direct those art activities, improve them and explore them more fully.Below, I have listed some ideas of how to teach Art by Exploring Art Techniques.

• Drawing
• Painting
• Working with Paper
• Sculpture and Pottery
• Printmaking
• Computer Art Techniques
• Other Art Techniques

• Drawing

  
  Drawing is the skill to use lines and shapes to create a pleasing composition which shows depth, contrast, light and shadow and gives the impression of dimension, using different degrees ofdetail.
  Children can
  • Draw with pencil, coloured pencils, charcoal, ink pens- still life- focus on lines/ focus on the outside contours/ focus on light and shadows/
  • Draw shadows by shading and crosshatching.
  • Draw from observation -sketching from nature, people, buildings, cars, action
  • Contour Drawings- concentrate on one object, repeat the shape, overlap objects
  • Draw with texture- lines to indicate texture. Practice drawing trees, tree trunks, leaves, furry animals. Add more details in the shaded areas.
  • Draw using geometric shapes; find shapes in nature; Practice overlapping the shapes.
  • Work with light source- using different coloured pencils to show light on one side of an object and shadow on the other; In this context, it is important to learn about complementary colours.
  • Learn about perspective- Lines which go back to the horizon line will connect at a "vanishing point".
  • Use Two Point perspective to draw a house receding to two vanishing points.
  • Use perspective to draw landscapes, roads, train tracks, cars, trucks, shelves; Practice from observation.
  • Draw subjects from different viewpoints - drawing a cup and a saucer on a table above your eye level; Draw a tall building, the top is above your eye level; a bird's eye view of a town;
  
  
  

  

• Painting

  
  Painting is a way in which children can express their feelings, be creative, develop their observation skills, learn to appreciate the work of great artists' and to critique the way in which artists have expressed themselves using this medium.Using a number of art techniques, children can:
  • Learn about value. Make their own monochromatic chart; Start with a primary colour (blue). Paint a blue square; Add a small amount of white to the colour, fill in the next square with the colour;Add more white and continually colour in the squares showing differing values of blue;
  • Experiment with monochromatic drawings; Use these above values and paint a still life with only one colour.
  • Learn about warm and cool colours; Draw two similar pictures and colour one in "cool, sombre" colours, andthe other in bright and cheerful "warm" colours.
  • Learn about the colour wheel; Paint the colour wheel; Mix colours and experiment with effects;
  • use mixed media: Use wax crayons with ink/ watercolour/ thinned acrylic paints/
  • Use colourful wax crayons on a page; Cover it entirely. Then cover it with tempera paint or India ink. When dry scratch to see the crayons underneath and create a picture.
  • Use different brush techniques-
    • dry brush (dip the brush in paint and rub in nearly dry on a piece of scrap paper;Then use this "dry brush");
    • Stippling (hold a dry brush vertically to create a stipple pattern using paint)
    • Brush drawing (Draw with a loaded brush over a part of the painting to give a raised-textured effect)
    • Use Powdered paint (to create texture use powdered paint mixed with very little water, or add sawdust or sand and create some rough areas)
    • Use a sponge (dip the paint in a sponge or rub the sponge on the painting.
    • Use a roller (wrap string around it; roll it in different pools of colour; change directions..
  • Experiment with finger painting - thumb paintings (use a print of the child's thumb and make them into characters by adding arms, legs etc; Use fingers or hands and repeat the pattern using various colours; make a collage of handprints;
  • Make paper collages or use this art technique on wooden trays as a gift idea











• Working with Paper

  
  Using Paper Art Techniques, children can:
  • Make Drawings using paper
    • use a variety of paper (different thicknesses/shapes/textures- corrugated cardboard, coloured paper, tissue paper, cellophane, transparent paper) and make a torn paper drawing. Can be used across the curriculum -spring pictures/ architecture/ historical themes.
    • Make a collage using paper- portraits, landscapes, abstract, silhouettes, houses, animals,
    • Make patterns with paper;
  • Make Paper Sculptures
    • Make animals using junk materials - spools, boxes, toilet rolls, paper, felt, buttons. Glue,paint and cover with varnish.
    • Make an object out of rolled newspaper - cyclindrical shape for the body; tie legs and arms to the body with string; Use strips of newspaper dipped in paste (as paper mache) and wrap around the figure. Paint when dry.
    • Make model buildings out of cardboard. (Some good designs can be found here) Terrific 3D Papercraft Ideas here.
    • Make a clay mould, leave to dry; Cover with cooking oil and then cover in newspaper strips dipped in paste (the glue we have used is the wallpaper glue from the hardware); Paint when dry.
    • Make paper mache pulp. (newspaper torn into bits soaked overnight in water; Drain excess water; Mix with paste (1 cup of paste to 5 cups of pulp);Use this to model any shape - fruit, animals, bowls, portraits. When dry (can take one week), it can be sandpapered, carved, painted and varnished.
  • Forms in Space - Mobiles
  
  
  

• Sculpture and Pottery

  modeling, carving and constructing; Here children can use clay, wood, plaster of paris, soap to form into three dimensional forms. Other 3D constructions can be made from wire, straws, and a combination of any re-cycled junk.










• Printmaking

  Prints can be made in many ways- monoprinting (making one print by transferring a picture painted on glass or linoleum, onto another page by laying the paper on top of the painting), also can be done with other materials for different effects- string/material etc; Vegetable and Stick Printing;Linoleum and Woodcut Printing; fabric printing;
  
  

• Computer Art Techniques

  Computer Drawing; 3D computer modelling; Powerpoint presentations, Web Design; Film; Video and film making;




• Photography

  
  

• Other Group Art Techniques and Activities

  Puppetry, Murals using paint, paper, chalk, crayons; Mosaics- using paper, tiles.
  
  

• Handcrafts

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