Tag Archives: illustrator study

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Studying the Art of Mike Lowery (Plus a Contest)

 

We are eagerly awaiting a visit from author/illustrator Mike Lowery on October 24th to celebrate his new book Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve held a design-a-dino contest. Interested students picked up a blank design sheet from the library.  They could design a new type of dino and list out it’s many features in the style of Mike Lowery’s new book or they could research an actual dino and include true facts.  This was a very popular contest with students and we had to make additional copies of the entry form on numerous occasions.

It has been really fun seeing the student creativity in each grade level. Most students chose to create new dinosaurs and some of the designs and “facts” have been pretty humorous.

It’s going to be a hard decision as we choose 10 winners to receive an autographed copy of Mike Lowery’s dinosaur book.  Every design will be displayed in our library windows at Mike’s visit. Take a look at just a few of the entries.

 

The art teacher and I are also collaborating together with our 3rd graders. Each 3rd grade class came to the library during art time for a cartoon study.

We started out by learning a bit about Mike Lowery and his new book through these two videos.

We watched this video up to the point where Mike talks about the new book:

Then we switched to this video to learn about the new book:

Then we set students up for their work session.  Students were split between 3 tables.  One table had books written and/or illustrated by Mike Lowery.

The other 2 tables had a variety of graphic novels from different authors and illustrators. At each table, students were supposed to see what they noticed about line, shape, color, simplification, and how text was incorporated.

As students looked at books and talked, Ms. Foretich and I rotated to each table and had conversations with students about their noticings.

If a table was having trouble picking out observations, we offered some models.  For example, we noticed that many of Mike Lowery’s illustrations use dots for eyes and lines on eyebrows or mouths to create expression.

After students rotated to each table, we collected books and introduced a project. Students got to choose from 4 final products based on their observations from the tables.  They could:

  • Create an informational poster in the style of Mike Lowery
  • Create a character and book cover for a comic in the style of Mike Lowery
  • Create a self portrait in the style of Mike Lowery
  • Create a one page comic

For this first session, students had time to select the project they were most interested and then create some initial sketches, notes, or story lines in their artist sketchbooks.

Now, students will begin working on their final project in art class and the final products will be displayed on the walls of our school during Mike Lowery’s visit.  We can’t wait to meet Mike Lowery.  Look for a post at the end of October about our visit.

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What is Home?: An Illustrator Study of Carson Ellis

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We recently received a Donors Choose grant for an education set of 3Doodler pens. These pens allow you to design 3D sculptures.  Think of them as hot glue guns that aren’t quite as hot and have more design control.

The education set is great because it comes with books of design ideas, multiple filament strands, 12 rechargeable pens, and several molds to use for creating pieces.

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As soon as the pens arrived, I showed them to our art teacher and let her borrow one of the design books.  We didn’t immediately plan a project because many times an idea will appear out of nowhere over time.  That’s just what happened.  One day I pulled some Carson Ellis books to show to a class and Home was at the top of the stack.  Ms. Foretich started looking through the illustrations during BTV and her creative wheels started turning.

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Before long, she came back to me with an idea for 5th grade.  What if we explored the idea of home with our 5th graders and had them create a sculpture that symbolized what home meant for them?  The sculpture would have multiple parts and multiple materials that would come together for one piece of art from each 5th grader.  The 3D pens could be a tool that students used to create a part of three-dimensional sculpture.  They would also use paper and cardboard along with other art materials.  That’s where it started.

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We booked multiple times on the library calendar for the project and Ms. Foretich made plans for work that would be done in the art room as well.  This week, during art, 5th grade came to the library for the initial lesson.  We wanted to use this time to look at Carson’s work as well as read Home.

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We looked at a variety of art on her site and in her books.

Students made many noticings such as the mixture of dark and bright colors.  They noticed how often times there is a bright color that seems to pop off the page.  We also noticed that her work had an embroidered or handmade quality to it as well.

After reading Home, we watched a short video to see Carson’s actual home and hear a bit about the environments she put into the book.

This brought us to a discussion of the word “home”.  Most students started by talking about a physical structure, but then Ms. Foretich asked them to think about what they missed when they weren’t at home.  This brought many students to bring up things like smells, objects, people, foods, pets, and more.  We referenced that in Carson’s video, she zoomed in to things like a fireplace, apples hanging from a tree, chickens strutting through the yard, and a guitar propped against the wall.  Ms. Foretich told students she wanted them to stretch the idea of “home” to go beyond the physical structure.

Next, we gave students some planning and exploration time. We split the class in half.  One half worked on brainstorming.  

They made a list of possible things that represent home and then selected what they would focus on the most for the art piece.  They also sketched their image as well as what part of the image they would use the 3Doodler for.  This brainstorming step is a step students will continue in the art classroom because they only had enough time to begin their planning.

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The other half of the students explored the 3Doodler pens.  I showed them the basics of how they worked as well as some examples of things that could be made based on the instructions in the books.  Each student got 1 strand of filament to experiment with.  I encouraged them to try writing their name or making a cube.  Some of them created their own designs as well.  Since this was a tinkering session, they did not have to create anything specific.  I wanted them to see the possibilities and the limitations of the pens so that they could do better planning back in the art room.

After about 10 minutes, each group switched so that students visited both areas.

We are so excited about the possibilities of this project and the many standards that it will include.  I can’t wait to learn more about the students by seeing what represents home for each of them.  We will continue to revisit the work of Carson Ellis as we go.  Planning will continue in art as well as the creation of the paper and cardboard pieces of the sculpture. Students will return soon to begin working with the 3Doodler pens.

It’s always so much fun to collaborate with art. Ms. Foretich plans the most meaningful projects for our students and I can’t wait for them to get to showcase these in multiple ways at school and in our community.