Eat It

POP ART

Emerging in the mid 1950s in Britain and late 1950s in America, pop art reached its peak in the 1960s. It began as a revolt against the dominant approaches to art and culture and traditional views on what art should be. Young artists felt that what they were taught at art school and what they saw in museums did not have anything to do with their lives or the things they saw around them every day. Instead they turned to sources such as Hollywood movies, advertising, product packaging, pop music and comic books for their imagery. In 1957 pop artist Richard Hamilton listed the ‘characteristics of pop art’ in a letter to his friends the architects Peter and Alison Smithson:

Pop Art is: Popular (designed for a mass audience), Transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big business

Modernist critics were horrified by the pop artists’ use of such ‘low’ subject matter and by their apparently uncritical treatment of it

Skill development - colour pencil

Colour Pencils are often the overlooked material in the art room. When used correctly they can provide rich luscious colour and are great for photo-realistic effects. check out Artist CJ Hendry and they way she uses colour pencil

This artist transforms scribbles into hyperrealistic drawings using only colored pencilsCJ Hendry, a New York artist, spends up to 15 hours a day creating hyperrealistic drawings using only colored pencils.

www.instagram.com/p/CAOtTWojw-a/

How to use colour pencils

The secret to successful colour pencil work is layers layers layers.

-Use a smooth CIRCULAR MOTION. Use VERY light layers until all colors have been added and desired value is achieved – then press harder to put the final blend and finish on the area [burnishing].

**Light layers mean lots of colors can be layered in one area before the wax builds up too much – this is what creates the rich colorful hues you see in Hendrys work

How to make a dark value of any color: The secret to rich gorgeous color with colored pencil is not to use black to make a hue darker. Instead, use cool darks (violet, dark green, indigo blue, blue violet, violet). These colors act as a “foundation” underneath and in between the local color (color of the object or area you are drawing).

How to create an even distribution of colors: This is the real secret, as most people tend to press really hard in the beginning and get too much wax on the paper which limits the number of layers you can apply and as a result your color is not as dimensional. Apply your layers lightly, using small circles. (See video tutorials) Using a light, tiny circular motion with the pencils allows for many layers. Remember, colored pencil is wax mixed with pigment. The paper will only take so much wax before the colors just “slide around” and don’t mix creating a flat crayon-like application.

How to make a color “richer”: When working with any hue, to create a richer, more dimensional color, use the analogous colors (and the lighter values of the hue) on either side of said hue. For example, if you are working on a red apple, consider the mid-tones in the apple and add oranges and yellows in with the red. In the highlight, consider pink and peach for the highlighted area instead of just using white.

How to make black: Chromatic black is so gorgeous in colored pencil. It is made up of Blue Violet, Violet, Dark Green, Indigo Blue, and occasionally Tuscan Red. You can always add some other cool darks to achieve a variety of blacks, but this is a fool-proof method for achieving chromatic blacks

Watch the two videos provided for some hints and tips before getting started on some practical work

Activity 1 - colour mixing

Using the colour wheel sheet, [click on the image to open a PDF for printing]. You need to mix colours using colour pencils to achieve colours and saturation that match the printed wheel - ideally you wont be able to tell what has been printed and what you have applied. Start of very lightly layering your colours on and when your colour matches, burnish with your lightest value.

Activity 2 - Tints and Shades with colour pencil

Using the worksheet, [click on the image to open a PDF for printing] practice how to create tints and shades of hues with the pencils. Suggested colours have been provided - start of very lightly layering your colours and when your value is right, burnish with your lightest hue.

These Video Tutorials show how to do the value scale sheets BUT please note that the teacher uses slightly different colours to what are on YOUR sheet..

Original material inspired by Mrs. Tiffany Fox. Her resources can be found here

Colored Pencil Sphere LessonED.pdf

Activity 3 - Colour Pencil Sphere

Read through The document on how to create your colour sphere in your visual diary. You will need to have a small grayscale sphere and value scale to reference. You can select what colour sphere you would like to do.

Ensure you work from lightest to darkest value, and layer lightly until your values are correct and then go in heavier to burnish.