Keith Haring Pop Art Figures - or Holiday Elves!

First, let's learn about Keith Haring...

You've probably seen Keith Haring's art on many different items, such as clothing etc - brightly colored figures which look as though they're moving. Keith Haring is an interesting artist so I've included several resources included with this lesson.

Keith Haring was an American Pop artist, from Kurtztown, Pennsylvania. He was interested in art from when a small child and used to draw constantly.

At age 20 moved to NY which was when he developed his 'street art' style; simple, primitive figures expressing movement. He was inspired by watching street dancers, specifically break dancers. He considered his art to be 'art for everyone', creating murals on New York streets and subway system. He believed his images functioned as words so his drawings became his vocabulary.

Next watch the video below to learn more about Keith Haring.

More about Keith Haring...

Learn more about Keith Haring with this short video. It tells you about Keith Haring's life and artistic career, with video of him creating art on the subway, his murals and more.

After the video, scroll through the images below before doing the lesson to create your own Keith Haring Pop Art Figures.

And now for the project...

For this project, you will have the option of making your pop art figures into Holiday Elves, if you'd like.

Watch the brief intro video to the left to explain more, then two lesson videos below.

For this project, you'll need:

sketchbook for practicing the figures and white paper for the final project, or 2 pieces of white paper.
pencil, eraser and black Sharpie
colored markers (or crayons)
or colored paper to draw the figures on plus scissors and glue

The project should take about 60 minutes

Creating your Keith Haring Pop Art Figures...

Making your Keith Haring Pop Art figures into Holiday Elves - or any other kind of elves!

Here are the finished examples...

The figures were drawn directly onto the background then colored with marker. You could also use crayons for coloring but be sure to use bright vibrant colors. Figures can also be cut from colored paper

In this version, the figures have been turned into Keith Haring Elves! Be sure to add the hats and booties BEFORE the black outlining. Any color can be used as long the colors are bright and vibrant.

Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay A Haring

This book was written by Kay A Haring, Keith Haring's sister and tells about Keith Haring's early life, his move to New York and his ideas of 'art for everyone'.

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