8th Grade Lesson

3-point perspective action

I created this lesson for students at Brambleton Middle School. For the 7th and 8th Grade classes, I demonstrated how to draw 2 and 3-point perspective, then allowed students to choose which to use in their projects. This lesson proved to be a challenge for many, who balked at using rulers for accurate lines pointing towards vanishing points. We sketched and practiced several times before starting on the final project, and even then, I urged students to start out with very light pressure to allow for erasing mistakes. See some student examples on slide 26.

8th Graders had much more time in the art room, so they got to develop characters and explore figure drawing with foreshortening. Students were absorbed in creating interesting urban environments which their villains might begin to destroy before their super hero arrived to thwart the attack. I got to know students' personalities based on their choices: some created powerful women, some drew gruesome monsters, while others made up silly characters.