examples of student artwork

Underwater Self Portraits

2nd-4th graders were guided through drawing the correct facial proportions for a self portrait. But instead of stopping there we decided to make it more interesting and draw our self portrait underwater! We discussed what we look like under water and what happens to our features when we hold our breath. Students colored their picture with crayons and then painted a 'watery' blue wash over the whole picture.

Radial Symmetry

4th graders learned about radial symmetry They were challenged to only use circles. Students chose 3-5 colors of construction paper, traced circles and cut them out. Then they cut the circles in quarters, eighths, or more... and arranged their designs and glued them down.

Observational Drawing

6th graders were reading FEVER, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about a girl whose world turns upside down after the outbreak of the yellow fever in Philadelphia; mosquitos were thought to be the main spreader of the disease. 

Students drew a realistic mosquito using only a pencil -- no color could be added. Students used shading and cross-hatching techniques to achieve tonal values. They had reference photos to draw from.

Illustration

5th graders were challenged to put written words into pictures by illustrating an idiom. An idiom is a common phrase or expression that we use everyday that literally doesn’t make sense yet we know what they imply.

Can you match the idiom with it's drawing? Barking up the wrong tree, blind date, think outside the box, seeing eye to eye...

Guided Drawing

I love to read books to Kindergarteners and then do an art project based on the story! This is Rainbow Fish. Students did a "follow-the-leader" guided drawing of a fish and then traced their drawing with a black crayon. They painted their colorful fish with tempera colors and then we highlighted a special scale with glitter glue.