The delicate dragonfly maquette above was created by Emily McC (S2, OLSP). She has created it for her investigation into making an Eco Building based around a chosen insect. Emily is now working on the scale paper model of her building, it will be shown in an exhibition at the end of May.
Kyle, Nicole and Kieran (S2, OLSP, Top, Middle & Bottom Above) finish off the vines on their amazing Timorous Beasties co-ordinate pattern. They will then photograph them and make a pattern to repeat on a surface such as wallpaper, upholstery or textiles. Ryan (S2, OLSP, Below) takes time to consider what kind of vines, stems and leaves he will place around his Weevil motifs.
After producing a powerful and detailed 3D relief piece around child slavery and third world labour for her last unit, you would think Cara T (S2, OLSP) would rest on her laurels. Fortunately for us she’s still working away and is producing a gruesome pattern based on the Timorous Beasties range. Below, Cara simplifies and traces her tonal drawing to make the main motif for her co-ordinate (working space that then produces a pattern).
This week’s “Artwork of the Week’ comes from Iona M (S1 from St Benedicts). Iona had been working on a quick sketch of a Stag Beetle, studying layout and shape drawing. She imagined the photo of the insect as simplified shapes, rectangles and sausages, so that she could layout the size, angles and segments. After checking these guidelines, she then darkened and defined her lines to make the insect stand out. After that, she had a few minutes before the end of class to tone the insect using shading and smudging.
Iona shows great confidence and skill for S1 and if she had more time to add to her work, I’m sure her drawing would have been even more fabulous. That aside, what she has achieved in around 15 mins appealed to me. A nice clean style, with confident lines and a good use of tonal contrasts.
Rachel shows us how to create a clever co-ordinate for a Timorous Beasties inspired wallpaper pattern. The skill is to make sure that anything that touches the edges of the co-ordinate is then continued at the opposite end. It’s all about measuring. An incredibly professional piece of work for a then S2 pupil.
A very late but interesting activity resource today. Pupils cut out the jigsaw shapes of the dragon fly to copy the small image on the lower left. When cutting out the insect parts I would advise that pupils leave a halo of white, approximately 2mm around the parts when cutting. Parts should be glued down with a glue stick (i.e. Pritt Stick). One issue I’ve had with this sheet is when pupils trim out the parts they often cut their name and class from the top of the form. Just be aware of this if it happens. For future cutting activities I have made sure the name and class are very close to the working area.
Remember when teaching pupils to cut with scissors that they should use the whole scissor length, long slow cuts and move the paper not the scissors.
When completed, pupils should leave the insect to dry and work on colouring the background using tone. This should leave enough time for the insect to crisp up and be dry enough to be coloured itself.
I use this resource for S1-S3 (pupils aged 11-14)
The jpeg resource can be downloaded below from the ‘Box’ (bottom right-hand column).
S1 work on their Eric Carle influenced insect unit. They have investigated an individual insect of their choice by drawing guide lines and making a simple form. They then add detail to the form to build their drawing into a realistic sketch. To get similar effects to Eric Carle they trace the insect on both sides of some tracing paper, drawing registration marks and fixing the tracing paper with tape.
They are now working on patterned and coloured paper sheets, from which they will cut out insect shapes and segments, similar to Eric Carle’s technique. These shapes will be glued to make a Carle-esque collage of their insect.
Lisa in S2 has just finished making her paper maquette of a millipede for her development of an Insect Chair. It’s an intricate piece of work with numerous legs and a segmented shell.
I didn’t think there would be an Artwork of the Week this week. The week is a short one and there had been nothing that was completely wowing me. Then just at the last minute Rachel (S2) had finished off her Saddle-Back Caterpillar maquette and proceeded to work on her Insect Chair seat section. Rachel’s making skills are extremely strong, she is currently achieving results that I would be proud of coming from S4. The reason why she achieves such results is due to her strive for perfection. Things can always be better and by pushing further and focusing all her passion on the task at hand, she is making fantastic 3D forms. I also like the fact that Rachel does not like taking the easy path, she’s always trying to challenge herself and go for the tougher but better finished option.
With Artwork of the Week all caught up and back to normal again, it’s nice to introduce you to some work from Emma in S2. Emma has been working on a co-ordinate to form a pattern, which she will later photoshop onto wallpaper or textiles. The pattern is based on a slug photograph. It is influenced by the work of the Timorous Beasties (a small textile design company founded in Glasgow). Emma is currently working on vines that will add a little harmony to her slugs, her gastropod mollusks stand out due to her use of thick bold lines around the outside and neat details on the interior. She has currently pencilled the vines and is adding colour and contrast to them by darking them down with a fine blue notewriter. A fine piece of pattern.
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