Rationale and Context: Everyone has a home, or a dream home. The lesson connects to the children’s current lived experiences and encourages creative representations of those experiences.
KEY CONCEPTS
Mind Mapping activity that asks students to brainstorm what home means to them.
Students are welcome to explore the past present and future aspirations, perhaps encouraging elements of the home they wish to create for themselves later in their life.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Where and what does or could home mean to you, and how do we translate that into a visual representation?
How do we convey our feelings through composition and color.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Continuously improving digital art tools knowledge, software proficiency, and computer literacy.
Develop a deeper awareness of composition and color theory to create impactful artwork that evokes emotional responses and meaningful connections with the audience.
ART STANDARDS
6.1 The student will apply creative thinking to communicate personal ideas, experiences, and narratives in works of art.
6.12 The student will use elements of art and principles of design to express meaning in works of art.
6.15 The student will exercise increasing skill and control in the use of media and techniques.
Sketchbook Prompt:
Please create a mind map representing
HOME
You can draw or write.
SUPPORTING ARTISTS:
A Cajun painter from Louisiana most known for his paintings of a blue dog.
Who are the Cajuns?
A Cajun musical Festival in 1938
Cajun Madi Gras
The Cajuns are a diverse group of people who can trace their ancestry to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, France, Spain, Ireland, and Italy. They speak Cajun French.
Who is "The Blue Dog" ?
As you observe these images, remember to pay close attention to the artist's color choices, composition, and the intentional inclusion or exclusion of certain elements.
Watchdog, 1983
Blue dogs on the Red River, 2011
Blue Dogs on the Cajun River, 2011
Me, Myself, and I in Louisiana 1994
Blue Dog "Rollin' on the River 2004
George Rodrigue was worried that Cajun culture was dying, and he wanted to create artwork that memorialized his experiences as a Cajun growing up in southwest Louisiana. The Blue Dog represents a loup-garou from Cajun mythology.
Visual representation of Louisiana
A Canadian folk art painter from Nova Scotia.
Boats in a Harbor, 1958
Maud Lewis (March 7, 1903 – July 30, 1970) was a Canadian folk artist from Nova Scotia. She lived most of her life in poverty in a small house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia. She achieved national recognition in 1964 and 1965 for her cheerful paintings of landscapes, animals and flowers, which offer a nostalgic and optimistic vision of her native province .
Maud's tiny cottage.
MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY
STUDENT
Computer and Drawing tablet
Software (Photoshop)
Sketchbook
Basic Drawing tools, pencils, markers
Cloud sharing access
MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY
TEACHER
Computer and Drawing tablet
Software (Photoshop)
Sketchbook
Basic Drawing tools, pencil markers
Cloud sharing access
Screen Sharing ability
Screen Recording Software
My initial sketches: Based on my mind map, I visualized some of the elements that represent home to me.
Day 1
Mind mapping 10 minutes
Artist introduction and discussion. 10 -15 minutes
Lesson and instruction overview 5 minutes
Students start sketching their ideas in their sketchbook 20 minutes
Teacher demonstration and screen sharing “I do” 20 minutes
Student follow along “We do” 10 minutes
Students explore what they’ve learned independently “You do” 10 minutes
Day 2
Quiz to check student comprehension 15 minutes
Students begin working on their final starting with their value layout 15-30 minutes
Gathering reference and painting assets 30 minutes
Teacher individualized help and feedback throughout day
Peer Critique towards the later half of class 5-7 minutes.
Upload .png of progress to cloud sharing 3-5 minutes
Day 3
Begin class by looking over students' work as a group. Screen sharing. 20 minutes
Student work time. 45 minutes
Artist statement statement. 15 minutes
Upload final work to cloud sharing. 5 minutes
Final Gallery walk. 10 minutes
***If student work is significantly unfinished, extend an additional workday.
Step 1: The notan stage. Create your value layout. This is just simple shapes that represent the environment you want to build by the end.
Step 2: Begin painting individual assets in separate layers.
Step 3: Start arranging your assets on your canvas. Remember to reorder your layers based on what assets you want on top of other assets. LABEL your layers and folders!
Step 4: Consider how layer masks could benefit your art creation process. You can use layer mask to apply your larger textures over your value composition.
Step 5: Finalize your composition. Add and subtracting elements as you go. See the video below for a reminder on duplicating your layers. Remember to consider your color choices carefully. Incorporate any additional texture overlays. Additionally consider points of Emphasis and Balance.
Search for some interesting textures you can use as multiple or overlay layers on top of your art work.
INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
This lesson aligns with Virginia’s standards for Digital Learning Integration, specifically focusing on the standards for Innovative Designer (ID) and Creative Communicator (CC).
Innovative Designer, Learning Priority A: In collaboration with an educator, students use appropriate technologies in a design process to generate ideas, create innovative products, or solve authentic problems. In this case, the "problem" to be solved is how to visually represent the idea of home, addressed through an iterative artistic process.
Creative Communicator, Learning Priority C: Students communicate complex ideas clearly by using appropriate technologies to convey concepts orally, textually, visually, graphically, and more.
DIFFERENTIATION AND ACCOMMODATION
Encourage students to use reference images if they are struggling with painting.
Allow students to use photography to collage or paint over.
Larger grips for tablet pens.
Variety of lesson delivery, video, text, visual examples etc.
Access to tutorials
Printed rubric and directions for students who have a written learning style and for those who fall off task easily.
The majority of the new vocabulary will be related to the software itself. This lesson assumes prior knowledge of the basics, perhaps built in the beginning of the year. Words such as layer, mask, multiply, overlay, value are all included in this lesson.
Notan: The design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark elements as they are placed next to the other in the composition of art and imagery.
Layer Mask: Tool used for non-destructive editing. They allow us to add or hide specific parts of a layer without permanently altering the original image.
Value: the lightness or darkness of a color, and it adds dimension in a piece.
Multiply Layer: Multiplies the colors of the blending layer and the base layers, resulting in a darker color. This mode is useful for coloring shadows.
PRE-ASSESSMENT
Google Forms questionnaire to assess students’ prior knowledge
Thumbs up or down, how many of you are now confident that you can X,Y,Z…..
FORMATIVE
Day 2 Opening Quiz: Ask the students to create a document, create 1 multiply layer, demonstrate use of the brush tool, create 1 layer mask.
Peer Critique toward the close of day 2. Fill out the critique sandwich.
SUMMATIVE
The completed project
Artist statement
REFLECTION
Display artwork on the screen and have the class participate in a gallery walk to look at everyone's final work.