Name Creature Steps

These are the steps that I did with my kids.  There may be different ways of doing this, but this is what works for me.  The first step is to fold your paper in half, down the long side ( we say hotdog fold).  Then with a pencil write your name sitting on the fold, in cursive.

Then, darken the name by tracing 2-3 times.

Fold the name to the inside, make sure the name is facing down.  Usually, you can see the name through the paper, which will help with the next step.

With the cap of a marker, rub over the name.  If you can see through the paper, you can rub directly on the name.  Check to see if transfer is happening, if not check these things. 

1. Is the name dark enough

2. Is the name on the inside (Yep, it happens)

3. Is the name facing down

4. If the following is done, you may not be holding the marker at the right angle.

Once the name is transferred, you can start adding in details (eyes, nose, ears, hands, feet, lashes and so on)  Remember it is a creature, so it can have 6 eyes, 2 mouths, and hands.  Anything goes!  This part is done just like the name.  Draw on the original side and transfer for symmetry.

Trace with sharpie and erase any left over pencil markings.

Add color! 

Kinder/ 1st Hand Project

The first project for the year with Kinder and 1st graders was a lesson on emphasis.  Using color and line or shapes we put emphasis on the hand by creating one design with the background and different design on the hand.  This first example is really great.  She really squeezed her lines together, what a patient five year old!   This took us three days to finish ( I was also cramming in art room procedures), so it would probably be 2 art days to complete.  The hardest part was to get kindergarteners to commit to one thing!  They would "get bored" after a few lines and start something new. 

Bold Name Design

This is the project I started the year with my 2nd and 3rd graders.  The criteria for this was for them use all the space with their names.  They could choose their first, middle, last or even an appropriate nickname.  All letters must touch the top and bottom of the page, and they could use all caps or lower case as long as they were drawn large enough.  They were asked to make each letter thick so that it would stand out when the design was complete.  Then with a thin sharpie they added lines and designs for each of the spaces.  So for example, the name Anzley below has 6 letters, but if they count the spaces, they have 12 spaces, so 12 different designs.  With each space and design, they will also use a new color.  Colors could be repeated if they were spread out.

  This would be my child, she wasn't the only one.  Oh well, they are working and I try not to discourage kids that are working hard, even if they get away from the project expectations.  Plus, sometimes these kids make you rethink the project all together.   

Time Out

It seems I am taking a time out, apparently having a pet is a lot of work.  Or at least that is my excuse (wink wink)!  I should do the dishes, no Tiger needs to go outside.  I should do laundry, no Tiger needs to snuggle.  I should dust the house, no Tiger wants to play.  I should post on my blog, no I NEED to love on Tiger.  He is just too much cuteness, will I ever get anything done?  

The Great Wave

This project is the last of my summer camp art pieces.  We didn't get all the steps in that I would have liked, but the kids had fun painting these.   We created them from recycled cardboard, lots of paint and white oil pastels.  This was our last project to work on, and we were literally working on them as we were lining up the last day of camp.  There is just never enough time at art camp!  I always seem to do themes at my camps.  If you do art camps, do you just go with the flow and pick random projects, or do you also choose a theme?  I'd like to hear of some different themes you've chosen.  Most of mine have been artist themes.  

Name Creatures

Meet our Name Creatures.  These little cuties are being created by my 4th and 5th graders.  I still have a lot of kids finishing these up, but these were a few of the first round of completed pieces.  For the most part kids loved doing this because they "got" to write their names in cursive.  Then, I have the group of artist that "have to" write their names in cursive.  Funny how attitude plays into it...  Thankfully, they seemed to understand that the names didn't have to be perfect, because we were morphing them into creatures.  These have taken us about 3 50 minute art days to finish.  

CEDFA

CEDFA, which is a fine arts summit held in Austin Tx, has been in existence for around 10 years.  I don't always attend, mostly because of conflicts with the dates, but I have been to at least 5 of the summits over the years.   Samantha Melvin has always lead the elementary art portion of the summit, and I have always learned a great deal from our sessions.  Below are some of the art pieces my group did, as well as a few others from the elementary art session.  Also, there is a few though provoking posters mounted and these provided us with some of our discussion topics.  Now day one, with Samantha, was great, as well as the second day morning session.  But...I was very disappointed with the afternoon.  It got really weird.  And by weird, I mean awful.  Basically they made all the fine arts come together (teachers K-12, visual, drama, dance, choir, orchestra and so on) in groups of eight.  Each group had to have a 3 minute presentation of playing inspirational music, show slides of art, do strange movements as a whole, and try to say something inspirational.  Let's just say, that's not my cup of tea!! Anyone else attend?  And what did you think?