About the lesson:
In this lesson, we introduced students to the ideation process by creating a pumpkin drawing. This allowed them to explore ideas and establish themselves as creators. Students were given the chance to share their interests, which allowed us to gauge their artistic backgrounds and establish some of their goals for the course. After brainstorming some ideas, students were asked to create an illustration of a pumpkin, complete with a background and a caption. Students were given access to a variety of 2-D drawing materials, including markers, colored pencils, and crayons. Students experimented with mixing materials, expanding upon ideas, and creating pumpkins with unique appearances and personalities.
Essential Understandings
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
Skills
In the first class with Cooper Home and Fossil Ridge, the students explored the prompt of drawing a pumpkin. Students went step by step through the process of ideation by creating a pumpkin on the whiteboard, "first you start with the general pumpkin shape, then add a stem, then finally color the pumpkin orange and the stem green or brown". The teachers then asked them to make choices, like whether they wanted the pumpkin to be more round, oblong, or ribbed, or if they wanted the pumpkin to be dark orange, light orange, yellow, green, or any color in between. Upon completion of the pumpkin students added other elements to their drawings (such as gords, leaves, and other fall inspired objects in the background). Through the process students shared ideas and stories which established a positive community setting in which everyone was there help eachother grow, expand their ideas, and enjoy art together. The teachers saw their individual choices come out, while simultaneously creating a similar images as a class.
To start the creative process, the teachers introduced themselves and showed their artwork to the students. As a class they discussed shared interests and their own artistic backgrounds. This discussion included their interests, hobbies, favorite colors, favorite types of art, favorite animals, and their favorite TV shows and movies. From this discussion ideas were drawn on the board to aid in creating pumpkin illustrations. Students began creating their pumpkins with the markers for the initial outlines, and then utilizing colored pencils, crayons, and markers to color in their drawings. Once their pumpkins were complete students generated ideas for a caption to accent the visual story they had created.
- Artists use critical thinking and organizational techniques to follow lesson guidelines
- Artists learn to enjoy the intrinsic value of art making
- Artists are productive and on task
- Artists create and innovate using the ideation process
- Artists establish a sense of comfort with the studio, materials, staff, and peers
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Students will be able to create their own rendition of a pumpkin in their notebooks, allowing students with the desire to come up with their own imagery to do so, and allowing students new to the process to become excited about the ideation process.
- Using their artwork, students will be able to enjoy making artwork that relays their personal style, developing a sense of intrinsic value, artistic identity, and community in the classroom.
- After a short Introduction, students will be excited to see the artwork of their peers and establish connections by discussing their creative process with the class.
Skills
- Critical thinking and organizational techniques
- Creative problem solving
- Establishing a sense of comfort with the studio, materials, staff, and peers
- Drawing Techniques
- Critique Etiquette
In the first class with Cooper Home and Fossil Ridge, the students explored the prompt of drawing a pumpkin. Students went step by step through the process of ideation by creating a pumpkin on the whiteboard, "first you start with the general pumpkin shape, then add a stem, then finally color the pumpkin orange and the stem green or brown". The teachers then asked them to make choices, like whether they wanted the pumpkin to be more round, oblong, or ribbed, or if they wanted the pumpkin to be dark orange, light orange, yellow, green, or any color in between. Upon completion of the pumpkin students added other elements to their drawings (such as gords, leaves, and other fall inspired objects in the background). Through the process students shared ideas and stories which established a positive community setting in which everyone was there help eachother grow, expand their ideas, and enjoy art together. The teachers saw their individual choices come out, while simultaneously creating a similar images as a class.
To start the creative process, the teachers introduced themselves and showed their artwork to the students. As a class they discussed shared interests and their own artistic backgrounds. This discussion included their interests, hobbies, favorite colors, favorite types of art, favorite animals, and their favorite TV shows and movies. From this discussion ideas were drawn on the board to aid in creating pumpkin illustrations. Students began creating their pumpkins with the markers for the initial outlines, and then utilizing colored pencils, crayons, and markers to color in their drawings. Once their pumpkins were complete students generated ideas for a caption to accent the visual story they had created.
Some students, opted to begin writing first in the brainstorming process. Often these written ideas were also highlighted by symbols and imagery. This student began by asking how to write "Miss Pumpkin Dreamed of Stars". The teacher demonstrated what the caption looked like and then the student wrote it out on the back of her paper. She expressed that the idea of imagery of stars was something she wanted to include in her pumpkin drawing and began coming up with ways that she could include stars in her artwork. She explored different materials and the various textures that crayons, markers, and colored pencils created. She also experimented with different shapes and colors on her paper before adding these ideas to her final illustration.
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Some students suggested possible techniques the other table members could add to their drawings. In some cases, students work began to share similar background imagery or color choices. In the example above however, the students chose to go in completely different directions, with one working representationally and the other working abstract. They discussed their work together and talked about how much they enjoyed the variety of each artists' unique choices and the pumpkins that followed as a result. |
There was a variety of working speeds amongst the students, which was an integral part of the ideation and art making process. Some students prefer to focus on bold outlines and linework. Others, worked very diligently and were careful to color the entire paper. With each decision the drawings of the students became reflections of their intrinsic process and their personal aesthetic. One student quickly stated, "I'm done! What is next?" while at the same time another student asked "Can I continue shading? I am a shading artist."
While walking around and observing the students, it was entertaining and insightful listening their ideas for background imagery. One student began drawing tombstones, and when I came back to their table later in the lesson their neighbors artwork included a tombstone as well. The second student even added a zombie arm. This demonstrated the importance of sharing ideas, and expanding upon them. At the start of the class a lot of the talk amongst the table groups was conversational, but as they delved deeper in their work the students began developing their abilities to tactfully discuss their artwork and implement these conversations into actions on the paper. |
This student expressed her love of art making. She said, "I love stars, rainbows, and pretty art." She also expressed her love for Shawn Mendes and bonded with her neighbor over their love of him and making art. They both felt very comfortable with class, the process, and were eager to share their work with the class in the end.
A lot of personal interests could be seen being put into the pumpkins. Some students wrote references to video game characters, tv shows, and other pop culture references that highlighted the "spooky" tone of their artwork. Others were opting to explore new imagery that contrasted the stereotypical connotations that surround pumpkins, Halloween, and the fall season. |
As they continued to explore the different mediums, mark making techniques, and imagery, we began noticing as a class which techniuques to apply the mediums was the most advantageous. By pressing the colored pencils hard and layering colors students could get very vibrant colors. This technique also applied to the crayons, but not to the markers. Students took this into account as they put the finishing touches on coloring in their pumpkins and writing their captions.
Our first meeting concluded with every student sharing their artwork. They further discussed their interests, why they chose to use certain colors, and draw the imagery they did. Every student exhibited the ability to follow classroom etiquette through the critique, and contributed in a positive way to the discussion and the overall growth of each student as artists.