Studio Art: 2-D Media Unit: Painting! (If Picasso Painted Superheroes...)

Last week on Friday, we started the second portion of the 2-D media unit, which happens to be painting.  On Tuesday, we talked about what paint is made of, the three different water based paints versus oil paint, and painting surfaces.  We also started to dive into the art criticism process.

Then, on Tuesday this week, we talked specifically about Picasso and cubism.  I gave students an additional note sheet that had notes for Picasso, as well as the objectives, checklist and rubric for the next project..."What if Picasso painted a superhero?"  Before beginning this, I showed them the Superhero Series by Mike Esparza, which is a direct idea steal from Pinterest.

The students are REALLY enjoying this so far.  Here are the project objectives and the checklist I gave students with their rubric:

Project Objectives: 

By the end of this project, I will be able to… 

1. Describe the characteristics of cubism. 

2. Discuss how life events affected Picasso’s artwork during his three artistic periods. 

3. Create a cubist representation of a super hero using acrylic paint. 

4. Identify the order in which a painting should be constructed in. 

Project Guidelines: 

☐ You must choose a superhero or villain to depict in the cubist style. 

☐ Your painting must depict the subject from at least the waist up. 

☐ The subject needs to take up at least ¾ of your canvas. 

☐ You must use full color and value in your painting. 

☐ You must show knowledge of the cubist style: 

~ Multiple view points 

~ Use of geometric shapes 

☐ You must unify your background with the subject.

What's ironic is that the students were starting to complain at the drawing assignments because they were having to draw realistically and use lots of value...now they're complaining that it's too hard to try and intentionally draw their superhero unrealistically!  

So far we are two days into this painting.  On Wednesday students had to draw out their superhero.  Some struggled, and some did quite well.  I encouraged them to simply break down their figure into basic shapes, and then to move body parts to be where they aren't...turn an eye ball sideways, put an eye in the middle of the forehead, put the mouth on the side of the mouth, etc.  I also pushed the idea of the multiple view points, which is a little bit harder of a concept for them to grasp, I think.

I then also introduced the students to acrylic gel medium, which was new to them and actually new to me.  Last year, when I was grading post-assessments with another fellow art teacher, one of the projects she did used these gel mediums to give texture, and I loved it!  I bought a large jar of the modeling paste and then three each of the coarse pumice and fine pumice gels.

We applied the gel medium using paint knives...

My painting is on the left.  I gave students a demonstration today on how to paint by blending colors on the canvas instead of in their paint palette.  A few students started painting their backgrounds today.

This was just a quick preview of these projects...tomorrow I am taking a day off for my 34 week sonogram.  I anticipate that the students will start finishing these up by Wednesday and Thursday next week.

On a side note, the Art 7 students have finished their first tag, but after I hung my brick wall today at the end of the day, I forgot to take a picture of it to share!  That will have to wait until Monday!