Tropical Birds
Lesson Overview:
Tropical Birds challenges students to draw and color an image of a bird replicated from a photo. Students look at and discuss different tropical birds along with their climates. Students identify different types of birds and colors they see. Students read the picture book "Two Can Toucan", for the literacy element of the project. Students look at artist Edward Lear and discuss, materials, birds, colors, and intent of his work.
Planning/Ideation:
As a class students follow along with me to create a drawing of a scarlet macaw. Students break down the bird into simple shapes like ovals, circles, squares, and rectangles. We begin the drawing with a broad sketch then refine the work and add details. Students identify the foreground and background of their work. Students take one full class period to learn about how to do a proper Google Image search and filter out small images. We look at examples of "good" and "bad" examples of animal images. "bad" images are pix-elated and blurry, while good images can be seen clean up close. Once students search find the tropical bird they want to draw they create a quick 5-10 minutes rough draft of their bird. Once they have their drawing approve by me they begin transferring their rough draft to final draft paper.
Creation:
Students begin their drawing with pencil. Once they have finished they outline their drawing with sharpie. After they have outlined their drawing students erase their pencil marks and begin coloring with colored pencils. We discuss the word "Craftsmanship" and what it looks like. Students use blending and layering of colored pencils to add texture and depth to their work.
Reflection:
Students are required to do a digital reflection on their work. Our student artists use the "Seesaw" platform to document and type their artist reflection. Artist's reflections consist of three items, three things they learned, two things they like about their work, and one thing they would do differently if they did the project again.
Planning/Ideation:
As a class students follow along with me to create a drawing of a scarlet macaw. Students break down the bird into simple shapes like ovals, circles, squares, and rectangles. We begin the drawing with a broad sketch then refine the work and add details. Students identify the foreground and background of their work. Students take one full class period to learn about how to do a proper Google Image search and filter out small images. We look at examples of "good" and "bad" examples of animal images. "bad" images are pix-elated and blurry, while good images can be seen clean up close. Once students search find the tropical bird they want to draw they create a quick 5-10 minutes rough draft of their bird. Once they have their drawing approve by me they begin transferring their rough draft to final draft paper.
Creation:
Students begin their drawing with pencil. Once they have finished they outline their drawing with sharpie. After they have outlined their drawing students erase their pencil marks and begin coloring with colored pencils. We discuss the word "Craftsmanship" and what it looks like. Students use blending and layering of colored pencils to add texture and depth to their work.
Reflection:
Students are required to do a digital reflection on their work. Our student artists use the "Seesaw" platform to document and type their artist reflection. Artist's reflections consist of three items, three things they learned, two things they like about their work, and one thing they would do differently if they did the project again.
Above are examples of finished student work