Animals

Drawing Assignment: Animals in Grids

A. Introductory Lesson http://homeschoolarts.com/samplelesson.htm

BASIC DRAWING USING A GRID

BUNNY

Draw the bunny by copying the line in each square according to letter and number. This system can enlarge any object from a photograph by drawing a grid over the subject, then transferring it to a grid in the same proportion.

POSITIVE SPACE

Now it is time to render or color in your drawing. You will be filling in "POSITIVE SPACE". You will have filled in the drawing. Most of your work will be using or rendering positive space with differing tonal values or contrasts. But sometimes you need something more.

NEGATIVE SPACE

You can also render the bunny by coloring in all around the bunny shape without drawing the lines. This is called NEGATIVE SPACE. By leaving an area untouched we can create some special sp ace.. This technique is used by artist to render space that may have a lighter foreground and a darker background. After all, in a drawing, what fools the eye into seeing depth is the different dark and light spaces used to illustrate objects that are close or far away. When you look outside your window you will see that in the distance objects look lighter or fogged over than do objects close by that look sharper and darker.

Using magazines, comic books, or any other publication or photographs that you want, discuss and look for positive and negative spaces. Try to render other objects using a grid from your own photo's or magazine pictures. Also try to enlarge your drawing by using a grid with 1 1/2 inch squares. You may have as many squares in the grid as you see fit.

B. Drawing an Animal with a Grid

1. Pick a photocopy of an animal to enlarge.

2. Outline the main lines with a dark pencil or marker.

3. Draw a grid on your photocopy:
a. place the ½” measuring strip horizontally, along the top of the picture.
b. mark every ½” across the top, using LIGHT guidelines
c. moving the strip down to the bottom of the photocopy, mark every ½”
d. connect the marks to make a series of vertical, parallel lines.

e. repeat for the other direction, marking along the sides and connecting the marks with light guidelines

3. Label each square by numbering along the side and lettering across the top of your grid.

4. Prepare your large paper the same way, using the one inch measuring strips.

5. Transfer the main lines of your animal design to the large paper, square by square.

C. Coloring the Animal

1. Review Warm and Cool color schemes.

Warm colors remind us of the sun or fire.

Red, yellow, magenta, orange

Cool colors remind us of streams, mountains, or ice

Blue, green, purple and sometimes, magenta

2. Use colored pencil and hand-held pencil sharpeners. Color in the Positive space in your animal grid with warm colors. Define the lines of the grid. Maintain the squares by changing to a different warm color or tint when you reach the borders of the box. Blend colors to form new ones.

3. Color in the Negative space in you animal grid with cool colors. Fill the whole picture with color.

IF you would like, you can reverse the color scheme and color the animal with cool colors, the background in warm.

ANIMAL GRID Drawings Evaluation Form Name:

Fill out the grading rubric for your picture. Use this scale:

5 points: excellent work

4 points: good work

3 points: acceptable

2 points: needs more work

Drawing the grid: The lines are measured evenly, so they are one inch apart, vertically and horizontally. The lines are straight, not wobbly.
Drawing of the animal: The type of animal is clearly identifiable. The animal contour is pleasing to look at. Appropriate details were included.
Coloring the animal: The colors on the animal are all in the “warm” or “cool” color family. The coloring has blending in each square.
Coloring the background: The colors of the background are all in the “warm” or “cool” color family. The coloring has blending in each square.

TOTAL POINTS: ___________________