Highland Community College hosts a high school art day each spring and it is an event to which I enjoy taking students. It is close to our league art competition so I usually only take a handful of students. This year we had the 3 seniors who had been for a couple of years and we chose a couple underclassmen so they could learn the ropes and be ready to continue the tradition.
Attending the art day is a good experience because it exposes the students to a big variety of artwork from schools of all sizes. The quality of the work is always impressive and it shows the students what is possible!
While the show is being judged there are a variety of on-site competitions happening. My students' favorite is always the sidewalk chalk competition with the them of art history with a modern twist.
When brainstorming in the days leading up to the competition, one of the students joked about doing a My Little Pony parody. I told them the first horse painting that comes to mind for me is Napoleon Crossing the Alps. What started as a joke ended up being their idea!
It was starting to sprinkle toward the end so it got a bit rushed but I thought they did a nice job and it was such a fun idea!
We were also thrilled to receive 2 honorable mentions in the art show. The first year I took students was the first year that every school in attendance received an award so an honorable mention is nothing to scoff at.
Usually summer break is when I can get caught up on blog posts from the previous school year but this summer has been a little different! We recently moved to a new house in the country with a bigger lot that will allow for the creation of an even bigger butterfly garden, space to grow some vegetables, lots of room to play outside, AND it has a building that was previously a potter's studio! Eventually, when we get all the boxes unpacked, that space will become my studio and will have room to host workshops and teach classes. We just got internet hooked up a few days ago and on top of moving, remodeling, unpacking, etc., I'm due with our 3rd baby, like 2 days ago.
So, without further ado, here is a lesson that I've used the last 2 years in my high school computer graphics class. 2 years ago, I had a student enrolled in the class who was planning to major in film at university and would talk about the scripts he'd written. I started thinking about how cool it would be to make a life size movie poster for one of his films, as well as how many of our CTE competencies could be hit with a movie poster design project. Movie posters have emphasis and heirarchy, they give you hints at the story without giving away EVERYTHING, and they use color as a design element.
I first asked students to come up with a movie concept- this could pretty much be anything appropriate for school. Some did parodies or mash ups, some did spin offs of series they enjoyed, and some made completely new ideas. The students filled out a simple google form with questions about genre, a short synopsis, etc. just to help them think it through.
After planning the idea, the students created thumbnail sketches to help plan the composition. They were supposed to create 3 sketches and get feedback from classmates on which was the most effective.
Next, we watched a short video on how color is an important storytelling element in films. The students were asked to choose a screenshot or poster from a movie, tv show, or video game in the same genre as the poster they were planning and sample the colors. I later showed how they could use the hue and saturation and color balance tools in photoshop to adjust the colors of the photos they were using.
The students then gathered images- either creating their own (preferred method) or using images labeled for reuse. We had digital cameras, scanners, graphics tablets, and our software available for use. The posters were designed to either 24x36 inches or 16x20 inches. Our school has a large poster printer so it was really fun to print the poster from the furture film-creator student at 24x36 inches and display it at League Art. He was a student who didnt' see himself as an artist so it's always extra fun to see a look of satisfaction on a "non-artist's" face when they are proud of their work.
I recently posted the lesson plan with links to the plan document, rubric, etc. on the smARTteacher so feel free to head over there and check it out!
Highland Community College hosts a high school art day each spring and it is an event to which I enjoy taking students. It is close to our league art competition so I usually only take a handful of students. This year we had the 3 seniors who had been for a couple of years and we chose a couple underclassmen so they could learn the ropes and be ready to continue the tradition.
