Filler Lesson: Shading and Visual Textures
Posted on: November 29, 2009
Creative Reuse Lesson Plan Week 10 Grade 2-5
Written by Keri Piehl for SCRAP /Whitman ES 2009-10
Filler Lesson: Shading and Visual Textures
Cost per student: $.01
Materials: Half sheet copies of line drawings on reused copy paper (I copied pages from a generic monster coloring book I got for 10 cents at the Goodwill by the pound outlet), colored pencils, pencils, tiny scrap papers for practice
Students will recognize shading techniques and visual textures in artwork, and adapt them for use in their own art.
Vocabulary: crosshatching, stippling, hatching, blending
1. Give each student a small scrap of paper. Have them fold it in half, then unfold it so there are 2 sections on the front and 2 on the back. Using an overhead projector or document camera, or very large sheet of chart paper, lead them through each of the 4 main ways to add shading and depth to a drawing. For example, we used regular pencils and all tried hatching, with some lines closer to look darker, or farther to look lighter, slightly curved and straight, etc. Then I demonstrated crosshatching, and everyone moved on to the second section of their papers to try that, and so on.
2. I showed some examples of various artworks that used these techniques, so students could see what they looked like incorporated into an artwork.
3. We also went over the idea of filling in shaped with visual textures to give drawings interest, like patterns on clothing. I made a large poster with examples, like bubbles, wiggly lines, “fur”, slime, flames, spikes, a leafy pattern, etc. We discussed how those were some options but they were only limited by their creative brains!
4. I showed the class 4 different line drawings of monsters from the coloring book, and had them go “monster shopping” for the one they wanted to add interest to. I handed each table of kids a mixed stack of monsters and had each student take one and pass the stack to the next student.
5. They got out colored pencils and began to shade and add visual textures to the monster’s skin and accessories, and provide a background so the monsters weren’t floating in space.
Reflections and feedback: This was hard for many students, but a good exercise nonetheless. I have seen kids incorporating some of these techniques into their artworks long after I taught this lesson. A kid quote “Whoa, this is so much better than regular coloring!”. Tip: I did 5.5”x8.5” sized drawings, as this style of adding interest takes much longer than just coloring, and I didn’t want them to end up frustrated with half finished pieces of art.
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