Tim Burton Inspired Portraits

                                              

This is a project my Grade 7-9 students finished before winter break. They absolutely loved it. I'd say this is one of the most popular projects I've taught to this grade- the overall engagement was really high and all students were successful! The cool part was telling my students that Burton went to art school! He's not just a filmmaker but also and artist and he was also fired from Disney, lol!

I was inspired by the many many posts I found online; there are also a number of Youtube tutorials.

I started off by showing a video biography of Tim Burton's art and showing posters of many of his films- sadly enough, my kids had never heard of Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice or any of his 'older' work!! Tim Burton has a very particular aesthetic and vision; his films are quirky and dark, offbeat and sympathize with the outcast.  Students were able to talk about his 'Gothic" style. So I pointed out his style of large hollow eyes, thin, gaunt figures, and overall quirkiness. 

Students could draw whomever they wanted. Some made up characters, others were inspired by characters from films. A group of students did some Disney princesses which was pretty cool. 

Some started off with a rough copy on white paper but most jumped into it directly onto their 12 x 18" grey construction paper.

Once the drawing was complete, they outlined all their pencil lines with a black coloured pencil (Prismacolour is the best). 

They, using the same black pencil crayon, they added shading by just using lighter pressure. They used a white coloured pencil for the eyes and any areas of highlight. 

  

Once finished, they glued their drawing onto a large sheet of black construction paper, drew a whimsical frame around it and cut it out. 

Here are some finished artworks- these were super popular with staff- I didn't know how many  Tim Burton super-fan teachers were at my school!

Here are the Disney characters:

 

And the rest!

Shiny Holiday Object Drawings in Oil Pastel

 

For our final project before the Christmas break, my Grade 7-9 students chose, from online reference images, any shiny holiday themed object to draw. The focus as to get a nice sharp highlight to showcase the object's shiny or reflective surface. Candy canes were obviously popular, but some students tried something a bit more challenging. 

Students used laptops to search for images online. 

Then they drew a contour drawing of their object on lilac construction paper.

If they were drawing a candy cane, they used a white oil pastel to draw a thick line of highlight 

down the center of the object.

See my previous candy cane projects HERE and HERE and HERE!

Then they coloured in the rest, using two similar values: one light and one darker, on the edges.

Finally, they cut it out and glued it onto black paper.

A lot of kids didn't manage to finish in time unfortunately but here are some that did!

Mixed Media Holiday Reindeer

This is a super cute retro style reindeer project that I found on Deep Space Sparkle. She gives wonderful instructions as well as a tutorial.

I painted about it previously HERE.

Grade 4-6 students sketched out their reindeer head on 9 x 12"  manila paper.

Then painted it using tempera paint. One colour plus white (review tints).

Next class, once dry, outline all the pencil lines in charcoal pencil and blend. 

Then cut out the head.

Fold a sheet of brown construction paper in half and draw one antler. Cut out and you have two matching. 

Glue onto the head and background paper.

Finally, we added a collar and a pom pom nose.

Some finished artworks!