OVERVIEW
Introduction to the idea of lines as edges, and oil pastel technique with mixing & blending. Students use a photo of a scotty dog bas-relief sculpture for reference, but it’s turned upside down. This allows it to be drawn more accurately because it’s hard for the mind to interpret. Instead of using known assumptions about what you’re seeing, your eyes have to look more closely.– – –
Grades K – 1
1 Hour & 30 Minutes, or two 45-minute sessions
STANDARDS For This Lesson
SUBMIT YOUR SUMMARY
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OVERVIEW:
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NATIONAL STANDARDS:
Grade XX
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Grade XX
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Grade XX
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LEARNING TARGETS:
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LESSON PLAN:
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Tap the Plus Icon (above right) to open STANDARDS information, including an Overview, Learning Targets and a Syllabus. Copy and paste to send to your Administrators or use the button below to download a Word document with the same information that you can add your info to and email to them as an attachment.
SCROLL & TEACH LESSON PLAN
Don’t worry about rewriting anything. Just spend a few minutes reading the lesson plan and printing out your PDFs. Then check out the READY, SET, GO! section and print your prep-page, which includes checklists and an “at a glance” outline of the lesson so you can stay on track when you’re teaching. Set out the materials from the list on your prep page and you’re ready.
That’s all you need to know. Use your smartphone to Scroll & Teach!
Lesson At A Glance
A brief overview of each step. Buttons jump to each section for detailed information.
15 Min – Talk about tickle lines & loud lines.
15 Min – Students draw from reference photos
10 Min – Demonstrate blending pastels
18 Min – Artists color and blend their dogs
2 Min – Everyone helps!
SCROLL & TEACH
LESSONPLAN
Each section is a different color. Read over once and then you can SCROLL & TEACH using any device you like. It’s designed to work best with your phone.
LEARNING TARGETS
Students learn to express themselves through creating from their imagination.
M A T E R I A L S
- 11″ x 17″ Copy Paper
- 4B pencil
- Eraser
- Markers
- Paper Towels
1.1 greet
Kneel down so that you are on their level. Bending over emphasizes the differences in your height, while kneeling makes them feel more important. Have tape and marker ready so you can stick some tape on the table by each student and write their name on it as they sit down.
1.2 choice
Everyone should take their time with the work and make a finished piece of art. Limiting the paper can also help kids focus on the work. If someone finishes in super-fast time, ask them what more they can do to the existing paper. Ask again several times – unless they appear overly frustrated; then you can allow them to move on to a new work.
Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.
LEARNING TARGETS
Students know how to create different expressive lines
M A T E R I A L S
- 11″ x 17″ copy paper
- 2B Pencils
- White Erasers
Hold the sheet of paper in front of you in a bathtub position, and fold it in half like a book. Open it back up, and draw a circle on the left-hand side. We are going to call this a loud circle, and this will be our loud side. Don’t draw anything yet on the other side. We are going to call it our (change your voice to a whisper) whisper side. Everyone whisper your name. It’s very quiet and hard to hear a whisper, but if you have a quiet room you can hear me just fine.
Before we actually draw, let’s pretend to draw a quiet, whisper circle on the right side. Here’s how to do it. Just hold your pencil above your paper without even touching it! Move your pencil in the air, slowly around and around. As you get better and better at making circles, gently, slowly lower your pencil until it barely touches the paper. It should just tickle the paper, and make the lightest line you’ve ever seen. We call these lines tickle lines sometimes. Practice drawing another circle and see if you can make it even lighter!”
2.1 draw
Once you get started, play music, and adjust the volume back and forth from loud to quiet and make it fun!
We’re going to play some music. When the music is loud, draw on the left side, with normal bold lines. But when the music gets very soft, everyone should change over to the right side, and draw in those very light tickle lines, and also whisper when you talk. You should write your name on both sides too, in loud or whisper lines depending on the music. Then you can also draw shapes or pictures if you want, as long as the music continues. Remember to change sides when the music changes. We’ll begin on the loud, left side.”
2.2 draw
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LEARNING TARGETS
Students know how to observe shapes and use lines to show edges in artwork
M A T E R I A L S
- 11″ x 17″ copy paper
- 2B Pencil
- White Eraser
- Scotty Dog reference
- Scotty Dog Lineart
- Flags from previous lesson
3.1 Print
Reference
Scotty Dog
Reference photos should be cut apart. Print on regular copy paper.
1 Page – Opens in new window
3.1 Print
Example
Scotty Dog Lineart
An outlined version to use as an example, and also to trace if needed for some students.
1 Page – Opens in new window
3.2 Teach
Show your flag example from the previous lesson, and review the colors and shapes from last week so any new students don’t feel left out.
Have all the kids do a quick drawing in pencil of your flag (or they can draw their own flag from memory if they prefer). Encourage them to erase with a white eraser if they need to.
As they work and finish up, explain the difference between shapes and lines and how artists use line to show edges.
Set the scotty dog statue photos up, where everyone can see one, and point out the edges. get them thinking about lines for the dog’s fur, eyes, nose, etc.
You can show them the lineart version now if you want, or save it for the next step.
“How did we make the edges of the big shapes on the flags? With scissors. We cut the shapes out. How can you tell where the shape edge actually is on my flag right here? You can see the edge because that’s where the color changes. We can show edges with color, but what about showing edges when you’re drawing? What are you using right now to show the edges?
Lines! Artists use lines even though they aren’t always really seeing them. There aren’t lines on my flag, but when you use lines, you can make a nice drawing of my flag without having to color it. Sometimes line drawings are really neat looking. Sometimes artists use only lines to make artwork, and sometimes they use both lines and color together. We’re going to use lines and color together today. We’ll begin with the lines. “
BREAK
This is the end of part one if you are dividing into two, 45-minute sessions.
Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.
LEARNING TARGETS
Students know how to draw from reference
M A T E R I A L S
- 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
- 2B Pencils
- White Eraser
4.1 explain
Make fun of how he likes to stand on his head. Entertain the kids a bit. You should have the statue photo on cheasels with photos; all turned upside down. Have an outline print ready for each student but don’t show it just yet.
Look at the shape of the whole dog. Look at the shape of the head. See if you can draw the biggest shapes using a magic whisper line if you can. Then draw smaller shapes like the head. Finally, draw the smallest shapes last, like ears, eyes, fur lines and tail.”
4.2 draw
This can help them concentrate and also mask your individual conversations with students. Don’t mention whisper lines more than once, maybe twice so there’s no pressure. If someone does them very well, praise them quietly. It should not be a big public issue so others feel inferior, yet not too small an issue for artists who can accomplish it so they do get some praise.
After they get the basic shapes, you can then place the Scotty Dog Lineart drawing upside down on the cheasels too, as an example.
IMPORTANT AID: If they are having a lot of trouble getting the drawing to work, start over and let struggling students trace the lineart print (still upside down) on regular weight copy paper so they can see through it. (Tape them down so that the paper doesn’t slide and mess up the drawing half-way through.)
4.3 redraw
When they’re finished, turn everything right-side up, and hand out a black marker for each student. Let them draw over the pencil lines with the bold black marker in LOUD lines. This helps them feel like they did a pretty good job with the pencil, and establishes that bold lines are sometimes just what the artwork needs.
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LEARNING TARGETS
Students know how to blend oil pastels
M A T E R I A L S
- 8.5″ x 11″ copy paper
- Oil Pastels
- Paper towels
- Blender sticks (optional)
At first, oil pastels look a lot like bright crayons
You can layer the color and start to blend them. They mix more like paint than crayons.
Yellow has been layered over both sides so you can see the smearing effect on the red.
Mix colors that seem similar. Red and yellow are warm colors, and mix well. Blue and green are cool, so they mix well too.
Smearing the colors together with the blender looks awesome!
White can also be used to blend, as well as lighten. Now the pastels look very much like paint
5.1 demo
Look at the slideshow above for how to demonstrate the oil pastels and how to explain each step. Instead of blender sticks, you can use paper towels to blend. Blender sticks need to be cleaned every now and then with a sandpaper board.
If you have previous students who already know how, you can ask a question and they can help by answering one question. Set up with a full set of colors, paper towels, and a scotty dog line drawing print.
These oil pastels can do a lot of different things. It depends on how you use them. If you just draw a line like this… it looks like a very bright crayon line. It’s prettier than crayon, but still similar. If you color with them, you get the same crayon-like look. But look what happens when you color over an area with a color that is close to the first color, but a little different. Like yellow over green, or light blue over dark blue. You see how the colors begin to mix? This is a different look. When you move and combine your pastels if different ways, it is called technique. I’ve used 2 techniques so far. Here’s a third: I can dab tiny little bits of color and then dab more of the second color. The colors don’t mix as much.
We can make this look even more different by doing two more techniques. One is when you add white to a color or to more than one color already mixed. Look what white does! It begins to look like paint instead of crayon now. The last technique I want to show you is using a paper towel. You can twist it and use the end to rub and smear the colors together. It’s a lot like using white and the colors smear together, but white also make the colors get lighter while paper towels do not.
See how I’ve blended some reds, oranges and yellows in this area? Then I’ve blended blues, greens and purples in other areas. These are hot colors and cold colors. Today, do not try and blend any hot color with a cold color. That makes a brownish color. Today we want that tie-dyed scotty dog! That means keeping hot with hot and cold with cold so they are bright. We don’t want any browns. If you’re unsure, ask for help with the colors to mix.”
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LEARNING TARGETS
Students know how to blend oil pastels
M A T E R I A L S
- 8.5″ x 11″ copy paper
- Oil Pastels
6.1 Create
Take care to pay attention to the quiet ones, and tell the classroom that you’re choosing to help the quiet ones who are working hard or kids who raise their hands for help. Try to ignore kids who follow you around for help, use finger taps while saying your name over and over, and when kids are calling out repeatedly to get attention. Gently steer them back to sitting in seats, raising hands, and waiting for turns.
Make sure all the work has names, and take pictures as soon as students finish any work.
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LEARNING TARGETS
Students know the importance of cleaning up
M A T E R I A L S
- Paper Towels
- Cleaning wipes
- Sink
- Waste baskets
- Well-lit spot for photos
- Camera or phone-camera
7.1 clean
- Wash hands
- Super-wash brushes if used
- Put art supplies away
- Wipe tables & toss trash
- Remove any smocks (last)
- Check for items on floors and tables
7.2 photos
7.1 connect
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Insights
This lesson provides understanding
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Technique
This lesson shows application and movement
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Self Expression
This lesson allows personal freedom
OBJECTIVES
- Practice and improvement in drawing & working with color
- Understanding differences between shapes, lines and tickle lines (guide lines)
- Accomplishment in creating a colored drawing
- Fulfillment by by choosing colors to use in a new way
TROUBLESPOTS
Impatience with Lesson Concepts – This lesson may be a little advanced for some of your students, but it will still be fun even if they don’t apply the concepts at all. Just LET IT GO. It’s always more important for artists to have fun than to improve on someone else’s schedule.
“Every artist must improve themselves at their own pace, when they are internally ready. Anything else will only frustrate them.” Dennas Davis, ArtSquish founder
Drawing right side up – We try to draw the dog upside-down, but some students will not know how to use their eyes, due to developmental changes, and draw a right-side up Scotty Dog. Some just don’t like to draw it upside-down. Either way, just let that go and say something like, “you chose a different way to do it. Artists sometimes do things differently.” Just try not to encourage that, and maybe later remind kids that sometimes it’s important to follow directions to learn a certain thing.
Frustration – It may not come up this early in the year with 1st and 2nd graders, but as artists get older, they notice that their work doesn’t look like they expected. Age 8 and up artists are always creating work they don’t like, and that makes them feel bad about themselves. It is extremely important to catch this moment when young people make the developmental shift into seeing realism in their work – and the lack of it. There is often a crisis of realization and you are there to guide them through it.
Many people believe that “real artists don’t practice”. Nothing could be further from the truth! Explain to anyone who is frustrated, using something like the following.
ART WORDS
Blending – When you use a blender, towel, or even a finger, to smear oil pastels together. This makes them look like paint.
Line – Artists use lines to show the edges of shapes.
Shape – blobs, circles, triangles and rectangles that are either outlined, or shown by different colors, in your artwork..
Tickle Lines –
When an artist wants to know where to begin drawing, and to see the big shapes easier, it’s helpful to do a few guide lines, or tickle lines. Sometimes we’ll call them disappearing or magic lines in cartoon classes.
It’s important to realize that these are not artwork lines. They are light and simple – without any detail at all – because they only point the way for the artist to do the real lines. It’s a little bit like tracing.
The reason they are called tickle lines is that your pencil barely touches the paper, which is like you’re tickling the paper as opposed to a loud and dark artistic line. Lines that are drawn very lightly the first time, are the only kinds of lines that can be erased, and really disappear after you’re finished with your art.
CLASSROOM
PREP
Print all of your PDFs from the lesson plan and cut any references apart as needed.
What your room needs
Here are your printable lists and room prep instructions.
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CLASSROOM
MATERIALS
- 8.5″ x 11″ copy paper
- 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
- 11″ x 17″ copy paper
- 4B & 2B Pencils
- Erasers
- Flag from last week’s lesson if possible
- Music to play
- Blender sticks (stumps)
- Paper towels
- Smocks
PREVIEW
Week #
Month 1 – 5
Students will learn cool stuff.
Week #
Month 1 – 5
Students will learn cool stuff.
