Take a theme and morph the images into the shapes of the letters of the alphabet! Sounds simple enough, but what theme? Does "A" have to be an "A" word like "apple?" And what age is this lesson appropriate for?
First is the theme. It must be broad with lots of possibilities. It should also be tied to the artist. So I have students write a list of topics they enjoy or know a lot about. Then I have them add a few extras for themes a parent, sibling, or loved one might also appreciate. I remind them that this exploration often comes out well and can become a gift that will be appreciated for years. It also means you can get a grade and save some money later when the holidays come around. (They like that.)
I let them know that if they want a theme like golf, it might be better to do sports. If they want to do flowers, how about gardens or nature? I try to get them to avoid logos but if the theme is fashion, a few logos would be okay. The more original your items are, the higher your grade will potentially be.
With the theme chosen, students write out the alphabet and cross off letters as they sketch.
Some helpful tips:
This last hint answers a previous question. If students start matching letters with the sounds, like "A" is for "apple," they will become very frustrated very quickly. Go for the shape, not the sound.
I have done this lessons successfully from middle school through high school. For younger students, or when time is short, we just do the letters of our names, making each letter show off part of our personality. Extras can be done as gifts.
This is also a good time to get some ruler use in our classroom. We make our own lined paper with rulers on our final paper. These examples were done on 18 x 24 inch paper with about 1 inch lined spaces. Letters were 2 lines tall, and one line of empty space was between rows. It is important to sketch everything first before moving onto final paper.
I had a basic layout for the class to see written out like this:
First is the theme. It must be broad with lots of possibilities. It should also be tied to the artist. So I have students write a list of topics they enjoy or know a lot about. Then I have them add a few extras for themes a parent, sibling, or loved one might also appreciate. I remind them that this exploration often comes out well and can become a gift that will be appreciated for years. It also means you can get a grade and save some money later when the holidays come around. (They like that.)
I let them know that if they want a theme like golf, it might be better to do sports. If they want to do flowers, how about gardens or nature? I try to get them to avoid logos but if the theme is fashion, a few logos would be okay. The more original your items are, the higher your grade will potentially be.
With the theme chosen, students write out the alphabet and cross off letters as they sketch.
Some helpful tips:
- Don't start with "A." Do the easy letters first.
- Morph letters, bend them to make letters.
- Consider negative space too. (An "N" can be made with 2 triangles)
- Look at the shape of the letter, not how it sounds.
This last hint answers a previous question. If students start matching letters with the sounds, like "A" is for "apple," they will become very frustrated very quickly. Go for the shape, not the sound.
I have done this lessons successfully from middle school through high school. For younger students, or when time is short, we just do the letters of our names, making each letter show off part of our personality. Extras can be done as gifts.
This is also a good time to get some ruler use in our classroom. We make our own lined paper with rulers on our final paper. These examples were done on 18 x 24 inch paper with about 1 inch lined spaces. Letters were 2 lines tall, and one line of empty space was between rows. It is important to sketch everything first before moving onto final paper.
I had a basic layout for the class to see written out like this:
ABCDEFGH
IJKLMNO
PQRSTU
VWXYZ
IJKLMNO
PQRSTU
VWXYZ
Our process was to do all the pencil-work lightly, then thin Sharpie pens, erasing original pencil lines, coloring in, layering color, and adding shadows if there was time. This exploration can be done with nearly any drawing media, and I have even used watercolors in the past. You can see the results were pretty good and all found a level of success.
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