A practical application of color theory without a wheel.
José Manuel Ballester is a contemporary artist with a series of paintings where he removes the subject from famous paintings leaving only the interior or the backgrounds in a series titled Concealed Spaces.
I hate color wheels, and wanted students to experience color mixing with more depth a nuance. Fortunately for me Chris Breier's videos have really taken off on social media. I thought this concept would be fun, to explore on a smaller scale by having students white-out players with gesso on sports cards and camouflage the player by painting in the background colors and textures using only primary colors plus black and white.
We found that in most cases we had to mix a tiny amount of complimentary colors to match the hue. This is something students don't intuitively do so it was a great way to help them experience more advanced color mixing. The small scale make it far less intimidating.
I purchased a collections of sports cards on Amazon & Ebay and fold a couple collections of women's sports cards too for less than $50. I also had students donate some cards as well for extra credit. I required my students do at least 4 sports cards, and they were assessed on their best attempt. The only stipulation in selecting cards is that it had to have a background with at least 3 colors. Some backgrounds are certainly more challenging than others and that would be considered in the assessment.
We graded work as a group. Students put their names on the back of their work with Post-it notes. My period 2 students graded period 3 and vice-versa. With cards facing up, we spread them out along a line numbered 1 to 10 (10 being the best). First, we assessed how well the colors matched. 1 meant they tried, and 10 meant they "hit it out of the park." Then we adjusted card positions with a second question, "How complex was the background?" Complex backgrounds moved up 2 numbers, and simple single colors moved down 2. (Everyone passed.) A 1 earned a 75% grade and a 10 earned a 100%. The more cards painted, the more chances students had to earn a higher grade. The highest grade earned was the recorded grade.
This lesson was a big hit for my students who loved sports, and the athletic department really appreciated that we had made a connection with them in this way.
I hate color wheels, and wanted students to experience color mixing with more depth a nuance. Fortunately for me Chris Breier's videos have really taken off on social media. I thought this concept would be fun, to explore on a smaller scale by having students white-out players with gesso on sports cards and camouflage the player by painting in the background colors and textures using only primary colors plus black and white.
We found that in most cases we had to mix a tiny amount of complimentary colors to match the hue. This is something students don't intuitively do so it was a great way to help them experience more advanced color mixing. The small scale make it far less intimidating.
I purchased a collections of sports cards on Amazon & Ebay and fold a couple collections of women's sports cards too for less than $50. I also had students donate some cards as well for extra credit. I required my students do at least 4 sports cards, and they were assessed on their best attempt. The only stipulation in selecting cards is that it had to have a background with at least 3 colors. Some backgrounds are certainly more challenging than others and that would be considered in the assessment.
We graded work as a group. Students put their names on the back of their work with Post-it notes. My period 2 students graded period 3 and vice-versa. With cards facing up, we spread them out along a line numbered 1 to 10 (10 being the best). First, we assessed how well the colors matched. 1 meant they tried, and 10 meant they "hit it out of the park." Then we adjusted card positions with a second question, "How complex was the background?" Complex backgrounds moved up 2 numbers, and simple single colors moved down 2. (Everyone passed.) A 1 earned a 75% grade and a 10 earned a 100%. The more cards painted, the more chances students had to earn a higher grade. The highest grade earned was the recorded grade.
This lesson was a big hit for my students who loved sports, and the athletic department really appreciated that we had made a connection with them in this way.
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