Observational Drawing

First and second graders are practicing observational drawing. We talked about how observation means to look at something closely, so observational drawing is to look at something closely and draw what you see. We also talked about how artists can get frustrated by trying to make their drawing look exactly like what they observing, but it is more important to try your best and include as many details as you can. Sometimes it looks more interesting as a drawing if it doesn't look exactly like real life. Lukas in 2nd grade said that it is more important that you put your artistic spirit into it. I like that.

So first graders looked at drawings of fish by Hokusai and Munari. We tried to guess which artist worked from observation and guessed that it was Hokusai because he included more details. Students then used sharpie to draw a fish from observation. We worked from rubber reproductions of fish that show tons of detail.
Next, they incorporated details from their imagination about where the fish would live. Most artists made under the sea scenes:

But some artists had other ideas:

See the final results on display next week on the second floor. Great work!

Second graders have begun practicing drawing bugs from observation of photos. We will be taking these skills to a whole new level to create drawings inspired by one of my favorite movies:

Get excited!

Here are some photos of second graders working on practice sketches: