Pen and Ink Doodles

This pen & ink drawing project is really doodles on steroids!  I made some worksheets with various patterns for the students to work from so they could practice prior to beginning their large pen & ink doodle.  Many of the students have found this type of drawing to be quite addictive. The images below are just a few that have finished a little early and I let the students choose their own subject matter - faces, initials, organic shapes, dragons, birds, butterflies etc..  A few students took the doodle project in a slightly different direction which was fine by me.  The last three are by special needs students.

Embellished Collographs

I had the kids revisit some discarded collograph prints that they thought were absolutely hopeless.  It's amazing what a little bit of chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolours and glitter can do.  There's a certain sense of freedom gained when you are allowed to just play and not worry about the end product.

Picasso Pal - Sketchbook Exercises

The following exercises were to highlight how to document their creative process prior to beginning a project.  I find that students get a little obsessed with everything in their sketchbook having to be a masterpiece, instead of a workbook that includes, writing, analysis, artist research, visual exploration, mistakes, successes etc.

Exercise #1
After students had recorded some notes on Picasso and Cubism in their sketchbook I had them draw a simple contour drawing of their running shoe on a sheet of newsprint, paying attention to detail and proportions.  Despite how lovely their drawings turned out they were a little stunned when I told them to cut them up into large pieces and reassemble these pieces into a new cubist composition.  This new composition was glued into their sketchbooks along side their Picasso/Cubism notes.

Exercise #2
Students then glued a magazine head into their sketchbook and then collaged facial features from other magazine heads over top.  Amusing to say the least.

Exercise #3
I found this next exercise on line somewhere so thanks to whoever posted it.  Without giving the students any idea where they are heading, read the following instructions out loud to them.  1. Draw an eye anywhere on your paper.  2. Turn your sketchbook 90 degrees clockwise.   3. Draw a second different eye, several times larger than the first eye.  4. Turn your sketchbook 90 degrees clockwise.  5. Draw a nose or snout.  6. Turn your sketchbook 90 degrees clockwise.  7. Draw a leg or paw.  8. Turn your sketchbook 90 degrees clockwise.  Draw a tail.  9.Turn your sketchbook 90 degrees clockwise.  10.  Connect the elements together with straight and curved lines.  In future, I would have them at this point  practice some oil pastel techniques using these drawings - light pressure, hard pressure, scraffito, blending etc..

Exercise #4 - Last and final sketchbook exercise! 

On newsprint students prepare 3 contour drawings of their partner - front, side and 3/4 pose.  Like in the shoe exercise, they cut and arrange various pieces of these three drawings into a new cubist composition and glue their final image into their sketchbook.  Some of them needed to outline the main lines before they started the next step which was to enlarge this drawing onto large coloured construction before colouring with oil pastels.

Picasso Pals

This is a very quick and enjoyable drawing project for everyone in the classroom for all skill levels and ages - including special need students.  Begin by introducing Picasso/Cubism in whatever manner you are comfortable with.  I followed this up with a few sketchbook exercises (which I will post separately) before I had the students start their oil pastel portrait drawing. I wish I had taken photos of the drawings that my special needs students did - they were so excited about them that they took them home before I had a chance to photograph them.