*The title of this post is pulled from Ryan’s artist statement, which is near the bottom of the page.
The truth is, I’ve been so busy this winter that I haven’t had time to write many posts and to showcase the work we are doing in class. It’s all good, as they say, with the exception of relentless snow shoveling over the past three weeks! Somehow all this snow art in this post makes me feel better.
Now that the whole school has iPads, it is time to learn how to use them to create digital art. We began our foray into digital art making on iPads with guided drawing using Sketchbook Express. Along with learning how to use the app, students were able to focus on the concepts of form, space, foreground, middle ground, background, shading, value, and atmospheric perspective. On the iPad, we were using the paintbrush, flood fill, airbrush, and layers, all the while being aware of radius and opacity. We started with the following guided drawing, as the students followed along step-by-step. This image is straight off my iPad – unedited beyond what was done as I led the class.
The following images are those that students created as they worked individually to apply what they had learned. Students were asked to draw at least two snow figures in a snowy field, to add trees, a sky, to dress the snow figure somehow, and to shade the snow spheres to make them look 3D. Students then uploaded them to our online Artsonia gallery and added a 5 – 7 sentence artist statement. These are some of the results.
Brooke’s artist statement: The snowmen (and women!) enjoy the sunset just as anyone else. Snow capped mountains and trees of winter and warm scarves and hats for our snow people’s sake. I enjoyed drawing the background more than I should have.
Anna’s artist statement: I had fun doing this project, it was very exciting. I made this project by tracing out my snowman and snowgirl. Then drawing the hills around them. Then in white I drew where the snow on the hills were going to be. After that I traced the trees in the background, then the trees in the middle ground and foreground. After that I filled in every part that was blank. Finally I shaded the snowmen and the hills, that is how the project was done.
Sophia’s artist statement: For this project I had to draw a snow scene. I thought that the hardest part was getting the snowmen drawn to blend in with the background. I thought that drawing the layers was fun. I thought that the cute l little chubby trees were a good example on how all trees are different. If I could do this again I would try to make another snow character.
Tessa’s artist statement: For the winter I made a digital drawing of snowman on snowy hills. First I made the outline for everything, adding details on the snowman’s face. Then I used flood fill to fill the hills, sky, trees and the snowman’s features. Then with another layer I shaded. If I did this project again I would try to attempt snowy trees again. Although this project looks easy it is a bit challenging. But I still loved this project.
Kevin: This week in art we had to make a snow scene. We had to use shading, trees, snow people, background, and a sky. For the snow people I made them normal snow man/snow woman. For the background I made it get darker the farther back it went, to make it look like it was farther away. If I were to change anything, I would try and work more on the shading.
Cameron’s artist statement: In this snow scene, constructing it took a lot of flood fill. In the hills I used the same color just darkened it to make the illusion that you where looking out farther and farther. In the snowman, I used two layers. One for the outline the other for shading the snowman itself. My favorite part of the picture is the trees in the background.
Jared’s artist statement: To do this project, I used an app on my IPad called Sketchbook Express. I started off with the snowmen, then made the rolling hills. I tried to make the hills look like they were going farther back, so I made them get darker. Then I did the trees. For the shadow of the snowmen I just made a darker color then the snow in that area. It was really fun making this picture, and I hope to use my IPad to do many different projects!
Ryan’s artist statement: Imagine yourself in a war. A snowman war. Two snowmen soldiers, a medic, and a standard soldier were sent through Johnny’s Apple orchard. When passing through the fence near the far back pine forest, they had a lot of walking ahead of them. Suddenly, half way through enemy territory, they are spotted! By…???
*Now you as the viewer, imagine what happens next. Are they captured and brought to a furnace for melting?
Do they make a daring escape? It is up to you.
When making this piece I liked using shading to show were the light came from. It was also fun that we could make the snowmen doing anything, only we had to have 2 of them, trees, hills, and the sky. I would do this again, 10/10.
These are just a few of the Snow Scenes created on iPads last week. To see the whole gallery, go to: http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=918251&index=0