Lesson Summary
In this lesson, students will create illustrations of birds on colored paper. Color plays a significant role in conveying various emotions, enriching the mood and creating depth in artwork. By practicing this drawing technique, students will explore the expressive potential of color.
Lesson Objectives
Practice drawing on colored paper
Learn to convey mood and energy through color
Understand how color communicates emotion, mood, and temperature
Brainstorm Discussion
Nature serves as a reliable reference for understanding the significance of various colors. Color profoundly influences human psychology, making selecting the appropriate colors a crucial task. Your color choices should convey the desired impression you want people to embrace. This principle extends to all aspects of visual expression, from selecting clothing colors to choosing cosmetic makeup. Remember, there are no inherently good or bad colors, nor is one color superior to another. Context is key in determining the effectiveness of color choices.
What colors do you observe in nature and how do they make you feel?
Which color do you think represents emotions like love, anger, happiness, beauty, nature, strength, cleanliness, etc.?
What thoughts or emotions arise when you think of colors like red, blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, and black?
Have you ever entered a room painted with red, blue, green, yellow, and purple walls? How did it affect your mood?
What color would you associate with emotions like excitement, hate, joy, suffering, sadness, or loneliness?
How does clothing color influence people's perceptions? For instance, what assumptions might you make about a women wearing all black, pink, or yellow?
What you do
Select a Bird: Choose a reference image of a bird and pick a colored paper that complements the image.
Sketch: Use a pencil to outline the bird on the colored paper.
Shadows: Shade the dark areas of the bird using colored pencils and black markers.
Highlights: Add highlights with warm light colors and a white color pencil.
Color: Apply colors to the drawing using markers and colored pencils, focusing on subtle details and nuances.
Paint: Use water-soluble paint to enhance the brightest parts of the drawing.
Chalk Pastels: Incorporate chalk pastels to color large background areas and to further enrich the colors. Blend them with fingers and tissue paper.
Opaque White: Use opaque white paint sparingly to accentuate the brightest highlights.
Tips
Work efficiently and don't obsess over perfection.
Feel free to alternate between drawing steps as needed.
Utilize a test sheet to experiment with coloring techniques.
Terminology
Primary Colors - They include red, blue and yellow. They are the three colors from which all other colors can be obtained by mixing.
Secondary Colors - They include orange, green and purple. Colors resulting from the mixing of two primary colors together.
Warm Colors - Colors that are associated with the sun, warmth and fire. They evoke warm feelings in people. Yellow, red, orange and different shades of these colors are warm colors.
Cool Colors - Colors that are associated with water, cold and ice. These colors leave a cold effect on people. Green, blue, purple and shades of these colors are cool colors.
Opaque - Not able to be seen through; not transparent.