Cardboard Relief Landscapes

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, students will design and build a cardboard relief landscape. They will learn how to create the illusion of depth and distance by studying how the atmosphere effects the appearance of the environment. Afterwards they will design and cutout their landscape planes using cardboard, and lay them out to create a relief landscape illustration.

This activity is suitable for middle school and up.

Lesson Objectives

Learn about depth and distance by studying how distance and the atmosphere effects the appearance of the environment
Understanding the concept of depth of field: foreground, middle ground and background.
Planning and constructing a cardboard relief landscape.
Creative use of a cheap and plentiful material.

Relief Sculpture

A relief sculpture combines features of two-dimensional and the three-dimensional artwork. It gives an impression that the subject has been raised above a flat two-dimensional surface.

Materials

Pencils
Gouache Paint
Small Sketchbook
Cardboard
Colored Paper
Markers
Correction Fluid
Scissors

Discussion

Looking at the landscapes below, what is a foreground, middle ground and background?
Why do objects appear more detailed the closer they are?

Atmospheric perspective

Atmospheric perspective is the visual effect that the atmosphere has on the environment. There are three main visual components to think about when applying atmospheric perspective. They are contrast, details and color saturation.

‘Contrast’ is strongest in the foreground and lessens into the distance.
The ‘details’ of a landscape is highest in foreground and decreases the further it is into the distance.
‘Colour saturation’ is most intense in the foreground and fades into the colour of the sky the further it is into the distance.

Image download

8-Page Zine by Richard

Yellow Sand Dust

The atmosphere contains tiny particles that reflect light from the sky. That is why the landscape appears to fade into the color of the sky the further it is into the distance. This is especially evident during a yellow dust sand storm and when there is air-quality is poor.

What to do

Your cardboard relief landscape will include a foreground, middle ground, background and sky. You may include more planes depending on your landscape. The details of a landscape is highest in the foreground. The middle ground will have less detail and the background will have the least.

Thumbnail Sketch Ideas: Come up with some relief cardboard landscapes ideas in your sketchbook. It can be of mountains, trees, buildings, rocks, deserts, forests and so on. The landscape should include a foreground, middle ground and background. Plan and number each plane.
Line Drawing Template: Select a thumbnail that you like the most and make a line drawing of your landscape on an A4 size sheet of paper. It will serve as a template for your cardboard landscape.
Prepare Cardboard: Have several cardboard sheets ready. One needs to be A4 sized to serve as the base for your landscape. *There are different types of cardboard of varying shades and thicknesses. Some of them are good for detailed cutouts and other kinds are good for large and simple cutouts.
Sky: Use a thick A4 sheet of cardboard to represent the background sky.
Background Plane: Cut out the background plane of your drawing first and trace it onto a piece of cardboard.
Middle Ground Plane: Next cut out the middle ground plane of your drawing and trace it onto a piece of cardboard.
Foreground Plane: Afterwards cut out the foreground plane of your drawing and trace it onto a thin piece of cardboard.
Cutout: Once you have all the planes drawn out, cutout all the landscape planes using a cutter knife. *Cut the pieces at least twice to get all the way through the cardboard.
Put it All Together: Layout and piece all the parts together. Make some adjustments if it isn’t turning out in the way that you envisioned.
Glue all the Pieces Together: Once you’ve determined where all the pieces will be laid out and it is in the correct order, permanently attach all the pieces together with white glue.
Other Details: To make your landscape more interesting, you may also add other things such as animals, butterflies, clouds, and etc. You may even use the cardboard character you made in the previous lesson and glue it onto the landscape.
Frame: Build a cardboard frame for your landscape.

Terminology

Contrast - The degree of difference between the lightest lights and the darkest darks.
Details - Smaller elements of a larger subject.
Colour Saturation - The intensity of a color.
Foreground -
Middleground -
Background -

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