Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, 3/29, in Art I: CLAY Pinch Pots
1. Get a board
2. Get a hunk of clay
3. Wedge your clay to get out all the air bubbles, on top of the board.
4. Slap it into a ball
5. Put your thumb through the middle (Be SURE to not go all the way through)
6. Start pinching until you make a bowl. (Be SURE your walls stay thicker than your pinky finger)
7. Get a wet paper towel. Squeeze out all the water. Put this on your board.
8. Put your bowl on the towel.
9. Wrap carefully in a plastic bag.
10. Put your name on a piece of tape and place this in a visible spot on your bag.
11. Put it in the cupboard.
While you may be tempted to smoosh,stab, smear, throw, or eat your clay... Please don't. The more gently you handle your clay, the better it will turn out. For example, when you pick it up, ALWAYS use two hands.
2. Get a hunk of clay
3. Wedge your clay to get out all the air bubbles, on top of the board.
4. Slap it into a ball
5. Put your thumb through the middle (Be SURE to not go all the way through)
6. Start pinching until you make a bowl. (Be SURE your walls stay thicker than your pinky finger)
7. Get a wet paper towel. Squeeze out all the water. Put this on your board.
8. Put your bowl on the towel.
9. Wrap carefully in a plastic bag.
10. Put your name on a piece of tape and place this in a visible spot on your bag.
11. Put it in the cupboard.
While you may be tempted to smoosh,stab, smear, throw, or eat your clay... Please don't. The more gently you handle your clay, the better it will turn out. For example, when you pick it up, ALWAYS use two hands.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, 3/24 in Art I
We're well into working on our FREEZER PAPER t-shirts. These are due this Friday, so you'll need to bring in your t-shirt asap, or talk to me about it. Thanks! Look here for a tutorial. Then click on "T-shirt Freezer Paper Stencil Power Point".
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, 3/24 in Cartooning
5 Basics of Story Telling (Narrative Arc)
1. The protagonist: The hero of the story. In order to be the protagonist, we need to have emphathy for the character, the character needs to have motivation and ability.
*Empathy: The reader needs to care about what happens to the protagonist.
*Motivation: The protagonist needs to want something badly enough to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do. This is motivation.
*Ability: The protagonist has to be able to fulfill his desires. If the reader knows that the character can't achieve want they want to, the story will be B-O-R-I-N-G.
2. The Spark might be the most important ingredient in good story telling. This is what can turn a regular character into the protagonist. The spark must be something that wouldn't normally happen in the protagonists life. A good guy fighting the bad guys isn't a good story until there is spark. What if all of a sudden the good guy finds out that his father is the worst of all the bad guys, and he must defeat him. That has spark.
3. Escalation: It wouldn't be an interesting story if the protagonist suddenly solves the problem created by the spark at the beginning of the story. Escalation is a series of unexpected events that make the protagonist work even harder to solve his or her problem.
4. The climax: Ideally, a story will have several attempts to solve a problem. Each of them making the problem a little bit worse. (Escalation) When you hit the climax of the story, the reader says, "Ah, yes, that's it," not "And what's next??" The climax needs to provide an answer for the protagonist, and it doesn't have to be a happy one, but we NEED to know that the story is about to end.
5. The denouement: an action that happens after the climax that ties up loose ends and gives the story some closure. It usually doesn't have anything to do with the protagonist's problem.
Whole Class Activity:
Let's talk about Cinderella...
Who is the protragonist?
What is the spark?
Escalation?
Climax?
Denouement?
Group Presentations:
Use your knowledge of the Simpsons (or some other REALLY well known TV show) and create a new episode. Someone in your group needs to write down your story. Extra credit will be given to the groups that share their story.
Start by picking a protagonist (there are many in this show)
Or start by creating a spark
Or start with the climax
Just remember to escalate conflicts form minor to major.
1. The protagonist: The hero of the story. In order to be the protagonist, we need to have emphathy for the character, the character needs to have motivation and ability.
*Empathy: The reader needs to care about what happens to the protagonist.
*Motivation: The protagonist needs to want something badly enough to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do. This is motivation.
*Ability: The protagonist has to be able to fulfill his desires. If the reader knows that the character can't achieve want they want to, the story will be B-O-R-I-N-G.
2. The Spark might be the most important ingredient in good story telling. This is what can turn a regular character into the protagonist. The spark must be something that wouldn't normally happen in the protagonists life. A good guy fighting the bad guys isn't a good story until there is spark. What if all of a sudden the good guy finds out that his father is the worst of all the bad guys, and he must defeat him. That has spark.
3. Escalation: It wouldn't be an interesting story if the protagonist suddenly solves the problem created by the spark at the beginning of the story. Escalation is a series of unexpected events that make the protagonist work even harder to solve his or her problem.
4. The climax: Ideally, a story will have several attempts to solve a problem. Each of them making the problem a little bit worse. (Escalation) When you hit the climax of the story, the reader says, "Ah, yes, that's it," not "And what's next??" The climax needs to provide an answer for the protagonist, and it doesn't have to be a happy one, but we NEED to know that the story is about to end.
5. The denouement: an action that happens after the climax that ties up loose ends and gives the story some closure. It usually doesn't have anything to do with the protagonist's problem.
Whole Class Activity:
Let's talk about Cinderella...
Who is the protragonist?
What is the spark?
Escalation?
Climax?
Denouement?
Group Presentations:
Use your knowledge of the Simpsons (or some other REALLY well known TV show) and create a new episode. Someone in your group needs to write down your story. Extra credit will be given to the groups that share their story.
Start by picking a protagonist (there are many in this show)
Or start by creating a spark
Or start with the climax
Just remember to escalate conflicts form minor to major.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Wednesday, 3/10 in Cartooning
Here are some tips on lettering and word balloons! Thank you Zander!
To Do: spend the hour working on lettering. You could use song lyrics, or made up nonsense, or you could even work your way through some of these pangrams. The point is using an hour to practice your lettering and balloon usage. HAVE FUN!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Wednesday, 3/10 in Art I
Self Portraits with Watercolor
The tutorial is here.
Day 1: Get your photo back and take it to a window. You will trace everything that you want to be white lightly with a pencil. Sign your first or last name in large-ish cursive.
Day 2: Mrs. C will give you some masking fluid in a water bottle cap. Use a paint brush to carefully paint in the white areas and also trace over your name.
Day 3: Tape your work down, and paint over your entire sheet with water. You don't want puddles, you just want a damp page. Next you'll start painting with color. Use colors next to each other on the color wheel.
Day 4: Peel off the masking fluid and erase your pencil lines. Untape your work.
The tutorial is here.
Day 1: Get your photo back and take it to a window. You will trace everything that you want to be white lightly with a pencil. Sign your first or last name in large-ish cursive.
Day 2: Mrs. C will give you some masking fluid in a water bottle cap. Use a paint brush to carefully paint in the white areas and also trace over your name.
Day 3: Tape your work down, and paint over your entire sheet with water. You don't want puddles, you just want a damp page. Next you'll start painting with color. Use colors next to each other on the color wheel.
Day 4: Peel off the masking fluid and erase your pencil lines. Untape your work.
Tuesday, 3/9 in Cartooning: Gutters
(image found here)
Today we'll be working on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper.
1. Give it a 1/2 inch border all the way around. Turn your paper so it is the tall way.
2. Place your ruler horizontally across the top of your paper. Make a very slight mark at 4 1/4. (1/2 WAY ACROSS THE TOP)This is the original mark. Next, mark tiny lines an 1/8 of an inch on both sides of that original mark.
3. Do the same thing on the bottom of your paper.
4. Turn your ruler vertically and connect both of the marks 1/8 of an inch from the original mark. DO NO CONNECT THE ORIGINAL MARKS! Now you've got two panels with a gutter between them.
5. Keeping your ruler the vertical way, mark 3 15/16 and 7 5/16. These are the original marks. Then mark an 1/8 of an inch on each side of those original marks.
6. Do the exact same thing on the other side of the paper.
7. Connect the marks, EXCEPT for the original marks at 3 15/16 and 7 5/16. Now you've got 6 panels with gutters.
8. If you want to get creative, you can change one of the square panels into a circle or a star. Or you could tilt one of your panels, etc. Just keep the gutters consistent.
9. Ink your lines, using a ruler.
Monday, 3/8 in Cartooning STICK FIGURINES
Today in class we discussed the general proportions for drawing people. As a guideline, a man or woman is drawn at 7 heads high. A super-hero at 8.5 heads high, and a "cute" person or child is 6 heads high.
Notes to remember: elbows align with the waist, hips are on top of the 1/2 way line, hands fall to mid-thigh, and the upper and lower arms are the same in length. (This also applies to the upper and lower legs).
TO DO:
1. Take notes
2. Find full body pictures in magazines. Put a piece of paper over the top of one of them and instead of tracing the outer edge of the photo, draw the stick figurine. Pay special attention to the elbows and knees, because this will give you hints on how people bend naturally. Do this exercise for at least 2 people.
3. Come back to the classroom and look through your own comics. Find a panel where one of your characters is moving in an un-natural or still looking way. Re-draw your panel using what you've learned from step 2.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Jack and Jill is due!
How should we grade Jack and Jill?
1. use of all of the transitions? 1-10
2. all of the panels are used efficiently with 50% black and 50% white. 1-10
3. use of class time. 1-10
4. lettering is neat, legible, and clean looking. 1-10
5. width of your inking lines vary, and of course, your pencil lines are erased.1-10
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