Under the Sea Watercolor

UNDER THE SEA WATERCOLOR

After I have taught my students a variety of watercolor techniques I let them finish with this assignment.  I guess that I have a little bit of my Southern California beach loving influence in this, but it doesn't seem to dampen their spirits about this assignment.

1.  Have the students draw very lightly their image of their chosen sea creature.

2.  Use a white crayon and have the students press as hard as they can on every line that
     they drew.  It needs to be very thick
     to resist the watercolor paint.

7th Grade Art Work

3.  Use softened watercolors.  I use Prang Professional paints, not the washable ones (they do not

     have true colors, but they professional ones are true colors and are easy to make other colors
     with)

4.  Paint the background wet with water first.  Avoid getting the image wet. 

5.  Add the colors and let the water do most of the work.  If it helps have the students push the paint 
     through.  Do not over mix the colors.

6.  When it is wet, salt the wet painting.  Not too much salt.

7.  Let dry overnight.

8.  Rub off the salt.

9.  Using the wet on wet isolation watercolor technique paint the sea creature.  The wet on wet
     isolation is where you paint an isolated area wet with water first and then add wet paint in that
     area.  Add two to three colors for the best effect.  Let dry.  Do not paint next to anything that is
     damp or wet.

Salty Wax Resist Watercolor



8th Grade Painting

This is an 8th grade assignment.

The students have learned how to do a varigated wash and wet on wet isolation.

1. The students will draw very lightly on the watercolor paper. I usually have them draw
     something from nature. It needs to have closed shapes.
2. On every line that they draw they will trace very heavily with white crayon
3. Start painting the background. It is a variagated wash. Wet the paper first all over except
    on the image that was drawn. Add wet paint into it and let the water do most of the work.
    Make sure that the colors blend a little and it is wet enough that it doesn't look like a stripe.
4. Lightly salt the background when it is wet.
5. Let the background dry overnight.
6. Scrape off the salt
7. Paint wet on wet isolation in the other shapes. Use two to three colors in each section.
8. Lightly salt after you have painted each section.
9. Don't paint next to anything wet or damp
10. Scrape off the salt when it is dry

Animal Aberrations

7th Grade Drawing

This assignment is one that includes texture, 1 point perspective, form, and blending, shading and burnishing of colored pencils.

I chose Utah Native American rock art images for the students to choose from, because it is a seventh grade assignment and seventh graders study Utah History.

1. Do a one point perspective checker board. Here is a website that explains it well
    http://juliannakunstler.com/art1_1pt_ch_board.html
2. Draw the animal image on top of the checkerboard. The animal needs to be broken up into
    smaller sections.
3. The checkerboard is in perspective but the animal will not. It will look like it is hovering,
     hence an aberration.
4. The students will then outline the animal with black marker and then add patterns and
    textures to the animal. They need to remember lights and darks.
5. The students then fill in the checkerboard. (note: if they mark which squares they are going
    to do, they need to mark it with a pencil and not the marker. White out cannot be covered
    very well).
6. They students then blend, shade and burnish with colored pencils. They need to use two to
    three colors in each section.