Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect: A lesson in Expressionism

Shel Silverstein and the Elements of Space and Perspective

Title of Lesson:  Shel Silverstein and the Elements of Space & Perspective

Reason for Lesson: Lesson was designed to create an understanding of the elements of line and space, & using the artwork from the children's literature author and illustrator, Shel Silverstein.

Label:  Positive and Negative Space

            Viewpoint Perspective

Prep Time:  10-15 minutes

Preparation prior to lesson:  Give each student a pie

ce of white drawing paper, a paint brush and black tempra paint.

Read the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Class Time:  60 minutes.

Materials:  Tv, Smartboard or overhead projector.  White drawing paper.  regular pencils. Black Tempra paint & paint brushes. 

Instructions to Lead Lesson: 

1.  Begin the lesson by introducing Shel Silverstein as this month's author.  Use the books we have to show his works and the typical illustrations used in his works.

2.  Read The Giving Tree 

3.  Then introduce students to the Elements of Art that we will work on this month:

Define Positive and Negative Space and then Perspective.

         

Simply put, Positive Space is best described as the areas in a work of art that are the subjects, or areas of interest.

Negative Space is the area around the subjects, or areas of interest.

By utilizing your positive and negative space in different ways, you can effect your overall composition and the Perspective at which you see the object.

For Example:

Examples of uses of positive and negative space...

Balance of Positive and Negative space

                   the entire composition is balanced= same amount of positive & negative space

                                      Mostly Negative Space

                            

                        using mostly negative space creates a far away perspective

                                                Mostly Positive Space

                                   

                                               mostly positive space= closer perspective

Now define Perspective and note for students that the perspective changes when there is more positive space.  The subject has moved "closer"

Perspective is a method of creating the illusion of depth

Viewpoint is the spot (point) from which you, the artist, is looking at (viewing) the scene.

            Normal Viewpoint :what an object looks like looking at it standing up and even

            Low Viewpoint : what an object looks like when looking from below it

           

Now have students create their own "Giving Tree", deciding whether or not they want to have:

1.         a Balance of Positive & Negative Space....  OR

            More Negative space, which creates a far away Perspective, or

            More Positive Space which creates a close up Perspective.

2.  Decide what viewpoint they are going to use

            Normal Viewpoint would have a much smaller "ground" area.

            Low Viewpoint would have a bigger "ground area

Using the white paper and regular pencils first to outline their drawing.  Then use the black tempra paints to create their trees.

They should have thick branches and thin branches, short ones and long.

Make sure their edges are clean.

Have them start with thin branches first, getting a feel for how they want their trees to look.  They can continue to make their lines thicker and longer to create their tree and create their

            "space" & "perspective"

Credit: http://thevirtualinstructor.com/positive-and-negative-space.html

Some branches are thicker, some are thin, but I will continue to refine this when I start painting.

  The trunk of the tree is too short.    So, I ended up lowering the viewpoint perspective  (lowering the ground area)  so that the trunk could be made taller.

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