Funny Fish Drawing

Grade: 1^st

Date: March

Medium: oil and chalk pastels (black, red, yellow, blue and green)

Reason for the Lesson:  Direct line drawing

TIPS:

The trick with a successful directed line drawing is to make sure that the drawings are unique to the child.  Start a line drawing with a quick demonstration on the white board. Talk about the steps as you draw, maybe even make a few “mistakes” so children don’t worry that this drawing must be perfect. You can also show “options” so children know they can alter any part of the drawing to suit them.

I like to use this technique to help control noise level and increase focus: I’ll say “When my marker cap is off, your pencils are on the table.” This means that I am demonstrating a drawing section. “When my cap is on, then it’s your turn to draw.” This means that the kids know when to start drawing.

Prep Time: 10 minutes (to gather materials from art closet and head to classroom)

Class Time: 45-60min

Materials:  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, paper and pastels

Instructions:

1.      Start by reading the story One Fish, Two Fish.  While reading the first couple of pages, focus student’s attention on the fish drawings.  What do they notice?

2.      Pass out white paper.

3.      Students will decide on the color of fish they would like to draw (red, yellow, blue or green) and then use that pastel to create the fish drawing. They will outline in black as the last step, and I would hold off on passing out black oil pastels until the very end.

4.      Encourage the children to draw an oval in the middle of the paper to form the fish’s body. You may want to model this on the white board.  (steps 4-7 are also written on the next page, accompanied by the step-by-step drawing)

5.      Add an oval for an eye inside the body and extend the front of the oval by making a nose of any shape. (model on white board)

6.      Add any type of tail (use book as a reference), side fins and dorsal fins. Add a bottom lip if desired. Don’t worry about all the overlapping lines, everything with the exception of the eyes, will be colored in with the same color. (model on white board)

7.      To finish, add eyelashes, whiskers, and some crosshatching (very Dr. Seuss!).

8.      The final step is to draw big, blue waves and then to trace over all lines with a black oil pastel.

Credit: www.deepspacesparkle.com