Silhouettes

I love doing these and everybody can do them! This past week I did them with 3rd graders as a visiting artist and my adults with varying exceptional-ties. The kids used oil pastels and my adults worked on canvas with acrylic paint. both groups worked for an hour and had good results.

Dinosaur Silhouettes                                           

Teacher: Michelle Thomann-Ramirez

Time 40 minutes or more

Objective: Student are creating silhouettes to better understand shape and space.
They will be introduced to dinosaurs as their image is standing in a landscape

Materials:

• 9×12 white paper suitable for oil pastel (no drying time) heavy White construction paper
• Paper towel
• Q tips for blending
• Pencils
• Examples of silhouettes: teacher sample

Learning Targets:

• I will use materials in a safe and responsible way.
• I will create a silhouette by using outlines and shapes.
• Light to dark

 Students and teacher discuss Dinosaurs and definition of a silhouette and look at samples.

Silhouette: The dark shape and outline of some and one or something seen against a lighter background. We look at a few examples of silhouettes and art and talk about each.  We talk about the low, dim light of a sunset and how the viewer is looking at an object from the shadow side.  The shadow side of the object looks like black paper cut-outs.

Using oil pastels, students are allowed to use any colors (except black) to color the paper. Paper towels are used to clean pastels between colors.  We can blend the oil pastels with other colors using Q-tips or the edge of a paper towel. No details or objects, just color.

• Students will use whatever colors they like for the background as it goes from dark to light starting at the top
• They will trace their dinosaurs onto the colored background and color them black.
• They may add trees and birds in the sky if they have time.

Adapted for acrylic paint in night sky.

• 11X14 canvas
• blue , white and black acrylic paint
• Medium flat brush
• container for water
• paper towels

1.The background painted in blue starting with the darkest at the top and gradually getting lighter towards the bottom

2. using only black and a flat brush we then started dabbing the side of the brush to look like trees.

ENJOY