(13/3) Lesson Plans for Digital Drawing

Lesson Plan #1: Make a series of ‘Selfies’

Objectives: Students of this age group, especially in this technology driven generation, tend to be comfortable with using their smartphones on the go. To foster interest-based learning, the following assignment encourages them to use their phones in a way that they would in their free time. It’s convenient and they can even work on their projects on the go and outside of the art classroom.

Building off a classic assignment of the self portrait, the goal of this lesson is to incorporate new tools of digital drawing through the app Brushes to encourage self expression and free form mark making. 

Target Audience: 5th grade

Tools: iPhone/smartphone, Brushes app

Instructions:

1. Take a series of 5 selfies: tell a story using your face as the canvas. Think about how to express an emotion with a photograph
2. Once you have selected your 5 images, think about the order of them.
3. Introduce the medium of Brushes, how it is similar to Photoshop on the go.
4. Encourage students to use both brushes and pens to “add to the piece”
5. Next, invite students to subtract from the piece with the eraser, thinking about positive and negative space.
6. Compile your 5 images into a slideshow or any creative platform, and present to the rest of the class
7. Facilitate a class critique, ask the students: how does this reflect your perception of your self identity? What were the challenges? A mini art critique that engages the class in giving one another feedback. 

Takeaways:

This project encourages students to create a story, a personal narrative using their own face as the canvas, and utilize technology to enhance their message. Students will be able to use the guidelines to adjust to their own interests and messages that they are interested in telling. Furthermore, they will learn a new tool that they can use on the go, hopefully encouraging them to use this Brushes app in their own personal lives. Coupled with the rise of social media in pre-adolescents, they can use this medium for their own profiles and presence online. 

Lesson Plan #2: Paint the Noise

Objectives: Linking sound with sight, this free form painting assignment on Photoshop encourages middle schoolers to paint within set guidelines. While this may seem limiting, it actually forces the students, when introduced to a new material, to really experience the program and familiarize themselves with the fundamental tools of shapes, lines, color, and filters. 

Target Audience: 7th grade

Tools: Speakers, a sound of choice: dog barking, police sirens, rain fallling, national anthem, etc, Photoshop

Instructions:

1. Show students examples of iPad drawings by David Hockney, and also examples of sound wave paintings. 
2. Introduce the students to fundamental basics of Photoshop, play a Lynda tutorial or assign as homework before the class. 
3. Play the noise of choice, and ask them to paint using Photoshop a visual interpretation of it. 
4. First, only ask them to use shape tools, next, ask them to use the fill tool and add only three colors, third, ask them to use filters.
5. Print out all the images and hang them on a white wall, to mimic a gallery or museum space. Foster a class critique on one another’s pieces. Invite specific students to speak about one another student’s piece by drawing a name from a hat.

Takeaways:

This project creates a sensory experience, inviting students to link up their sense of sound with their sense of sight. Introducing them to Photoshop is a very exciting opportunity, and can be overwhelming, hence limiting the tools they are allowed to use initially can be a fruitful practice. By having a gallery-esque set up at the end of the lesson, students will feel like they can be artists, and also have a glossy, colorful printout to hang up, hence taking ownership and pride in their work. 

(13/2) Final Project Process

My themes for the final project are: Scanography, Painting, and Mapping. I gathered yarn and string of shades of blue and use the scanner and moved it around, hoping to capture the idea of movement. I chose this color scheme of blues and silvers. Silver represents technology in my mind, while blues are zen-like and soothing. I wanted to create something peaceful despite having the printed scans It created these beautiful moments where the colors of the yarn interacted with the light, and I wanted to incorporate that into the painting. I started out with a 18x36" piece of canvas, and blocked off sections using painter's tape. My original idea was to use gel medium to apply the print outs of the scans onto the canvas. See below:

I used photoshop to capture the moments of "rainbow" light that occurred; I decided to zoom in on these little clips by using the rectangular tool or the circular selection tool to create these shapes that I planned to superimpose onto of the painting. My work on the computer:

Found out that the gel medium didn't work as well I had intended, instead of a smooth transfer it created a mess! I decided to overlap these attempts and actually apply the print outs itself with glue onto the canvas. Using superglue, I was able to achieve a more seamless application. Before:

After! Combining both tools (traditional and technology) I made marks using the scanography printouts and also painted triangles that were more organic and freeform. I'm trying to push and merge these two tools. I like to think of the result a "map" of my mind while using my phone (which is often, I must admit.) 

I decided to add yarn across the piece, and tie on some interactive elements, the line across the piece mimics the motion of doing a scan.

(13/3) My 'Seflie'

This class has both expanded and challenged my pre-existing views towards technology. Coming from a traditional art background, I was always most comfortable within the realm of ‘safe’ materials such as paint, pencil, clay, etc. I never had formal training with photoshop or illustrator, and felt like a dinosaur despite being in my late 20s. I knew that I needed to modernize myself first, in order to even incorporate technology into the classroom. I believe I have met my learning objective, and built up quite the arsenal of ‘technology’ vocabulary and tools. This survey course has provided me with the basic knowledge of all these different mediums, many of which I had never even heard of before! I thought that the order of the mediums was also very well thought out, and reduced my initial fear of technology by ‘easing’ us into it. One learning objective that I believe changed for the better throughout the semester was the potential of collaboration with classmates! This has been something I struggled with in the past, working with others collaboratively on an art project, since I believe that aesthetics can be subjective. However, the emphasis on working together instead produced meaningful work, and I was pleasantly surprised about how I was able to push myself beyond my ‘safe space’ to try out new ideas, themes and techniques. There are definitely specific mediums that I hope to learn more about, for instance, Scratch, as I believe it is a powerful tool that I hope to teach to my future middle schoolers. I’m also eager to use stop-motion as I believe it’s an easily accessible medium should the school not have the resources for one-to-one computing. I’m eager and excited to bring these new tools into the classroom to foster interest-based learning, and also re-define and re-vitalize art lessons by incorporating technology. The possibilities are truly limitless.

Showed my process - tons of documentation of all the different projects per week, and I like that it's all on the blog so I can access it.
Explained my outcome - I enjoyed the class discussion time with my peers, was able to get feedback on my work, and suggested on how to push it in terms of meaning and message.
Linked to vocabulary - learn a lot of new vocabulary of how to properly discuss art, also I enjoyed the readings as they provided me with both a theoretical and practical framework of how to think about the weekly assigmnent.
Found multiple possibilites - I thought that re-visiting scanography for my final project really pushed my understanding of it as a medium, and to mix it with painting (something I am more familiar with) 
I preserved through the work - for the projects towards the latter part of the semester, I did face some technical difficulties. I also had some blocks on how to incorporate themes and topics I am interesting, but managed to apply the technologies to my crafting work (something I am passionate about in my free time).
Eliminated carelessness - there were times that I felt like my projects were not as neat as I had hoped, but I thought that going through the process of making it once taught me about how to use it effectively. I think if I were to revisit the tools again, I would be more time efficient and overlap different pieces of technology to make neater, more professional looking projects. 

(12/2) Takeaways from the Readings

1) ”Making" is especially useful for an art classroom because of the mathematical connections, as discussed in the article that mentioned how Piaget wanted to accommodate ALL learners, and it is common for those who are more artistically inclined to be weaker at math or science. At least I speak for myself when I say that I always prefers art over math! "Making" not only is a form of interdisciplinary learning, but can engage students through interest based learning, and often there is not one "right" answer. The stress is taken away from trying to produce a perfect final project, rather the emphasis is on the process of creation and the math needed to be done along the way.  

2) “Making is strongest of human impulses and one of the most significant means of human expression”, this line really stayed with me as why it’s important to incorporate making into the classroom! It’s a wonderful way of self expression, and there are many possibilities for lesson plans that are “make your invention” or “how do you solve problems in your daily life with objects that you make?” For instance, when I was looking through Thingiverse, there are many great models of iPhone plugs, an LED holder, earphone racks, useful items that may not exist out there by solve daily household or logistical needs.

 3) The last article of the readings brought up a crucial problem with the Maker movement, the lack of representation of minority groups and the obvious economic barriers. However, this can also be turned into a learning opportunity for the classroom, and students who do have access to a FabLab can be encouraged to create social justice projects, or collaborative works that address this underrepresentation. Alternatively, the teacher can start a group conversation about how this movement is dominated by white males, and what are their thoughts on it? It’s a good way for middle schoolers to start tackling harder questions of inequality and injustice that might otherwise be difficult to unpack.  

(12/1) Soft Circuit Project

I decided to make a festive soft circuit, used conductive thread to do a simple parallel circuit, here are pictures of my Christmas tree!