I saw mostly little-kid stuff, I though I might add some big-kid stuff while I'm procrastinating on other things
A friend came to me for tutoring in art for a gifty who isn't managing school too well this year. (I'm a working artist, when I'm not on mat leave, Student wants to be). She's 14. Here's some of what I've been throwing at her:
Graded detail: She had an asignment to draw scenes from Hamlet, but hadn't enough time to finish in her usual style. So I had her ID the focal points of the images, and increase the detail in those regions, but minimize and obscure detail in the other areas. She did two high key, one low key, one "soft focus," and one I didn't see finished. Goal: 5 complete, full-page illustrations in two hours... she *almost* made it (and finished the next morning in time to hand it in). (Pencil on Paper)
Eyelines: On a different asignment, she had a lot of people to draw, and the pics weren't comming off with the kind of "sparkle" I think she can achieve. I thought the eyes were the problem, so I had her experiment with drawing eyes in such a way as to produce a clear sence of the subject's gaze, including depicting one person's emotions towards another. She got some good stuff, but perfectionism got in the way
(Pencilcrayon on paper)
Footprints in clay: She didn't have much to do last week, so we made footprints of my baby's feet in clay. You need the clay just right to get a good print, so this got her to really engage with the basic properties of a medium she's been interested in... And I got memorabilia
(DS took his first on-purpose steps a few hours later, how cool is _that_)
And she'll be here again on Thursday....
I need a good excuse to get her sketching in various media, she's a crazy perfectionist, and she won't be making a living in any kind of art until she speeds up by an order of magnitude or two!
-Michaela
