DEEP SPACE

GRADES 3-6

DE S ER T L A N D S CAPE

Perspective Drawing

GRADES 4-6

Learning how to draw perspective is one of those art techniques that gets kids to sit up and take notice. Part of the excitement is realizing that art has rules, kind of like math. This fact makes this lesson an excellent art project to enhance your math curriculum. Kids are aware of the basic meaning of perspective, but when you actually show them what the vanishing point is and how it relates to the size of objects, it’s truly an a-ha moment. Drawing perspective can be applied to most any type of landscape project but I think it works best when there is a road featured in the drawing. Roads are familiar and many kids know that they appear smaller as it moves away from the viewer. This makes it easier to explain one-

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED: I @ 12” x 18” Sulphite Paper Pencil and Eraser Straight edge or ruler (measurement is not necessary) Any black tip marker Colored pencils and colored markers

VIDEO LINK TO ACCESS 1-POINT PERSPECTIVE DRAWING VIDEO, PLEASE CLICK HERE: https://vimeo.com/139625091 Password: DSSPERSPECTIVE (all caps)

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ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE Vanishing point: the point at which something that has been growing smaller or increasingly faint disappears altogether.

A drawing uses a one-point perspective when it contains one vanishing point. This type of perspective is generally used when drawing roads, buildings or anything that is directly in front of the viewer. All items in the picture converge at the vanishing point which is always on the horizon line. The lines that converge at the vanishing point are parallel lines, but to the artist these lines are drawn on an angle. To demonstrate this, you can always show children images of one-point perspective but I like to keep this part really brief. Middle school kids will have the interest but elementary kids mostly want to dive straight into the art. To demonstrate perspective and get on with the project, I draw a picture of the desert landscape scene, explaining the process of achieving perspective. This feels more instant and keeps the kids engaged. I’ve included this drawing on the next page. ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 3

BASIC PERSPECTIVE BACKGROUND/SMALLER

S OP

T

VANISHING POINT

ROAD

OF

S CTU A C

HORIZON LINE

BOT TOM SO

F CA CTU

S

FOREGROUND/BIGGER Start the drawing by creating the HORIZON LINE.

FOLD TO CREATE HORIZON LINE

No need to draw a perfectly straight line, simply FOLD the paper in half horizontally. The crease will act as the horizon line.

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DRAWING

Start the drawing by FOLDING the paper (horizontally) in half. Crease the paper and open up. The fold will act as the HORIZON line and the starting point for the drawing. With a straight edge and a pencil, place straight edge on left edge of the paper at the horizon line. Draw a line towards the top right corner of the paper. If the line doesn’t end up at the exact corner, no problem. Somewhere in this vicinity is good enough. Do the same for the bottom line. You should have TWO angle lines on the paper plus one folded crease. SAGUARO CACTI: Starting at the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the paper, draw a large saguaro cactus. the bottom must begin on the lower line. Because of the organic nature of the cactus, it is not absolutely necessary to keep the foot of the cactus exactly on the line, but it really helps the kids to follow this rule until they get the hang of it. The top of the cactus should reach the top angle line. ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 5

The trick with drawing the cactus is keeping the cactus tall and straight. It’s very common for the cactus to start slanting away from the artist’s hand.

Cactus

To remedy this, fold the right hand side of the paper over the drawing and draw a VERY LIGHT VERTICAL LINE with the pencil. Use this line as a guide to keep the cacti straight. The cacti should be drawn within the two angle lines but they should also be drawn smaller and smaller. The two angle lines force the height, but you may have to demonstrate how the cacti will also grow thinner. After the first line of cactus is drawn with the pencil, students can opt to draw another large cactus at the very bottom of the paper (foreground). This cactus needs to be very tall—even surpassing the horizon line. The artist in the large picture above didn’t quite trust the rules of perspective when drawing his cactus at the bottom of the paper. To enhance the picture, more cactuses can be drawn behind and among the line of cactus. The rules of perspective changes slightly here. Keep the top of the cacti near the TOP ANGLE line but the bottom of the cacti can be placed between the two angle lines.

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DESERT PLANTS RESOURCE IMAGES

Cactus

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Before the kids draw a road, it’s best to start drawing the foreground images. Perspective rules state that the closer the object is to the bottom of the paper or scene, the closer it is to the viewer. This makes the object the biggest item in the picture.

Foreground & Road

Applying this rule, show kids the handout of Desert Plants & Animals (you can add to this with a visit to the library) and have them select a few items. Demonstrate how to draw basic rocks and a few plants. Despite going over the rules of perspective, most kids will draw very small objects. The only way to combat this is to actually show pictures of landscapes and observe what is up close and what is far away. After doing this, point out the horizon line and notice how close objects get to this. After the images are drawn in the foreground, draw a road following the angle line.

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Joshua Tree

Saguaro Cactus

1

2

3

Prickly Pear Gila Woodpecker

Desert Tortoise

Agave

DESERT

Plants & Animals ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 9

After spending a lot of time on the foreground, the background should be kept pretty simple. Most kids will trace over the horizon line in order to establish a base for the mountain range.

background

This can be tricky because there is cacti in the way. Remember, don’t draw the line for the base of the mountains through the cacti. Encourage the kids to draw a series of mountains. My secret goal is to make sure most of the sky is filled with something other than blank space. This makes coloring a bit less arduous.

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I’m not going to lie. This part can take forever. Most kids will finish the drawing in two, 45-minute classes but tracing will take some kids 30 minutes and some two hours.

outlining

Here are a few tricks: Use a medium tip marker. This will encourage slightly larger lines which will make tracing easier. Trace from the BOTTOM UP. This is important. Otherwise, horizon lines will go through cactus and roads through agave plants. Trace the outside layer of cacti first, then work back.

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COLORING

wa rm or coo l pal ette Coloring can also take some time. When I did this lesson with my fifth grade students, I broke the lesson into 4 classes: 2 classes for introduction and drawing, 1 class tracing and 1 class coloring. This schedule was good for 30% of my students. Not a good percentile but my theory with this lesson is that it’s a perfect project to pull out during free-choice time. Over the course of the next few weeks, all students finished the piece while still completing the rest of my art curriculum. ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 12

Colored pencils are great for projects that involve a lot of detail as the artist can color without disrupting the details of the piece. Paint wouldn’t be a great choice as many of

colored pencils

the objects are just too small. The obvious problem with colored pencils is that they take a LONG time to color with. Many students get bored or their hands grow tired and will begin to scribble. I would, too. A solution is to use a combination of art supplies: colored pencils, markers (great for intense color) and chalk pastel (great for large open spaces).

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markers The best markers to use are markers that are fresh. I love Prismacolor as they give a great application of color but Crayola are good, too. The trick is to trace around the outside of the area you wish to color then color as though you are climbing a ladder: one section or rung at a time.

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I didn’t intend for the students to use chalk pastel with this project but for some kids, they were really struggling with colored pencils and markers in the larger, more open spaces.

chalk pastel

I gave them a few pastels to use in the large areas and it worked wonderfully. The color can be smeared over a larger surface and the results are far more instant. This is also a good solution for kids who may have missed a few classes and need to catch up.

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DESERT LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE DRAWING ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 16

DESERT LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE DRAWING ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 17

S OU T HWEST DE S E RT ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com 18

Artist Statement

Your name

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR ARTWORK?

HOW DID YOU CREATE YOUR ARTWORK? (What tools, supplies and techniques did you use?)

WHAT DOES THIS PIECE OF ART MEAN TO YOU? (You can use “I” statements and talk about your inspiration and what creating this piece of art means to you)

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Inspiring children one color at a time

Thank you for purchasing a Deep Space Sparkle Art Lesson. I would love to see how you used this lesson in your classroom or at home. Feel free to share your kids art with the DSS community:

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Questions? Contact Patty @ [email protected] ©2015 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. All Rights Reserved www.deepspacesparkle.com