Illinois Arts Education Week

Celebrating this year's successes!

POINTILLISM

Georges Seurat     A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884

Pointillism /ˈpɔɪntᵻlɪzəm/ is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.

Pointillism is often considered part of the Post-impressionist movement. It was primarily invented by painters George Seurat. While Impressionists used small dabs of paint as part of their technique, Pointillism took this to the next level using only small dots of pure color to compose an entire painting.  
Pointillism reached its peak in the 1880s and 1890s after the Impressionist movement.

7th Grade Pointillism

Students will choose a picture that does not have a great deal of detail, but has lots of color! Still Life or nature pictures work best. (sunset, flowers, fruit, animals, birds, seascape, landscape etc.)

Materials: White drawing paper, a pencil, fine tipped markers and a colored photograph

Students will create a very light sketch in pencil on the white drawing paper.

I will demonstrate the technique of pointillism with the fine tipped markers. Students will begin dotting their pointillism composition when their drawing is complete. Please refer to the colors in the photo and try to recreate the composition with dots only. NO LINES, NO COLORING!  Blend and layer colors, fill the entire piece of paper!

DOTS ONLY! Steps in creating a pointillism...

7th Grade Student Examples......

 

Pop Art!

8th Grade Candy Paintings

 

Pop Art - art based on modern popular culture and the mass media, especially as a critical or ironic comment on traditional fine art values.

Objective: Students will create a Pop Art style candy painting in bright colors with paint.

Materials: 12 x 12 inch white paper, pencil, reference pictures,  paint and sharpies

Steps:

1. Students will choose a candy to draw. Look at pictures online.
2. On the white drawing paper, students will draw a line drawing of a section of the candy wrapper in pencil. The candy can lead in from the border - draw nice and large. The drawing should be very detailed, try to create the section as exact as possible!
3. Students will paint their Pop Art Candy Drawing. Take your time! Do not paint wet areas next to wet areas. Break it down into sections, paint wet paint only by dry paint.
4. When the candy is complete, choose a bright color that contrasts the candy to paint in the background. Bright and Bold!
5. Outline and give detail with the black sharpie.
6. Turn in for evaluation.

Questions:

Is the candy drawn large and have good detail?

Was the painting process completed in steps, wet by dry?

Did the student show good craftsmanship and complete the painting with a background color?

Did the student finish the work with a black marker, outlining and completing the detail work?