Week 5: Prep – Setting the scene for our characters
These drawings were of characters and creatures, both real and imagined. In week 5, students created a background or setting for the little sculptures that they will make when we are back at school. When designing these backgrounds, they thought about the creatures or characters they designed at school. Students wondered where these characters lived and how they lived. We examined the work of Nigel Peake and also David Hockney as inspiration for our settings.
Both of these artists approached the idea of the landscape in very different ways. One uses paint and lots of colour. The other uses lots of patterning and mark making. Using a range of materials; black pen for drawing, coloured pencils, paint or felt tip markers, students created a backdrop or setting. Below are a few examples of student’s work.
In week 6, I was inspired by Louis M! I saw a beautiful creation he made out of sticks and flowers and leaves on the pavement! Thank you Louis! It made me think about the creatures we designed 2 weeks ago at school, and the backdrop or setting we drew for these creatures last week. I realise that we were creating small worlds and characters from wood and lots of natural materials. So another way of thinking about designing these creatures was to use Louis’s idea! We could design our imaginary or real characters out of tiny objects and bits and pieces from nature that we collect on our walks.
Here is some inspiration from the artists, Jill Liebhaber.
When students went for a walk, or went into their garden, they collected a range of natural materials such as seed pods, leaves, twigs, pieces of bark or tam bark, flowers and pebbles. They then arranged these found treasures to create little characters. The results were so impressive!
