A technique in which images are depicted on a surface by making lines.

Reception - All about me!

This topic gave the children lots of opportunities to explore their early mark making skills with a range of media; pencils, pens, chalks and felt tips were all very popular choices. In the photos below you can see how the children have combined the use of closed shapes and lines to create simple representations of themselves, their friends and special people in their lives.

Year One - The detail is in the drawing

The pupils in our Year One class were studying the text Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers in their literacy lessons. They were interested to discover that the author, Oliver Jeffers also illustrates his own books. We followed this interest and researched other books where the author is also the illustrator - it took some careful observations in our class book area; this led us to the Mr Men and Little Miss series by Roger Hargreaves.

Our project started by looking at line work - lines can be long, short, thick, thin, curved, straight, wiggly, zig-zaggy, light and dark. The children used their sketching pencils to explore various lines and tones and discussed when they may use different types of lines. E.g. 'I would use a curved line if I wanted to draw the sun' (Ava, age 5) and 'When I draw spiky lines it looks like mountains. I can make the mountains big and little' (Arthur, age 5).

Using their knowledge of line work, the children learnt that all pictures are made up of shapes and lines. They began to explore and apply their knowledge by copying simple pictures. Beforehand, they spotted key shapes and this helped them to identify their starting points. On completion, the children buddied up to appraise each others work - the children's faces lit up as they read the feedback given to them by their friend (as seen on the post it notes in the photos of children's artbooks).

The discovery of a new medium, pastels was exciting for our young artists. All students in the class expressed that they had never used pastels before - they loved the free rein of exploring them for the first time in their art books - different shapes, lines, tones, colours, blending, smudging and colour mixing can be seen.

Applying their knowledge of line work and use of pastels, the children combined these skills to create their own Mr Men and Little Miss puppets. Line work, colouring, cutting and gluing skills were all combined with little guidance from their teachers. Once their puppet was complete the children continued crafting and made puppet after puppet after puppet.

To be continued...

Our plans include further use of the pastels to draw a cartoon landscape.

Using our puppets and landscapes purposely and cohesively to tell a story.

Creating, retelling and recording a story with a peer using IPads.

Year Three - Lowry

We started off our drawing topic this year by looking at the work of Lowry. To help us identify the smaller details in his work, we used a viewfinder to recreate one smaller part rather than attempting to create a larger, less detailed work of art.

Year Four - We are Illustrators

The children studied the work of Tom Gauld, Illustrator of the Iron Man by Ted Hughes. They have been learning about illustration as a possible career. Learning new skills, including cross hatching to add texture to their drawings has been a key part of this topic, as pupils talk about 'mastering' their skills and using pen to draw like a real illustrator. The build up to this final product can be seen in their art books where they spent lots of time experimenting with new skills each session.

Year Five - Totally toned

As children progress through the school we love to see how they apply their previously taught skills and knowledge into their work; this can be seen here as children produce increasingly accurate drawings. The class started their Year 5 art journey by recapping the previously taught skills, showing how line work can add texture to a piece of work. Using this knowledge, the pupils started to apply this when drawing objects to create a 3D effect. This can be seen through our drawings of fruits, shapes and body parts.

After much practise, the children tried to incorporate these techniques into a self portrait. Mirrors were used to aid the children in their drawings; helping to identify shapes and lines, measure proportions and observe the effect of light on their faces. Strategies pupils used included various grades of pencil to show tone, rubbers for lightening, measuring with rulers and smudging with fingers, remembering to use their little finger to limit the chances of unwanted smudges and markings elsewhere on their work.

This was further developed by the use of different media; charcoal and chalk. The children had previously worked with charcoal as a drawing tool in Year 3, so now the focus was to use this for a new purpose; blending, creating various tones and adding shadows to objects which they completed their observational drawings. Linking to our history topic of WWII, we studied and appraised the work of Henry Moore, keeping notes in our artbooks with as much or as little detail as we liked. Finally, we used the charcoal and chalks to have a go at recreating part of this work, seeing how many different line work techniques we could incorporate.

Year Six - William Turner

A project that combines drawing and painting skills to show the effect of light on objects. Students look at complimentary colour combinations and apply this to their backgrounds, whilst also creating strong areas of contrast to their work. Our high quality art teaching enabled one student to produce an award winning final product, winning FIRST PRIZE in the Ferens Junior Open competition for the 7-11 years category.  Congratulations to Alex D and his art teacher Miss Ingram for their hard work throughout this topic.