Up Cycled Egg Carton Animal Portraits

 

I have been seeing these on the internet and decided to try making them with my Summer Camp.

They remind me of victorian style portraits with a fun twist.  

Once I got started I couldn't stop, they are really a lot of fun!

You will need:

White Gel Pens

Acrylic Paint

Paintbrushes

Egg Cartons

Scissors

Tacky and or Hot Glue

Wood dowels or skewers

Cardboard for the Backs

Pom Poms and Ribbon optional

Sharpies to draw mouth

Black paper and Hole Punch for Noses

I began by pre cutting the egg cartons apart to create both the rounded and square shapes and extra for ears etc...

Don't worry about the rounds or squares being uneven.  It doesn't matter.

I think it's too hard for young kids to cut these, the paper is thick and you need sharp scissors.

But they can trim them and cut out ears etc...

I also pre cut the cardboard shapes.  Cereal boxes work well for these.

These are all pretty easy to figure out the painting, especially the round ones because they already have the round shape molded on them.  

Here is how I did the T Rex

This is one of the middle square shapes from the carton cut in half and hot glued to open the mouth.

I painted the body color first, let dry, then added the muzzle and other colors next.

Eyes are done with different sizes of wooden dowels or skewers, dip and dot.  Let dry and add next layer.

I used this size hole punch to cut out black circles, which I cut in half and then cut the half circle diagonally to make the triangle noses.   Once I show the kids I think they can do this easily.

They can use tacky glue to add the ears, bows and pom poms or I can help them with hot glue.

Hot glue works well for attaching them to the backing.  If you look it's really just the top and bottom where they are glued to the backing.

I didn't glue my animal on until I did my details.  But you can do it either way.

I think it's easier to do the details without the animal glued down, but you do need to have it to put on the backing to see where your designs go.

I bought highly rated white gel pens from Amazon, I couldn't find them in a store.  They were about $1. each and worked great.

Here are some more photos of the animals for reference:

The sky is the limit with these, cats, dogs tigers, zebras, horses - whatever they want to make.

Student work : )  Bears, Deer, Unicorn, T-Rex, Cat, Tiger, Capybara!

Rad Raccoon with Wet into Wet Watercolor in Warm and Cool Colors

 

This is a simplified Raccoon Project with either Warm colors on the Raccoon and Cool colors around the Raccoon.  Or Cool colors on the Raccoon and Warm colors around the Raccoon.  

It's a fun way to teach students about wet into wet and also how opposite colors on the color wheel create high contrast and balance.

Start with the outside shape of the raccoon's face - I'm going to let them trace the outside shape.

Put a dot in the center of the face about an inch and a half down from the top.

Next draw two wing shapes or a stretched out m.  From the middle to the top edge of the raccoon's mask.

Draw light until you get it right.  It's a little challenging to get the shapes to match on both sides.

At the bottom middle begin the two curves lines for the muzzle.

Continue those two lines up, then curve them towards the center and below the first line to the edge.

It's almost a parallel line below the first one, but a curve towards the middle instead of up.

Add the eyes, I'll give them a circle if they don't want to draw their own.

Add a curved line to the start the nose as shown.

Turn that into a rounded upside down triangle for the nose.

Draw a short line from the middle of the nose down and then a parallel line to the bottom for a mouth.

Add the inside ears and highlights to the eyes and nose.

Begin using a sharpie to create zig zag furry lines.

Now your Raccoon looks very furry.

Finally color in the eyes and nose leaving the highlight white.  Then erase the pencil lines that show.

I used warm and cool colored liquid watercolor and salt.

Each color is applied one at a time and in splotches.  

Remind yourself this isn't a controlled project and just let the colors do what they will.

I'm going to save the darkest colors for around the eyes.

Work quickly so the paint stays wet and mixes together.

I added pink inside the ears and orange around the yellow, then added a bit more yellow.  

Keep your brush dry between colors so it doesn't get too wet or puddles.

Now I added pink with red over the top for the lower mask.  

Be sure to keep the muzzle and eyebrows white.

Begin using cool colors in blotches around the outside.  

Leave a little space around the face white or they will mix together with the color on the raccoon. 

When Warm and Cool colors mix together you will often get brown.  Unless the color is made up of the same color, like blue can mix with yellow - green - more blue - bluish green - more yellow - yellow green.  Or Red can mix with blue - purple, or yellow can mix with red, orange.  But green and orange will make brown.  Red and green the same.  Blue and red also.  Purple and green too.  

You can mix one primary color with a secondary color that has the same color in it.  Blue/green, Yellow/green, Red/purple, Blue/purple, Yellow/orange, Red/orange.

That's why we are limiting our wet into wet to warm or cool colors together.

We are trying to avoid making mud : )

They can experiment on another piece of paper if you have the time.

I added green and then filled in the rest with purple to fill up most of the space around the raccoon.

Finally I added salt around the outside to create more texture.  

You can see the different patterns it creates in the top photo.

Have fun creating these Rad colored Raccoons, learning about mixing colors and wet into wet as well as Warm and Cool Colors!  No two will be alike!
Examples of student work (preschool and up):