Andy Warhol Endangered Animal Elementary Art Project

 

Our 3rd grade students are in an animal unit and they were interested in doing some Andy Warhol inspired art.

You will need:

White paper

Pencils and erasers

Foam plates

Water based Block printing ink

Breyers and plexiglass for rolling the ink

Colored pencils to add color to the print 

A blow dryer if you can't let them dry before coloring

Background paper in bright colors

Although Andy used screen printing we will use a block printing process to make ours.

Students will draw their animal on copy paper and then tape them to foam plates.  

I buy regular foam plates at the store and cut the edges off to get a nice square or round flat piece of foam.

I made stencils of the outside shape of the animals in the size of the foam plates.  That gives them a head start on the inside details.

These are the stencils I made:

Once they have chosen their animal, (and if they don't want to use the stencil they don't have to) they can start filling in the details inside the shape.  I put the Warhol art on the screen for them to refer to and also showed them black and white versions to help them find the lines.  I demonstrated how to add the details  by finding the clues the shape gives you.

This simplifies the animal and makes it less intimidating to draw.

After they draw their animal and we tape it to the foam they trace over their drawing making a light impression on the foam.

Then they remove the paper and retrace their animal deeper into the foam to create distinct lines for better print quality.

This is the faint image after tracing, below is the inked plate after retracing the lines deeper.

Here is the print before color is added using colored pencils.

When the students are ready to color their print we talk about warm and cool colors.  If you print with a cool color of ink like we did then warm colors will really PoP, but you can also still use cool colors.

We also talked about complimentary colors, and layering colors like Andy Warhol does.

Below are my students amazing examples:

Patterned Penguin Printmaking

This is a great art lesson for Winter and/or the study of Winter Animals or even Migration.

Using black ink on a white background (or white ink on a black background) is a natural choice for the black and white penguin.

Using foam plates have your students cut the curved edges off - leaving a flat circle.

Trace the circle onto some sketch paper and look at some penguin photos.

Penguins are basically an oval shape with part of the oval on the outside edge turned into a wing or flipper.

The head is a circle with the beak added.

Practice some penguins on the paper, but not in the circle.  Their penguin can be doing anything and they can draw as many as they want.

When the students are happy with drawing their penguins they can put their design into the circle they traced.

Every line they draw will print as a white line, the areas they leave alone with print black - opposite of their drawing.

Ask the students to put some pattern on their penguins belly.  This will make the belly look white in contrast to the plain wings and head.

Ask them to also add a horizon line and some snow or stars to the sky, thinking about balance and pattern.

They can also add a pattered border around the edges, like a frame if they want.

They can draw their sketch on the foam by tracing over their pencil lines with the foam under the paper, or draw freehand on the foam.  Have them press lightly the first time, remove the paper and then go over it with more pressure.

Using water based block printing ink, a sheet of plexiglass and a soft breyer,  ink the foam circle on a sheet of newspaper.

Place the foam circle face down on the paper and push down, using your hands as a printing press.  Make sure the students don't push the plate across the paper smudging it, have them push straight down.

I like to have the students use a paper towel and push straight down on all the areas of the plate with firm pressure in a circular motion.

The drawing prints backwards - I usually ask them not to draw any words on their foam.

They can make as many copies of the print as they want.  Each one will probably be a little bit different because they may not get the ink rolled on the same or use the same pressure etc...  That is part of the beauty and magic of printmaking.

They should sign their print and put the print order of the print above the number in the edition of prints.

Mine is the 2nd print made out of a total of 2 - so 2/2

A super simple lesson in drawing, printmaking and pattern.

Examples of 3rd Grade Artists:

Giraffe Pattern Printmaking Art Lesson

I have been wanting to do a giraffe art lesson for a long time.  I decided to incorporate pattern into the spots on the giraffe to make it more interesting.  It's really simple.  

Just draw the giraffe on paper as a practice and then draw it again on foam.  

The ears are triangles, the face is a rectangle and the neck is a tall rectangle, etc...   

The spots are easy, pretty much any organic shape they want to make and then add pattern into the shape.  

I use large foam disposable plates, I cut the flat center out and then trim it to the shape I want using a paper cutter.

Make it more interesting by using colored card stock and an ink color that really pop together.  I used Speedball Block Printing Ink in turquoise.

The fun part of printmaking is seeing the print when they are finished, and they can make multiple prints from the same foam plate (cards, gifts).

A frame worthy kids art project!