Art at Hosmer: Out of this World Outer Space Resists

Friday, April 5, 2019

Out of this World Outer Space Resists

Recently, 4th grade artists thought about how to use color to make shapes appear less flat and more three dimensional. We noticed that adding shading to a shape, as well as a highlight, helps transform the flat shape into a three dimensional looking form. We applied this concept to our outer space drawings, using oil pastels.

To begin, students brainstormed a list of things you might see in outer space, including the Earth, sun, planets, stars, asteroids, space stations and more. After sketching out their compositions, students drew their outer space scenes on larger paper and used oil pastel to add color and depth.

Students were encouraged to use several colors on each object, considering the light source and where there might be shade to help give objects and three dimensional appearance. We used monochromatic colors, or colors within the same color family, as well as analogous colors, or three colors next to each other on the color wheel.

Students thought about using light, medium and dark colors to use on the same object to create a three dimensional appearance. Students got very creative and imaginative with their details, including aliens, food items, and space junk!

When they finished drawing with oil pastel, students painted their entire artwork with black watercolor paint. This is called resist, because the oil pastel resists the watercolor paint, and allows the oil pastel outer space objects to stand out. Here are some examples of our out of this world outer space resist paintings!