Pop Art Inspired Onomatopoeia Design

To start off the year, 3rd grade artists looked at and discussed the work of Roy Lichtenstein and learned about his use of onomatopoeia, which is when a word imitates the sound of the object or action it refers to. Some examples are words like: "wham," "drip," and "ka-pow!"

Robert Lichtenstein, Whaam (1963)

We noticed that Lichtenstein was inspired by comics since the use of onomatopoeia is more common in comics and cartoons. We also noticed that he used primary colors in these paintings. We began our own artwork by brainstorming a list of onomatopoeia words as a class. 

Each student selected 4 different words and drew sketches that demonstrated the word's action and meaning as a visual picture, combining letters and pictures. Next class, we looked at more of Lichtenstein's paintings and noticed that he used dots of color, called benday dots, which were inspired by the way comic books were printed at the time. 

We selected one brainstorm sketch to make into a larger drawing. First we sketched out our design, working hard to make it larger and expand our idea to fit the space. Then we outlined with Sharpie marker and used markers in primary colors, incorporating the benday dots in at least one area of our artwork. 

Students thought carefully about where they were using certain colors and some students overlapped their benday dots to create the illusion of a secondary color. 

After students were finished, they did a turn and talk using their fortune tellers to share their work with a partner. The fortune tellers contain questions about your artwork and help students share what they are most proud of, what was the most challenging part of the project, etc. with each other. These are some examples of our finished Roy Lichtenstein inspired onomatopoeia designs:

Kalleby, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Ava K., 3rd Grade (Monfette)

David, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Dylon, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Ella, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Ethan, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Etta, 3rd Grade (Fletcher)

Kaylee M., 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Sophie, 3rd Grade (DeBaie)

Viveca, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Wyatt, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Brian, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Abstract Paintings with Primary Colors

Kindergarten artists have been learning about primary colors: red, yellow and blue. We used them for our shape robots, as well as our collage artworks inspired by Mondrian's paintings. 

Sophia, Kindergarten (Segreve)

For our paintings, we began by looking at paintings by Franz Kline and Vasily Kandinsky to learn about abstract art. Students noticed the lines, shapes, and colors in the artworks. They noticed that sometimes the same lines and shapes reminded one student of a house, another student saw a ladder, and yet another student connected them to roads. Different students had different ideas and because the paintings are not showing us something we immediately recognize, everyone can have their own interpretation. They were not paintings of people or objects. 

Vasily Kandinsky, Composition VIII (1923)

We learned that in abstract art, artists are not trying to show something from the real world. They use lines, shapes and colors to show an idea or feeling. Sometimes they are inspired by music. Students painted their own abstract painting, using lines and shapes that we have learned, with black paint. Students left plenty of white space inside and around their shapes. 

The following class, we learned about our primary colors. We learned that primary colors are important because you cannot mix other colors to make them, but you can use them together to make new colors. To remember the primary colors, we looked at Superman's logo, because it has the three primary colors and these colors are strong and powerful, like Superman! Then we used the primary colors to paint inside the shapes and around the spaces in our painting. We focused on washing out our brush in between colors, so that they did not mix. Here are some of our finished abstract paintings, using lines, shapes and primary colors. They are currently on display in the connector hallway!

Kenjisan, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Thomas, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Dylan, Kindergarten (Blackwood)

Finn, Kindergarten (Blackwood)

Kai, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Will, Kindergarten (Tan)

Zoie, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Onomatopoeia! Designs

To start off the year, 3rd grade artists looked at and discussed the work of Roy Lichtenstein and learned about his use of onomatopoeia, which is when a word imitates the sound of the object or action it refers to. Some examples are words like: "wham," "drip," and "ka-pow!" 

Roy Lichtenstein, Blam (1962)

We noticed that Lichtenstein was inspired by comics since the use of onomatopoeia is more common in comics and cartoons. We also noticed that he used primary colors in these paintings. 

We began our own artwork by brainstorming a list of onomatopoeia words as a class. Each student selected 4 different words and drew sketches that demonstrated the word's action and meaning as a visual picture, combining letters and pictures: 

Next class, we looked at more of Lichtenstein's paintings and noticed that he used dots of color, called benday dots, which were inspired by the way comic books were printed at the time. 

We selected one brainstorm sketch to make into a larger drawing. First we sketched out our design, working hard to make it larger and expand our idea to fit the space. Then we outlined with Sharpie marker and used markers in primary colors, incorporating the benday dots in at least one area of our artwork.

Students thought carefully about where they were using certain colors and some students overlapped their benday dots to create the illusion of a secondary color. These are some examples of our finished onomatopoeia drawings: 

Christina, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Connor N., 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Destanie, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Ethan, 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Gavin, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Holly, 3rd Grade (Lutz)

Ketly, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Lenna, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Lily F., 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Rayan, 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Yulissa, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Abstract Painting with Primary Colors

PK and Kindergarten artists have been learning about our primary colors: red, yellow and blue. We touched on them briefly when we looked at Mondrian's painting to inspire our own collage artworks. This time, we began by looking at paintings by Franz Kline and Wassily Kandinsky to learn about abstract art.

Franz Kline, Mahoning (1956)

Students noticed the lines, shapes, and colors in the artworks. They noticed that sometimes a white triangle reminded them of a mountain, or a yellow circle reminded them of the sun. However, we also noticed that the paintings were not showing us something we immediately recognized. They were not paintings of people, places or things.

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII (1923)

We learned that in abstract art, artists are not trying to show something from the real world. They use lines, shapes and colors to show an idea or feeling. Sometimes they are inspired by music. We talked about why an artist might do this, and some students thought maybe because it is fun, because you can be more free, or because the artist just felt like it. Students painted their own abstract painting, using lines and shapes that we have learned, with black paint. Students left plenty of white space inside and around their shapes. 

The following class, we learned about our primary colors. We learned that primary colors are important because you cannot mix other colors to make them, but you can use them together to make new colors. To remember the primary colors, we looked at Superman's logo, because it has the three primary colors and these colors are strong and powerful, like Superman! 

Then we used the primary colors to paint inside the shapes and around the spaces in our painting. We focused on washing out our brush in between colors, so that they did not mix. 

Here are some of our finished abstract paintings, using lines, shapes and primary colors!

Tyler, PK (Blackwood)

Marjorie, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Tommy, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Megan, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Brook, Kindergarten (Martignetti)

Naomi, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Arthur, Kindergarten (Tan)