Kapaa Middle School Art students recently finished a two-part project featuring skeleton drawings that were cut out and mounted on a watercolor background. As an introduction, we studied the Hispanic holiday of Los Dias De Los Muertos and looked at skeleton artwork by the famous Jose Guatelupe Posada.
Students began with a small printed image of a skeleton and instructions to not only draw the image, but to enlarge it by 4 times! This was accomplished by measuring a grid that enabled them to draw the complex figure in small sections while maintaining the correct proportions.
While the process of measuring, drawing, shading and cutting of the bones was painstaking and meticulous, the background allowed students to be more expressive and free-form. Students were introduced to 6 different watercolor painting techniques which they practiced in their sketchbooks. The only requirement for the final background was to incorporate all 6 techniques.
“An artist will sooner and with more certainty, establish the character of skeletons, than the most learned anatomist, whose eye has not been accustomed to seize on every peculiarity.”
- Rembrandt Peale (American Artist & Naturalist)
I love the Dia de Los Muertes project. Is there a way you could share more about exactly what the students were expected to do? What type of picture were they drawing from? Anything?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Jan,
The first part of this project was focused on proportional drawing (using a grid to enlarge and reproduce), along with value & shading. Students were allowed to choose from a number of different images that I had already sized and printed so that they could all use the same ratio for enlargement. After measuring, drawing, and labeling their grid, students were instructed to first draw a light contour of the skeleton before shading.
The second part of the assignment aimed at creating an interesting background with watercolors. Students practiced several techniques in their sketchbooks before creating their final. The last step was to remove the negative space around the skeleton bones (we used scissors, but X-acto would have been better), and the final drawings were glued to the background.
Hi Julia!
My name is Sharon and I am a middle school art teacher in Los Angeles, CA. I found an image of one of your art projects on Google, and loved it! I’m always looking for new and different art projects, and love all your art projects! They are so great!
I especially like the skeleton project, was hoping that you could give me a little more info on how you did it. You mentioned the 6 techniques of watercolor for the background…can you tell me what the 6 techniques are? And did students only get a piece of the skeleton to enlarge? That would be so helpful!
Thank you so much!
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for checking out my site!
The watercolor techniques included: wash, wet-in-wet, glazing, gradient, masking, and blowing with straws. Each student chose from skeleton images that I had already sized and printed (yes, they were only parts of the skeleton). Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! The project is amazing! Keep up the excellent work, and thanks for sharing!