Newly graduated from college with idealistic views about teaching, and feeling so prepared and ready to take on the art students in my charge I ask myself, "How could teaching be any harder than being a student?" I ponder how I might ignite the creative juices of these impressionable youngsters.
I turn to Arts & Activities for inspiration. There, in the March 1994 issue is "The Same Old Contour Drawing...Not!" article covering the age-old concept of contour drawing, but with an interesting twist. I begin to plan how I can make this project my own. I know what I'll do, I'll have my students draw "Funky Shoes"!
We begin the unit by discussing many different types of drawing, including memory, representational, architectural, gesture and contour. Beginning the contour unit with blind-contour drawings of shoes yields amusing drawings of misplaced laces and soles. The students get a big kick out of this, especially when I do one for them. Focusing on the basic rules of not looking at your drawing and using one continuous line, the students create humorous results. When the time comes to begin regular contour drawing, the students are relieved.
The first guideline is to draw three different types of shoes using contour. Encouraging students to use unique shoes in different angles is an easy task with these eighth-graders. Each student produces a number of contour shoe drawings.
Choosing three of their favorite shoe drawings to use, the students begin laying out their compositions. Using a light table and black permanent markers, they trace each shoe, life-size, three times. In creating a good composition they are encouraged to overlap the shoes and draw them going off the page.
In order to have more variety in the piece, the original shoes are reduced on a copy machine to achieve a smaller version. Using the light table once more, students then trace the shrunken version of the shoes one time each.
In looking at the composition we discuss what else is needed to fill the picture plane. With excitement, the students discover that larger images of the shoes are needed. The opaque projector is then used to position and enlarge each shoe to be drawn on the piece one time for each shoe. The number of shoes needed to fill the space may vary. Students are encouraged to fill the composition with shoes resulting in small, enclosed background spaces.
After the drawing is completed, "Funky Shoes" leads to the discussion of complementary color schemes. Tracing around the inside of their permanent black lines with water-based markers, students add a complementary color scheme to the portion of each shoe that is not being overlapped by another shoe.
The students then turn to the parts of the shoes where overlapping is present. In each of these shapes they use a different set of colors, sticking with complementary color schemes to add variety to each shoe. For example, if they choose to use green and red on the portion of the shoe that is not being overlapped, they use yellow and violet to add color to a portion of the shoe that is being overlapped by another shoe, changing in each area of overlapping.
This exercise helps them to practice the planning part of creating art. This is a very challenging endeavor since these are very tiny places and the students have so many shoes. Leaving the background blank, they begin to add water to the colored lines, causing them to bleed into the chosen shape. Every shape is then filled with a graded scale, producing a watercolor effect.
The finishing touch to "Funky Shoes" is the background or negative space. Students invent self-made patterns to be used in the background to enhance the whole composition. The students must produce nine different patterns in the background of the piece.
Not only is this a fun project for everyone, it also emphasizes the basic skill of drawing, using the fluid motion of the contour of an object. It is an excellent way to introduce composition, pattern, variety and color. "Funky Shoes" may be just the kick you are looking for!
• Shoes
• Opaque projector
• Pencils
• 18" x 24" drawing paper
• Black permanent markers
• Water cups
• Water-based markers
• Paintbrushes in various sizes
Students will...
• explore drawing styles, including mechanical, architectural, contour, representational, and memory drawing from a variety of artists throughout history.
• observe and see the object and its form throughout the drawing process.
• create a good composition by using shoes in a variety of sizes.
• employ the entire picture plane and allow some shoes to extend the boundaries of the page.
• investigate the use of complementary color schemes in creating a painting.
By Shonda Smith
Shonda Smith teaches art at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas.
