The Elephant Vortex
This you will probably recognize as two different projects that have been very popular as of late. For some reason, I felt the need to combine them and this is what resulted.
This piece was created with three separate pieces of paper. The first piece I used was 12" X 18" drawing paper. I folded down the corner at a diagonal to make a square and used a pencil to mark where the fold was. After opening I cut off the extra paper.
The extra paper was used for the elephant.
Black construction paper was used for mounting.
First the elephant was drawn in a guided drawing lesson and outlined in water based crayola marker. I started by giving the students an oval tracer just for the body. Often just that starting point is all they need to keep their proportions in check.
We then used a wet Q-tip to go over it. All of those wonderful gray tones just magically appear.
The vortex was then completed and colored. This is where I start to have a few tips.
Start by folding a square piece of paper in half and then in half again to achieve four boxes. Then fold on the diagonal in half and then in half again.(The result should look like a cross with an X through it.) This will create the 8 arms of the radial circle without the need of a ruler.
Another tip, number the sections that are to receive convex curves with 1, 2, 3, and 4, skipping a section each time. Have students complete those curves first. Once they are complete, then they can create the concave curves in the open sections.
When it comes to coloring, I like to reinforce color theory as often as possible so I chose to use warm and cool complimentary colors, but as long as there is a strong contrast the projects will look great.
I started with regular colored pencils, coloring with lighter pressure. Once the initial layer was down, I went back darker at the edge of the convex lines and in the middle for the concave lines. Then I went over the darker layer with white oil pastel and blended with my fingertip until the whole area was smooth. The pastel mixed with the oil pastel and blended out most of the pencil texture. I repeated for each section.
I then used a black oil pastel to darken the convex and concave lines.
The elephant was then cut out and attached in the center. I used mod podge, but I think regular glue would work a lot better.
For a final finish I used the black oil pastel to darken up some of the detail lines on the elephant that had been blurred in the q-tip painting process. I smudged the pastel around the edges of the elephant as well and blended with my q-tip to create a shadow behind the elephant.
Finally I cut on the curves a bit to create a unique shape and mount the piece on black construction paper.
Obviously this is a sample that I myself completed since my students are still working on theirs, but I just had to share. Just remember as always, that art is about the process and not the finished result so water down this lesson as you see fit for whatever grades you might try this with.
