Pastel Resist Night Skyline

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope it was a good break.  I was in Florida with my family.  It was nice to see flowers and green grass again.

I'm back at it, scheduled into residencies up until Spring break.

This week's project is one I presented at ECEC as part of my Canadian series, pastel resist skylines.  This is Toronto but any skyline will do.  My hometown here in Calgary also works well with reflections in the Bow river.






MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- reference photo of skyline
- white drawing paper, pastels work well on paper with a little bit of tooth or roughness
- green painter's tape, art board
- pencil, eraser, ruler
- oil pastels
- black sharpie
- disk tempera paint

PROCEDURE:

Place your paper onto your art board and tape into place.  This will give you that nice clean edge at the end.


In pencil draw out your skyline.  You can use a reference photo to draw a specific city or just have the kids create their own.  Draw a horizon line in the lower third of your paper.  Your skyline will be reflected in this lower section.  Most cities are near water and this water is where we see the reflections.

Go over your skyline with sharpie or permanent black marker, just the outline.

The skyline is a nighttime scene.  With oil pastel add in all the windows and the lights on top of the buildings.

I used some black pastel to define the horizon line and some of the sides of the buildings.

In the lower third, the water, smudge in the reflections.  You want them to correspond to the buildings so smudge long rectangles of colour.
Don't forget the moon if you have added one.

When the pastel has all been added it's time to add the paint.

Start at the horizon line. Working up add some purple paint, gradually make it darker purple adding some blue and then black when you reach the top.

The part below the horizon is darker than the sky.  A little purple but mostly black.

When the top of the horizon line has dried (it takes only minutes), go over the buildings with black tempera.  This is the secret and makes them stand out from the sky.

When it has fully dried remove the painter's tape.



With our short days in January this project fits well.  If you are starting an Olympic theme there is a great night skyline of Sochi here just click on #3.

Here is another skyline project you could try:


 Night or Day Skylines.



Give it a try and I'll see you next time.

Surreal Skylines

I've been doing these unusual city scenes lately.


Inspired by a little Sci Fi and surrealism.

I start by drawing a curved horizon line, like the top of a planet or ball, and begin adding buildings.



They become wavy, leaning this way and that.

Then I add bright colours.

A good project to try with the kids at school next term.




















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- background paper, I used heavy wc paper
- piece of good drawing paper
- a recycled cereal or cracker box
- paint, I used gouache, watercolour, and a bit of acrylic
- tacky glue
- fine sharpie

PROCEDURE:

I'm making this skyline in layers.  Why layers? It's more interesting (little 3D) and you can get a cleaner look.


I cut 2 wavy buildings out of the cereal box.

I placed them on my drawing paper and began sketching out a skyline.

Instead of using a curved horizon line I'm just having the skyline come out of the corner.

Add a few details.  I traced out where the cardboard is going to go.

Add colour.  I used paint to get nice bright colours.


At school we will probably paint the buildings but add the details with coloured pencil and crayon.

Paint the cardboard buildings.

Cut the skyline out of the drawing paper.

Add details to the buildings.

For the background I wanted a deep blue.

The city is a light source so as I work to the corner where the city will be I lighten the blue with some white.

I wanted some stars so I splatter some white paint on the dark blue.

Apply glue to the back of the paper skyline.

By using the corner it's easy to line it up and secure into place.

Glue cardboard buildings into place.

I decided it needed a little something so using the leftover drawing paper I made a lamp post.

Cut out and glue into place.

That's it.  With really young kids we can make some of the buildings out of coloured paper. Should make for an interesting lesson!  I hope I inspired you to give these a try.

Mixed Media Skyline

So here is a project I'm doing with the Grade Ones....Mixed Media Skylines.

The buildings have different widths so we have some 3D interest going on.























MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- canvas or cardboard substrate (base)
- cardboard, chipboard, heavy corrugated cardboard, Styrofoam, or packing material
- Dry Dek or drywall compound (a huge bucket will only cost $20.00)
- wax paper
- household items for texturing, (combs, toothpicks, Lego, straws, etc.)
- acrylic craft paint
- paintbrushes
- assorted screws, washers, whatever excess hardware on hand
- colored paper, book pages, newspaper
- scissors
- Aleene's tacky glue
- moon clip art from "The Graphics Fairy"
- star sequins
- Mod Podge, acrylic medium, or sealer

PROCEDURE:

Cut some rectangles out of cardboard and chipboard.  If you don't have any packing material (I just happen to have some 2 inch wide corrugated cardboard) you can use Styrofoam, even boxes.  You can also glue several pieces together to make a thick piece.  For the Grade Ones I'll have this already cut into rectangles, triangles and semi circles.

Lay it out on top of your canvas or background so you know you have enough buildings.

Apply the drywall compound onto the cardboard.  Use a spatula from the hardware store (only 88 cents) or even an old gift card. Apply to just the front for the thin pieces and include the sides for the thicker pieces.  You can use some household items for texturing if you want.

You can stick in some washers now if you want or glue them on later after you have painted.  I did it both ways. Let dry about 6-8 hrs.

Paint your background with black acrylic paint and let dry.

Splatter on some white paint for stars.  With the kids I use a splatter box.

Paint the buildings with acrylic paint.  Let dry.  Glue on some windows with colored paper, book pages, or newspaper.

Glue the buildings onto the background.  Add the moon and a few sequin stars.

Finally add a coat of Mod Podge, acrylic medium, or your usual sealer for a nice shiny finish.

That's it.  What a wonderful project!

See you next time.

"Night and Day" City Skylines

Here is another project that Grade 2 has done in the last week....city skylines.

I have another skyline lesson here which is more of a mixed media design.

 The one I am showing you here is a bit simpler using paint and very applicable to the younger (k-3) grades.

On watercolor or sketch paper have the kids draw a skyline in pencil from one side of the paper to the other.  We did not use a ruler..... going for a free form design but by all means have them use one if you are developing those ruler skills.

This picture is from the other skyline post.  You can have them outline the picture in marker or in white pastel which is how Grade 2 did it.

Using disk tempura have the kids paint their skylines in bright colors.   Leave the painting to dry and then cut out.

The kids now have a choice of making a daytime background or a night time background.

For a daytime picture we took a blue piece of posterboard and sponged on some white clouds with white liquid tempura paint.

For a night time scene we used black posterboard and using a splatter box hit a brush loaded with white paint against a dry paintbrush to create stars.  The student here is creating some large constellations!

When the background has dried we glued the skyline into place.

I placed each finished skyline between artboards with wax paper on top.  I then weighted it down so they would dry flat.

That's it.  Amazing skylines Grade 2!

Great project with terrific results and very easy to execute. Give it a try!