Sara E. Thomas
After students have presented their futurist artists we will again brainstorm current technology that is of interest to them. Students will need to choose some type of technology to create a futuristic style piece of artwork about. They will need to determine the subject matter and the motion they wish to capture. For instance, I might choose Facebook as my technology that I want to focus on. I need to brainstorm about that technology again -- how do I want to show it? What motion will I show? I might want to show many different computers all bouncing information to one another by repeating a shape between all of them. Or I might want to show a simplified version of myself jumping from one computer to another, and by repeating the figure I will show the motion of it moving from one computer to another in cyberspace. I will break down the computer and the figure into basic, but easily recognizable shapes so that I can still tell what each form is, and through repetition I can tell their movement.
I will show students an easy way using tracing paper, to copy their shapes. So once I have drawn my figure I can create homemade carbon paper out of tracing paper to replicate my figure. You can trace your shape on one side, trace it darkly on the back of the tracing paper in heavy pencil. Then, line up the shape where you want it and press down again on the front side, transferring the pencil on the back of the tracing paper onto the paper underneath, repeating the shape. Students will compile their gesture drawings and begin to create a final composition, keeping in mind what they want the viewer to know about their subject matter.
Once students have completed their drawings they will participate in a peer critique. They will have a classmate look at their drawing and determine what technology and motion their classmate is focusing on. As an aide for their critique students will be given a half sheet with specific questions on it to answer about a classmate's artwork. Questions might include:
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--What technology is the artist focused on?
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--What has the artist done to show movement?
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--What do you know about the subject from the motion shown?
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--What is the most successful part of the drawing?
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--What is one question you might have about the drawing?
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--What is one suggestion you have to help improve the drawing?
Next students will transfer their drawings onto a canvas.
