May 13, 2010

Line Design w/ Shading- The Steps

Another MNPS art teacher showed me this project several years ago, and I really liked it.  I tweeked it a bit here and there, but it is basically as he showed me.  The students LOVE IT!  I do this with 4th grade, but I guess you could try it with other grade levels.  All you need is paper, Sharpie, and colored pencils! 


Start by drawing a curve line across the paper.  Think rolling hill...not roller coaster!
Add 8 dots across the line.  They could be(should be) at different lengths apart.  You need a dot at realtively close to the edges of your paper. 
You will then start connecting the dots.  The dots close to the edge will go off the edge of the paper to an imaginary dot.  You can not cross over any lines.  However, you can share a line as you begin going up and out.  The lines should be taken off the edge of the paper as you extend outwords.  Some sections may be pinched off as other sections grow larger...and that is totally ok. 
This is a students work that's a great example of what it should look like.  The students should pick a group of colors they feel work well together.  The will press harder in the corners...and as they near the center get lighter and lighter.  This is a great way to get them practice with pressure control!!! 

65 comments:

  1. LOVE the look of that, so do they work across doing curves, or up and down until the "row" is finished vertically??

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  2. You actually do both. I have my student go connect the dots across both sides top and bottom...then I have them "camp out" at different points...this will cause some areas to balloon outward.

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    1. My daughter has tried this it takes a very long time though. It did noot look anything like the picture above. it is very cool though

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  3. Oh my gosh, these are SO cool! I will definitely try this!

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    1. omg ! soo cool !!! imma gonna do this 4 my drawing exam :)

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  4. You're so good at Op art! Very nice! Thanks for sharing!!

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  5. These are great! I'll try it myself this week, and after that with my class. Thanks!

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  6. What a great lesson - thank you! I think I will try this with my 5th graders who have become veeerry restless during these last weeks of school. Looks fun, I want to try it myself too!

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  7. What a great lesson - thank you! I think I will try this with my 5th graders who have become veeerry restless during these last weeks of school. Looks fun, I want to try it myself too!

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  8. Hello! I love your blog! I wish I had some older students as I love this project. I might try it with my older son. I think he would like it. Off to look around here...good stuff! :)

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  9. Just found your site last week. Did your line design with a kindergartener Friday afternoon. She loved it. I have a group that loves coloring and plan to try with even younger children this week. I'm posting the one finished piece later today at countryfun.edublogs.org. I'll credit your site for the idea. Thank you.

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  10. Hi I just did this project with my 4th graders - they LOVED it. We colored each column (or "tornado") with a different set of analagous (family) colors. I'll try to post some next week. Very cool We talked about line/rhythm/color relationships and using value to create form/volume. So successful.

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  11. Fabulous! Can't wait to use this.

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  12. I'm still having trouble visualizing the next step after the initial connecting of the dots. Can you show other works in progress? they look very cool!

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  13. Thank you! I have been looking for something for the 4th grade to hold their attention for just three more weeks and this is it!!!

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  14. Hi there... You've been walloped by the wand of the Art Fairy! I loved this tutorial so much that it made the Weekly Top Twenty at the Art Fairy. Stop by an pick up a button if you get a chance.

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  15. This is fabulous!! Looks like a Zentangle pattern. I love your website. I just discovered your blog via Pintrest and am now a follower. I love your work and plan to spend some time browsing around.
    Thanks again.
    Deanne
    Sydney, Australia
    xx

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  16. Really enjoyed your post.

    This pattern has inspired some of us in the Flickr zentangle community. Check out our attempts:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/scholz/galleries/72157626977390116

    and mine:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/scholz/sets/72157626981581996/detail/

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  17. Maybe for a 4th grade but it does sparks up imagination.Great one,

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  18. I remember learning this in my art class in fourth grade! :D

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  19. I found this through Pinterest! It's been years and years since I was in 4th grade, but I still had so much fun with this! I blogged it here: http://kimberlypye.blogspot.com/2011/08/doing-lines.html

    Thanks for the tutorial!

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  20. I remember doing this in school in the 1980s, but instead of a line we wrote our names in cursive. We started making bubbles around the first letter to the point where it touched another line. Then you made another bump. We continued all the way around our names until we filled up the paper.

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  21. I am a homeschooling mom that stumbled upon your blog through another homeschooling mom...I just want to say THANK YOU!!! I love art but don't know where to begin when we are still trying to get all the basics (things we "have to know") covered. This is an amazing idea! Thanks so much for sharing! I am booking marking your blog to come back and explore more of your ideas!

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  22. My students loved this! They even if asked if we could go to lunch late so we could continue working on them. They is not a common request from 12 year olds!

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  23. I have been doing this project since i student taught back in 1990with a high school desigh class. then i started using it with classes of middle schoolers and now elementary. they ALL think it is really cool!

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  24. This is great. I'll be trying it as a quilting pattern.

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  25. This is AWESOME! I'm oing to use this project this week to give my students a little art stress release from all week state testing! Thank oyu for posting this on pintrest!

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  26. Maybe I'm blind but I just don't see how you go from that one line to the whole page I've been staring at it for a while and cant figure out where to go from connecting the first set of dots. :(

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  27. see if this helps?!?!


    http://www.artwithmre.blogspot.com/2011/12/line-design-explained-deluxe-edition.html

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  28. This link didn't work? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly how to get from the third picture to the fourth picture as well. Once you have done the first rows of scallops, how do you proceed to create the specific effect you do here?

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  29. never mind, the second time I copied and pasted the link it worked. I think it didn't work the first time because I copied it from the main page where the link wraps to a second line. Even though I highlighted all of it, it seems to have made the link not work correctly.

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  30. I understand the first few instructions, on starting your line with the dots and forming your crescent shapes....but how do you continue on down, filling the paper? How do you get the large to small to large effect?

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  31. This seems so much fun to do and I really love the result.
    Thank you for sharing and if you don't mind, I am going to give this a try.
    It is amazing to see and looks so difficult!!
    Started Pinterest today and you are the first on my Have to try board :))
    Groeten van Gery

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  32. I used to do something very similar when I was in highschool over 15 years ago. I probably should have been doing work but instead I was doodling cool pics like this.

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  33. What is the step between three and four

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  34. kddkdd... look at this post and see if it helps. http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2011/12/line-design-explained-deluxe-edition.html

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  35. I'm going to try this with my 4th graders, it fits right into my curriculum!! Thanks for sharing!

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  36. I'm still lost on how to do this. :/ I feel dumb lol.

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  37. I'm with you, Alyssa.....
    Can you please add a few picturesin between the second step and the finished product? I have been trying to do this on and off every few months or so, each time I come across your Pin, however I seem to get lost in the translation between the second step and the final picture. I need to see examples of how this evolves. Than you.

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  38. @Alyssa & Lisa I did a delux edition over a year ago....go to the lables and click on lines....it will pull that post up.

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  39. Thank you it's wonderful. Planning to do this with my 5 year old. Maybe I will draw and she will help me color it in. I was hoping you could add 2-3 more photographed steps before the finished work :-)

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  40. @Lolita If you look about 5 comments above yours...you'll see a comment from me...it says line design deluxe edition. Also..if you look to the right...you'll see the top viewed posts...and see it there. that has more steps.

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  41. AWESOME- so simple, but I must try this! (and by try this I mean I am not a kid, but I am going to do this anyways :-p ) It would be a really cool design to decorate craft paper, plain paper gift bags... So many ideas! Thanks, and thanks for being what looks like an awesome teacher.
    -Amy

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  42. Mr.E, Your design is absolutely wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it so relaxing. I think you should go to the "Zentangle.com" and show off your design. I think it is an design that truely follows the inspired zentangles theory and I'm sure Rick and Maria will love it too! I'm thinking of doing this on a large scale for a wall. Must do a couple of small one to practise first. Then whether or not to colour is another issue! Thank you so much sharing.

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    1. Someone is submitting it somewhere and calling it Mr. E?!!?!? ha ha :)

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  43. Oh this is really fun. I am thinking of doing a large banner in the hallway of my school. This is a design that all my classes could contribute to.

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  44. I Love doing this kind of project, once I start then I
    Can't stop, I've done 3 of them since the first one,and
    now they've gotten very intricate, even doing one over a
    photo printed on card stock. I've taken to putting many
    designs in the scalloped places.Very fun!!!

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  45. I am sorry, I am a regular ed teacher and want to do this project during testing time because our kids never get art. What are like the standards and objectives or big ideas of the project? As we do this project what art ideas or theroies or whatever do I teach them? I think it is such a cool project and I am hoping to teach them something to.

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    1. Shading
      Color Families (you can have them pick groups of colors to use..warm, cool, neutral..etc)
      Rhythm
      movement

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  46. I found this on Pinterest. I never did this in school. It was relaxing just drawing the lines. I just started a new job as a family-centered specialist. I have a composition book that I use for taking notes and doodling. This was so fun. It gave me an idea for some artwork in one of my guest rooms. Can't wait until I get home from work to decide on the size and colors for my piece.

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  47. couldn't you just post the black-and-white background for us to print off? Seriously! ;)

    When you're older, a little less able, drawing the background is near impossible (either because of our hands, or because we don't want to dedicate what little time we have left to doing the "manual" prep involved! LOL)

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  48. It looks like you missed a few steps in the middle...and suddenly there was a complete black & white drawing where you're discissing different pressure to give each shape the blended color look. Is there another set of drawings that I missed or...?

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  49. I've used this with 4th / 5th grade and now I'm teaching high school and plan on teaching this as part of the line unit! You're never too old to do this project and the kids love it!

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  50. Okay. I know, I know. Not too bright, but I don't get it. What do you do after the first line of dots are connected? I'm missing a step in my understanding. What comes in between the third and fourth above images? Put yet another way, how does that first line expand into this amazing art? Thank you!!

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    1. This should help out!!!! If not..e-mail me!!! http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2011/12/line-design-explained-deluxe-edition.html

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  51. Mr E. the project is not coming! it doesn't really look like what you've done! could you add more steps

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    1. I have Anonymous...in another post! :) http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2011/12/line-design-explained-deluxe-edition.html

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  52. This looks so cool! Our parent volunteers run our art program and the project has to span k-5. Do you think kinders could do this if they did less dots? We are trying to teach shading.

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  53. I love doing these but I am more intricate with designs in the loops
    instead of shading.I started doing these about a year or so ago and
    haven't stopped yet!!

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  54. I am using this project to teach line/movement one week and following by using the same project to talk about color and value the following with my 4th graders...My son who is autistic and uses an adaptive device to type rather than write in his classroom was soooooo interested by this project...he just had to make one...all he really needed was a little guidance and he is doing great...We are using LARGE index cards to make the task less overwhelming for him...sometimes a large white blank piece of paper really intimidates...The index cards are just the right size to hold his interest...Thank you!!!!

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  55. Awesome project! The kids thought this was the best project ever! Thank you!

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  56. I did this at school. Its so cool!

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  57. This is awesome my 4th graders did them today and loved it!!!!

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