Pop Art Triptych

After completing their Cubist Still Life collages (pictures are now updated on the Virtual Art Show), 8th grade artists began creating their Pop Art Triptych. I am really excited about this project because it is one that I have been dreaming of teaching my students since I was student teaching at TJ Middle (2/5 internships). I started by showing the students this slideshow with two amazing Pop Art/Andy Warhol videos. Together we brainstormed a list of the important characteristics of both the Pop Art movement and the artists Andy Warhol. I had students make a list of three celebrities or famous figures that they would want to use for their artwork, and then I went on to find the images and posterize (transforming the color photo into very few tones) them. *If students had access to their own technology in the art room, I would have had them search for their own reference photo so that they found the perfect one that suited them. I would have shown them how to posterize so that they could complete that step themselves and use that tool in the future if they ever needed to again. Another idea for this project would be for students to find a selfie on their phones (because we know all eighth graders have them) and use that for their project. Allowing students the use of their own technology would have provided more options for the students.* 

Once students received their famous photos, they transferred the image three times using carbon paper. I love carbon paper for many reasons: 1) It allows many students to trace at multiple times since I only have one window and no light tables. 2) Students do not need to stress about making all three drawings identical because they are tracing and can follow the same guidelines. 3) Tracing the photographs make for less erasing, creating a smooth coloring-page-like outline for students to paint. 4) Students can make their outlines as detailed or as simplified as they would like, based on their evaluation of their own ability. Most students made it through all three drawings without any hiccups. It is so easy to move the paper around accidentally, so I made sure students had tape to tape their photo to the carbon paper and their carbon paper to their artwork to make sure that the faces were being drawn in the correct places. Once the paper moves, it is difficult to line up the the photo to the artwork to continue, but I was impressed to see that many students were able to fix the mistake.

Now that most students have completed the outline, they are working on painting value scales in order to find which colors they would like to paint their artwork. Students will choose three different colors and have to choose either a tint or shade of that color to paint within the same face. They will get to choose whether they want the original hue as the positive or negative space, placing the tint/shade in the opposite space. Ultimately, their artwork will look like this, but with three (triptych) faces instead of four:

I will be posting many pictures on Instagram and Twitter as students start painting their faces, so keep an eye out!