Category: Comics

Conference Recap

10/20/2015

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to share with other teachers at the MAEA Annual Fall Conference. This year, the conference was in our neck of the woods in downtown Grand Rapids. I took advantage of that opportunity and presented at four sessions as well as attended all kinds of different workshops to help improve my teaching.

Mr. Dennett and I presented in the Ambassador Ballroom about how we combine the Art and STEM classes for collaborative projects.

ComiCon was also in town and it was very entertaining to see fans dressed as their favorite characters around the convention hall.

In additional to all of this, students who participated in the ComiCon art competition had their work displayed at DeVos Place. It was really neat to see some of my students' works on display and I am thankful for the teachers who took and posted these pictures on the MAEA Conference Facebook Page.

Final Projects and Chances to Play

5/28/2014

One of the best parts of my job is the amount of time I get to play around with materials, experimenting with solutions before coming up with which solution works best and acting on it. It is even better when I give my students the chance to do the same thing. For their final projects, students are given a variety of choices in demonstrating the concepts and skills they have learned over the course of the term.

For 7th grade, students can select to create a video, video game (using Gamestar Mechanic), or comic that covers art concepts and skills learned over the course of the term. Mid-way through their projects, students used a peer critique sheet to check on a partner's work and get feedback on their own. They then used the feedback to make their projects better.

8th grade students are creating a reflection video where they select two works that demonstrate the most growth over the course of their experiences in Art. It is awesome that they can use their Artsonia gallery and go back years to compare projects and skills over time. They are also explaining the process in which they used to create their work and artists who use similar materials or concepts.

In my After School Art class, we have been taking advantage of the sun by creating the Cyanotypes you see below. We are using NaturePrint Paper and any objects we can find to create the images below. Students are also experimenting with Gelli Arts printing plates to create a variety of images before we finish out the school year.

Below is an example of the print made with Puffy Paint, bubble wrap, and some number cutouts from a Cricut machine. You have the print and the ghost, which shows how you can get more than one image from this mono print method.

Lots of Choices

11/26/2013

For the past two weeks, students in both 7th and 8th grade classes had a lot of decisions to make as they worked through their projects. 7th grade students focused on story-telling as they worked on creating videos, video games, or comics. 8th grade students worked with form as they decided what to create with paper. You can see all of the results on our online gallery, but here is a peek into the process below:

7th grade students used the website www.gamestarmechanic.com to create their video games. They focused on telling a good story and weaving in other class content in their games.

Some students chose to tell their story through a comic.

Other students created their videos for the Meijer Great Choices Video Competition to focus on Healthy Choices, Character, or Diversity.

Here are a few of the finished sculptures created by 8th grade students. You can see more on our Artsonia gallery.

Skyping in Class

11/15/2012

Today was no ordinary day in the classroom. Today we got to Skype with author and illustrator of the web comic series The Chapel Chronicles, Emma T. Capps.

She answered questions about her process, interests, characters, and revealed some great tricks of the trade. She was incredibly gracious with her time and even talked with students who were interested in her feedback about their work.

I appreciate how using this type of technology offers students to meet artists from around the country and connect with them in meaningful ways. Thanks again to Emma, who was such a great guest today in our class!

Skype With Emma T. Capps from Janine Campbell on Vimeo.

monsters

5/14/2012

8th grade students are finishing their monsters before moving onto their comics that use the monsters as the main characters. We are using this article to help us get in the mode of telling a story through pictures.

8th graders are also getting geared up for their final video projects on the artists and materials we have studied throughout the semester. This project will help them get ready for their final exams.

waiting to fire

3/20/2012

7th grade students finished their clay pieces today and they are now patiently waiting to be fired. It was fun to see all of the creative ideas students came up with as they molded their forms. After finishing their clay works, students created comics about their characters. I am excited to see how students translated their 3D forms into 2D characters and told stories of all sorts as a result!

telling stories

11/3/2011

7th grade students finished their comics today and 8th grade students will be finishing theirs over the weekend.

From magic mustaches to instructions on making baskets, students selected a lot of unique topics to create their comic books.

Students have the opportunity to enter their work in a contest sponsored by Scholastic Art Magazine.

Any student interested in participating in the competition can download and print the contest form connected to this post and turn it in with their comic by the end of November.

contest_form.pdf
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glazing and comics

11/1/2011

From creating comics, to finishing up glaze, students are working hard to get their various ideas and concepts communicated through the use of visuals. Students will be done glazing tomorrow and drawing comics by the end of this week and ready to move onto perspective drawing.