THIS WEEK IN ART CLASS: UPPER SCHOOL

With 10th, 11th, and 12th grades traveling to Disney World this week, our upper school classes seemed a bit sparse! 8th and 9th graders enjoyed their time in Art class, however. We talked about art careers in the realm of animation, viewing short video clips about how Disney Pixar animators dealt with the complexity of animal fur in the movies "Monster's Inc." and "Zootopia." Mrs. Nichols gave us an art problem to solve - the challenge? Drawing fur (and popcorn)! We used Fuzzoodle toys, collaboratively sculpting an imaginary creature. We spent time observing the fur and attempting to draw it accurately, complete with sections, highlights, shadows, and textures. Drawing fur is pretty complex; I can't imagine trying to animate it for a movie! 

For our next class, we practiced building a form with light! First, we watched these time-lapse Youtube demonstrations about shading a spherical form. The artist spends time layering and blending values little by little, leaving a thin strip of reflected light next to the edge of the shadow side of the sphere:

Then, we looked at a kernel of popcorn and did a "reverse value" drawing with a white drawing medium on black paper. We used white charcoal pencils and oil pastels to lay on the light, building smooth layers of values. This was an interesting art challenge! 

Finally, we watched this TedTalk video about a Disney Pixar artist who specializes in light; Danielle Feinberg. Danielle talks about how math, science, and art come together when an animated film is made:

The Magic Ingredient That Brings Pixar Movies To Life; Danielle Feinberg (Director of Photography for Pixar Animation Studios)

"The Two-Headed Ostrich," Fuzzoodle by Ben and Hannah