Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about recycled robots, exploring, drawing, and sculpture.

We're going to be doing lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create a tonal study of a robot sculpture.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these keywords down.

The first keywords we're going to be using today are sketch or sketching, shade or shading, and tone.

I'm going to say those again, and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Sketch.

Shade.

Tone.

Good job.

Now let's take a look at what each of these keywords mean.

To sketch means to make quick and simple drawings to show ideas or the things we see.

Shade means drawn marks to show areas of light and dark.

And tone is how light or dark something is.

So I'm going to give you a moment now to pause the video here, and make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

Well done.

Now let's take a look at the other two keywords we're going to be using today.

We're going to be using cross-hatching and composition.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Cross-hatching.

Composition.

Good job.

Now these two words, what do they mean? Well, cross-hatching means drawing lines that cross over each other and are placed close together.

And composition is the combination of a selection of elements arranged and organised.

Pause the video here, and make a note of these two keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles we'll be working through together in today's lesson, practising shading and sketching, and arranging a composition and applying shading techniques.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore practising shading and sketching.

You may remember assembling a sculpture of a robot, like this one here.

Today, you will be creating tonal studies of it.

What does that mean? So how could this drawing of the sculpture be improved? Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you think it could be improved? Well, adding tone makes a drawing more realistic and three-dimensional.

You may remember, tone is how light or dark something is.

In drawing, we can use tone to make a drawing look more three-dimensional.

We can describe the tones by using the terms dark tone, midtone, and light tone.

Can you see on these images here, we have a dark tone, the midtone, and then the light tone.

Artists can use a variety of lines to make their drawings more realistic.

They can use straight lines, they can use dots, or they could use scattered lines, curved lines, thick and thin lines, and even scribbled lines.

So you can use lots of different lines to make their drawings more realistic.

Here's an artist here using different techniques for shading.

You can vary the pressure of the material, or use cross-hatching to create a range of tones.

Cross-hatching is a technique where you draw lines that cross over each other, and are placed closely together to create tone.

It is a type of shading technique that can be used to create a realistic drawing.

What do you notice about these lines? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you notice? Well, the closer that they are together, the darker the tone appears.

Can you see that from the first one how the lines are further away? And then when you get to that end image there, we can see that the tone is much darker, and that's because those lines are closer together.

Cross-hatching.

First, you draw lines in one direction, then you add lines crossing over them, and this makes shading or texture.

So if I draw lines one way, then cross them over with more lines to create cross-hatching.

It looks a bit like this, and you could try straight lines, wiggly lines, or different amount of layers.

I'd like you to have a go now.

Draw lines in one way, then cross them with more lines to create cross-hatching.

Pause the video here and have a go at that, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, you may have noticed that the closer the lines are, the darker the shading will be.

Did you have a go with any wiggly lines, or did you use straight lines? Now, if I'm to shade using blending techniques to create smooth transitions, need to use a light touch with a pencil or a blending tool to smooth out any strong lines between light and dark areas.

So I'd like you to have a go at shading using blending techniques to create smooth transitions.

Pause the video here and have a go at that, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? You may have used a blending stump, or a cotton bud, or your finger to help soften any sharp lines and create a smooth transition.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to pick a simple object, either a small ball or a block, as an example, to practise shading techniques.

So those techniques being blending and cross-hatching.

Now remember when cross-hatching, if I do more lines, it gets darker, and if I do fewer, the tone gets lighter.

So remember that when you are having a go.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at practising these shading techniques, and make sure you pick a simple object to do it with, and then press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you find that? So you may have drawn something like this.

And maybe you've noticed that by adjusting the space of your cross-hatching lines, the tone changes, you're able to then control how light or dark the shading looks.

And also by having the lines closer together, you can see it gets darker.

Or if the lines are farther apart, then it gets lighter.

So well done for having a go at those shading techniques.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

Let's take a look at arranging a composition, and applying those shading techniques.

Composition is the arrangement and organisation of a selection of elements.

We can experiment with composition by moving objects around or changing our viewpoint.

Can you see how the robots have moved there? Jun and Sofia focus on placing their robots together to create a composition.

Jun says, "I'm going to place the robots in front of me to make sure I have a clear view from different angles." Sofia says, "Good idea.

I'm going to look closely at the light and dark areas of the sculpture." How can we make this composition interesting? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you think we could make this composition interesting? Well, perhaps we could overlap the sculptures to make the composition more interesting, or you might think about the different heights of the sculpture to create variety.

You could experiment with different background elements to create interest or express the purpose of your robot.

So here, we've got the plastic bottles behind them as a backdrop.

Sofia says, "We could put bottles in the background, because the robot's purpose was to help with recycling plastic." Jun says, "Well, my robot helps the environment by looking after the plants, so I put this seedling in the background." That's quite a good idea.

So Sofia says, "This composition feels exciting because of the different heights and angles of the robots and the objects in the background." So we've mixed the seedling and the plastic bottles.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why is it important to think about where objects are placed in a composition? 'Cause it makes the artwork more interesting? It doesn't matter where things go? Or it makes drawing easier? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that it makes the artwork more interesting, you are absolutely right.

An artist might start by sketching the basic shapes of the sculpture.

And you see there, we've got a rectangle, an oval, and a circle.

Those geometric shapes like circles or rectangles can be used for the main parts.

Non-geometric shapes can be used for the details, like these lines down here for legs.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you choose a sculpture below and discuss with a partner which organic and geometric shapes you would use to sketch it? So we've got circle, a rectangle, an oval, and a square.

So choose A, B, or C to discuss with your partner which organic and geometric shapes would you use to sketch it.

Pause the video here to have that discussion, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, for the first one, A, an oval could be used for the head and rectangles for the legs.

For B, a square could be used for the body, and circles for the eyes.

And with C, a circle and a rectangle could be used for the main body.

Lightly sketch the basic shapes and outline of your sculpture.

Focus on the proportions and main details, such as the shape of the body, arms or legs.

Once the sketches are complete, you can add tone using the shading techniques practised earlier.

Jun says, "Should we start with the light tones or the dark tones first?" Hmm, good question.

Sofia says, "It's best to start with the light areas first, then gradually build up the darker tones." Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Is this statement true or false? Cross-hatching only works if the lines are perfectly straight.

What do you think? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this statement if it's true or false, and press play when you are ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you are absolutely right, and that's because cross-hatching works even if the lines are slightly curved, wavy, or uneven.

The most important part is how the lines overlap to create shading, not whether they are perfectly straight.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to create an outline sketch of your robot sculpture composition.

Sketch the basic outline using a combination of geometric and organic shapes, draw lines lightly, and keep your head in a fixed position so the view does not change, and make sure you check the proportions of your drawing.

So this is the first part of our learning task.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to create that outline sketch, and then press play when you are ready to continue.

I hope you got on well with that.

Let's take a look at our second part.

I'd now like you to create a tonal study of your sculpture.

So sketch on top of your basic outline, focusing on adding cross-hatching to create tone in at least one area of your drawing.

Draw lines in one direction, then add lines crossing over them to cross-hatch.

Focus on the light areas, the midtones, and shadow areas to create depth.

And you could use colour and other shading techniques.

So this is the second part of our learning task.

So give yourself enough time to have a go at creating a tonal study of your sculpture, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Hopefully you had enough time to have a go at that tonal study of your sculpture.

For the final part of this learning task, I'd now like you to, with a partner, discuss what you may have found challenging and why.

So pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

What did you find challenging and why? And press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, well done for having a go at each of those three steps.

You may have something like this, a drawing of the robots arranged in an interesting composition.

You've used cross-hatching to show those darker areas.

Well done if you've got a sketch a bit like this.

You may have discussed like Andeep and Sofia.

Andeep found the cross-hatching around the antennas a bit challenging, because he wasn't sure how much shading to add, but he thinks it looks better now that he's added more lines.

And Sofia found it tricky to get the right amount of shading on the robot's body.

She didn't want to make it too dark, but she thinks it looks good now with more layers of lines.

So well done for having a go at arranging that composition and applying those shading techniques.

Now reflecting on what might have been challenging.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about making a tonal study of a robot sculpture.

Creating a tonal study involves sketching lightly and using shading techniques like cross-hatching.

Cross-hatching is a shading technique where you draw a set of lines in one direction, and then add another set of lines crossing over them.

Overlapping objects, varying heights, and adding background elements make a composition more engaging.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed learning about recycled robots through that drawing and sculpture.

I certainly did.

I hope to see you for another unit of learning soon.

See you then.