Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

I'm Miss Miah.

I'm so glad you've joined me for this lesson today.

In this lesson, we're going to dive even deeper into creating some amazing artwork inspired by the rainforest.

I hope you're ready and you've got your imaginative thinking switched on.

Let's get started.

In this lesson, you'll be able to create frottage leaf studies using different textures and colours.

Your keywords are on the screen now, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Frottage.

Texture.

Leaf.

Great.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

Now, a frottage means making an artwork by rubbing over a textured surface with a media to see the pattern underneath.

Texture: how something feels or how something looks like it would feel.

Lastly, a leaf.

Now a leaf is a flat, green part of a plant, often used for frottage to capture its texture.

Now this lesson is all about making frottage leaf studies.

There are three lesson cycles.

Our first lesson cycle is to do with identifying textures on leaves.

We're then going to move on to creating frottage by rubbing leaves onto paper.

And lastly, you're then going to experiment with colours to enhance the frottage designs.

Now, texture is how something feels or looks.

Now we can see two images of leaves on the screen.

Now, you can see different types of leaves in many places.

You can see them in a garden.

You might notice small, smooth leaves on flowers or big, rough leaves on bushes.

If you go to a park or forest, you'll find all kinds.

Some leaves might be spiky, others might be soft or even shaped like stars.

Even on trees in your street, you'll spot leaves that are different shapes, sizes, and colours.

Each place has its own variety of leaves, depending on the plants that grow there.

Where have you noticed interesting leaves? You can pause the video here to have a think.

Now how would you describe the texture of these leaves? Have a think.

So you may have said that the leaf on the left appears waxy, smooth, papery, and the leaf on the right appears to look glossy, prickly, and sharp.

Ooh, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to go and pick up a sharp leaf because I might cut myself.

Over to you.

With a partner, describe the texture of the leaf below.

You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So how was your discussion? Did you say that this leaf is delicate, smooth, or even prickly? Well done if you managed to describe the leaf on the screen.

Let's move on.

Ooh.

Now Izzy has collected the leaves below.

She looks closely at each leaf using a magnifying glass.

The leaves have different textures.

They are also different colours.

Izzy notices other features of a leaf.

Oh, this leaf in particular has jagged edges, veins, a stem.

Now, these features make the texture of the leaf unique in your frottage, and you'll see how in a bit.

Back to you.

Which leaf can be described as having a glossy texture? Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got B, you are correct.

This leaf can be described as having a glossy texture because glossy is another word for shiny, and this is the shiniest leaf that I can see on the screen here.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

This is your main task for this lesson cycle.

You're going to observe and identify the different textures found on the surface of various leaves.

You're going to describe the textures and record your observations.

Here are some of the words that you might use.

Smooth.

This means it has an even and soft surface without bumps.

Rough, which means uneven or coarse texture with visible ridges or bumps.

Waxy: shiny and slick, like a coating of wax.

Prickly means to have small, sharp spines.

Crinkled: wrinkled, often in irregular patterns.

Glossy: shiny and smooth, often reflecting light.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've completed the task.

Off you go.

Have fun.

So how did you do? Well, we've got this leaf here.

If you had something similar, you may have noted that the leaf that is on the screen or a similar leaf that you have is glossy: shiny and smooth, often reflecting light.

Smooth: even and soft surface without bumps.

Is waxy or shiny and slick, like a coating of wax.

Well done if you were able to identify the texture of your leaf.

Let's move on.

For this lesson cycle, you'll be creating a frottage by rubbing leaves onto paper.

I'm super excited about this part.

Let's begin.

Now, frottage is an art technique where you rub over a textured surface like a leaf or wood, with a pencil or crayon, to capture its pattern.

Now, you may have done this before.

Artists use frottage to explore textures, create interesting designs, and add depth to their artwork.

And you can see that this has been done on the screen here with an artist using a crayon to create a frottage of a leaf.

Over to you.

True or false? Frottage involves rubbing over textures, not drawing them.

It captures the texture of surfaces rather than depicting them with lines.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got true, that's correct, and this is because frottage is a technique where artists rub a surface with paper and pencil or other materials to capture the texture of the underlying surface rather than drawing the texture.

For this part of the lesson, you will need a range of leaves and crayons.

Now here are the steps to creating a frottage of your leaf.

Step one, you're going to place a leaf with the veins facing up, under the paper.

The leaf will be upside down.

Step two, you're going to rub over the paper with crayons, using side of the crayon for best results.

Step three, watch as the leaf's texture and shape appears on the paper.

Over to you.

In which way should the leaf be placed for a frottage? Is it A or B? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got B, you are correct.

The leaf should be placed flat on the surface with the textured side facing up, and then you rub over it with a medium.

Let's move on.

Now, the pressure applied during frottage affects the result, and here you can see two rubbings of the same leaf.

What do you notice between the two rubbings? Here we've got an example where light pressure has been used, and this is where heavy pressure has been used.

The rubbing appears slightly more faded and faint compared to the rubbing where heavy pressure has been used.

Back to you.

While leaves are commonly used, frottage can be done with various textured objects like coins or wood.

Is it true or is this false? What do you think? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got true, you are correct.

And this is because frottage can be done with a wide range of textured objects, including leaves, coins, wood, and many other surfaces.

So in other words, frottages don't only have to be completed with leaves.

They can be created with different textured objects.

I do.

I'm going to place a leaf on paper and rub gently with a pencil or a crayon.

I'm going to start with light pressure and slowly increase it to see how the texture changes.

You do.

I'd like you to do the same.

You're going to start off by placing your leaf on paper and rub it gently with a pencil.

You're going to start with light pressure and then slowly increase it to see how the texture changes.

Pause the video here.

Have a go.

How did it go? Well, you should have noticed how the texture changes as you increase the pressure.

Light pressure gives a soft effect, while heavier pressure makes the details stand out more.

And you can see that in the example there.

And you may have found that as well.

I think one of the trickier parts when it comes to this is that when you are applying pressure, you may have to hold down the paper a little bit more firmly so that the paper doesn't end up flying away.

So keep experimenting to see the different results you can create.

On to the main task for this lesson cycle.

You're now going to create a frottage artwork using leaves.

For this activity, you will need leaves of different shapes and textures, white paper, crayons or oil pastels.

You're going to gather the leaves that you will be using.

You're going to place a leaf vein-side up under the paper.

You're going to rub over the paper using the side of the crayon.

Then you're going to watch as the leaf's texture and shape appear on the paper.

I'd like you to try layering your rubbings using different leaves and colours, and overlapping them for a textured rainforest collage.

Off you go, have fun.

Remember, you are the artist, so you are going to to decide how much pressure you add to your chosen media for your rubbing.

It's all about the effect that you want.

Off you go, have fun.

So how did you do? You may have created something like this.

And you can see here that different colours have been used and different amounts has also been used.

We can see that the rubbing where orange has been used as the chosen colour, we can see that the artist has purposely decided to add more pressure to this.

And actually those parts stand out.

The choice of the colour red also helps the leaves stand out.

Let's move on.

For this lesson cycle, you are now going to be experimenting with colours to enhance your frottage designs.

You can make the textured areas stand out by using bright colours or add different colours to enhance your frottage.

Izzy and Jacob look back over their leaf frottage artwork.

So we've got a base colour here.

A base colour helps set the tone of your artwork.

A light base colour lets the texture show through.

So light colours give your frottage a strong foundation to build on.

So in other words, if we use light colours, we can then build on them, create a more detailed frottage.

Over to you.

Why is a light base colour used in frottage? Is it A, to cover up the texture; B, to make the texture easier to see; or C, to hide the rubbing details? Pause the video here, and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got B, well done, that's correct.

To make the texture easier to see is why we use a light base colour.

Now here are the steps to experiment when using colours.

Start off by adding a light base colour.

This might be yellow.

You're then going to highlight some parts of the leaf with darker colours, and you can see that happening right now.

So the artist has chosen orange here.

Now by choosing orange, it's actually a good idea because orange is a darker colour, and by pressing a little bit more firmly than we did with the yellow colour, we can see that slowly the details are being picked up and they are being highlighted within our frottage.

Then you're going to layer the colours.

So here we can see that the artist has used red on top of the orange.

Starting with lighter colours and then adding darker colours works best.

I do.

I'm going to choose a light colour, like light blue, and apply colour over my frottage, rubbing lightly.

Then I'm going to use darker colours on top to highlight certain parts of the frottage.

I'd like you to do the same.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've had a go.

So how did it go? Now remember, by starting with a light colour, you should have been able to see the texture clearly underneath, and then adding the darker colours helps make certain parts of your rubbing stand out.

Well done if you managed to do that.

Let's move on.

This is the main task of your lesson.

So you're now going to create a textured leaf frottage that experiments with composition and colour to enhance the design.

You'll be doing this by creating a composition using a variety of leaves.

Aim to fill the space.

You're then going to experiment with colour and enhance your design by highlighting different parts of the leaf.

Two, reflection time.

With a partner, you are going to share which colour combinations you loved most and why, how you think that colours can change the feel of an artwork.

You can pause the video here.

Off you go, have fun, and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So how did it go? You may have produced something that looks like this.

And for reflection time, this is what Lucas and Izzy have said.

Lucas said, "I really liked using red and yellow together.

It made my artwork feel warm and full of energy, like a sunset." Warm colours remind me of autumn.

That's because I see lots of red, orange, and yellow leaves at that time as well.

So good observation, Lucas.

Izzy says, "That sounds awesome.

I used a blue and green colour combination, and it made my artwork feel calm, like a peaceful forest." That's a really good observation too, Izzy.

Remember the images of rainforests.

A lot of the colours that we saw were really earthy colours.

So by using blues and greens, Izzy was able to recreate that atmosphere.

Well done for completing that task.

Let's summarise our learning.

In this lesson, you learned how to make frottage leaf studies.

You now understand that frottage is a technique of rubbing over textures to create art.

You understand that different textures can be found in natural objects like leaves.

And lastly, you know that colours can enhance the visual appeal of frottage art.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you really enjoyed it and had fun experimenting creating a frottage.

I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

Bye.