Art Inspiration: Shadow Drawing
This week I spent some time at my son’s school to help with an event they were busy organising. While there I noticed a few of the older primary school children who were outdoors tracing each other’s shadows. They were having a whale of a time outlining each other’s shadowed bodies and I was intrigued with the final pieces and how arty they looked.
Anyway, I thought I would share this art activity with you all on Steemit, since it really is a wonderful way to encourage children to be creative, and at the same time, it could be a team building activity to that runs along the lines of “getting to know each other”. Of course, this idea is not only limited to tracing human shadows, you could use anything that has the ability to keep still as your prop; like flowers, a bowl of fruit or even the shadow of a child’s favourite toy!
The materials you will need are basic and include: large sheets of paper (or smaller sheets for tinier objects), some pencils and a hard and smooth surface to work on.
For younger kids you can keep the composition of their prop simpler, something that they can trace or outline easily without getting frustrated. With older students however, you can challenge them with more complex compositions, like shadows of pot plants or even props placed together to create an abstract end-result.
To take this activity one step further, especially if you are giving a higher-grade art lesson, you can challenge your students to shade their drawings, that is, fill in their outlines to create a more solid drawing. Alternatively, they might prefer to fill in the space surrounding their shadows with some background colour. Essentially, you want to encourage your students to use their own imaginations and creativity to create their own piece of inspired artwork.
Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. Edward de Bono - Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/creativity
While shadow drawing might seem easy, it can be quite tricky. Shadows move and change and depending on what prop you are using, shadows sometimes overlap and make odd shapes that don’t seem to reflect the actual object. But that’s part of the fun, and the challenge! I was inspired by this type of art and how much the kids enjoyed the activity, maybe you will be too!
These turned out superb! W
hat a fantastic idea. I cannot wait to try this with my kids too!
Shadow art! I love the idea of this style of art. I have done this activity when I was an Art teacher years ago. Hahaha! Thanks for sharing. :)
just draw fast! don't let the shadow run away from you haha!