Rorschach blots as inspiration for drawing

One of my ex-students Clari, studying at Vega (a design school in Durban), is working on a project that involves drawing on Rorschach blots. She is looking at how people interpret these blots differently in drawings.  The following drawing is by Clari: 

She asked me if I would get involved in this project. I gave the following PDF files to my Grade 10 & 11 students: The first file is a compilation of the original Rorschach blots & the second file is made up of blots Clari made up herself They were allowed to look at the blots – select one they liked, print it out & then create a drawing integrating the blot.  

The following drawings are by Paula, Minal, Barry, Suzanna and Sahraa respectively:  

 

How did I ever teach without Pinterest?

I found Otto Blotto’s work on library books via Pinterest & thought I could use his idea for teaching, by adapting it to old library catalogue cards that our school librarian passed on to me. 

Otto Blotto describes his work: "I've been doing these Library People drawings for a number of years. I do them awhile, then take a break for awhile, but I keep coming back to them. I find them to be very satisfying. They are all drawn on the insides of discarded library books that I find at various used book sales. I like the memories that are somehow present in the books. Who read them? Where have they been? How did they affect the lives of their readers? How did they come to be discarded? Were they ever loved? I think that their history somehow becomes part of the art." 

I used Blotto’s images to inspire my Grade 11 students & gave them each an old library catalogue card & asked them to respond to the text on the cards in a drawing. They were told to use the cards as a format or use the cards within a larger format 

The following cards are by Yentl, Barry and Suzanna respectively. 

Detail below - The catalogue card is titled : Permission to Speak 

Suzanna chose to illustrate both sides of the card. 

 

Teaching drawing

I don’t have time to teach observation drawing during the school day, so my students have to hand in a drawing that is done at home once every two weeks of the term. I set specific topics that are given to the students at the beginning of each term. Two of the more successful topics have been:

1. Tear a printed image or find a printed image & extend the drawing. I exposed the students to the work of Lauren Spencer King who extends scenes from vintage photographs.

The following images are student's work - by Chia-Min (Grade 11), Keyla (Grade 10) and Yentl (Grade 11) respectively.

2. Draw someone or something you love - and journal about it. I wasn’t too concerned about what they wrote – more about how they integrated text into their drawings. I introduced them to Andrea Joseph. (I have recently blogged about her work)

Maree's Never-Ending Vacation Spot (part three)

The next two inserts in Candice's jewellry box were postcards:

Typed transcript below:

Mom and Dad

I’ve arrived in Italy but I’ve realized that I don’t have any money and so I can’t afford a place to stay for the night and I don’t know what to do…I don’t know anyone and everyone speaks Italian and I can’t find help. So I’m scared and alone…There are so many people but I’ve never felt so alone. I think I made a mistake.

Maree

Typed transcript below:

Dear Mum and Dad

All is well! This sweet Italian couple found me sitting there all alone and they took me in and let me stay on their farm. Their names are Eduardo and Santana and I’m helping Eduardo with the tomato plantations. They also farm grapes. The countryside here is breathtaking by the way. I hope I can stay here for a while!!

Maree  

Grade 11 animated thematic drawing

I set some topics last term for my Grade 11 students using the idea generator.

Nadia chose the theme “Narcotic never ending pick up line” for this animation of a young girl on a drug induced “trip”.  She filmed her friend Bianca and used the technique of “Rotoscope” to create this animation.  

“Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.^[1] Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background.” From wikipedia