Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having a lovely Easter.

First Friday Art Class for April 2014 - Fashion Graffiti

It's spring and our thoughts have turned to FASHION here at First Friday Art Class. And today we did a project that is all about letting loose and having fun! We were greatly influenced by the work of Ana Strumpf. (As soon as I saw her altered magazine covers I knew it was a project my art girls would totally dig!!)

I'm calling this class FASHION GRAFFITI. And here are the supplies...

You'll need:

Fashion magazine pages - a close up of a face is great, but full body pages work well too

White card stock - used to mount your drawing on

Scissors - if you're doing the cut out method

White pens - I have yet to find a white pen that I really love so if anyone has some suggestions, I'd gladly give some new pens a try. I've had the best luck with the Uniball Signo Broad but even that is pretty unpredictable

Black and colored permanent pens - as you can see in the above picture I have a thing for Sharpies

Other markers, paint, pastels, etc. (optional) - for today we used some scrapbook markers just to get some lighter, less opaque color

There are two methods for this and the image you choose sort of guides you to which method will work best for you. 

1.The first method is to use the full magazine page and design and decorate all over it AND THEN mount it on cardstock to give it some sturdiness. 

That is the method I used here because the background was quite simple and just begging for color and design...

2. The second method involves finding an image you like, cutting it out, mounting it to white cardstock (using a thin layer of glue stick) and then designing on the image and also on the surrounding paper. 

That is the method I used on this piece...(I may go back in and fill the entire background on this one. Still not sure. My daughter keeps saying, "Don't you always tell us 'you have to know when to stop', mom?" :) Great to have my own art advice used against me).

So basically that's it. 

I had several images pulled from Vogue and Lucky magazines on the table when the girls arrived. I had lots for them to choose from and didn't want them getting bogged down looking through a bunch of magazines. (Plus, let's be honest, they're not always appropriate for little eyes). 

The girls chose their image. Decided if they wanted to decorate the whole page or cut it out. And they went to work. I had to encourage a few of them to really let loose. Others dove right in and went for it. 

This is a great "There is No Wrong Answer" project! It's great for sparking creativity and for loosening up. This is also a great project for when you don't know what to draw. Just grab a magazine, open to a page, and decorate the crap out of it. :) 

And here are the girls' pieces...

I didn't get a picture of this one totally finished. She added a lot more to the background and it looked marvelous. The girls loved to see that they could add things to the photos and have them look like they were there all along (in this case the striped sleeve and her necklace).

This artist was more hesitant to dive in. I had to keep encouraging her. She didn't want to ruin Jennifer Lawrence. :) Her finished piece was a bit more subtle than some of the others but beautiful and creative just the same. We found that there was something really wonderful about starting with a black and white image and being able to add wild pops of color. 

 I knew this artist would "get" this project right away. This is so right up her alley. She immediately chose this picture of the singer Lorde and designed and enhanced it amazingly well!

 This artist is one who always dives right in. I love her fearlessness. She went right for those red lips and didn't look back.

 It was fun to see this artist get braver and bolder as she went. She began by just adding some added color to the lips and then she got more and more confident and began to really make this image her own! The little conversation bubble says, "I love fashion!!!" 

 The girls really responded to pictures of people they knew. In this case Hayden Panettiere. I love the streaks in the hair and the crown on her head. All added by this creative artist.

It's a bit hard to see but this artist added a Cruffle to the cheek. That's a fun homage to a former class. She also added the polka dots to the dress, the necklace, and the earring. Wonderful creativity going one here!

At the end of class we had everyone's parents here to pick them up trying to get the girls to put their pens down and get going. We even had one who was quite late for a babysitting job. :) That's a sign of artists being totally in the zone. I love it!!!

See you next month.