5th Grade: Study Drawings

In the first quarter 5th grade students were introduced to art of the Italian Renaissance. After viewing and discussing various works by the famous Italian masters (Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Donatello, ets.), I introduced students to an aspect that is often overlooked from their work--study drawing. I love when students are stunned and amazed at the works of these masters. But what they often don't realize is the lifetime of study and hard work that each of these famous artists put in before creating their legendary works.

Study drawing is simply when an artist spends time studying the thing they intend to create through doing many small rough sketches. Students learned that that before creating a beautiful masterpiece comes much trial and error. We spent a day looking at journal and sketchbook entries by each of the great masters.

The final project for the quarter was to create their own study drawings. Each student picked one animal or plant to study. They each researched and brought in three pictures of their subject to class. After some instruction on how to use graphite sticks correctly and how to begin a drawing through first mapping out basic shapes and then adding detail, each student was able to produce amazing results. Take a look at some of their hard work!