In 5th Grade we have been studying art of the Renaissance. Lately we have taken a special look at the work of masters like Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Rembrandt. Many of them kept sketchbooks or art journals full of study drawings and notes. A study is a sketch or painting done in preparation for a finished piece. For this project, we spent some time looking at Rembrandt's study drawings of elephants. The we tried our hand at drawing one just like he did.
Before beginning the actual drawing, students were introduced to charcoal as a special drawing medium used by artists throughout time. They learned how to properly use charcoal to create value (varying degrees of light and dark) through hatching and crosshatching. By the time they set to drawing the actual elephant, they had learned how to draw a realistically through using basic shapes and implied texture. Overall, they now understand the important skill of study drawing. It takes a lot of practice and many tries to be able to draw something well.
Here are some exceptional examples of this project:
