Friday, March 11, 2011

Ink Creatures


This is a fun and creative lesson my student teacher taught to my Grade 8 and 9 classes.
It is inspired by the 'daily monsters' created by artist Stefan G. Bucher.
http://www.dailymonster.com/

You basically take black ink, apply a blob (with a paintbrush) to a sheet of cardstock and blow it into a pattern with a straw.  Then you turn that 'shape' into a little creature or monster, using fine tip black permanent markers and colored markers for details. You can also include a background or setting for your creature, which some of my students did as you will see below.

This project is also great because it uses such simple supplies:
black ink (we used India ink), fine tip black markers, coloured markers, straws, cardstock (or any smooth paper). I buy my straws at the Dollar Store and cut them in half as well. (yes, I'm thrifty!)
Note: the India ink smelled pretty strong in our room so I would recommend opening windows for this one if you have them ----I don't :(




Blowing the ink into shapes- some students made very conscious decisions as to where
 they wanted the ink to go- others just went for it.


Finished shape- let dry a bit (doesn't take too long).


Add details with markers to make it look like a creature.


Grade 9 finished creatures.
Ta da!























































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10 comments:

  1. Mrs. HahnMarch 13, 2011 at 11:03 PM

    Very fun and creative! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. MissMarch 14, 2011 at 9:14 PM

    thank you!

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  3. Mrs. HahnMarch 27, 2011 at 12:20 PM

    Me again… I loved this project so much I recently did it with my 3rd grade. I put your link on the site as well. Thanks again!

    http://minimatisse.blogspot.com/2011/03/daily-monster.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. MissMarch 27, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Thanks Mrs. Hahn! All the credit goes to my student teacher who thought of and taught this lesson- the students LOVED it. I love that art projects can be easily adaptable to all grade levels and your Grade 3 results are so good!

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  5. Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin TreeMarch 14, 2012 at 9:59 PM

    These are so cool! What size paper did you use?

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  6. MissMarch 15, 2012 at 7:15 AM

    Thanks Melissa. We used regular smooth cardstock meant for a printer (bought at Staples)- around 8.5 x 11".

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  7. UnknownApril 25, 2012 at 4:42 AM

    These are awesome!!! Your post inspired me to try an adapted version of this with my fourth graders. Check it out: http://suffieldart.blogspot.com/2012/04/ink-blot-illustrations-inspired-by.html

    Thank you so much for sharing!

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  8. MissApril 25, 2012 at 8:11 AM

    Thanks Mrs. Tannert. Your kids did an amazing job! I like the addition of a title in your as well.

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  9. Tatjana KnudsenOctober 19, 2012 at 12:36 PM

    These are really wonderful pictures, and I can't wait to try it with my students. I know that the will love this idea - especially the boys. Thank you very much for sharing :)

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  10. KanisaravMarch 7, 2014 at 5:32 AM

    Wow. Amazing. Must try this with my little one.

    ReplyDelete