Along with teaching Math in our charter school, I teach an art project for three hours each week. I wanted to teach my 7th and 8th graders how to start creating 3-dimensional illusions on their 2-dimensional paper... in other words, how to make form using light. I showed the students this tutorial on converting shape to form. They followed along, and withing a few minutes they had shaded six shapes into 3-D forms. Then I asked them to invent a creature using a combination of the shapes they had just made. They needed to indicate a light source on their paper, and we discussed shading accordingly. Last step - add a scene around their creature indicating size.
My sample creature is to the left.
Here are a couple of screen captures from the tutorial, and some of the students' shape creatures.
We had a blast, and the results were fascinating. Even those very reluctant to risk making art had success. I forgot to name my creature, any ideas?