Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today, all about "Hidden worlds: exploring collage and mixed media." We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create a tonal, mixed media study of a microorganism.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these words during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are tone, collage, and mixed media.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Tone.

Collage.

Mixed media.

Good job.

Now, let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Here are their definitions.

Tone is how light or dark something is.

Collage is to arrange and layer materials onto a surface.

And mixed media is an artwork that is made using a range of different materials.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson to create a tonal collage and to add other media to a collage surface.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore creating a tonal collage.

Let's take a look at this image.

Looking closely at this microorganism, can you describe as many tones as you can see? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What tones could you see when you looked closely at this image of a microorganism? Well, in this image, there are light, dark, and mid tones.

So can we see the dark tones here? Got black and this dark grey.

We've got lighter tones here.

These different tones are grey, and we've got some mid tones here.

Can you see how those tones are all different and how they're also in the same palette, so greys and beige and browns and creams, so all of those different tones there in that image of the microorganism.

Artists can use lots of different media to create tone, such as charcoal, chalk, pencil and watercolour paint.

So they can use this different media to create the tones here that you can see down the side.

Artists can also create tone using collage.

Collage means to arrange and layer materials on a surface.

Sometimes artists will use different media within one collage.

This is called a mixed media artwork.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Artists can only use one material to create tone in an artwork.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that's false, you are absolutely right.

But why is that statement false? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you discuss? Well, if you said something like, artists can use a range of materials within one artwork to show tone.

And this is called a mixed-media artwork, then you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, you can start a tonal collage by selecting your materials.

And you might find materials in a range of tones.

So we might have some white paper, grey paper, tissue paper, or some reused paper, some black paper, and Sam said here, "I found some tissue paper for my lighter tones." So you could take a look at all these different types of paper that you could gather and see what kind of tones that you have in those, whether they're white, grey, or black.

Now, you might look at your image and you notice the darkest tones.

You can then select, then rip or cut your materials for the darkest tones.

So taking a look at that image of the microorganism, we've got this piece of black paper here.

So Sam said, "I ripped my black paper, as I like the wobbly edge that this gives." So you can tear it and create that wobbly edge, that texture for those darkest tones in your image.

You might then add the mid tones, and these are the tones which are in between the darkest and the lightest tones.

So Sam says, "I have used a paper bag that I have painted in tones of grey." That's a great way of reusing a material and to paint it in the colour that you need.

You might then add the lightest tones.

So taking a look there, Sam says, "I wanted the lightest tones to really stand out, so I scrunched my paper for these." So can you see where those lightest tones are in the image around that section in the middle there? You can see those lighter tones, and maybe it's a good idea to scrunch that paper up and to make that texture of those light tones as well.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which image shows the darkest tone? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a, you are absolutely right.

Well done, a, shows the darkest tones, whereas b and c show the light and then the mid tones.

Lucas is trying to identify a mid tone material to use in his artwork.

Which material should he choose? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

Which one did you think you should choose? Well, this material here is the mid tone, as it's not too dark and not too light.

So that's the one that Lucas can have a go at using.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to create a tonal collage, so gather a range of collage materials.

Then, rip or cut your darkest tones.

Create the shapes that you see for your mid tones.

And add your lightest tones.

So the collage materials could be anything.

It could be reusable paper, parts of magazines, tissue paper, or even paper bags.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to create your tonal collage and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to find lots of different materials, those dark tones, mid tones, and light tones? Well, your tonal collage might include, those dark tones, some ripped-up paper maybes been used.

Maybe you've cut some of the paper with scissors, and you've included those light tones and also those mid tones.

You can see in this example how the colours have been chosen thoughtfully.

Navy for dark, and lighter blue for mid and white for the lightest tone really brings the microorganism to life.

This is a good example how different tones can show depth and shape, and you may have taken it a step further by experimenting with more subtle variations of tone.

Maybe you've tried layering or mixing different materials within each tonal section to show even more contrast and detail.

So well done for creating your tonal collage.

Hopefully, you captured all of those different tones, the dark, the mid, and the light with those various materials that you found.

This now brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to add other media to a collaged surface.

What is different about these two images? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What do you think? Taking a look at those two images, what is different? Well, this collage has been added to using a range of other media.

Hmm, I wonder what other media has been used.

Looking at this.

The artist has used chalk, pencil, ink and charcoal to add to their collage.

This artwork can now be described as a mixed media collage.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

A mixed media artwork uses paint, such as watercolour, uses more than one material in the same artwork, or uses lots of different colours.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about how you would finish this sentence and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a mixed media artwork uses more than one material in the same artwork.

you are absolutely right.

Artists can choose which materials they wish to use in the same artwork.

You might want to add to your collage using ink and water, or black watercolour.

So looking at this here, Sam says, "I have used ink and water in the background as well as on the microorganism." Can you see where she's added that? You could then add charcoal to give an idea of texture.

So there, Sam says, "I have used charcoal to make the main part of the microorganism a bit darker." Can you see that there on that second image where she's added that charcoal around the microorganism? And you could add highlights using white chalk on the darker areas of your collage.

So taking that main image, again, here is Sam's.

So can you see there? "I have used dashes of white chalk on the darker collage paper." That's how she's added some highlights there.

Finally, you could use a drawing pen to add the finer details to your collaged surface.

Can you see where she's added those there? Sam says, "I used lots of pen to draw circles and the tentacles on the body." Can you see those circles there? Some are different sizes, and then the tentacles got some shorter, some longer.

She's added that finer detail onto her collaged surface.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

In which image has a drawing pen being used? In a, b or c? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said, c, you are absolutely right.

A drawing pen has been used here to add those finer details.

This now brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to use a range of media to add to your collaged surface.

Now, you might think about using materials like pencil, ink, charcoal and chalk.

You may have a few other ideas too.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at using a range of different media to add to your collage surface and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to use those materials to add to your collage surface? Which one did you enjoy using the most? Well, your mixed media collage might include ink and water or maybe even watercolour.

Can you see that in the background of this microorganism image here? You might have used chalk for the lighter tones.

Can you see those lines that have been added on top of the dark tones there? Maybe you've used charcoal to add to those darkest tones there in the centre of your microorganism.

Maybe you've used drawing pen to add those finer details on the tentacles or the circles.

Using things like pencil, chalk or watercolour adds texture and interest to your work.

As you kept developing your piece, you may have thought about how each material can help you show tone and detail and layering or combining different materials may have helped you to explore how light or dark an area feels and to bring out the smaller details in your design.

Well done for using a range of different materials to create your mixed media collage.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about "Tonal studies of microorganisms." Collages are made by layering materials on a surface.

Artists can create tones in many ways, including collage.

An artwork that incorporates multiple materials is referred to as a mixed media artwork.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.