Lesson video

Hello there, my name is Miss Nicholson.

I'm so happy that you've joined me today for this exciting art and design lesson, where we will be looking at people that are important to you, and how to represent them in art and design through drawing.

There's lots to learn and it's going to be so much fun.

I hope that you are as excited as I am.

Let's get going.

In this lesson, we're going to create drawings to represent people important to you.

Let's take a look at our keywords.

Repeat after me.

Observe.

Great job.

To observe is to look carefully at something to see all of the details.

Symbols.

Great job.

Symbols are pictures or shapes that stand for something else.

Like a heart stands for love.

Tone.

Great job.

Tone is how light or dark something is.

In this drawing of an apple, you can see the dark areas and the light areas.

Realistic.

Great job.

If something is realistic, it's showing people and things as they really are in real life, just as you see them.

Well done.

This lesson has two cycles.

In the first cycle, we'll be looking at, "Symbols in Art," and then we will move on to look at, "Observing and Drawing." Let's start with the first cycle of our lesson, "Symbols in Art." Take a look at this drawing.

What do you think the bird symbol represents in this picture? You can see a person has their eyes closed, is looking up at the bird, and it looks like it's been released from their hands.

Take a look closely, see what you think.

A bird can symbolise different things such as freedom, moving away, hope, joy, peace, and also new beginnings.

What does a bird symbolise to you? Many artists use symbols in their artwork to, tell a story, to share ideas, and also to share their own experiences of something.

Let's take a look at some artists that use symbols in their art.

Artists Frida Kahlo and Yayoi Kusama use symbols in their art.

Frida Kahlo used personal symbols like monkeys, hearts, and broken bodies to show pain, love, and also her life experiences.

Her work was very personal to herself.

Yayoi Kusama repeats shapes like dots and pumpkins to explore big ideas like identity, who people are, feelings and things that never end.

Both of these artists use symbols in their art.

Now, let's think, "What symbols could you use to show your feelings or tell a story?" What symbols might represent you? Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

True or false? Many artists use symbols in their artwork.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video here, have a think and come back once you're done.

How did you get on? The answer is true.

Artists use symbols in their artwork to tell a story, share ideas, or show their personal and also cultural experiences.

Well done, let's move on.

Izzy is thinking about other symbols and what they might represent.

There are lots of different symbols.

Let's see what Izzy's thinking of.

Izzy is thinking about hearts to show love or someone special.

She's thinking about the symbol of holding hands to show care or friendship.

She's also thinking of a tree, which might symbolise a family.

Now, can you think of any other symbols? Symbols can be used to represent someone important to you or how you feel about them.

Flowers could represent love or to remember somebody.

And then we've got chains, which could represent people being connected or also strong together.

Let's take a look at some more symbols.

Bridges can represent people staying close, even across a distance.

Maybe somebody's moved away.

Nests can represent a safe home and being looked after, just like the chicks in their eggs and kept warm and safe.

Puzzle pieces could represent how people fit together and belong with each other as well.

Think about all those bits of the jigsaw pieces coming together, thinking about how they fit together.

Now, there are many different symbols, and each one can represent something unique or special.

Here are symbols we've discussed.

We've got the bridge, we've got the flowers, the nest, the chain, and also the jigsaw piece.

Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

With a partner, discuss which symbol could show a family.

Is it A, we've got a leaf, B, we've got a tree, and C, we've got some flowers? Which of these symbols do you think could show a family? Pause the video here, have a think, and come back once you're done.

How did you get on? Let's find out the answer.

Well, in fact, all of these symbols can show a family, because leaves, trees and flowers can grow and stay close and also be connected just like families.

So, the answer for this was all of the symbols, A, B, and C.

Well done, let's move on.

Now, we're going to start thinking about designing a symbol.

When an artist wants to design a symbol, they think about the message or the feeling they want to share with others.

They then choose the shapes, the colours, or images, that best represent those ideas.

So, they're thinking about the message or the feeling, and then they're choosing the shapes, colours, or images that best represent those ideas.

When an artist is designing a symbol, they might choose to create a mindmap.

A mindmap can help to explore different ideas of symbols and how to represent them.

Izzy has created a mindmap all about her aunty.

She thinks about how she teaches her to bake cakes.

She's part of her family.

She makes her laugh.

She makes her feel calm.

She looks after animals.

And she also helps her to read.

All of these ideas in Izzy's mindmap can help her to create her symbol.

Izzy highlights the ideas she could use to represent her aunty.

So, she highlights cakes.

She highlights family.

She highlights laugh, read, animals and feel calm.

She simplified each one of her points on her mindmap to make it easier to come up with an idea.

Izzy's now thinking of a symbol to draw to represent her aunty.

Izzy said, "My aunty is part of my family.

To show this, I could draw a tree as a symbol." And there we've got a tree symbol.

The symbol doesn't have to include too much detail.

You can make your symbol simple.

Now, it's time for an I do, you do.

I draw a light sketch of a symbol that represents my relationship with my.

Now, should I choose my best friend, my pet, or a family member? Why don't you have a try? You draw a light sketch of a symbol that represents your relationship with your important person.

And you can choose either your best friend, your pet, your family member, or anyone else that's important to you.

Pause the video here, have a go at creating that light sketch of a symbol that represents your relationship with somebody important, and then come back.

Good luck and have fun.

How did you get on? Izzy chose to draw a book that represents reading with her aunty.

What did you decide to draw and who did it represent? Which important person? Great job, well done, let's move on.

Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

When sketching, pressing down lightly helps to.

Is it A, make it easier to create dark marks, B, make it easier to rub the lines out when needed, or C, make the lines neat and sharp? Pause the video here, go and have a think, and come back once you've got the answer.

How did you get on? Let's find out the answer.

The answer was B, make it easier to rub the lines out when needed.

Let's put that into the sentence.

When sketching, pressing down lightly helps to make it easier to rub the lines out when needed.

Well done, let's move on.

Now, it's time for Task A.

You're going to think of someone important to you.

Draw a mindmap showing why they are important, with pictures or words.

In the middle of the mindmap, you put your important person.

Izzy chose her aunty in our example earlier.

You may want to include things you do together, how you know them, how they make you feel, how they support you, and also what you like about them.

In the second part of Task A, you're going to use your mindmap and draw a symbol that represents your important person, just like we practised earlier.

You can think of a symbol that represents one point from your mindmap.

Lightly sketch out the symbol using a pencil.

And here's a tip, holding your pencil halfway down helps to create light, sketchy lines, and not really dark, thick lines.

If you make a mistake, it's much easier to rub out those lines if they're a lot lighter.

Now, it's time to get started.

Pause the video here.

Have fun creating your mindmap and your symbol of your important person and come back once you're done.

I can't wait to see your symbols inspired by your important person.

How did you get on? In the first part of Task A, you may have created a mindmap like this.

Jacob chose to create a mindmap of his PE teacher.

And Jacob put down some ideas such as, that his teacher believes in him.

They are part of his school.

They teach him new skills.

They care about nature.

They like basketball and they listen to him.

These are all reasons why Jacob's PE teacher is so important to him.

For the second part of Task A, you may have drawn a symbol like this.

Jacob has chosen to draw a leaf with very light sketchy lines.

And he said, "I chose to draw a leaf as my symbol to represent my PE teacher who cares about nature." And the leaf represents nature.

Well done for completing Task A, great job.

I hope you're happy with your symbols.

Now, let's move on.

In the second part of this lesson, we're going to be looking at, "Observing and Drawing." Let's get started.

Take a look at this image.

What does the symbol in this image tell you about the person? Have a little look.

We've got a book in front of a person.

What does the symbol tell you about that person, do you think? There are many different reasons why a book would be used as a symbol.

Are they a poet? Are they a writer? Do they love reading? Artists sometimes combine figures and symbols together to add more meaning to their drawing.

When drawing a realistic portrait, it's important to make sure we think about the proportions of the face.

Here is an example of the correct relative proportions of the face.

But remember, everyone's faces are different, which is what makes us all unique and special.

Your drawing today can be a profile portrait, which is from the side or a portrait.

What do you notice about the proportions in a profile portrait and a portrait? You may have noticed that the proportions are still the same.

Whether you are drawing a profile portrait or a portrait, the proportions are still the same.

Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

Which of these drawings shows a profile portrait? Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video here, have a think, and come back once you're done.

How did you get on? Let's find out the answer.

The answer is A.

A, shows a profile portrait as the person is in side view.

Great job, let's move on.

When drawing something realistically, it's important to carefully observe what we are drawing, looking at it really closely.

Izzy said, "I have a photograph of my aunty that I can carefully observe and draw from." Izzy's going to look really closely at this photograph, so that she can create a realistic drawing.

To start off, Izzy sketched out the shapes of the face and hair.

You can see that she used a very light pencil grip, so that the lines were not too dark.

She didn't press down too hard.

Have a think.

"How can this drawing be made to look more realistic?" At the moment, we've just got the basic shapes, but we want it to look more realistic.

Let's find out.

Izzy said, "I remember that shading the dark areas is called adding tone." Here is the apple that we looked at earlier.

We first of all have the basic shape of the apple, and then we've added tone.

You can see the dark areas of the apple have been shaded to show the shadow.

Izzy has used what she knows about shading and adding tone, and she's added tone to her drawing of her aunty.

She's added tone to the hair, the eyebrows, the eyes, inside the mouth, underneath the chin, all of those darker areas, where the light doesn't hit so well.

You can add tone to make a drawing look more realistic, just like Izzy.

Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

In drawing, we can use.

to make a drawing look more realistic.

Is it A, pencils only, B, tone, C, rubbers and tone, or D, tune? Pause the video here, have a think of the answer and come back once you're done.

How did you get on? Let's find out the answer.

The answer is B, tone.

Let's put that into the sentence.

In drawing, we can use tone to make a drawing look more realistic.

Well done, let's move on.

When artists create drawings, they think carefully about where to put each shape or symbol.

Take a look at these examples.

We've got the heart at the top of the page, at the bottom of the page, in the middle of the page, or overlapping the figure.

Izzy wants to add a symbol to her drawing.

She thinks about the best place to draw her symbol.

Now, remember, Izzy's symbol was a book, and she thought about maybe placing it at the top of the page, the bottom of the page, or overlapping the figure.

She's thinking of which one looks best to her.

Izzy thinks that overlapping the symbol with the figure makes them feel that bit more connected.

I agree.

Now, it's time to check for your understanding.

Which image shows the symbol overlapping? Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video here, go and have a think, and come back once you're done.

How did you get on? Let's find out the answer.

The answer was C.

The heart symbol is overlapping the figure.

Well done, let's move on.

Now, it's time for Task B.

You're going to draw a portrait of an important person to you.

You're going to use a photograph or look at the person in real life.

You're going to observe and draw the basic shapes, and you're going to shade parts of your drawing to add tone to make it more realistic.

Remember to draw carefully and look closely at the subject, which is your person.

Whether that be a photograph or in real life.

After that, you can move on to part two of Task B.

And you're going to add a symbol to your drawing that represents something about your important person.

You can first of all think about where to place your symbol, and then after that you can add your symbol to the drawing.

Pause the video here, go and have fun observing your important person, and drawing them and then adding the symbol to your drawing.

Welcome back, did you have fun? How did you get on? You should have drawn a portrait of your important person, and here is an example.

Here we've got Alex, and Alex said, "My important person is my grandfather.

I have drawn a portrait of him and I looked carefully at the photograph." Here we've got a portrait of Alex's grandfather.

Did you manage to add your symbol too? You should have added a symbol like this.

Alex said, "I chose to position the bridge at the bottom of the page, so that it looks like he's in the sky.

The bridge represents that even though we don't live near each other, we are always connected and close." This drawing and symbol really represent Alex's close relationship with his grandfather.

Now, it's time to summarise our learning for today.

Symbols in art can represent broader themes.

When we use symbols in art, it can bring more meaning to the work.

Drawings can express ideas or tell a story.

And observing a subject closely helps us to draw things more realistically.

We have learned so much together in this lesson today, and I've had lots of fun.

I hope that you have too.

Well done on all of your hard work today.

I hope to see you next time.

Bye-bye.