Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Carter.

And today, we're going to be working on the lesson together.

We're going to be looking at animal symbolism in art.

And I want you to think about, as we're going through the lesson, all the different ways that you've seen or heard of an animal being used to symbolize something in a piece of artwork.

I bet you already got some things in your mind, but don't worry if you don't, we're going to learn lots and lots today.

All I need from you is to have a really good try at everything, and I'm sure we're gonna make fantastic progress.

Let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you are going to be able to say, "I can design and create an animal relief which represents human characteristics." This learning, we're going to want to be able to use these keywords really comfortably.

So the first is characteristic.

So characteristics are the qualities or features that make a person who they are.

They can describe a person's personality or their behavior.

Symbolize.

Symbolize is when an object or image represents a bigger idea or feeling.

It can help us understand deeper meanings in art.

Relief.

Relief in art is a sculptural technique where the designs are raised above a flat background.

We've got three learning cycles in today's lesson.

We're gonna start exploring animal symbolism through drawing.

Then, we're gonna look at using symbolic patterns and colors.

Then, we're gonna start building our animal relief.

Let's get started exploring animal symbolism through drawing.

Aisha, Sam, and Alex are discussing how animals can be used as symbols of human characteristics.

Sam shares, "Lions can symbolize strength." Can you think of any situations where you've seen a lion used to symbolize strength? Maybe in a book? Maybe in artwork? Aisha shares that, "Foxes can be used as symbols of being cunning." Now, I imagine you probably can think of one or two stories where that's been included, but can you think of any paintings where artists have done that? Alex adds, "Sometimes owls are used to symbolize intelligence." And I wonder, can you think of any more examples of animals used to symbolize human characteristics? Artists can employ animals that symbolize human characteristics in their art to create more meaning for the audience.

Can you think of any examples of artworks with animals symbolizing human characteristics? Are there any animals that have special meanings for you and your family? Okay, check for understanding time, true or false? Artists can employ animal symbolism of human characteristics in their art to create more playful artworks only.

Pause the video and tell me if you think that that is true or false.

Well done if you said false.

While artists might employ animal symbolism of human characteristics in their art to create playful artworks, it can also be used to create more meaning for the audience, and make them feel empathy and emotion.

Some artworks which employ animals symbolizing human characteristics include Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's "Black Allegiance to the Cunning" from 2018 features a fox under the chair of the subject to symbolize cunning.

Chila Kumari Burman's "Tiger, My Jaan" from 2021 makes use of tigers as a symbol of resilience and cultural identity.

Louise Bourgeois's "Maman" from 1999 is a large sculpture of a spider, which represents the artist's mother.

Ai Weiwei's "Circle of Animals" or "Zodiac Heads" from 2011 includes 12 animal heads, which represent traditional Chinese zodiac.

What characteristics could this animal art signal? Izzy shares, "Some books depict spiders as scary animals lurking in the dark." Lucas shares, "The Anansi is the trickster and wisdom figure in Ashanti and Akan mythology." Andeep adds, "Spiders create amazing webs and they symbolize creativity." And Sofia said, "Louise Bourgeois's work symbolizes the spider as a good, caring mother." Did you come up with any different associations? Okay, check for understanding time, true or false? Animals are universally known for specific characteristics across all cultures.

Pause the video and decide if you think that's true or false.

Well done if you said that was false.

Often, how animals are linked to characteristics in the West is very different than that of other cultures across the world.

Okay, so we're starting our first practice task.

And you are going to be creating an idea shower of human characteristics of these animals.

So you've got a picture of a rabbit, a tiger, a snake, a monkey, and a horse.

Think about all the different human characteristics that you associate with those animals.

And remember, this is about your associations, so it's whatever you think can be included.

Pause the video and get started now.

How did you get on? Did you find that you were thinking of things that were different to other people? Or did you all have similar kinds of ideas about what the associations of human characteristics with these animals were? I wonder if you've got the same things written here because you might have things that look a little bit like this.

So a monkey might be optimistic, curious, funny, or playful.

You might have thought of horses as adaptable, hardworking, elegant, and strong.

For the rabbit, you may have said gentle, intuitive, innocent, and speedy.

The tiger might have made you think of characteristics like grace, generosity, stealth, and courage.

And the snake might have made you think about being bold, enigmatic, intelligent, and self-sufficient.

Jun says, "We talked as a group and found we had so many different ideas about the symbolism of these animals." Do you feel that, after you've seen these examples? For task A2, you're going to select one of those animals to represent yourself.

Think about the characteristics that you feel represent you.

And record why you've chosen that animal.

You can do this in any way.

So maybe you're gonna sketch out the animal and write your reasons around the outside, or record it just as a sentence.

Pause the video and get started now.

How did you get on? I wonder which animal you chose.

You might have said something like this.

So Jun has said, "I chose the rabbit as I'm a quick sprinter and I've been told that I'm calm and gentle.

I thought this fit me best." For task A3, you're gonna create an A4 drawing of your chosen animal.

You should press softly with your pencil, use simple shapes to create the overall form, and define the edges with a broken line.

Add details to create a stronger link with the characteristics you're linking to.

Now, you might be wondering about some of those instructions.

What do I mean by simple shapes and what is a broken line? Artists achieve drawings using simple shapes for accuracy and it can look a little bit like this.

So here are a series of simple shapes.

So we've got ovals, circles, ovals with a little point on the end, and a cross used to denote the points of the face.

Can you see how those shapes are a little bit more simple? And then, once you've established those main shapes, you can begin to add some of the detailing.

And you can see some of those have become sort of fluffy on the edges because they've added those kind of movements along the edge of the animal.

Some of the shapes have become more defined.

If you look at the nose on the rabbit, that's been brought in a little bit to create that shape along the top of the rabbit's head.

And details like the eyes, the nose, and inside of the ears have been included, as well as things like the paws.

You can then remove those original simple shapes and you're left with an outline that looks really effective.

Now, the other thing to notice in this final outcome is what I was talking about, the broken line.

So if you look at this final one, you'll notice a broken line.

If you look at the front pore in particular, you might notice that the lines don't match up and touch each other exactly.

And that's a broken line.

The idea is that we can tell where the line would go, but by leaving some of it out, it's left to our imaginations in our brain.

And this can allow us to produce a drawing, possibly a little bit more quickly, but also to remove the possibility of it looking like a cartoon.

Here are some ideas of those structures of those simple shapes for each of the animals that you may have chosen.

Pause the video and create your A4 animal drawing now.

Make sure to fill your A4 page so you have a lovely, big animal to work with.

How did you get on? Did you find that that framework really helped with those basic shapes? I hope so.

You might have produced a drawing that looks a little bit like this.

And can you see that not all of the lines from the simple shapes have been completely removed yet? So you can see that circle in the front, kind of shoulder of the horse.

Jacob shares, "I am pleased that I pressed softly with my pencil to create the simple shapes as it helped me create a recognizable horse but was also easy to rub out." And you can see where Jacob started rubbing out on the hind legs of the horse.

Okay, so we're moving on to using symbolic patterns and colors.

Color can symbolize moods or ideas.

Lucas is thinking about color symbolism.

Blue can link to sadness.

Yellow could represent joy.

Green can make you feel calm.

Red might link to anger.

And purple is associated with royalty.

Do you agree with all of those color associations? Have you ever heard any of them before? Okay, check for understanding, true or false? Color can symbolize moods or ideas.

Pause the video and decide if you think that that is true or false.

Well done if you said true.

Color can symbolize moods or ideas.

An artist can use this in their work.

It might help to tell the audience something about the subject of the work or maybe even how they're feeling when they made the work.

Some assume color meanings are universal, but they vary across cultures.

Red, for example, holds different significance across the world, so worldwide.

And here are some examples of those differences.

So in Western cultures, red is often associated with passion, love, danger, power, and anger.

But in Latin America, it's associated with religion, passion, and blood.

In Nigeria, the Igbo culture makes associations of red with strength, power, and spiritual energy.

In the Middle East, danger, caution, but also passion and courage are the associations with red.

In Japan, red is associated with life, energy, protection, and sometimes mourning.

While in China and other parts of East Asia, good luck, prosperity, and celebration are the associations with red.

Do you know any other associations with red from different cultures? Okay, check for understanding time.

Which of the following is true about color meanings? Is it A, colors have no symbolic meaning in any culture, B, color meanings are the same in all cultures, or C, color meanings vary across different cultures? Pause the video and decide which you think is the correct answer.

Did you say C, color meanings vary across different cultures? Well done if you did.

Artists can use these color associations in their work to deepen the meaning and to evoke emotion.

Artists can also use patterns in a similar way.

What patterns could create a link to the characteristic of strength, elegance, diligence, or adaptability? These students have been thinking about that question.

And Laura shares, "I combined stippling and short hatching for adaptability, as it shows change." Aisha shares, "These long, wavy lines make me think about elegance or grace." And Alex added, "These long, straight lines convey strength and purpose, symbolizing hard work." Did you come up with any other versions? For task B, we're gonna be creating three symbolic patterns and colors.

For the first part of this, I want you to use oil pastel to draw your symbolic patterns.

You should fill three pages of A4.

Consider your color selection and link that to your animal characteristics.

Think about the patterns that communicate your animal characteristics.

You might decide that you want each of the three sheets to have a different type of pattern and that will probably be really effective.

You might vary the colors on each sheet, but remember, for this stage, I want you to fill the page and just use oil pastels.

For our task B2, we're now going to wash over those oil pastel backgrounds you produced with watercolor.

You should consider your color selection to link to your animal characteristics.

Select colors that contrast with the oil pastel you've already put down, and cover the whole sheet.

Now, when you're doing this, you want to make sure that your paintbrush is nice and wet and that you've wet the paper first.

But then, make sure that you've agitated your watercolor to pick up lots of pigment and your brush is still wet when you then wash over the surface of your oil pastel.

This will mean that the water in the watercolor and the oil in the oil pastel will resist and you will still get both lines and the color that you then paint over the top.

If you find you haven't got enough pigment, just return your brush to your palette and pick up more pigment.

Pause the video and get started now.

How did you get on? Did you enjoy it? Sometimes it can feel really surprising when you're actually painting over with your wash of color and you can see those oil pastel lines sort of reappear.

You might have noticed something similar to the last one of these three examples Sam's produced.

If you've used white oil pastel, it may not have been visible on your paper, then, as you produce that wash of color, they kind of emerge.

Sam shares that, "These patterns convey characteristics of hard work and strength, due to the bold marks and bright colors." Do you feel that yours share your characteristics? So our third learning cycle, building an animal relief.

A relief in art is a sculptural technique where designs are raised above a flat background.

It falls between 2D and 3D art.

Can you think of any examples of reliefs? Okay, check for understanding.

Which is the most accurate statement to define a relief in art? Is it A, a painting technique that creates a 3D illusion on a flat surface? Is it B, a method of mixing colors to create depth and shading? Or is it C, a sculptural technique where figures are raised or carved into a flat background? Pause the video and decide which statement you think is correct.

Well done if you said C.

A relief in art is a sculptural technique where figures are raised or carved into a flat background.

Some examples of relief in art include: Frank Stella created "Shoubeegi" in 1978, which employs vibrant colors and expressive patterns.

Patrick Cabral made "Dinagyang Masks" in 2012, which layers intricate layers of paper to create feather-like shapes.

And the Assyria lion hunt carvings were made between 645 and 635 BC and are located in modern day Iraq.

And they're examples of detailed stone relief carvings.

Have you seen any carvings? Maybe there are some local to you.

True or false, relief is a modern art process created in the late 1800s? Pause the video and decide if you think that this is true or false.

Well done if you said false.

Examples of this type of work, so relief, have been created across art history and locations.

The process of building a collage relief would work something like this.

You could use the drawing as a template and draw around it onto the back of your colored papers that you've produced, your patterns.

You then cut them out and test the composition, so building them up.

And you can see that there's a whole horse sort of initially been cut out, and then smaller sections of the animal have been cut out separately on the different-colored papers so that you've got different areas that you can lift.

So you can layer that with cardboard and then make sure to secure both layers with glue.

So let's get straight on with building our animal relief.

You're gonna be creating your relief, using your work from tasks A and B.

So step one is you're gonna plan your three layers.

You should use your task A as a template, be selective about your patterns, and cut the layers neatly.

You could redraw the features back onto the animal, once you've turned it back over.

Pause the video and get started now.

Now that you've cut out all of your sections, you're gonna start building up your layers with cardboard.

To do this, you should cut the cardboard to be smaller than the patterned layers.

Then, if you flip everything over so you're working on the white side of your paper, you should always be able to see an outline of white when you're looking down on it with the cardboard there.

And that will make sure that, when you then flip it back to the correct way, you're not going to be left with any visible cardboard in your work.

Make sure to put glue on both sides of the cardboard so that it sticks nicely to each surface so you can really build that up.

Pause the video and give yourself time to do this neatly.

How did you get on? Are you pleased with your animal? Well done.

You may have produced something that looks a little bit like this.

And Jacob shares, "I really like the effect of the patterns, color, and the relief created in my animal art.

It makes me look at it in a different way." He includes, "I've conveyed characteristics of strength, using symbolic colors and patterns.

If I did it again, I could add more layers to build up the muscles." In summary of our lesson, animals depicted in art, artists can employ animal symbolism of human characteristics in their art to create more meaning for the audience.

Often, how animals are linked to characteristics in the West is very different than other cultures across the world.

Artists can use colors and patterns to symbolize moods or ideas.

This symbolism varies across cultures.

A relief in art is a sculptural technique where the designs are raised above a flat background and has a rich history.

Well done for all of your work today.

You've produced a lot of work in three stages and used a lot of different types of materials, so well done for that.

I hope you're proud of the work you produced and you really should be.

Being able to think about all these different things about animal symbolism, as well as how you're then going to approach the task is quite a lot of different thought, and I'm sure you've done a fantastic job.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.