How to make an art Journal - Lesson
How to make an art Journal - Art Lesson
A downloadable PowerPoint lesson that combines three Lynda Barry exercises. These are outlines of a few of the extraordinary art lessons you can find in Lynda Barry's book, Making Comics. The book is absolutely stuffed full of lessons, all of which are richly detailed. I LOVE this book for my own practice and as a guide to teach students how to trust their imaginations and create great stories..
These instructions condense three of Lynda Barry's quick draw lessons into one, 40 minute lesson.
The first part of the lesson is a warm-up. The Quick Draw lets students see that, regardless of how "bad" they think they are, they are able to draw from their imaginations.
The second part of the lesson is the Ivan Brunetti Self Portrait. This should take 2 minutes to explain and demonstrate and 2 minutes to complete. We do this exercise so that students understand that there is a way to draw a full body self portrait quickly and expressively.
Finally, students use Barry's instructions to write down some key moments in the last 24 hours. They develop one of these ideas into a miniature comic.
Part 1: Quick Draw
Here, students draw a grid that takes up about half a full sized page. They choose ONE subject from a list (skeleton, cat, rooster). They will draw that subject 6 times. They get 1 minute for the first draw. Subsequent draws are 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds, and 5 seconds!
Part 2: Ivan Brunetti Self Portraits
In this exercise, students draw themselves according to a set of instructions originally created by Ivan Brunetti. Brunetti has some wonderful lessons online. You can find a great video here:
Part 3: Daily Diary Draw
Students brainstorm, following Lynda Barry's timed chart. In each portion, they are to think of the last 24 hours. When the group is finished, they have a minute to choose from their list and 5 - 7 minutes to create an image from their list that includes a full-body self portrait. The second half of the exercise has some room for variation. They might draw a second image or do some writing to explain their first drawing. Barry has lots of variations to this exercise in her book.
Lynda Barry Exercise Gallery
