Sketchbook Doodles

For this lesson, I did a small scale version of what I would plan on students doing. Over the course of 25 days, they would complete one full page/day of sketchbook doodles while listening to music. note how they’re feeling in that moment, what time of day it is. The goal of each sketchbook page is to reflect their feelings/emotions over the course of about a month. Once all 25 pages are completed, we’ll grid them together as one, looking at all 25 squares at once. This will give students the opportunity to reflect on their days of sketching – maybe they’ll look at a specific square or section and it will remind them of how they felt that day, and how they illustrated that feeling. A cluster of squares may look particularly similar, which could reflect a rough week, great weekend, or exhausting school days.

The first two I did myself, and the last one was done by my friend, Brian. I wanted an outside perspective for this lesson, and Brian has no true experience/strong interest in making art himself. He said he struggled a bit with the abstract thinking/mindless doodling part, and that he couldn’t not draw a figure or form of some kind. So that was an informative mindset.

Lonely                                         Optimistic                                   Anxious

Abstract-Self Portraits

Using acrylic paint, this lesson would involve students portraying their own emotions/feelings within a self-portrait. The goal of this project is for students to use the material to their advantage and in ways that will best articulate whatever feeling – whether that be paint splattering, thick application of paint, brush strokes, heavy drips, use of color, and for the two darker pieces I used my fingers a lot for smudging. 

The first one might be as metaphysical as you can get with a self-portrait, since the basis of the assignment is to illustrate yourself. But with proper proposal/explanation, a student’s perspective of themselves is entirely their own.