Art coming to life!

 We are very excited and proud to share out the results of our learning from the first unit this year in grade 3 art!   Have you ever looked at a portrait in a gallery or museum and wondered what the person was thinking or feeling?  Now you no longer have to wonder with our third grade artists!  Using Morfo and Aurasma, students have narrated stories to bring their portraits to life.  Here's how we did it:

1) Students explored a variety of materials and techniques (some new, some review) including markers, colored pencils, crayons, oil pastels, watercolors and tempera paints.  They selected the best materials for their needs to draw their own self-portrait using a mirror for guidance.

 2)  Using their personal narratives as inspiration, the grade 3 students practiced narrating a short story about a small moment in their life to add a layer of interest and understanding to their artwork.  The stories could only be 30 seconds so we carefully edited and re-worked parts of some stories if the original was a little long.

 3) Using an iPad app called Morfo, we recorded our 30 second self-portrait stories. The app transforms 2-dimensional images (photos or in our case drawings) into 3D animations with moving eyes, nose and mouth that match up with the reading.  It really brought our drawings to life!! Students worked in small groups or pairs to record and share their Morfos- some had fun playing with the emotions and decorative features such as wigs or make up! (though none of that made the final cut so we would look as much like ourselves as possible).

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(Mrs. Garrett couldn't help but try her own and join in the fun!)

 4) The final step came with Mrs. G linking the Morfo files to the artwork itself digitally using the scanning program Aurasma.  By creating auras for each student's work and video files, anyone can see and hear the artist's self-portrait come to life by using the Aurasma app on any smart phone or mobile device!  The app is free (available on both android and apple products) and as long as you are following the right channel (GARRETTAM) you will be able to scan and see the magic come to life!!

5) Grade 3 students enjoyed an Aurasma gallery walk with ipads and the opportunity to hear other students' stories using the app to scan and see.  What a fun way for artwork to come to life and tell a story!

*Remember, once the connection is created on Aurasma, any image of the artwork can be scanned and read... digital or print form... on paper, t-shirts... you name it!  Each student received 2 miniature Artist Trading cards of their artwork to be able to carry their artwork in their pocket and share with someone else.  You can find the links to their artwork images and morfo video files on the Grade 3 page of this blog. Feel free to email or print and share with ASB friends and family.  Follow the instructions provided to download the app andmorfo start scanning and seeing!  Portfolio books of the students work will be on display in the parent cafe for the next two weeks.  Leave any comments below for our awesome ASB artists!

Psykopaint!

Here's a cool website that allows you to create a digital artwork (from one of your own photos or starting from a blank canvas) in the style of famous artists. 

www.psykopaint.com 

 Among the artists you can imitate are Degas, Monet, Van Gogh and many more!  You can save small versions of photos you create on your computer as jpeg files for free once you register as a user (need to provide email/password to log in: check with your parents on this!) Or simply explore and play around with different styles, brushes, colors etc....

  Here's a photo I made into the style of Monet (we've been studying him in grade 2 as an influential artist!). I had a photo of lilly pads I took in Australia in January and I decided to make my own version of Monet's waterlillies.. See the before and after! 

A photo I took in Australia of Water Lillies

Monet Style Water Lillies using Psykopaint tools

What are your favorite websites and apps for making art?
 I've started a new tab on this blog called "Cool Art Links"...
Email me (garrettam@asbindia.org) your favorite programs and I'll include your picks on this page! There are many ways you can now continue to make art even if you dont have pencil and paper available... Explore what you can do with digital art and share with us what you love to do!