"FAMILY VALUES" Artwork Ideas

Here are some of the techniques we discussed in class that can be used to bypass and lack of artistic talents you make have:

1. Collage exisiting photographs with your own drawings. Use different materials (newspaper, tissue paper, etc) to create a more unique texture and layering as seen HERE.

2. Use tracing paper or tissue paper to trace your reference photos.

3. Use overhead transparencies to trace your reference photos then paint them and/or glue other images on the back side to create a cool illusion as seen HERE.

4. Photograph - you are allowed to use a single photograph as long as YOU are the one who took the photograph and it was staged and planned FOR THIS PROJECT. In other words, you can't take a family portrait and slap "Family Values" at the bottom and call it your artwork - unless, of course, you don't want to pass the assignment :-)

5. In you have the resources you are welcome to create a computer generated artwork. GIMP is a cool program you can download for free and works much like Photoshop. Another program that allows you to "paint" with the computer is AvancePaint which allows you to paint on top of exisiting photographs or start from scratch.

6. If you have access to an overhead projector, you can also print your reference photos onto overhead transparancies then project them onto the wall and trace. This can make it easier to adjust the size of objects to create the realistic scene you are going for. Just remember to keep the finished product 8.5x11!

7. Try something like a "Tunnel Book" (seen here) in which the cut out pages are slightly raised on to of one another to create an ACTUAL sense of space. As long as the finished product fits within the 8.5x11 size constraint, it can be 3 dimensional!

8. Get creative by manipulating the paper. Plain old boring white paper just might not give the effect you want! Why not paint/draw on top of newspaper, cardboard, cloth, or your own creation. Here are some different ways to manipulate paper at home to make it a true one-of-a-kind.

9. Create a comic as seen here - this could be drawn OR a sequence of photographs. It could be done by hand or on a computer.

10. Use the Gridding Method (demonstrated in class and seen here) to make the drawing easier on you - especially if you are drawing people! It takes some time, but can get better results than TOTALLY freehanding it!