Middle School Art Projects: Coloring Techniques Lesson

This is a Coloring Lesson Plan designed for your middle school art students.

It is no secret that middle school students probably think they know how to color and do not need a coloring lesson, but there is so much more than what meets the eye with this lesson!

The basic success criteria in this lesson for students is:

• Stay within the lines

• Colour in the same direction (usually)

• Take your time

• Stay focused

Students will learn about 6 different “tricks of the trade” when it comes to coloring.

1.     Stippling

2.     Hatching

3.     Cross-hatching

4.     Back and forth stroke

5.     Scumbling

6.     Shading

Each technique will have its own slide that explains what it is and provides visuals to show what it looks like.

Student’s assignment will be to:

Create an agamograph that will be coloured in with pencil crayon. An agamograph is a series of images that change at different angles. This work is named after the Israeli sculptor, Yaacov Agam, who was born in 1928 and is still alive today. This artist is known for his optical and kinetic art. To create his agamographs he used “lenticular printing.” This process is very technical and complicated so we will be using a much more simplified technique.

Draw two contrasting images. The first, how they perceive our planet should look like, and the second, what they think it will become if humankind continues to treat it the way we do. The two images should be from the same perspective - as if they are standing and looking at this view from the same spot, like a before and after. 

An agamograph scoring rubric is included.

An editable 16-slide PowerPoint