Cartooning and Clay!!

Students playing a cartoon building game called "exquisite corps" where each student draws a different part of the character. 

This Autumn my cartooning and clay class designed their own cartoons, story lines, built characters, sets, props and made original claymation movies! We started out by learning basic techniques for drawing cartoon characters, practicing drawing different features, expressions, movements, etc. We then moved on to sculpting with clay and figuring out how to turn 2 dimensional drawings into 3 dimensional forms. Students then started developing story lines and some students partnered up to form creative teams. Students built all their own props, sets, and characters. I helped photograph stills of their projects as they moved the characters. Students picked titles, music and made voice overs and I helped edit and turned their videos into short films. Here are some of the videos (passwords located below videos)!!



Day of Destruction from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.
Password= Artscenter1


The battle of Spinxwood from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.
Password: Artscenter3


One Good Day Gone Bad from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.
Password: Artscenter2


Where the Bird Beats Person from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.
Password: Artscenter4


Picnic from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.
Password: Artscenter5

Dooms Day from Diana Ryan on Vimeo.

Password: Artscenter6

Painting Projects

 I wanted to post some of the fantastic self portraits that my painting class created this Autumn. Students looked in the mirror and drew sketches. Students then used watercolor paints to add color and re-traced their original sketch lines with black marker to bring out the details.

Happy Autumn!

Basic color wheels created by beginning painting class

 What a beautiful time of year! My beginning painting students enjoyed the sunny weather and did some sketching outside with chalk and oil pastels, then we came inside and mixed earth tone palettes and painted from our sketches. We talked about how to create shortcuts with brushstrokes- so instead of  trying to capture all of the details of the trees we tried to capture the feeling or impression of the trees. We looked at some impressionism paintings and discussed the different artist's styles and how they used their brushstrokes. 

Chalk pastel sketches on black paper

Tile Quilting at College Hill

Close up of some of the tiles 

This month the students at College Hill High School kicked off the school year with a collaborative tile project! During orientation each student in the school got to decorate a 4"x4" tile, keeping the overall themes of "respect" and "empathy" in mind. There were about 90 tiles in total made. Students had the creative freedom to express what those themes meant to them by using stamps, hand carving and hand painting designs. Some of the tiles represented the themes more literally by using words like "respect" and quotes like "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Other tiles were more playful with sayings like "I (heart) cats" and "moop". There were also purely visual tiles made using abstract designs and images of people holding hands, footprints, and nature.

Watercolor flower paintings

Here are some photos of lovely paintings done by the 4th and 5th graders at Lincoln Elementary school during my residency in spring 2013! We talked about shape, contour, and value and students learned how to blend their colors and add shading. 

Summer Madness

 The whirlwind of summer camps at the Arts Center hit and some wonderful things were created, (most of which I did not photograph, unfortunately). We started off the summer with circus camp where students learned stilting and poi, made props and I taught a yoga class that kept students focused and taught concentration, mindfulness and balance. The yoga turned out to be invaluable for the students (and the counselors, and me) and I received lots of positive feedback! I also was able to sit in the audience (having not had students prepare anything in particular for the circus performance) and that was a real treat to see the whole production from the audience (as usually I am behind the scenes coordinating).

Life Drawing Class

In this 4 week class, students learned fundamental drawing techniques to help them create more realistic drawings. Students practiced form, value, shading, portraits, and perspective! Here are some of the results!

Shading exercise with modeling clay