Doodling is not a mindless act. It is meaningful. It is an escape from reality, it is inspired by what we see, know, like, and experience. In fact, many contemporary artists have adopted a doodle-ish approach to their artwork. It is a curious trend??? Gets me thinking - WHY?
8th graders collected images of patterns, textures, lines, and symbols, even quotes, lyrics, and other words that have meaning. All these things we combined to create these personalized self-portraits with a doodle-ish twist.
I should mention, contemporary art is not the only focus here. 8th graders also learned something from the great Albrecht Durer. He was a mathematician and artist credited with “inventing” the grid method. So, we pulled out our rulers and took lots of measurements, creating a grid that guided us in the drawing these spectacular self-portraits. I found this a great way to warm up to observation drawing ... really helps the eyes and hands stay in sync.