Bodies in Motion

New semester and it was high time the Grade 2's practiced their figure drawing skills.  We started by watching a beautiful youtube video called Ballet in the Sky.  We also chose a random breakdancing video and checked that out too.  Once we discussed where the body can actually bend, we started making these very cool action figures.  I found the original tracing sheet on pinterest but the link was broken. (see the bottom of this post).

Once the figures were put together with brads, the kids practiced moving them in various poses. I provided a few print outs of ballet and breakdancing poses to use as a reference.  The figures needed some sticky tack to keep still while they were being traced. 

Next step, color with oil pastels-- no white spots and no sloppy coloring!  The kids did a fantastic job.  Last part of the drawing was a simple shading exercise-- a little white and brown went a long way.  For the background, I filled spray bottles with liquid dyes and let them spray away.  They were very responsible about it and the splashes of color really captured the action nicely.