YAW Class: Composition

This week, Amanda and I taught the 7th and 8th grade Drawing and Painting class at the Moore Young Artist Workshop. We discussed Composition, Emphasis and Focal Point. We looked at some examples of artists work that included different types of Emphasis and different Focal Points. During our Motivation, we asked students to point out the focal point, and talk about which type of emphasis that they thought was used in each painting. We discovered that multiple Focal Points were used in most of the paintings, as well as multiple emphasis could be discussed about each painting.

The students then drew from still lives, using value, composition and lines to guide the focal point and emphasize the object that was of most interest to them. The students worked in different mediums: graphite pencils, charcoal and conte.

At the end of the lesson, Amanda and I had a 20 minute critique to discuss all the drawings. We asked the students to talk about their work, where they saw the focal point, and which emphasis best fit their drawings. It was interesting to find what the artist saw as the focal point, and what the other students saw as the focal point. Again, we were able to match multiple emphasis on the different works of art.

Critique discussing Composition, Emphasis and Focal Point 

If you would like to include this lesson plan in your curriculum, visit the Middle School Lesson Plans tab at the top of the page.