Make Movies - Curriculum page 4

Getting started: developing drawing skills and techniques related to animation

Classroom discipline

Animation work requires lots of paper. A room of children with piles of paper makes it easy for drawings to get lost. The following rules help sort things out:

Use recycled paper for practice drawings and clean paper only for final work.

Keep paper in boxes rather than piles.

When drawing animation make sure that each page is numbered in sequence and each page signed by the artist.

When the sequence is finished it should be handed in with the pages in sequence so that they can be shot without further sorting out. The pages should be clipped together with a paper clip, put in an envelope, or left on the pegboard. Someone should be responsible for collecting the final artwork.

When the final drawings are done the practice drawings should be thrown away immediately so that they do not get mixed with final drawings.

If markers or projector pens are used, they tend to be left with the tops off. They are expensive. Better to give each child their own pen and make them responsible for it.

If using punched paper make sure there are enough punches for the class or better, have paper ready-punched.

If mistakes are made on drawings then redo the drawing, do not rub it out. Rubbed out drawings make marks that show up when recorded.

Holding a pencil

Some children have difficulty in drawing because they hold their pencils awkwardly;the pencil should be held like a dart. This offers the best control of the pencil. Drawing, unlike writing, requires long flowing lines, and different pressures to vary the thickness of the line. It is essential that the pencil is held correctly, and that this is checked from time to time. Its importance will show when the student uses drawing tablets, brushes, and other drawing instruments.

Holding a pencil Moving a pencil

Links

Hold a pencil 1 Hold a pencil 2 Hold a pencil 3 Hold a pencil 4

Email: stan@makemovies.co.uk. Page last updated: