Whimsicle Giraffes and Zebras Painting Lesson

I usually do a lesson with upper grade kids on drawing African Animals. For this lesson, we focused on creating whimsical Zebras and Giraffes.
Materials: white chalk pastel, black 12 x 18 paper, tempera paints (reds, blues and greens as well as browns, yellows and greys) and white, pictures of zebras and giraffes.

1. The kids sketched large images of their chosen animals. They could focus on the heads, whole body, etc. At first the kids were stressed that they couldn't erase, but after showing them that chalk could easily be wiped away, they became less concerned with their lines. They soon figured out that most chalk lines would be completely covered with paint anyway.


2. Next, the kids were instructed to double-dip their paint brush first in a bright color, then in white. The white adds a creaminess to the color allowing the color to "pop" from the page.
3. We talked about creating backgrounds that weren't realistic and making leaves, flowers, vines, etc. These items filled in the black space around the animal drawing.

1. Lastly, gold and silver metallic oil pastel was used to outline the background images creating a whimsical garden!