Share Ideas & Opinions: Artists Inspire Artists

Link: Artists Inspire Artists

My Rating: 5/5

     This website is full of inspiration and artistic sharing for every art genre. It is a place where artists can upload their work and be featured as inspiration to other artists or just browse the work of other artists. Sometimes artists hit a roadblock and can't seem to find the inspiration they need for their next project. This website offers so much inspiration for artists. It is a host to photographing, paintings, drawings, digital illustration, film, music, sculpture, dance... everything artistic. 

    To browse is totally free. It is also free to email and request to submit your work. (This site is not like a portfolio site where anyone can submit, the work must fit the criteria of the site in order to be posted.)

This is an example of the category "cool drawings".

This shows some of the different links available and also
some examples of inspirational work being featured. 

Sharing Ideas & Opinions

       This website is a fantastic example of sharing ideas and opinions. It is a higher scale inspiration site, where only skilled artists can be featured, however that's what makes this site so reliable and highly prized for finding inspiration. As a teacher I could use this site to have students find a certain amount of images that inspire them before starting a new project. This site would give students some direction and inspiration as well as new ideas. It would show them the possibilities of art and what different mediums can do. 

        The limitations that this site creates is that it requires a certain quality for submissions. But aside from being able to submit, it is still a great source of inspiration. It offers so many different ideas on many different artistic subjects. 

Share Ideas & Opinions: Tracing Paper

Link: Tracing Paper App

My Rating: 4/5

      This app is unique, it allows people to trace over photographs in order to learn the details of certain objects and potentially learn how to draw them. You can sketch over the photo, as well as shade, use color and different mediums. After drawing something once, the memory of that drawing stays in your mind and hopefully becomes a reference for how to draw it in the future. This app helps increase the amount of things we can learn to draw and have in our minds as references. If you want to draw a self portrait you simply need to take a picture of yourself and then trace over it. This allows you to learn the curves of your face and the shapes of your features. When your drawing is done, you can subtract the original photograph and you are left with your finished drawing.

   This app is one payment of $3.99.

Here is an example of a person taking a picture and tracing over it.

Here is an example of a drawing that
someone traced over an existing picture.

Share Ideas & Opinions

      This app is great for sharing ideas and opinions. On the popular app Instagram we can share pictures all day long. Now, with this app, artists can share their artwork inspired by pictures. There are no limits to what you can trace, if you can take a picture of it, you can learn to draw it. Instead of watching a teacher draw something step by step, you are able to learn from a picture and see the shapes, lines, textures, and curves of what it is you want to draw right before your eyes. This app also allows you to share and download your work when it is completed. As a teacher I could use this app for assignments, maybe have the students draw something new every night. 

      The limitations that this app might create is a dependency on having a photograph to reference and trace. A skill of being able to draw is being able to look at something and understand it's shape just by looking at it, not by tracing it underneath your pencil. Yes this is a great way to learn the elements of objects but I give it 4 out of 5 stars because artists must also be able to draw just by looking at something, or possibly even from memory and visualizing something in your mind. 

Supporting Instruction with Technology

Link: MY COGGLE
Women's History Quilt.

       I chose this particular lesson plan because it incorporates both art and technology. This lesson plan covers many of the bases for teaching art and reaching curriculum goals. I like that it ties history into the lesson. The students get to learn about an influential woman in history as well as illustrate a square for a quilt. 

     This lesson supports many of the standards for visual arts. It promotes creating (organizing ideas, developing work), presenting (conveying meaning through presentation/artistic work),  responding (interpret meaning in work, evaluate work), and connecting (historical context to deepen understanding). It allows for collaboration with peers, as well as individual expression. I feel like this lesson holds the curriculum goals, teaching strategies, and technologies in alignment. 

     This assignment allows the students to research, connect ideas, work together, comprehend ideas, learn through the work of their peers, and share ideas and opinions. The teacher also gets to benefit from learning through the work of the students. The computer allows the students to deepen their knowledge as well as illustrate their quilt square. I would use Coggle in my classroom to map out activities that we will do, making it easier for the students to understand the process we will be going through; what step comes next. 

Monitor Progress: How to Draw Full Version

Link: How to Draw Full Version

My Rating: 5/5

       This is a great app for learning artists. It teaches kids to draw specific things, step by step. Verbal instructions guide young artists through the process along with visual cues. The end result is a sketch done completely by the learner, with a lot of help from the app. In the end you walk away with the memory of how to draw certain objects and cute finished sketches that you can save and print. 

      The app is one payment of $1.99. 

This is an example of one of the drawings you can create, a dog.
On the left is the dog that they will teach you to draw,
and on the right is an example of a child's finished product.

Here are 3 more options of objects you can learn to draw,
a princess, a tank, and a space shuttle.

Monitor Progress

        This app is great for monitoring student work. The feature of being able to save, share and print your work would allow me to view their progress and make sure they are practicing sketching. It is a great app for young artists, and a great start to learning how to draw different objects. Once you practice drawing something a few times with help from this app, you will eventually be able to do it from memory. 

        

        The limitations that this app might create is a dependency on step by step intense direction when it comes to drawing new things. I would not want students to rely on a lot of direction when they want to draw. They should also be learning to draw objects by looking at them in real life.

Monitor Progress: CargoCollective.com

Link: cargocollective.com

My Rating 4/5

        This is a portfolio website great for gathering your work in an organized way. It is fantastic for artists seeking a professional looking website without the trouble of creating a site from scratch. It allows artists to share their work and network with other artists. 

        It is totally free. 

This is a screenshot of a portion of my portfolio on cargocollective.com.
I was able to categorize the different series I have done as well as customize
much of the style and appearance of my page.

This is a screenshot of cargocollective's featured artists page. It gives you
a chance to look at other work and a chance to get featured yourself.

Monitor Progress

        This website is great because it is free and professional. This site could be used to have students photograph, upload, and organize their work. It would be great practice for creating an online appearance especially if students hoped to become artists themselves. As a teacher I could help them create their portfolios as well as monitor their work. This would teach them to preserve and photograph their art. 

        The only downside to this website is there is nowhere to leave comments on the work of other artists, only the ability to contact them. 

Compare and Contrast Ideas: DeviantArt

Link: DeviantArt Site

My Rating: 5/5

      This is an extremely well known website for artists. It is one of the most widely used places to share your work. It is a great community for finding similar art, for getting feedback, for finding inspiration, or perhaps even for being discovered and launching a career in art. 

     The standard DeviantArt community is free to join, share, and browse. 

Here is an example of a grouping of art from different artists, all inspired by the show Parks and Rec.
The site sorts similar work into categories.

This shows how many categories there are for finding and sorting the art.

Compare and Contrast Ideas + Sharing Ideas & Opinions 

       This website is great for the instructional strategy of sharing ideas and opinions because it is a place where people can do just that. It is also great for comparing and constrasting ideas with other artists. As a teacher I could use this app for assignments. I could tell my students to find 5 images that have commonality and for them to create a piece that fits into the same category. I could also use it as a place to have them share their work with each other or create portfolios. 

        The limitations that this website might create is a lack of passion/motivation. When the students get a look at all of the talented people using DeviantArt they may get discouraged when they compare their work to others. However, I firmly believe that we should not compare our work to others in such a way that it ruins our confidence because we all truly have something unique to bring to the table. I would hope that DeviantArt would be inspiring for students if I was to use this site in my curriculum. 

Share Ideas & Opinions: Drawing Pad

 Link: Drawing Pad App

My Rating: 5/5

       This iPad app is great for artists. It is a digital canvas where they can experiment with different mediums and practice drawing, painting, sketching on a digital platform. It allows them to have all their tools with them wherever they go, totally eliminating the need to carry around paint, brushes, pencils, markers, paper, water, paper towels, ect. This makes if fun! Artists have a studio at their fingertips. When inspiration strikes, they can simply turn on their iPad and start creating.

        

       This app is only one payment of $1.99! 

This provides an example of what you can create with the
app and how cool and realistic the tool drawer is!

This shows how much detail you can actually create with this app
and that it is not just an app for kids but also for skilled artists. 

Share Ideas & Opinions

      This app is perfect for the instructional strategy: sharing ideas and opinions. It allows people to create and share their work. It provides a drawer of supplies that realistically mimic the feel of the tool/ the resulting mark of the medium. As a teacher I could use this app to do demo's and have my students try to mimic me, perhaps when trying to educate about a certain technique. For students, it allows them to learn about different artistic tools as well as create and share their work. This app provides a way to share work through social media as well as downloading it to your computer. 

      

     The limitations that this app might create is that students might become more comfortable using the tablet (since they are most likely already spending a lot of time on tablets outside of class) and they might overlook the art of actually getting your hands dirty and making messy 3D art. As an fine artist, I value getting my hands dirty. This would be unfortunate to see in my classroom if my students ended up enjoying the app more than the actual art class. And another obvious limitation is that it requires an iPad.