Week 5: Cartoon Day
Age 1st-2nd grades
Teachers AJ Bouland
Date 10/29/2022
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson TLW redesign 3 animated characters using 3 different drawing materials.
By the end of the lesson TLW be able to define redesign.
Lesson Summary
AJ began the lesson by wishing the students “happy cartoon day,” and introducing the instructors again- (Princess Peach, the fairy Silvermist, Adventure Time’s witch ghost Marceline and Batman for cartoon day). The instructors as characters mirrored the lesson concept around character redesign. Then he began a PowerPoint outlining today’s lesson. He highlighted some vocabulary with student interaction by pointing out the evolution of the design for Mickey Mouse across time, then asking students to point out similarities and differences of several classic character redesigns such as Rapunzel, Batman, etc. Students were eagerly raising their hands to be a part of the conversation about each character and AJ had students repeat the vocabulary back to him as he talked about redesigns. For the technical demonstration he moved over to the whiteboard and introduced what the students would be doing for the lesson. They would be reading a description of a character and draw out their own imagining of the figure based on the descriptive words. He demonstrated this on the board- Anna read the description and he asked students to volunteer ideas for what should be included in the character as he drew it based on what the words brought to mind. The example description read: woman, hero, strong, flies. Students called out “wonder woman!” and AJ asked what should be included in the drawing of wonder woman- (boots, a head band, the iconic W). He drew the cartoon-esque rendition of wonder woman on the board as they contributed ideas.
Now it was worktime. AJ asked students to draw three different characters, using three different materials (pastels, markers, crayons), based on three different descriptions. To check clarity he asked students what they should be doing and they responded accurately. Students worked for the rest of class, involving peers and instructors with ideas and sharing completed drawings throughout.
Final Outcomes
Students created 3 different drawings of 3 different characters based on brief descriptions. Some character inspirations were clear and students drew them based on their memory of the known character and some descriptions were more mysterious so students drew more from imagination. A few students made their drawings resemble comic book style by creating separate narrative scenes of the character. Some students drew all of their characters together in one scene and some made more iconic renderings of one figure dominating one full page. At the end of class students who wanted to shared their final drawings and AJ shared the inspiration behind the descriptions (ex: blue, happy, alien = Stitch; hero, spider senses, blue and red = spiderman).
Future Modifications
To focus on the concept of redesigns over time I would include the name of the character with the description and have students draw the character intentionally keeping classic elements of the character but adding their own intentional twist to them. I would also consider further highlighting the idea of redesign by having students draw three different renditions of the same character.
To increase student confidence and help kick off worktime, I would teach a step by step figure/cartoon drawing during the technical demo so students had a base to start from. I would remind students in a more traditional classroom setting how to draw figures in general (torsos have two sides, legs are rectangles not sticks, etc.) to get fully formed characters rather than stick figures. Generally, I would offer a range of skills or tips before students began working so they would be able to confidently have a starting point. This can be adjusted based on group size and student skill levels.
