Crafts and Learning Activities Elements of Design - Point and Dot
Including: Pointillism Printable Sheet, Point and Dot Activities for Children, Books about Point and Dot
The elements of design are the actual things we use to make up a design. They give a blank canvas meaning. When an artist paints a dot or point on that canvas it begins to have meaning. It gives the eye something to focus on, it develops a relationship between the canvas and the point, and it gives us a point of orientation to the edge of the canvas. If the artist puts two points on the canvas the eye will immediately try to connect the two points. With enough points an artist can create a complete composition.
Pointillism Printable Sheet and Activity
Pointillism is an artistic technique that uses only small dots of pure color to make a complete picture. The close positioning of the dots fool the eye into seeing the dots as a mix of the different colors of dots (or a different color). For an example, if a yellow dot is next to a red dot, the two dots will look more like orange from a distance.
George Seurat developed this technique but called it divisionism. It took him two years to complete his 10-foot-wide painting "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte".
This painting and technique started the Neo-impressionism movement in France.
Experiment with Pointillism
Print out the pointillism sheet and look at it up close. Available on the free "Whats's the Point Sample Bible Lesson".
1. What colors do you see?
2. Step back a few feet and look at it again. Do the colors in the large patterns look the same as the dots?
3. Which pattern and color combination is more effective in the optical effect of making the colors appear to be other colors?
4. What happens if you squint your eyes and look at the patterns?
Make Your Own Picture using Pointillism Techniques
You will need: Yellow, Cyan (blue) and Magenta (pink) Highlighter Markers, and Printer Paper.
How to Make:
1. Print out the grid gheet and then color in the little squares using the highlighter markers. Available on the free "Whats's the Point Sample Bible Lesson".
2. Color in the squares with the highlighters experimenting with patterns and color combinations.
3. When you are finished view your picture close-up and then from different distances. From which distance is the picture most appealing?
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View Pointillism Used in Other art Media
1. Bottle cap pictures - Bottle Cap Art.
2. Cross stitch, needle point and tapestries - Print out pictures that you find online of counted cross stitch, needle point and tapestries to show your children.
3. Computer image editing programs use a type of pointillism, but instead of dots they use squares of color. The squares (pixels) are so small that they are hard to distinguish between them making it look like a solid color or gradual change in color.
Close Up of the Pistil Area of Flower Showing the Pixels that Make Up the Picture Below
Pink Flower
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"Dot" by Patricia Intriago - Creative Graphic Exercises
Dot - It's amazing what you can do with a dot! Using opposites and simple modifications to the dots such as relative position, size, and color Patricia Intriago transforms dots into completely different objects or concepts.
Creative Activities:
1. Read the first couple of pages of this book and discuss with your child how each dot conveys the message on the page. Point out the fact the accompanying page give clues to the overall concept. For example, the first page shows a red dot. It could easily say "Red dot.", but it says "Stop dot." The accompanying page shows a green dot. By following the concept of the description of the red dot, we know the green dot page will say, "Go dot.", not "Green dot".
Read several pages of the book and discuss the concepts, and then have your child compare the pictures and see if he or she can figure out what the text might be.
2. Make Your Own Dot Book - Using opposites, positioning, and simple lines have your children make their own dot books. See if you can figure out the text by just looking at the pictures. This is a great exercise for any age. Children must try to convey a message with the least amount of information possible. Younger children can use crayons and older children may want to work with a computer program that allows you to manipulate shapes. If a child's picture has too much information, ask him to experiment with deleting as much information as possible, but still maintain the message.
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"The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds
The Dot - This is a great book for children who think they have no artistic ability!
Vashti spends her whole art class sitting in chair doing nothing because she thinks she can't draw. At the end of the class her teacher studies her blank paper and declares, "Ah! A polar bear in a snow storm." Vashti isn't amused and complains, "I just can't draw!" Her art teacher encourages her to "Just make a mark and see where it takes you", and that is exactly what she does. She grabs a big black marker and jabs it onto the middle of the paper and hands it to her teacher. The next day she discovers that her teacher framed her picture and hung it in the front of the class. Looking at the framed picture Vashti decides she can make an even better dot, and starts what becomes a whole series of dot pictures, and a new confidence in her artistic abilities.
Creative Activities:
1. Have your children experiment to see how many different kinds of dots they can make using different artistic mediums.
2. Watch a Youtube Video about the author, Peter Reynolds on how he makes a book.
3. Visit Peter Reynold's Web Site and find out more about this author and get tips on how to be more creative.
4. Link to Classroom Ideas and printable for the book "the dot".
©2012, Digital by Design, Inc. - See Copyright Information
Elements of Design Crafts and Learning Activities on Other Pages
Elements of Design - Point and Dot
Artistic Design and the Great Designer
Christian Home School Art Lessons - Art Lessons on The Elements and Principles of Design from a Biblical Perspective
