Students researched a world issue that was important to them. They took notes and created a hand drawn poster on paper to hash out the concept. Photoshop was used to create the posters. Contrast, font style and size, minimal imagery, and colour schemes were part of the criteria. Naldz Graphics has 200 free paper texture backgrounds that the students chose from.

Tagxedo is an awesome free word cloud generator. Students made a list of 10 words that describe them and entered them into Tagxedo. Once the cloud was generated, students played around with lighting effects and blur effects in Photoshop to create unique clouds. This is a quick and easy project to do at the beginning of a Typography unit and an intro to Photoshop filters.

A link to Other Cloud Generators

Students drew enlarged key sets, keeping as much detail as possible in the contour lines. They then divided the picture plane into geometric shapes using rulers. Students had the choice to do organic shapes as well. The challenge was to fill each shape within the keys and the background with a different colour. Students also chose to keep the keys the same colour and just alternate the background.

Materials: pencil crayons, watercolours

Adapted from Ken Vieth's project.

Using a photograph of the back of their heads, students used scratch art tools to scratch into black scratch art paper. Having bright white areas completely scratched out and areas with fewer lines developed the highlights and shadows on the drawings.

Materials: 8x10 scratch art paper, scratch art tools

Students researched a famous person that has been an inspiration in their personal lives. They drew a large portrait in either tone or colour and inserted an inspirational quote onto the background of the drawing.

Materials: 18x24 paper, chalk pastels, mixed materials for quotes

Students used the grid technique to grid a black and white photograph of themselves. They then drew the outline of their image and filled in the space with a variety of text. Focus on light and shadows.

This project also works really well in a Media Arts class. I've used it during studies on Typography.

11x 14 Mayfair, pencils, sharpies, fine liners

A quick sketchbook activity to help students open up creative possibilities!

Materials: leaves, pencils, sketchbooks