Romero Britto Art Lesson for Kids

Uh, so I just ran across these pictures in my iphoto and thought, "aw, that was a fun lesson..." and then realized that I never posted about them here for my fellow art teacher types! So here it is,

  The Art of Romero Britto for 3rd Grade (and up)

You will need: black sharpies (or similar), colored markers, and white paper. And at least an hour, or a couple sessions broken up. 

1.) We talked about the life of Romero Britto, and his rags to riches sort of story of how he came to fame in the gallery scene. (Wikipedia his name to get more info.)

2.) As always, show a slideshow of his work, and ask kids what they notice. How do we know that these are all done by the same artist?? (talk about: pattern and what makes something a pattern, his bright colors, etc.)

3.) Have the kids draw a pet, or a favorite animal. Some kids needed some extra help on this, so we walked through drawing a few of the more popular animals step-by-step. 

4.) Trace the animal in black sharpie, then use a ruler to make at least 5 lines through their pictures. 

5.) Fill each area with a different pattern, using colored markers.  Show a few examples of patterns to get them started, and thinking outside the usual polka dots and stripes. 

So cute!