PAPER REFLECTION
Supplies:
full sheets of 9 x 12 colored construction paper
construction paper cut in half to 4 1/2” x 6”
copy paper or plain letter-size paper cut in half to 8 1/2” x 5 1/2”
pencils
scissors
stick glue
examples of optical illusions and
samples of this project from the link in description
Teaching kids to see negative space is so much fun when you do it through optical illusions. I teach positive and negative space to my pre-K through 8th grade students for two reasons. The first is that at the very least, they enjoy the project and maybe a little of what I’ve said gets them to look at their world differently. At the most, I want my students to enjoy and appreciate art and if they want to pursue drawing, they will have a solid foundation for high school art.
The book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” teaches that the key to drawing well is to train your eyes to see the object you want to draw and the space around it as shapes.
Show your students the examples of optical illusions. One of the best teaching
experiences EVER is watching a student light up the moment the hidden image or illusion is revealed to them. It’s like magic.
Set out plenty of plain paper cut in half, to 4 1/2” x 6” on the tables for students to sketch their initial ideas along with pencils, erasers, stick glue and scissors. You can set out the construction paper cut in half but reserve the full sheets so they don’t get cut into and wasted
Show your students the first example, “Face vs. Vase”. Some kids will see the vase first while others will see the profiles facing each other first. It takes a minute or so for everyone to see both. This is a great example of the power of negative space.
The second example is a comb. Inform your students that this is not a picture of
a comb. It is a picture of everything except a comb. The black ink covers the
negative space. The object in this case is not black ink on white paper, it’s the white
of the paper.
The red cat licking its paw creates a space between its paw and body which creates the shape of a mouse. This is an easy one that they usually see right away.
The next graphic is a key. The space between the teeth of the key create a city skyline.
The white dog is a favorite. By now the kids have an idea of negative space and can see the shape of a cat in the dog’s mouth right away. Technically speaking, the dog is empty space and everything around the dog is printed in black ink which includes the cat. But, there is a third image... a very small mouse in the space of the cat’s open mouth. There is also a bit of red on the dog’s teeth which kids will point out... ew, blood.
The graphic of Batman and his rival, penguin, the super-villain is really well done. Fold this image in half and show the batman in black. It will take the kids a second to see that the yellow space is a profile but not everyone is familiar with the Penguin character. Many kids will see ‘Gru’ from the movie, ‘Despicable Me’. Explain that one of batman’s enemies is penguin, then unfold the paper and turn it around to show penguin in yellow, right side up and the black
Batman as the background. I love this one.
The next image is a row of blue letters that spell the word, ‘Clean’. A longer look reveals that the white space between the blue letters spells ‘Dirty’.
The next graphic are the words, ‘Negative Space’, but only the N, G, T, V, P and C are printed. The empty spaces between these letters complete the phrase. Your brain completes the word for you even though some of the letters are missing.
This last graphic is so cool. It is the logo for the ‘Pittsburg Zoo and Aquarium’. Some of the kids will need a little longer to see that the space on either side of the tree is an ape and a lioness looking at each other. A few kids will even see the fish swimming in the roots of the tree.
Find more optical illusions online if you like. Many logos have things hiding in their negative space. One fun one is the ‘Fed-Ex’ logo. The kids see it all the time on delivery vehicles but ask if they have ever noticed the right facing arrow in the empty space between the ‘e’ and the ‘x’. Some kids know about it and some don’t. Ask students why they think the arrow is pointing to the right? The english language is read from left to right and with the arrow pointing the same direction it indicates forward motion, speed and accuracy for the company’s service. Arabic is a language reading from right to left, and so the arrow in the Arabic Fed-Ex logo points in the
opposite direction with the same meaning.
Now, for the assignment. My students have come up with lots of creative ideas for this project.
Show students samples of the project from the link to the pdf. Make an example of the steps to show them... it really helps the kids understand the process. So, for instance, show a heart drawn on a half sheet of plain paper with pencil. They can practice on the cheap plain paper
and not the more expensive colored stuff. Once they decide on a design, show a half sheet of pink construction paper with the heart drawn on it. Then, show the heart cut out of the pink paper. Usually you would keep the heart and throw away the rest but in this case, ‘the rest’ is the negative space around the heart. Emphasize that they should cut neatly and be sure to keep everything. All of the pieces will eventually be glued down. Assure them that if the paper tears or rips they won’t see it after it all gets glued down. Next, show them a full sheet of construction paper in a contrasting color and how the heart gets glued to one side and the rest gets glued on the other side. Voila! A reflection in paper. Hold on to the full sheets of construction paper and carry them with you as you walk around the class room. I’ve learned that if you set the full sheets of construction paper out, the students cut into them instead of the half sheets and lots of good paper gets wasted. When the kids are ready for that step, you can show them their color choices to pick from and then help arrange the pieces on the full sheet so they can see how it will look when it’s glued down.
This project can be done horizontally or vertically. If you do it near a holiday you can use fun images like a jack-o-lantern, hearts, christmas trees, and angels. Some of the best results can be something as simple as a square inside a square inside a square.
Cutting from the edge of the paper to get to the pencil drawing is ok since it will all be glued down in the end. Also, sometimes it is easier to draw in the small details instead of cutting tiny pieces out of their shape. For instance, one of my examples is a white city skyline with a few black windows drawn in with black colored pencil and the opposing image, a black city skyline has the white windows drawn in with white colored pencil. Drawing in the windows is MUCH easier than cutting tiny little windows out of the buildings and gluing them all down.
This is one of those projects that looks cool, the kids have fun and it costs next to nothing. We art teachers like those a lot.