Igor's Art Studio
Learning Philosophy
Every child develops at their own pace.
Rather than focusing on perfect results, the Art Studio encourages curiosity, creativity, experimentation, and steady improvement. Students are challenged to build new artistic skills while creating artwork they are proud to share with family and friends.
September Theme: Ocean
Focus Skills
- Observation
- Texture
- Organic forms
- Composition
- Color harmony
- Creating depth in underwater scenes
Art Media
- Watercolors
- Colored pencils
- Soft pastels
- Markers
- Acrylic paint
September – Fish / Starfish
Project
Create either a decorative or realistic fish, starfish, or another ocean creature.
Skills
Texture, Observation, Shape construction, Pattern design, Color blending
Media
Watercolors, Colored pencils, Soft pastels, Markers
Focus
Explore simple fish shapes. Experiment with colorful patterns and textures. Learn to repeat shapes to create scales.
Goal
Learn to observe and analyze the shapes of objects around us, and use simple shapes to construct more complex images. Learn to recognize patterns in everyday objects and use repeating shapes, lines, colors, and details in artwork.
Wrap-Up
Students share their artwork, and reflect on what they learned.
Creative Warm-Up and Mini Lesson, SEPTEMBER 1
Shape construction
Artists often use simple shapes to help draw more complex objects.
For example, to draw an apple, an artist may start with a circle and then change the shape to make it look more like an apple.
To draw a starfish, an artist may start with a star shape and then adjust the arms and edges to make it look more realistic.
Shape construction means starting with simple shapes and changing them step by step to create the object you want to draw.
Pattern design
After creating the main shape, artists add details to make the image look more realistic or more interesting.
For example, a starfish may have many small spots and bumps, while a fish may be covered with scales.
When the same detail repeats again and again, it creates a pattern.
Pattern design means using repeated shapes, lines, colors, or details to decorate an object or show its surface.
Color Contrast
To make a picture feel complete, an artist may add a background to show the environment around the main object.
To keep the main object easy to see and important in the picture, the artist can create contrast between the object and the background.
For example, a light-colored fish will stand out against a dark blue background, while a dark fish will stand out against a light background.
Color contrast means using colors that are different enough to help important parts of the artwork stand out.
STUDENT'S WORK - SEPTEMBER 1
Sculpture: Chess Knight Statue
Project
Create a three-dimensional chess Knight sculpture—a horse’s head inspired by the traditional chess piece—using air-dry clay.
Students will follow the main steps of creating a clay sculpture, from building the basic form to refining the proportions, adding details, and applying the final finish.
Skills
Building a sculpture from simple 3-D forms, Understanding proportion, Observing the shape of a horse’s head and neck, Adding texture and details, Refining and finishing a clay sculpture
Media
Air-dry clay, Sculpting tools, Acrylic paint or other finish after the clay dries
WORK PROCESS
All photos show the actual work-in-progress stages of a sculpture project created by Levan I. See more work of Levan I.
August Theme: Summer
Focus Skills
- Observation
- Symmetry
- Composition
- Color harmony
- Layering techniques
- Combining multiple subjects into one artwork
Art Media
- Watercolors
- Colored pencils
- Soft pastels
- Markers
- Acrylic paint
August – Composition (Part 2)
Project
Design a summer landscape featuring flowers, plants, and the insects created during the previous lesson or new simetrical inages of insects.
Skills
Composition, Foreground, middle ground, and background, Planning a scene, Perspective through overlapping objects
Media
Watercolors, Colored pencils, Soft pastels, Markers
Focus
Learning how individual objects become part of a complete composition.
Goal
Creating balanced compositions, Understanding foreground and background, Transforming ideas from one project into another
Wrap-Up
Students share their artwork, and reflect on what they learned.
Creative Warm-Up and Mini Lesson
Warm and cool
Colors that remind us of heat, fire, and sunlight, such as red, orange, and yellow are called Warm colors.
Colors that remind us of water, sky, and shade, such as blue, green, and purple are called Cool colors.
Primary colors
Three basic colors we use to create many other colors by mixing them together are called Primary colors.
Primary colors are Red, Yellow, Blue (you can add Black and White) are used to mix many other colors:
Red + yellow = orange
Yellow + blue = green
Blue + red = purple
Harmonious colors
Composition — the way an artist arranges all the parts of a picture so they work well together.
For example, where you place a tree, a flower, a person, the sun, or the horizon is all part of the composition.
A good composition should feel balanced, but it should also help us see what is most important in the picture. This important part is called the focus.
Artists can create a focus by making one object different from the others. For example, if you draw five butterflies and one is much bigger, or if four are red and one is blue, your eyes will probably notice the different butterfly first.
STUDENT'S WORK 3
August – Composition (Part 1)
Project
Design a summer landscape featuring flowers, plants, and the insects created during the previous lesson or new simetrical inages of insects.
Skills
Composition, Foreground, middle ground, and background, Planning a scene, Perspective through overlapping objects
Media
Watercolors, Colored pencils, Soft pastels, Markers
Focus
Learning how individual objects become part of a complete composition.
Goal
Creating balanced compositions, Understanding foreground and background, Transforming ideas from one project into another
Wrap-Up
Students share their artwork, and reflect on what they learned.
Creative Warm-Up and Mini Lesson
Balance
Balance — when the different parts of a picture feel like they belong together and no part feels too heavy or too empty.
An easy way to create balance is to make two objects similar in size, shape, or color. This is called symmetrical balance.
But balance does not always mean things have to match. Artists can also balance different objects—for example, one large light-colored object can be balanced by a smaller dark-colored object. Even though they are different, both can attract our attention and make the picture feel balanced.
Composition
Composition — the way an artist arranges all the parts of a picture so they work well together.
For example, where you place a tree, a flower, a person, the sun, or the horizon is all part of the composition.
A good composition should feel balanced, but it should also help us see what is most important in the picture. This important part is called the focus.
Artists can create a focus by making one object different from the others. For example, if you draw five butterflies and one is much bigger, or if four are red and one is blue, your eyes will probably notice the different butterfly first.
Transforming ideas
Artists often practice their ideas before creating a larger composition. They may make sketches or paintings of individual objects first, and then use what they learned in a bigger picture.
For example, an artist might first learn how to draw a flower or a butterfly, and later use that flower or butterfly as part of a landscape.
In our last lesson, we learned about symmetry by drawing butterflies and flowers. Today, we will use those ideas and skills to create a larger composition.
We are taking something we already learned.
STUDENT'S WORK 2
August – Symmetry
Project
Create an image of the decorative or a realistic butterfly or other insect in its natural environment.
Skills
Symmetry, Shape construction, Observation, Color blending, Pattern design
Media
Watercolors, Colored pencils, Soft pastels, Markers
Focus
Simple shapes and symmetry, encourage bold colors and decorative patterns.
Goal
Recognizing and drawing symmetrical forms. Practice shading and color transitions
Wrap-Up
Students share their artwork, and reflect on what they learned.
Creative Warm-Up and Mini Lesson
Landscape
Landscape — an artwork that shows an outdoor scene and the space around us, such as the sky, land, trees, water, flowers, buildings, or animals.
Landscape orientation — when a page or canvas is placed horizontally, so the surface is wider than it is tall. This term describes the orientation of the paper or canvas, regardless of the image being created.
So, if the teacher says, “Place your paper in landscape orientation,” it means the paper should be placed horizontally.
If a line on the paper goes from left to right (or right to left), it is called a horizontal line. In a landscape, a horizontal line can represent the horizon—the place where the sky appears to meet the land or ocean.
Portrait
Portrait — an artwork that shows a person, especially their face and upper body.
Portrait orientation — when the paper or canvas is taller than it is wide, so it is placed vertically.
So, if the teacher says, “Place your paper in portrait orientation,” it means the paper should be placed vertically.
If a line on the paper goes from top to bottom (or bottom to top, it is called a vertical line. In a landscape, a vertical line can be trees or street lights.
Symmetry
If the right side of an object is the same, or nearly the same, as the left side, we call it symmetrical. The human body and face are approximately symmetrical. Symmetry is especially easy to see in insects and animals such as butterflies, ladybugs, and spiders.
