Eco warriors!
The theme for photography, arts and crafts this year is SUSTAINABILITY, including "Eco-warriors", "Biodiversity" and "Our Natural World". We want to see creative use of recycled and sustainable materials to illustrate who, what or how you interpret this subject. There are some hints, tips and starting points below but feel free to make up your own ideas ;-) This theme is open to all ages, children through to adult, and you can use any media to express your ideas. The finished piece can be 2 or 3 dimensional, but please be aware we have limited space to display everyone's work so try to keep the scale reasonable for putting on a wall or table. NOTE: For the purposes of the online tutorial below I am focussing on the "Eco Warrior them.
Getting started.
I began by thinking about heroic warriors and endangered species. Then I found a simple, free Artificial Intelligence image generator to help me to visualise my ideas. There are lots of them online now and a quick search will reveal lots for you to try. I started with this one from Microsoft: https://create.microsoft.com/en-us/features/ai-image-generator
After selecting the Create Image button I typed a description for my image. I decided Hercules would be a good choice for a warrior and a Rhino a suitably strong animal that is also endangered as a species. I got the results shown below:
Different AI programmes will produce different outcomes, and you can experiment with different descriptions in your initial text. Most programmes will then let you selectively modify or edit your images. When you have something you think you can work with download it or grab a screen print you can save to your computer. To do this you will need the permission of the computer owner if it is not yours.
https://openart.ai/home was used to generate the new images shown below. Just changing the description of what I wanted a little bit each time will change the outcomes and as you can see the style of the artwork can also be changed. I wanted something a bit more "Eco-Friendly" for my design.
The next stage will be to choose one image to develop further. How you go about this will depend on your confidence in using different media, such as pencils, paints or 3 D materials such as cardboard or wire. This may be something you are happy to try yourself at home, or maybe a parent can help, or maybe you would like to bring your idea to our "Make an Eco-Warrior" workshop!
We will be running a FREE tutorial/workshop aimed at getting your ideas ready to show at the hall on Saturday 31st August. We will open at 10.00 am and close at 3.00 pm. We will provide basic materials and expert advice, you just need to bring your ideas.
Children under 17 will need to be accompanied by an adult. Some refreshments will be available but bring a packed lunch if you want it. I hope you can make it, but even if you cannot join us for the workshop I will be publishing more tips here on the AVH website as I develop my "Plant Man" idea, so pop back soon to see how I develop him into an "Eco-Friendly Eco-Warrior".
Getting going!
As an ex Art and Design Teacher I want to give some tips on how to get your ideas really flowing. I don't want to be prescriptive so find what works for you and work with that. If you are a young person you may find it helpful if an older person assists you with some of it.
The first step in any art or design project is to fully understand the "Brief". That is: What Have You Been Asked To Try and Do?
I began thinking about what an "Eco Warrior" actually is. Google gave me this: "a person who actively tries to prevent damage to the environment. " That is a start, but it lacks anything really visually inspiring to me, so I started to think around the idea.
Does it have to be a person? Why not an animal or a plant? If it is not human maybe it can fly, or swim underwater, or tunnel through the ground?
A warrior is defined as "a fighter or soldier, especially one in former times who was very brave and experienced in fighting."
So what weapons might it use? If it uses weapons how can they be "environmentally friendly?" War is, in itself, very destructive. Then again, the definition of the eco warrior above is about defending the environment, so what might it use for defence?
Writing your ideas down is a good start, you may even find ideas are starting to form? Can you describe them in words? Or pictures?
My "Plant Man" idea (on the right in the AI images above), but how can I make such an imposing figure? Maybe I don't need to?
Maybe a trip to my local charity shop can furnish me with a base for my idea? A recycled action figure might be a good starting point1
Below is a starter sheet for drawing figures. Drawing my ideas out for myself will help to develop and explain what I am trying to do. Practice as much as you can, but be prepared to make mistakes. A good artist will ignore wobbly lines or things not quite looking right. Just do your best then move on to the next stage. ENJOY YOURSELF :-)
So my plan to find an action figure for my base model was eventually successful (on the 4th charity shop) and I was also lucky enough to pick up some bits I think I can add to make Iron Man into Plant Man ;-) Then I had a poke around in my shed and found PVA glue and an old bit of "grass matting" my son and I used for war gaming on. I will need some materials to bulk out my model so I am hoping to use some wax I have. You will need to be creative and think about other possibilities. What is in your old toy box? Can you find some plasticine, playdough or clay? I found some out of date Flour in the food cupboard so later on I will try making some salt dough for modelling with. Try to think imaginatively about materials. Wool and cotton are "sustainably produced" materials, can you knit or sew? Have you got any wire you can use to make an "armature"? (This is the strong support inside a sculpture to help it stand up).
