Art Adventure: Reading Posters! (=

In today’s Art Adventure with Cabot’s class we did Reading Posters –in honor of “I Love To Read” Month. (=

We started by discussing what the purpose of posters is: to CATCH PEOPLES’ ATTENTION and to CONVEY INFORMATION. Then we talked about various ways posters can meet these “goals.” Because we were focusing specifically on creating posters that would encourage people to read in today’s Art Adventure, the kids did have to stick with the template I created for them. The goal was for them to choose a book they loved, then to draw a scene they liked from the book. They also got to choose the headline and color bar for the headline for their poster.

While the kids were creating their poster “scenes” for their Thought Bubbles, I took turns taking pics of each kid reading their chosen book. I had them get comfy and actually read while I took about 5-6 pics of each. I took this many just to be sure I’d have a good one to use on the poster –because sometimes when you are concentrating on reading your eyes go in goofy directions and you make funny faces. (=

Once I had all the pics taken, and the kids’ scene artwork for the Thought Bubbles, I took all of the pieces home to compile them in Photoshop. I picked the best pic for each kiddo, then converted it to grayscale and placed it in a 11×17 document (I use Adobe InDesign). After that I scanned their artwork, cropped out the thought bubble and placed/sized it over the photo. Lastly I added the color bar and the headline they chose and exported the whole thing as a JPG. I printed them at 11×17 so each kid would have their own poster. In case you are wondering why I chose to make the pics of the kids black and white while keeping their art in color it’s because I thought it really called attention to what goes on in your head when you are reading, and I really wanted to highlight their imaginations. (If anyone is interested in more detailed instructions, let me know and I will put them together for you.)

The posters turned out FANTASTICALLY, and the kids thought they were awesome! (=

Here is a pic of some of them on the wall. Note: This pic is intentionally taken from far away without a lot of detail available because I don’t have permission from all of the kids’ parents to post identifiable pics of their kiddos. However, you get the idea of how cute they are even with the blurry/distanced pic. 

Here is a close up Pic of Cabot’s sample poster that we did. This pic was actually taken in his room (which happens to have a bit of a Harry Potter theme going on now) so the background is different from the Reading Corner background I used for the classroom pics. Also, his Hogwarts art was done earlier and wasn’t drawn especially for the Thought Bubble area, so I had to play with the art scan a bit to make it fit. But, as a sample is shows you the idea. (=

Here’s another sample from class – thank you to this cute reader and her mom for letting me share this! (=

Here is a pic of the Thought Bubble Template. Feel free to use it if you want to try this Art Adventure. (=

A couple of Notes to make this a successful Art Adventure:

• Tell the kids to pick their favorite book a few days in advance, and have them bring it to class on Art Adventure day.
• Find a good area to take the pics in – and when you take the pics be sure to leave a lot of “open” area around the kid so you have room to place the thought bubble scene and the headline when you lay out your poster. Be thinking of the final poster composition when you take your pics. Take more pics than you think you need – and check them on your screen before you finish with each kid, you want to make sure you have a good photo for every kid when you get to your computer to lay out the posters. (=
• Marker scans a lot better than colored pencil or crayon does – so have the kids use marker for their artwork. I always bring in some big sets of markers with extra colors that they can also use to add more color variety to their art.
• Have the kids create their art on a template printed on white card stock. I always use card stock for things like this because it holds up better to a lot of marker, and it travels better. (=
• This Art Adventure requires the kids to work on their own while you are busy taking photos. Let the kids know ahead of time that you need them to really focus so you can be sure to get everything done in time. Honestly, their class was SO GOOD and focused that you could have heard a pin drop – they even whispered when they went and told the next kid to head over for their “photo shoot.” I think they took this project very seriously because they were excited to be on a poster. (=