Wayne Thiebaud Cupcakes

Who doesn't like cupcakes?

For this tasty project, my 1st graders were inspired by the artist Wayne Thiebaud. In the past I have messed around with all different ways to do artwork based on him and this was my favorite so far. 

To start I have the students look at the artwork of Thiebaud and watch a little video about him. I have them discuss in a turn and talk about what they see in his artwork and what might be some good shapes to use to redraw what he did. Next we sketch and practice using oil pastels. I don't introduce supplies like oil pastels until 1st so it is a fresh experience. And I don't tell them what makes oil pastels so interesting to color with because I want them to discover it themselves. I even have them practice different ways to draw the cupcake. My requirements are that the cupcake cup have a pattern and that they say no to those scribbles. 

After some practice and we start the final. I have them use a sheet of 9 x 12  white paper to draw out their LARGE cupcake. I use my hand as a measure point for how big it should be. They then cut it out of the white paper and glue it down to colored paper of their choice. Some even decide to add little plates ( they figure out on own) or shadows. The shadows are thanks to our study into Cezanne awhile ago. 

Out of all the Thiebaud projects I have done, this has been my favorite. Not only allowing more creative ideas for how to draw it but the students really enjoyed how they came up with the steps. Plus who doesn't want to learn how to draw a cupcake.