Continuous Line Drawing & Watercolour Compositions

Week 1:
Students are shown how to complete a continuous line drawing. They then take their sketchbooks outside (plein air) and practiced the technique by drawing sections of the garden beds or individual plants.

Week 2:
Using their iPads, the next step was to source an image of either a cactus/potted plant or vase of flowers. The image had to be a true photograph.
Students then practiced drawing their chosen images using either a grey-lead or fine-liner. The fine-liner challenged their understanding of ‘mistake’ lines and forced them to take a risk with their drawings.

Week 3–4:
Students were introduced to the properties of watercolour brushes and simple watercolour techniques such as wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on wet etc. The colour wheel was revised for blending and layering. Students could then practice watercolour on their drawings in their sketchbooks.

Week 4–6:
After discussing the ‘tooth’ of watercolour paper, students were to select an image to be drawn onto an A5 sheet of watercolour paper. They were to apply their learnt knowledge of continuous line drawing and watercolour painting techniques.

Year 5
Ormond Primary School, Ormond