Pumpkins in Charcoal

The last project of the quarter for 6th grade artists (I haven't yet posted about their clay project, as I am waiting for some students to finish glazing theirs, so check back for those in the near future!) was a charcoal rendering of pumpkins and gourds from life. Yes, I am little obsessed with pumpkins as subjects I suppose! As you can see, most children chose to draw the pumpkins rather than the gourds! For many students, this was their first attempt in art class at really accurately depicting a simple still life setup. We talked about tips for drawing from observation as well as using a range of values using charcoal in order to create the appearance of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. I am pretty impressed!