Value Drawings of Mannequins

Students do accurate drawings from observation that focus on value in art during their sixth grade year. This project is just the first of many observational drawings in their middle school art careers, and it's a tough thing to learn. This quarter, my students drew pose-able wooden mannequins, but with a little twist that turned out beautifully! Rather than have the kids use graphite and charcoal to render the medium and dark values of their object, they used white charcoal pencils on black paper and focused on drawing the highlights, leaving the shadows the color of the paper. I turn out the lights and shine lamps onto the mannequins to help create the highlights and shadow...

 Here are the final drawings: