5th Grade Landscapes with Zentangle Inspired Lines

5th Grade students reviewed line quality in a work of art while creating these 

landscape paintings with Zentangle inspired lines.

Students first sketched out their landscape as we talked about using a horizon line and different levels of ground. They were then able to paint their landscapes with a creative color scheme. It was a blast seeing them get creative with the color.
I encouraged them to use different colors in each section of ground.


Once painting was dry, students reviewed line quality and watched a couple videos on zentangle drawings and then they began to fill the sections of their painting with different lines. Most of the lines were drawing using colored pencils. Some were done using black marker.

I love the variety the students ended up having in the finished works!

Zentangle Pumpkins

My Example

More Zentangle projects - 

4th Grade students at two of my schools are reviewing lines by doing some cool pumpkin drawings with Zentangle designs drawn in them.

They seemed to really like this project. I reminded them that it takes a while and not to rush through. 
Here's a sneak peek at some student work in progress - 

I love the way the art room is hushed when students are doing zentangles. It seems to calm them and they often loose themselves in their work. 

Finding the right music to play while they are working can be a challenge though. Does anyone have any favorite Pandora channels to play during classes for elementary students?

Animals with Zentangle Designs

My Example

One of the first things I focus on with my elementary students is to introduce or review the use of line quality in an artwork. I've done this in a variety of ways over the years with the different grade levels. One of the projects we are working on this year is animals with zentangle-like designs added to them. 

At one of my schools I decided to focus on the theme of animals in art. So this project seemed to fit right in. I focused on my 4th and 5th graders for this project.

We spent an art time drawing out an animal of their choice. My goal this year is to give students as much creative choice as possible within the confines of what I want them to learn or be able to do by the end of each project. So the choice of animal was extended to include imaginary, combined, or "creatures" of any kind they wished to create.

Once their drawing was done, I went over a few different watercolor painting techniques. We went over wet into dry, wet into wet, and adding salt to obtain different results. 

When the paintings were dry we discussed line quality and I showed some examples of zentangles. I showed the students some parts of YouTube videos by the artist Milliande that I have linked on my Art with Mrs. G website. I also showed them my finished giraffe. I had a blast making it and wanted to let them know that. 

Students are still working on their animals but here are some sneak peeks of them in progress -