Lesson 5: Tone
Five weeks into the term and my Yr4 pupils have completed five lessons specifically aimed at helping them learn to draw. Tone is the area between light and dark and is one of the main elements to learn.
Five Main Elements
Shape, Line, Light and Dark, Tone and Colour are the five main elements taught to Yr4 in Teach Your Class To Draw. If every drawing contains the five main elements then progress will be made. It is easy to go through the check list of these elements when assessing drawing development. The drawings below are from this weeks lesson 5 and demonstrate various degrees of tone.
Development is uneven and that’s fine
You can see in some of the drawings the shape is good. There is more light and dark in some than tone and a few good examples of tone in colour. If you do this lesson with Yr4 you will find a common theme is poor colouring skills. Show them the Lesson 5 video and keep reminding them they need to use a sharpened colour pencil and they need to keep lines neat. Using the pencil sideways is good for an even coverage.
Structured lessons
It is good to be structured when teaching drawing especially if you do not have any art training or have never taught children how to draw. Introducing five main elements at Yr 4 is useful for children and teachers. Children love to have rules to cling onto when they are learning something new. They like to apply these rules when they are unsure or need to check their learning. Use the main elements for key words on the whiteboard.
Lesson 5 Tone Yr4 Example
Try watching this video to help with Tone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsLtg4AUf44&t=28s. You can also buy the book which contains 9 lessons, sketchbook examples, what to write on the whiteboard, and photocopiable teacher resources to help you properly teach your class to draw.
Teach Your Class To Draw, £20 from this site https://teachyourclasstodraw.com/product/teach-class-draw-2/
or Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Your-Class-Julie-Angel/dp/0993303722/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507483441&sr=8-1&keywords=julie+angel+Teach+your+class+to+draw
