Magnify the Monster in Me
©1999 Alison King

Rationale: Magnifying digital artwork allows students to gradually develop fine-motor movement skills with the mouse, while building on the gross-motor movements they are already able to make with the mouse. It encourages students to look at the same painting different ways, and encourages a higher level of detail inclusion. Middle School students are typically excited by the rendering of tiny details in their pencil-and-paper drawings. Digital magnification is a natural way to explore and revisit the concept of detail-inclusion with a new medium.

Objectives:

  • Students will learn that the ability to enlarge a painting pixel-by-pixel is one quality that makes a digital painting similar to a mosaic, and quite different from traditional painting.
  • Students learn miniaturization techniques to assist in painting portrait details, and learn that digital paintings look drastically different when they are shrunk down or magnified.
  • Students learn how to use descriptive language to both communicate about and interpret artworks long-distance by using the internet to exchange information about monsters they have created on the computer.

Sequence: This lesson should be preceeded by Magnificent Magnification, to familiarize them with basic magnification techniques.

Hardware: Any computer capable of color graphics, and one classroom internet connection.

Software: HyperStudio, Graphic Converter, or any paint porgram capable of 256-color palette. If Photoshop is used turn "anti-aliasing" off. "Picture-in-picture" magnification option (shown here) is a bonus. Email program. Web publishing sotware optional.

Management: To streamline management of the "e-mail exchange" component, it is recommended that students work in pairs or trios.

Suggested Literature Tie-in: Where the Wild Things Are (2-3), Animorphs (4-8), The Metamorphosis (9-12)

Project Website:

Motivational Question:

  • Ever feel like you were a real monster?
    (when I wake up in the morning, when I'm destroying my Lego buildings, when I have to do the dishes, when I'm wrestling with my brother)

Association:

  • What kinds of qualities make a good monster?
    (large, ferocious, hair, scales, wings, claws, teeth, etc.)
  • Do monsters all have to be scary?
    (Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Little Monster, Puff the Magic Dragon, etc.)
  • What kind of qualities do friendly monsters have?
    (soft, cute, small or too big, etc.)

Dialogue:

  • If you woke up one day and were transformed into a monster, what kind of monster would you be?
    (a scary one, a kind one, a hairy one with teeth)
  • Would your family recognize you? What kinds of things would stay the same? What qualities would be different?
    (I would have the same hair, I would wear glasses, you wouldn't recognize me at all because I would be a lizard)
  • Last time we used our magnifying glass tool to show tiny details in our paintings. What are some very tiny things on monsters that you might use your magnifying glass to show?
    (sharp teeth, scales, claws and nails, wiry hair, etc.)

Transition: What larger shapes do you need to start with before working on the details? Block those out first before you continue.

Activity: Create a monster for your e-pal friend in the Monster Exchange project

Next Steps: Visit the Mind's Eye website at http://www.monsterexchange.org for full details on how to write about and share your monsters.

 

©1999, 2001 Alison King

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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