From marching wooden toy soldiers to a group of lifeless toys who rally each other to follow their owner, toy stories bring out a little fantasy in all of us from a time when it was okay to make-believe and dream impossible dreams.
(Contemporary artists featured: Sarah Brown and Mitchel Wu)
There is something delightfully charming about the toys from our past. They are the first objects that we hold onto and create memories with our parents and our friends. Life then seems simpler compared to the expectations of life in high school but it is comforting to look back in nostalgia of what once was by reflecting on our childhood toys. This process of childhood self-reflection was the inspiration behind the Toy Story drawing unit in the Art I class.
Students learned how to apply observational drawing techniques to a still life arrangement by sketching second-hand toys that I brought in for students to use in their Toy Story artwork.
They practiced close observation of positive and negative shapes, lines, and spaces in contour line drawing exercises. We also studied objects for shadows and highlights by shading value with pencil and line hatching. Using these foundational exercises, students brought in toys or used the classroom objects to create their final compositions.
Students were given the challenge to use toned paper or newspaper as a mixed media collage to draw into their still life. They also had to include shading with pencil, colored pencil, and sharpie pen at least once each to demonstrate these value techniques.
It was interesting to see which objects they chose and how they developed their ideas during the beginning steps.
I asked my students to reflect on their artistic process and share with partners what some of their favorite toys were growing up and why they were meaningful to them.
Students told stories of fond childhood memories like collecting beanie babies with grandma and buildings houses out of legos with their siblings. Here are a few of my students' "toy stories" brought back to life.
My favorite toy from my childhood was a big stuffed animal caterpillar that my grandma gave me when I was 5. I think this was one of my favorite toys because she not long later passed away and it was a key piece of her that I remembered. I chose this toy because it was the only toy I recognized in the box.
One of my favorite toys is Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. I specifically remember him jumping out of the bus.
Ever since i was little, I had this really fluffy white bear that I loved so, so much. I took it everywhere and I’ve always traveled a lot when I was little so it’s been in quite a few countries.
I can’t really remember that many of my toys from when I was younger, but one of the toys that I do remember are my brother’s beyblades. I would always play with them when I had friends over.
As they continue to render the artwork with shading this next week it is exciting to see these inanimate toys come to life! Everyone has a toy story of their own to tell, but these students are sharing them with us through their artwork. I can't wait to see how their stories end...
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