Art & Design Free Stuff

As spring begins to roll into summer, the changes in scenery can provide great starting points for pieces of artwork.

To help you inspire your students, we’ve put together a free presentation outlining a mini landscape project.

The mini project includes:

• an animation about composition and the exploration of colour;
• a useful list of landscape artists with weblinks to examples of their work;
• an interactive sketchbook full of examples of student artwork.

To download the presentation, click the button below.

As with this mini project, Boardworks KS4 Art is mapped to the AQA, Edexcel and OCR GCSE specifications. To find more about our curriculum coverage, order your free sample disc today!

We're on Twitter! To be the first to hear about free resources, lesson plans and subject news, follow us on Twitter @BoardworksLtd.

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Below is an archive of our most popular free art & design resources. To download this content all you need to do is click on the links below and you will be prompted to register some additional details with us.

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OnBoard is the free email service that we’ve launched to provide great free stuff for your teaching, saving you hours of time.

Our first free activity for you to try out is an interactive activity on how to 'Gaudify' a building, taken from our KS3 Art presentation ‘Landscapes & Cityscapes’.

In this interactive activity, ‘Gaudi’ suggests the changes needed to be made in order to make an ordinary building fit his aesthetic.

Use as a plenary and ask students what changes they think Gaudi would make to the building, then have them press the hotspots to see if they were correct.

To try out the activity, click the 'Start' button below.

Packed with animations, Boardworks Art resources provide step-by-step simulations of different art techniques. To find out more about how Boardworks resources can support your practical teaching, order your free sample disc today!

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Art teacher Amanda Gray shares her lesson ideas on Gyotaku, the Japanese art of fish painting.

Oriental art dates back to the 10th century, using a wide range of skills that can be adapted for use within the classroom. KS3 classes love the quick results of these activities, but I have used this technique in all key stages, and it especially works well to motivate boys.

The aim of these activities is for students to learn about Gyotaku (guh-yo-tah-koo); the Japanese art of fish painting. It was developed by fishermen who wanted to record the size and species of their catch. After fish were caught, they were painted with a non-toxic ink, and then covered with a piece of rice paper. The fishermen lightly smoothed the paper, and removed it to reveal an exact copy of the fish. After creating the print, the fish could finally be washed and eaten.

Since that time, Gyotaku has become an art form. Whereas the prints started as plain black outlines, they are now colourful imitations of the original species of fish.

To download Amanda's lesson ideas, click the button below.

Whilst Boardworks KS3 Art contains presentations such as 'Exotic Flora' which cover an entire project from start to finish, our online homework solution MyWorks focuses on techniques and media with quizzes on 'Colour Theory' and 'Oil Pastels'.

To find out more about Boardworks Art resources, order your free sample disc today. And to try our interactive MyWorks sample, visit: www.myworks.co.uk/ks3art/#bodytab3

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‘This is a lesson plan that I have used many times at KS4 (although it can also work well with KS3 classes). It is very useful for creating lots of quick ideas and injecting pace into lessons. I have also found it is a good way to avoid students being too "precious" with their work.’

Art teacher Lizzie Allen has written a lesson plan for you to use with your KS4 art students, introducing them to the techniques needed to record observations using monoprinting.

Getting students to start with short ‘timed monoprints’, Lizzie’s lesson aims to free up students’ observational drawings through experimentation. Students then move on to creating more detailed monoprints, using different tools and marks, whilst creating their own ‘criteria for success’.

To download the lesson plan and the free Boardworks slides, click the buttons below.

The interactive monoprinting activity included in the free presentation allows students to explore and practise skills before applying them in their practical work. To find out more about the range of skills-based activities that feature throughout Boardworks Art resources, order your free sample disc today.

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The Lion King, one of the West End’s most popular musicals, relies heavily on the use of theatrical masks to recreate a variety of African animals on stage. Each of these masks has undergone an extensive design process to make sure that it is fit for purpose.

For GCSE Art and Design students working on projects that have a three-dimensional design focus, their designs must also focus on the purpose of the object they’re designing.

To help your students achieve this, we’ve produced some free resources on theatrical mask design.

Featuring teacher notes with ideas for further research and a Flash activity covering the design process of a mask, our resources cover the whole design process from initial research and choosing materials, to final design development to ensure that your students' masks are fit for the West End stage!

Click on the button below to download the free resources.

Featuring animated sketchbooks throughout, Boardworks KS4 Art provides a range of example artwork helping students to develop their critical and evaluative skills. To find out more, order your free sample disc today!