Blizzard Bag: Create a Creature

Blizzard Bag: Create a Creature

Name______Date______

8th Grade Art

Blizzard Bag: Create a Creature

The 3 Blizzard Bag assignments for Art will be a progressive unit: one will build on top of the next, but each can stand alone if there are no more calamity days after it. Each assignment is due 2 weeks after the calamity day is taken.

The 8th grade unit is called “Create a Creature”. Each day is a different step to creating your own creature by combining different animal characteristics.

Throughout history, people from all different cultures have combined different animals to create new, mysterious, mythical beasts.

There are many examples of this found in the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Egypt are creature combinations as well. Anubis is the jackal-headed God of the afterlife. Thoth has the head of an Ibis, a crane-like bird, and is the God of Knowledge. Horus has a falcon’s head and is the national God of Egypt.

There are also examples of this found in ancient Greek and Roman Mythology. The Centaur is a human from the waist up with the body of a horse. Medusa is a human woman with snakes for hair that can turn people to stone if they look at her. Pegasus is a horse with the wings of a bird. A hippogriff has the head, wings and front legs of an eagle, and the belly and rear legs of a horse.

Did you know every culture all across the world has stories of some type of dragon? Have you ever wondered why this might be? What if people found fossilized dinosaur bones and the fanciful dragons they invented were how they sought to explain them. Think of how many dragons have the characteristics of everyday animals: the scales of a reptile, horns like an antelope or ram, the wings of a bird, body of a snake, or the whiskers of a catfish.

Medieval times have griffins with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, and the unicorn, a horse witha magical horn in the center of its head. Native Americans from the Inuit tribes in Canada to the Aztecs of South America tell legends of mythical creatures to their children to teach them lessons and in some cases, scare good behavior into them.

Many modern religions use creature combinations as well as the ancient ones. Christians believe in angels. The Hindu God of success, Ganesh, has the head of an elephant.

Calamity Day 1: Complete the Worksheet.

There is a worksheet attached to this assignment. Complete the worksheet and be sure to write the myth about your creature. The information you give will be used to help create you drawing for the second day.

Calamity Day 2: Create a Creature.

Using simplest form drawing, draw a picture of the creature you described in the first Blizzard Bag Assignment. Be sure to adhere to the features and characteristics you described in the worksheet. (Show your creature moving, finding/eating food, in its home or environment, or doing something from your myth.) Add lots of texture and detail.

Learning Goals/ You will be graded on:

  • Use of simplest form drawing to capture the position, proportion, and flow of the creature.
  • Clear incorporation of animal features from the worksheet. (Question 2.)
  • Creature is performing an action from the worksheet. (Questions 3, 4, 5, and 7.)
  • Well drawn texture and detail.
  • Well drawn background that shows the type of environment listed in the worksheet.

Calamity Day 3: Color the Creature.

Use colored pencils to add color to your drawing. Think about what colors you will use in the background. Is your creature prey that will need camouflage to hide from its predators? Should it be brightly colored to show that it is poisonous? Does it have a pattern? How will you show its texture, (fur, feathers, skin, scales) with the colored pencils?

When you color, think about the base color- the main color you want it to be. To make highlights, first color with the lightest color. For example, if the base color is red, color with pink or orange to make highlights. Second, use the base color and blend with the highlights. Third, create shadows using a darker version of the color or a darker analogous color- color next to it on the color wheel. For red, you could use maroon or red-violet to make shadows.

Learning Goals/ You will be graded on:

  • Application of colored pencil techniques. (Press hard and color in layers.)
  • Mixed new colors.
  • Created shadows and highlights using color.
  • Craftsmanship- time and effort shows in work, work looks clean and finished. Pencil strokes and white of the paper don’t show. Colored pencil is applied with pressure.

Name______Date______

8th Grade Art

Blizzard Bag: Create a Creature

Calamity Day 1: Create a Creature Worksheet

Carefully and completely answer each of the following questions. Be sure to complete the last part of the activity: writing your own myth about your creature.

1. Name 2-4 animals whose characteristics you would like to combine to create your creature.

2. Choose and write 2-4 features from each animal to incorporate into your creature. (Total of 8 features.)

1.)

2.)

3.)

4.)

5.)

6.)

7.)

8.)

3 Describe in 2-3 sentences how your creature moves. (Walks, runs, hops, swims, flies, slithers. Is it stealthy or clumsy? Fast or slow? Sprinter or distance runner?)

4. Discuss any special abilities your creature has. 1 sentence. (Can it disappear, cure illnesses, spit poison, electrocute its enemies, or read minds?)

5. Name the type of food it eats.______

1.) Explain how it Gathers, hunts, grows, or creates its food. 1-2

sentences.

6. Describe the environment or biome and the type of shelter/ home your creature lives in. 3-4 sentences.

7. Describe the adaptations your creature needs to survive in this biome. 2 sentences.

8. On the back of this paper, write a 2 paragraph- 1 page myth about your creature. Be sure to include “who, what, when, where, and why”.