James Rizzi City Drawings

     This was a marathon project for my 4th & 5th graders!  We have spent the past 3 WEEKS working on our drawings.  The first week, we watched a You Tube video about James Rizzi and discussed his fun, whimsical paintings.  Students began by sketching out their cityscapes, making sure to create depth and dimension by including a foreground, a middleground, and a background.  Since James Rizzi was from New York and his paintings were based on his city, we decided to make our drawings based on our great city of St. Louis!
     The second week, students traced over their pencil drawings with a sharpie marker and finished up adding details such as people, cars, trees, windows, etc.  They also started using the markers to add color during the second week.  Most of my students were so enthralled with their precise coloring that they spent a LONG time on this particular task.
     The third week, students finally...yes, finally finished their drawings.  (Now, don't get me wrong...there were some students that STILL have not finished this project.  They fall into two categories: 1.  they lost interest in this project 1/2 way into week #2 and could not finish, or 2. they were soooo incredibly focused that they need more time because of all of the details they added and they were trying to make it 'perfect').

Here are some stellar works of art inspired by James Rizzi:

Josiah's city 

(He's not finished yet with his, but I love the billboard! Don't you?)

Victor's city 

(he's not quite finished yet...but this is FABULOUS!)

Katelyn's city 

 Brandon's city

George's city 

Jordan's city