OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING/DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY, THE LEAF ASSIGNMENT, CREATING A COMPOSITION TRADITIONALLY AND DIGITALLY, by Mauro George Brooks.

In the Leaf project, students in year 7 begin by learning how to draw by observation. They use the trusted techniques of blind contour drawing and modified contour drawing. Students are then taught some principles of design composition, for example how line allows the eye to move across negative and positive spaces and how space is defined by edges. Students then create a composition of different leaves on a chosen background.

In the next images students have digitally photographed different leaves and flowers, cropped them using adobe Photoshop, and again created a unique composition.

This last image, from a risk taking student, demonstrates how one leaf (with the knowledge of computer aided design), can be made to look like several different leaves!