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This project was inspired by the work of illustrator Daniel Mackie. His work features very detailed watercolor paintings of animals. Parts of the animals are very realistic, while other parts are painted using a combination of decorative patterns mixed with illustrations of the animal's habitat. Here's an example: Notice how this lion's head, paws, and tail are very realistic. Inside the lion's body, we see clues about where he lives- an African grassland. We also notice some decorative elements like the pink and blue designs above the lion's paws. We can see similar designs in the mane and tail. I actually was able to purchase some prints from the official Daniel Mackie shop! They came all the way from the United Kingdom! My students loved having these artworks in their hands. They are still grasping the difference between an original work and a print, so this was a good opportunity to explain a little about how the commercial art world works, and the value of an original painting compared to a print. Click here to read a statement from Daniel Mackie describing some of his influences, his creative process, and how his style has changed through the years. My students also loved seeing the examples of his in-progress works! Here are some of the works my students created using Daniel Mackie's works as inspiration. They did use a pre-drawn outline, but all the interior designs are theirs. I think they did an incredible job! My kids were quite interested in Daniel Mackie, since he is a contemporary artist who is currently producing art. Many times, the master artists we look at are from many years past and sometimes students have a hard time connecting with their work. I love sharing contemporary art with my students in addition to the masters from the past. We decided to email Daniel Mackie to ask a few questions, and he was kind enough to respond!! Here is the email we wrote as a group: Dear Mr. Mackie, We are an Art Club in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the United States. We are in the 4th grade, so most of us are 9 years old. We looked at your animal drawings and thought they were inspiring. So we decided to make some of our own! You can see our drawings on our teacher’s blog. We loved that they had the habitats inside them, since we study habitats in school. We loved how you put the information inside. We liked the patterns that you used. We had a few questions for you about how you make your art. If you have time to write us back, we would be excited to hear from you!
Thank you for inspiring us and giving us good ideas. We appreciate you and the time you put into making art for us to enjoy. Please let us know if you like our drawings! We worked very hard! Thank you, Ms. McGee’s Gifted Art Club Ava, Irina, Chloe, Kyndall, Graham, Titus, Echo, Addyson, Jacqueline, Sonya, Luke, Nelissa, Anacelia, Winston, Destiny, Vanessa, Kamiyah, Ruby, and Rachel. And here is the very kind response we received! I so appreciate Mr. Mackie taking time to write back to my kids and encourage them. They will remember this experience for a long time! Awesome Work! I like the T rex! I am doing one of those at the moment! So to answer your questions... Usually one painting takes about a week, some take longer, the ones with grass and flowers take ages. I use watercolour, so have to be very considerate when I start painting. The crucial thing is to get the drawing right first before I start painting. When I do start the painting the general rule is, start with light colours and put in the deep reds and dark colours right at the end. Most mistakes can be remedied, but sometimes the whole thing has to go in the bin. My favourite is usually the one I am working on. Would you mind if use a couple of your pic's on my blog and link to your blog? Hope that helps All the best Daniel
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