Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Cupcakes

I love to show the kids Wayne Thiebaud's  dessert paintings as examples  of how to add value to an art work.  They're high interest and fun to look at. And besides value- you can use them as examples of using repetition and form in art. In this post, though, I'm going to focus on how we created value on our cupcakes.

We start out the lesson by drawing a cylinder in pencil (yeah, math connection!) together, step by step.

Then we talk about what kind of frosting they want- dripping, not dripping, swirling, no swirl, etc. How many layers of frosting they want. And what kind of toppings they want- sprinkles, m & m's, cherry etc. It's totally their design and choice as to whatever their frosting and toppings will look like on their cupcake.

After everything is drawn in with pencil, we are ready to start coloring with oil crayons. One word of warning- the kids should no use the colors black and white at this point. Those colors will be used later on. Also, any toppings or patterns should not be colored in at this point. (That'll  be done later.) Just the main base colors on of the cupcake and frosting should be colored in. No details yet!

Next, we start talking about value. The kids like to learn about value because it helps to make things look 3D and more life-like. So we spend time talking about highlights, shading and the position of the light source that creates them. 

The kids then start adding white oil crayon along one side of their cupcake to create the highlight. I ask the kids to color in the highlight about 1 inch wide. And yes, white oil crayon will show up on other colors, even dark ones. And it should be on top the cupcake and the frosting along the whichever side they choose. *Teacher alert- stress that it should be colored in from top to bottom along the edge.

The shading is then added in next. It is one thin line of black oil crayon on the opposite side of the highlight. It should be added along the edge of the cupcake and frosting from top to bottom. They watch me demonstrate how to blend it toward the center of the cupcake. I like to use the thumb for blending the oil crayons. Because it is one thin line, the blending doesn't go all the way into the center of the cupcake though. It stays close to the edge, as you can see on the cupcake above. *Teacher alert- warn them to expect their fingers to get very dirty with the black oil crayon!

After the highlight and shading are added the kids can add in the toppings and patterns with the oil crayons.

Once the topping are added in with the oil crayons, we cut the cupcakes out. They are then glued onto construction paper. After they are glued down we color in a shadow on the construction paper. *Another teacher alert- It needs to be made very clear to the kids that the shadow is colored in on the same side as the shading.

And that is our Wayne Thiebaud inspired, oil crayon cupcakes. As you can see they come out really bright and colorful. And the kids learn all about shading and highlighting.

If you're looking for another Wayne Thiebaud inspired  art lesson, you can find one here.

What do you think about our cupcakes? Would this lesson work in your art class? Do you have another lesson using Wayne Thiebaud's art work? 

I'd love to hear about it.